Barcelona refused software of Microsoft for benefit of open software

In January, 2018 it became known of failure of Barcelona from use of products of Microsoft for benefit of the open source software (Open Source) for the purpose of economy.

According to the Spanish  newspaper El País, distribution kits Linux, office suites LibreOffice and the software for joint work Open-Xchange which will succeed operating systems Windows, programs Microsoft Office and Exchange  respectively will be installed on computers of administration of Barcelona.

By the beginning of 2018 the city council began to use Ubuntu Linux and Mozilla Firefox as the browser by default in the pilot mode. To spring of 2019 it is going to transfer all computers of municipality and state bodies of Barcelona to the products Open Source.

Preferable Linux distribution kit selects Ubuntu which by the beginning of 2018 was installed on 1000 computers of administration of Barcelona.^[1]

Barcelona refused software of Microsoft for benefit of open software

At the expense of this project the government expects to save money in the long term as it will be possible to reduce significantly the volume of royalties for use of software and services.

Besides, it is going to employ about 65 software developers for writing of software open source and creations of the online platform which will allow the small companies to participate in open tenders.

Expenses on transfer of computers of the authorities to open source software are not called. It is known only that 70% of the city budget selected for purchase of software products will be spent for these purposes in 2018.

According to Francesca Bria (Francesca Bria), the representative for technologies and digital innovations of city council of Barcelona, taxpayers money should be sent to programs open source which can be reused in state agencies.

Francesca Bria says that Barcelona developed "ethical standards" for determination of priority of hiring of "the local companies working open source and flexible methodologies".

The staff increase of programmers who will develop the state projects, emphasizes the aspiration of Barcelona to develop and implement the technologies. The platform of Internet of Things Sentilo which was developed in Barcelona is given as an example, used in other cities, including in the Terrace (Spain), in Dubai and some Japanese cities.

One of important advantages of the open source software as Francesca Bria notes, the possibility of reuse of the purchased products in the sense that they can be set in other municipalities in Spain or in other regions worldwide is. At the expense of it significant economy of the state budget is reached.

As notes the edition The Inquirer, Barcelona became the first city which joined the "Open Code, State Money" program (Public code, public money) which started the European Free Software Foundation   (Free Software Foundation Europe). This initiative calls the authorities for expenditure of budgetary funds for free IT systems which are open for the local companies, instead of use of the proprietary licensed software. It was supported by more than 15 thousand people and over 100 companies.   Free Software Foundation Europe considers that the software which the state uses should be free.

Some adhere to other point of view. In November, 2017 the authorities of Munich declared plans to refuse use  of Linux  and to return to  Windows.  Selected 50 million euros for these purposes. Read more here.

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