“Microsoft has refocussed its efforts on providing secure platforms. It is something that they haven’t done for many years. Now that there is an alternative platform with lot of inherent security and stability all of a sudden security has become an issue for Microsoft.

“The thing that people should remember about Linux is that it is not a 12 or 13 years old operating system. It is actually an operating system that goes back historically about 30 years, in terms of Unix, because fundamentally the underlying security architectures of the two are the same. So this is a product that has had much iteration in terms of design. There are some kernel level advances for instance that allow you to put some very rigorous security in, which is not something you can get in a Windows environment.  If you take a look at the 2.6 kernel, they introduced in that LSM (Linux Security Module) which allows you to lock down applications to ensure that they can’t execute instructions outside the designated profile, even if they might be root enabled applications.”

Kangro says that migration from Windows to Linux on the desktop will not be a major issue for the NSW Government.

“When Novell undertook this ourselves - because we’re obviously big users and proponents of Linux at a desktop level – we made the transition over the last couple of years from a Windows to Linux environment. We initially thought we were going to have to migrate document formats etcetera. But what we actually found was that documents that were going to remain historically intact could be put into PDF format which Open Office allows you to do. Also, we found the inter-working between Microsoft Office documents and Open Office documents to be more than adequate for our needs. We’ve exchanged presentation materials, documents and so on with other companies and partner organizations which may not be using Open Office, so one doesn’t necessarily have to completely change their formats to achieve the migration.

“Probably the biggest hurdle for many is that the desktop is a very political or emotive thing for some users. You generally find that the more technologically oriented a user is, they have a more passionate connection with their desktop. It would be fair to say that if you want to look at targeting your migration then you should look at people who aren’t emotionally attached to their desktop, such as call centre workers or people who come to work for a long time and does stuff. They really don’t care about the background colours or anything else. They just want to log in, do their stuff and go home.”

According to Kangro, Microsoft’s impending releases of Vista and Office 2007 have actually helped to pave the way for many more Linux deals similar to the NSW Government.

“Anytime there’s a change and discontinuity, there’s an opportunity for something new and different,” he says. “It may be just fortuitous timing, but it’s really all about being able to demonstrate due diligence. If somebody says they’re going to blindly upgrade to the new version of the Windows desktop, they better be able to demonstrate to someone clearly what the advantages are and payback is as opposed to doing the same with a Linux desktop. That would only be a fair and reasonable thing for anyone to ask. It would be difficult for them to ignore the substantial cost differential.”