The total cost of ownership of free software
It took them a few months, they said, but the folks at Syone, ESOP and Caixa Mágica in Portugal managed a great line-up for the Evento Linux conference, on 26 September 2013.
Here, the world’s biggest project involving public administration and free software, the French Gendarmerie, reported that the switch resulted in a major drop in its IT costs.
French Gendarmerie: “Open source desktop lowers TCO by 40%"
Using an open source desktop lowers the total cost of ownership by
40%, in savings on proprietary software licences and by reducing
costs on IT management. Using Ubuntu Linux massively reduces the
number of local technical interventions, says Major Stéphane
Dumond. "The direct benefits of saving on licences are the tip of
the iceberg. An industrialised open source desktop is a powerful
lever for IT governance."
Portugal’s Agency for Administrative Modernisation added further evidence.
Portugal's General Inspection of Cultural Activities shows that a
switch can cut IT costs by half (to 169,000 from 329,000 euro per
year) and reduce the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) by 84 %.
The complete article is here: Portuguese government set on increasing use of open source
Gijs Hillenius
Context for Digital Government
Policy specialist on open source in public services, knowlegde transfer expert