Towards the freedom of the OS: French Gendarmerie goes Ubuntu

Web address of the case:

http://www.osor.eu/case_studies/towards-the-f...

Country of the case:

France

Posting Date:

14 July 2009

Last Edited Date:

14 July 2009

Author:

OSOR.EU - Open Source Observatory and Repository (OSOR.eu)

Ubuntu | French | Gendarmerie

Type of initiative

Strategic initiative

Case Abstract

In 2001 the Gendarmerie Nationale, France's national police force, started introducing open source software. The main goals were to gain greater independence and flexibility than proprietary software could offer. The decision to migrate all new workstations to Ubuntu, taken in January 2008, was the most important step in this transition so far.

Description of the case

Domain

eGovernment

Topic

Services for Citizens | Open Source

Sector

Crime, Justice and Law

Start date - End date

January 2008 (Ongoing)

Target Users

Administrative | Civil society

Target Users Description

The operating system affects basically all levels of the French Gendarmerie: from the headquarter in Paris to all local stations all over the country.

Scope

National

Status

Operation

Language(s)

French

Policy Context and Legal Framework

In 2001 the IT direction of the French Gendarmerie decided that it would be necessary to make the IT system more modular. This would allow more flexibility and make the introduction of new standards easier. Already then they had realized that open source software would meet their needs in the most appropriate way, as it offered greater transparency and was easier to adapt and change.

In 2005 the Gendarmerie took another step towards free software. As the first great software transition the office suite Microsoft Office was replaced by the open source counterpart OpenOffice, which not only was available at no cost, but also allowed for exactly this modularity and transparency the Gendarmerie required.Â

In the following year another step towards "the freedom the operating system" was taken, as one-by-one Microsoft Internet Explorer and Microsoft Outlook were replaced by Mozilla's Firefox web browser and Thunderbird email client.

When Microsoft announced its new operating system Vista in 2006, it became clear for the Gendarmerie that at some point in the near future, a migration of not only applications but also the whole operating system would be necessary. The circumstances were right: Not only had the IT group gained considerable expertise in working with open source software through the several projects implemented since 2001, but the desktop usability of several GNU/Linux distributions had also significantly improved since that time. The choice which direction to take â€“ Vista or a version of GNU/Linux â€“ was therefore not very difficult. Since many programs were already open source based, and more importantly the servers were already running on Debian GNU/Linux, the Gendarmerie started to develop a plan for the migration to the Debian-based Ubuntu GNU/Linux distribution. Eventually the French Department of Defence supported this decision by putting a moratorium on the implementation of Vista.

Project Size and Implementation

Type of initiative

IT infrastructures and products

Overall Implementation approach

Public administration

Technology choice

Open source software

Funding source

Public funding national

Implementation and Management Approach

The team in charge started with the questions: What do we need? Which applications are Microsoft dependent, and which are compatible with Ubuntu? Where are those workstations deployed? These were addressed in a study that aimed at mapping out a plan for a standard workstation, which would suit the needs of the Gendarmerie in all ways. After this study was finalised in mid-2007, a total of 35 applications were found to be essential for a standard workstation.

From an end-user perspective, the transition went unexpectedly smooth. Almost no additional training was required for the local police forces using the computers in their daily work. This was in part thanks to the fact that the software applications remained the same, but also because the Ubuntu user interface was easy to get used to.

Technology solution

The choice for the Ubuntu distribution was mainly based on the existing expertise that the team had gained from administrating the Debian GNU/Linux based servers. Since Ubuntu is also based on Debian, the team was able to apply their existing knowledge to the new system. The user friendliness of the Ubuntu user interface further supported their choice, as it made the transition from Windows 2000/XP to Ubuntu on the desktop relatively easy.

Since many applications remained the same and could run perfectly on Ubuntu (i.e. OpenOffice, Firefox), or were web-based, the transition process to the new operating system did not pose many technical difficulties. Although a number of problems did occur,Â compatibility with the open source operating system was not generally an issue. Small issues, with MS Outlook, for example occurred. Nonetheless a solution was found at some point, which in this case was presented by OBM (Open Business Management), an application that could replace, at least to a large extent, functions of MS Outlook. Eventually, the Gendarmerie hopes to be able to fully move away from Windows applications at some point. The goal for the year 2009 is the migration of up to 15.000 workstations to the new operating system.

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