The decision by the UK Government to pilot the use of open source software is likely to worry Microsoft, as technology analyst Bill Thompson explains.
Over the next day or two, somewhere in one of Microsoft's European offices, a group of worried people will be sitting down to try to figure out what the UK's Office of Government Commerce is up to, and how to stop them.
The decision by the UK Government to pilot the use of open source software is likely to worry Microsoft, as technology analyst Bill Thompson explains. The trials will cover a range of departments
The OGC has just announced a deal with IBM to trial open source software - programs where the source code is available to users to read, change and even give away to other people - in nine different areas of government.
The trials, under the supervision of the Office of the E-envoy, are intended to measure the effectiveness and cost-benefits of open source software compared with the more usual proprietary systems sold by companies like Microsoft or - as in the recent NHS booking system - SchlumbergerSema.
rest of article at BBC News