France’s Ministry of the Interior says its use of Thunderbird, a free software email client, running on its 200 000 PCs since 2008, is five times cheaper than the use of the ubiquitous proprietary alternative.
The ministry recently started using the combination of GLPI and OCS, free software tools for managing computer assets, software licences and configuration files. “This is 10 times less expensive than the previous proprietary tool.”
Last week Tuesday, the ministry responded to questions by France’s parliamentarian Isabelle Attard (Europe Ecology – The Greens). In May, she asked all of France’s ministries about their implementation of the government’s free software guideline, the ‘Circulaire Ayrault’.
Similar to the earlier replies submitted by other ministries, the Interior Ministry explains that it is tricky to determine the cost and the value of free software use. Referring to its use of email client Thunderbird, calendaring plugin OBM and GLPI/OCS it says: “However, for some of our major operations, great savings have emerged.”
The ministry reports that it is using free and open source operating systems for its servers and IT management. It is also using the Postgresql relational database management system for its databases, and on desktops, it uses suites of office productivity tools, all “leading to substantial savings.”
Source: Joinup.eu „French Interior Ministry: open source 5 to 10 times cheaper“ October 21, 2013
