UK Government Leaves Microsoft Office For Open Source Technology!

In yet another blow to the proprietary technology and boost to open source tech, UK government has now given up on Microsoft's Office and is resorting to open source alternatives. The move has come in order to restrict expenditure and put an end to 'oligopoly' in the IT market. According to reports, Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude is working to outline plans, to make the desired shift from Microsoft Office to free productivity software such as OpenOffice and Google Docs. Maude shared an update on the plans at a cross-government event. UK government will save millions after this shift as the country has spent over £200 million on Microsoft’s ubiquitous software suite in the last three years. Maude said, “We know the best technology and digital ideas often come from small businesses but too often in the past they were excluded from government work. In the civil service there was a sense that if you hired a big multi-national, who everyone knew the name of, you'd never be fired. We weren't just missing out on innovation, we were paying top dollar for yesterday's technology.”

The government believes that this will put an end to the 'oligopoly' amongst suppliers of technologies. Maude said, “The software we use in government is still supplied by just a few large companies. A tiny oligopoly dominates the marketplace. I want to see a greater range of software used, so civil servants have access to the information they need and can get their work done without having to buy a particular brand of software. In the first instance, this will help departments to do something as simple as share documents with each other more easily. But it will also make it easier for the public to use and share government information.”

The government is already working in the direction. “We have been talking to users about the problems they face when they read or work with our documents – and we have been inviting ideas from experts on how to solve these challenges. Technical standards for document formats may not sound like the first shot in a revolution […] but be in no doubt: the adoption of compulsory standards in government threatens to break open Whitehall's lock-in to proprietary formats. In turn we will open the door for a host of other software providers,” he stated.