Critics draw Linux in the sand over Microsoft - theage.com.au
Australia's federal and state governments are under fire for taking a blinkered approach to information technology spending - ignoring local companies and alternatives to Microsoft.

Microsoft's grip on government IT spending has strengthened after it struck multi-million-dollar long-term deals with Canberra, the governments of Victoria, Queensland and South Australia and various government departments.

Open source has begun to make inroads locally. The Department of Veterans' Affairs, Centrelink and Bureau of Meteorology recently made separate decisions to move part of their IT infrastructure to Linux. Early this year, the Northern Territory Department of Education replaced Microsoft software with the open source word processing suite StarOffice 5.2 in its 160 schools.

Critics draw Linux in the sand over Microsoft - theage.com.au
Australia's federal and state governments are under fire for taking a blinkered approach to information technology spending - ignoring local companies and alternatives to Microsoft.

Microsoft's grip on government IT spending has strengthened after it struck multi-million-dollar long-term deals with Canberra, the governments of Victoria, Queensland and South Australia and various government departments.

Open source has begun to make inroads locally. The Department of Veterans' Affairs, Centrelink and Bureau of Meteorology recently made separate decisions to move part of their IT infrastructure to Linux. Early this year, the Northern Territory Department of Education replaced Microsoft software with the open source word processing suite StarOffice 5.2 in its 160 schools.