Microsoft deal is up, what now Victoria?

Stan Beer
Sunday, 19 March 2006 16:49

Opinion and Analysis

One of the problems said to be facing the Victorian Government when it committed to the Microsoft deal in 2002 was that it lacked internal expertise to evaluate open source alternatives to Microsoft. If that was indeed true, then it would appear to be no longer the case. Victorian Government CIO, Jane Treadwell, was appointed in March 2005. Ms Treadwell was formerly CIO and deputy CEO of Federal Government agency Centrelink, where she was involved with the evaluation of open source deployments and worked closely with vendors such as IBM on Linux testing and implementation. It is hard to imagine Ms Treadwell, a CIO renowned for being an innovator in the e-government area and having worked extensively with the open source community, feeling comfortable in the environment of an all Microsoft shop.

According to one of the key figures in the Novell team which won the Linux deal with the NSW Government, Paul Kangro, research suggests that implementing Linux desktops could result in savings of up to 30% over the Microsoft alternative. Other reports, however, from sources such as the Northern Territory Government, which has deployed Linux desktops in the education sector, indicate the savings are far more modest. There are of course other questions that need to be considered, such as flexibility and reliability, and the reports coming out of the Northern Territory have been very encouraging for the case for implementing open source.

For the Victorian Government, the question that remains then is what happens now with regards to implementing an open source strategy? According to one source, who happens to be very close to government policy and decision making in Victoria, not much. “The Victorian Government is about five years behind (NSW),” our source tells us. We have put in a request to Victorian Government CIO, Ms Treadwell, for confirmation or denial of this and we await her answer with interest.