Government agency sued for its migration to Windows Vista (18)
Savoir Faire Linux, a company dedicated to Linux and Free Software solutions, has sued the Régie des Rentes du Québec this week, for choosing Windows Vista for its computers, without call for bids.
The Régie des Rentes du Québec is using currently Windows 2000 for its systems, but as support for the OS is phased out by Microsoft, the agency must now migrate to another OS. The Régie des Rentes chose Windows Vista, viewed as a natural “software update”.
Savoir Faire Linux’s position is that Windows Vista is a major migration and a change of OS, which should then be done via a call for bids. Furthermore, Savoir Faire Linux says current versions of Linux are more than capable of serving the agency’s IT needs, and that they will also save millions of dollars in the process.
This is the first time in North America that a governement agency is sued for not using open source software. There are previous cases though in Europe, most notably in Germany and in France where whole governement agencies and ministries are now running open source software.
In this case, Vista was not the wisest of choice for the Régie des Rentes, as it is an OS widely known for its shortcomings. However, Savoir Faire Linux is not the white knight either in this case. They are service providers specialized in Linux, and should the systems be migrated to Linux, they would be amongst the first to benefit financially from the deal.
If the entire French National Assembly (députés) can move to it, there’s obviously no arguments for our government to not even be looking into switching.
http://www.zdnet.fr/actualites/informatique/0,39040745,39371628,00.htm
PS: By “it”, I meant Linux (Ubuntu).
well it’s unquestionnable that linux can do the job.
the question is it a sensible choice?
PS: i’d chose mac os x (it will cut down on IT costs). but well, i am biased.
Haha I’ve known about Savoir Faire Linux from their early days and now they seem like a very mature company and I am more than happy to support them in this situation.
As for the financial benefit, can you honestly name me one company who has sued another WITHOUT the intention of making money from the deal? Even if they don’t get the contract (which they probably won’t if they win the lawsuit), they’ll still make a HUGE statement in the IT world and greatly help the integration of Linux in corporate environments.
Thanks for posting this! I rarely have time to read news these days and this is the stuff I like to hear about.
“This is the first time in North America that a governement agency is sued for not using open source software.”
That’s not true. They’re suing for buying software without a bidding process.
Be careful about your choice of words.
Je ne peux qu’etre d’accord avec cette poursuite. Je truve important que mes dollars de taxes/impots soient utilises le plus efficacement possible.
Je ne peux qu’imaginer les couts engendres par une migration a Vista quand Linux ferait tres bien l’affaire pour la majorite des employes de la RRQ. Bien sur, certains auront toujours besoin de Windows pour certaines applicatons existantes, soyons realistes, mais passer a Vista n’est pas une panacee non plus.
Quand les orientations d’architecture se prennent par des avocats, c’est que ca va mal à la shoppe. Le plus drôle c’est que si un appel d’offre en bonne et du forme sort qui inclut toutes les fonctinnalités de Vista comme besoin; Linux ne passera pas. C’est le problème des organisations gouvernementales aujourd’hui d’être incompétentes dans la rédaction d’appels d’offres et de se faire flouer par les intégrateurs. Bref tout ca ne fait qu’ajouter aux coûts déjà trop élevés de la gestion informatique au gouvernement du Québec. Un beau petit procès qui requiert 200-300 K$ d’avocat plus les frais de cour pour le gouvernement du Québec, plus refaire un appel d’offre…c’est génial pour le TCO ca !
Oh and by the way why not sue CISCO also because all the government run CISCO and maybe it should run something else built in a backyard supported by a new startup fed on government subsidies ?
Planning the installation of another OS is not only a question of saving money on licenses(Not that they cost much for government agencies). What about the cost you will have to spend to teach your current and future employees how to use Linux?
We have to remember that a big majority of people uses Windows at home and are confortable with it.
We also have to know what’s the age average for most of the government agencies. Older people are less familiar with technology. I still have to help my mom set up the video clock. Not because you are able to make the switch between any OS and learn it quite fast that other people will do the same.
Add to this the cost for the extra helpdesk time you’ll need to answer the new questions that this migration will bring and I’m not that sure you will save that much!
