From: Adam 

Slowly slowly.

But the ball is rolling

http://www.computerweekly.com/articles/article.asp?liArticleID=138510&liArticle
TypeID=1&liCategoryID=1&liChannelID=9&liFlavourID=1&sSearch=&nPage=1

"Birmingham City Council is to carry out large-scale trials to
evaluate the viability of open source software on its desktop PCs.

The council has secured government funding to run 1,500 PCs using the Linux
operating system with Openoffice applications and Firefox web browsers.

The open source trial will include public-facing PCs in libraries as well
those used to access core systems in council offices.

Glyn Evans, director of business solutions and IT at the council, said he
was keeping an open mind going into the trials. "I don't have any
desire to use open source just because it is not Microsoft," he said.

"I am not sold on open source software personally. I think the case
has to be made. We need to cut through the hype from that community and cut
through the cynicism from Microsoft."

The council is investigating whether an open source desktop could produce
efficiency savings and help contribute toward the Gershon agenda
- which outlines plans for efficiency savings - in local government.

The Open Source Consortium, funded by the Office of the Deputy Prime
Minister, will provide the council's funding, running into hundreds of
thousands of pounds, said Evans.
"

http://www.computerweekly.com/articles/article.asp?liArticleID=138630&liArticle
TypeID=1&liCategoryID=1&liChannelID=1&liFlavourID=1&sSearch=&nPage=1

"Bristol City Council is to deploy the open source Staroffice
productivity suite across 3,500 desktops following a six-month prep-
aration programme.

"For the past six months we have been in a detailed preparation phase,
testing the product in the council's various IT environments and educating
end-users," said Gavin Beckett the council's principal ICT strategy
officer.

Although the council will use Novell Zenworks to deploy the free Staroffice
software to PCs in the next few weeks, it will not activate the package in
all departments until the user education has been completed, he said.

The roll-out will take a year to complete. "People have been concerned
that we are getting rid of Windows, which is not true. When we go into
offices and show them the product, we see them relaxing," Beckett
said."


Adam

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