French Police Save Millions Switching To Ubuntu 368
Ynot_82 writes "The French national police force, the Gendarmerie Nationale, has spoken about their migration away from the Windows platform to Linux. Estimated to have already saved the force 50 Million Euros, the migration is due to be completed on all 90,000 workstations by 2015. Of the move, Lt. Col. Guimard had this comment: '"Moving from Microsoft XP to Vista would not have brought us many advantages and Microsoft said it would require training of users. Moving from XP to Ubuntu, however, proved very easy. The two biggest differences are the icons and the games. Games are not our priority."'"
Games are not our priority (Score:5, Funny)
Run away or I shall taunt you a second time (Score:5, Funny)
Duh (Score:5, Funny)
Free is cheaper. Who knew?
Re:Go France! (Score:5, Funny)
Hey, it's not "pork", it's an "economic stimulus".
Re:Games are not our priority (Score:5, Funny)
Allies? (Score:1, Funny)
French Police Save Millions Switching To Ubuntu? (Score:5, Funny)
"French Police Save Millions Switching To Ubuntu."
Jesus Christ! Windows was killing millions of people in France?!?!
Re:did i read that wrong? (Score:5, Funny)
Yes.
I did have to pause a moment to think millions of what? Initially I thought people.
Re: French Police Save Millions Switching To Ubunt (Score:5, Funny)
Jesus Christ! Windows was killing millions of people in France?!?!
Why do you think they call it the 'Blue Screen of Death'?
Re: French Police Save Millions Switching To Ubunt (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Games are not our priority (Score:5, Funny)
In fact, solitaire really is great training for using a mouse. Time and again I have seen novice computer users of all ages, who would otherwise struggle with the mouse, become quite proficient after only an hour or so playing solitaire.
Now if they could just be gotten to stop playing solitaire afterwards, they could move on to other lessons.
Re:Allies? (Score:5, Funny)
So can we now call Linux the Allies coming to save France? I didn't want to 'call' the other side of that.....
No! No, way! You absolutely, positively are NOT going to trick me into saying that Microsoft is the Axis of Evil! Do you have any idea how fast I'd be modded down by the Microsoft fanboys? Forget it! I'm not doing it!
Re: French Police Save Millions Switching To Ubunt (Score:5, Funny)
And why do you think the French sigh of exasperation is "sacre bleu"?
Re: French Police Save Millions Switching To Ubunt (Score:5, Funny)
Not just in France, the summary says Euros, so people all over Europe.
Re:Run away or I shall taunt you a second time (Score:5, Funny)
This just in from the ticker. French police save m (Score:2, Funny)
French Police Save Millions Switching To Ubuntu
French Police are going door to door these past days informing citizens of the long-term health
effects of Windows. The so far largest campaign for public health in the history of France is
expected to continue for another week and is aiming for a coverage of over 90% of the nation's
households. Jean Trudeaux, an elderly villager in the Bretagne recalls opening the door to officers
early in the afternoon and being asked if he owned a computer. Acknowledging the possession of
a computing device, Trudeaux learned of the immense cardiovascular risks associated with using
inferior desktop software that is sold to an unsuspecting public bundled with almost every sale
of computer hardware. At the end of the conversation with the officers, Trudeaux remarks:
"I don't use my computer that often but that's mainly because it's such a hassle to do anything
with it and then I get really really mad".
While the campaign has certainly not escaped the attention of Microsoft it has also been noted
by the medical profession world-wide. In an interview with Dr. Francois Boudoir, one of the foremost
advancers of the field of cardiology in France the connection was quickly made between reducing the
amount of time spent in distress to downright rage and the more than obvious benefits thus incurred
for cardio health. "This campaign will save millions of lives in the long run and we need to look at
this problem from more angles than just the cardiologist's perspective. This is also a quality of
life issue."
Re: French Police Save Millions Switching To Ubunt (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Run away or I shall taunt you a second time (Score:3, Funny)
Fetchez la vache!
Re:No, that's not what they did (Score:5, Funny)
The title of the article, and the title of the slashdot posting is inaccurate...
What's your point?
Read the original report - you'll feel much better (Score:3, Funny)
According to Guimard the move to open source has also helped to reduce maintenance costs.
Keeping GNU/Linux desktops up to date is much easier, he says.
"Previously, one of us would be travelling all year just to install a new version of some anti virus application on the desktops in the Gendarmerie's outposts on the islands in French Polynesia.
A similar operation now is finished within two weeks and does not require travelling.
Aaah... government work.
Not only do they find an exceptionally complicated way to solve a simple problem - they don't know when to keep their mouth shut when it goes in their favor.
Traveling around French Polynesian islands [wikipedia.org] updating anti-virus software for living?
Why yes. It is MUCH better to sit in some windowless room instead.
Re:Games are not our priority (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Go France! (Score:2, Funny)
Hey, it's not "pork", it's an "economic stimulus".
In a similar vein to "I economically stimulated your wife last night" ;-)
Re: French Police Save Millions Switching To Ubunt (Score:3, Funny)
*Microsoft* surrenders! (Score:5, Funny)
The IBM PC was a hamster wheel, and MS-DOS smelled of Elderberries...
And what is the air velocity of a chair thrown by a CEO?
Re: French Police Save Millions Switching To Ubunt (Score:1, Funny)
No, no, millions of _Francs_. About $1.98.
No, it's euros now days, and it's more worth than dollars :)
Cheers
Re:Games are not our priority (Score:2, Funny)
save (Score:2, Funny)
French Police Save Millions
At first I was so glad and thought they saved millions of people.
But I was wrong it was again about money...
Re:Where is GORILLA.BAS? (Score:1, Funny)
Here you go then. GORILLA.BAS in flash! [rickyroad.com]