Local authorities in Newham and Nottingham are expected to migrate more than 10,000 desktop computers from Windows to Linux
Open source software is set to dramatically increase its foothold in the public sector. Two councils, Newham in London and Nottingham City Council, are examining the feasibility of shifting all their 11,500 staff desktop computers from Windows to Linux with open source desktop applications by the end of the year, according to E-Government Bulletin.
To date, open source has made slow progress onto public sector desktops, with only Penwith District Council in Cornwall and Scottish Central Police moving all their PCs to Star Office desktop software over a year ago.
An expected second wave of pioneers had so far failed to materialise, but now Newham has commissioned a feasibility study paving the way for the migration of its 5,000 workstations to open source later this year.