What I think would be the best thing to do is to deploy gradually starting with the top users, the ones that are very confortable and familiar with computers. Maybe an hybrid solution?
[...] La compagnie Savoir-faire Linux poursuit la régie en se basant sur le fait que de migrer de Windows 2000 vers Windows Vista ne constitue pas seulement une mise à jour mais un changement de système d’exploitation et qu’il devrait y avoir appel d’offre dans ce cas… Savoir-faire Linux utilise comme argument que les versions actuels de Linux seraient tout à fait capable de subvenir aux besoins de la régie et, en plus, celle-ci sauverait des millions de $$. [...]
Good to see that the government can’t do what they want with our money everytime… and of course Open Source solutions are a better bet.
Careful, SFL is not suing the government. Read the actual legal documents:
http://blogs.savoirfairelinux.net/cyrilleberaud/rrqda02481–.html
“This is the first time in North America that a governement agency is sued for not using open source software.”
Nice syllogism, your premise is wrong.
Nobody’s suing a government (you misspelled it btw) for “not using open source software”, you just can’t do that, this is a laughable idea.
They are being sued for not issuing a call for bids, which they are legally obliged to do in Québec. That’s a very different matter and a valid concern.
Everybody that ever contracted for a Québec government agency at *any* level will tell you that.
In other words Savoir Faire Linux is doing the right thing to protect its “equal” right to propose its Operating System solutions to this government agency.
It’s the law, bottom line.
The only debatable gray zone in my opinion, is weather or not Vista can be seen as an “upgrade” or not and the court will decide that.
Maxime, and Fagstein
ok you are right. mea culpa. you win.
and hey, Maxime, you mispelt weather in your last sentence.
English press release is now available, see:
http://www.savoirfairelinux.com/english/news/articles/communique-de-presse-de-savoir-faire-linux/
ahah thanks, my English is still not perfect :D
If nothing else this action will force governments into doing “due diligence” and actually doing some research on what operating systems and software are “out there” to perform various government tasks.
It doesn’t matter whether this action wins or loses…what matters is that someone has taken action…and others may do similar things in future.
No longer can governments simply “buy Microsoft” because “that’s what they’ve always done”. They are going to have to do their homework and open up the bidding process.
I really hope that SFL loses this one. And I hope they get counter-sued for any cost and delay they cause. This is obviously nothing more than a publicity stunt.
Such decisions should not be based on bids and even less on court rulings. You can’t just have complex organisations decide on a technological platform in that way.
The Regie is a megalithic financial institution just like a bank. This goes beyond politicians sharing documents and such. They are extremely dependant on their software and technological architecture.
The Regie might have countless of proprietary application developed for Windows, their whole network based on Windows, their security infrastructure, all their technical staff as Windows professionals, and all their office workers familiar with suites of Windows applications.
All of their email and calandering based on Outlook, and their mobile devices using Windows Mobile with active sync. Investment tracking, trading software, training programs, audit processes and policies, all their specialised employees and servicing contracts, everything would have to be thrashed, it would cost millions to replace. Switch to Linux? Are you F@#$@### crazy!!!!!
This decision should be taken internally by a technological architect that fully understands the needs of his organization and the implications of a switch. Obviously he might be a Windows professional and switching to a different platform would invalidate his role - he could find himself out of a job. So indeed there is a bias, but if the main tech guy, and every techy under him, are working under one technology, then they should be able to continue doing so and that would be in the best interest of the organisation.
There are reasons why banks and finance institutions are not using bidding processes when it comes to designing their technological architecture:
First, going for the cheapest stuff is not always (if ever) the best choice, especially when it comes to software.
Second, Microsoft, Oracle, Mac and such have billions of dollars in cash that can be pursued if they cause catastrophic failure of an organisation. An open source organisation, be it Ubuntu or else, has no liability to their software.
And so on.
Bob, you are wrong when you say it does not matter if they win or lose. It sets a dangerous precedent that could threaten the stability of organisations. Insuring that stability is “due diligence” and it must be the responsibility of architects, not “the cheapest bid gets everything else thrashed”.
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