FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Victoria Education Kowtows to Microsoft. Yet Again.

25th October, 2007

While the rest of the world increasingly looks to Linux and open source
software as the optimal choice for computing in schools, the Victorian
Department of Education is heading in the wrong direction by adopting
Windows Vista. In the process, the Department is killing platform
competition, shunning local software suppliers and depriving school
children of a wealth of fantastic educational software. 

The Victorian Department of Education has again neglected the market,
side-stepped competition by open tender and signed yet another deal[1]
with Microsoft - excluding all other platform vendors, to deploy Windows
Vista - an operating system shunned by the rest of IT industry. 

"This disregard for alternatives has gone on for long enough and has to
be stopped," said Cybersource CEO Con Zymaris, a long-time proponent of
Linux and open source software, the primary competitor to Microsoft. "We
call on the Department of Education to ensure that its tenders for
computer platform, office productivity and related desktop software are
truly open to the market, to give vendors besides Microsoft the
opportunity to submit bids." 

"Amazingly, while the rest of the world is rejecting Vista, our
education departments are bending over backwards to adopt the
problematic platform," continued Zymaris. "Journalist after journalist,
industry analyst after analyst has seen fit to warn consumers and
business off Vista. In but one example, the influential Dutch Consumers’
Counsel has warned its constituents to avoid Vista, after receiving over
5000 complaints about Vista in only a single month. Vista is a quagmire
for most users, but Education Victoria are happy to be Microsoft's patsy
and waste Victorian taxpayer money in the process."

Rather than look to Vista, school districts across North America,
Europe, East Asia, India, South America and Africa, are moving away from
Windows to Linux. The Russian government is moving all schools across to
Linux in 2009[2]. There are hundreds of thousands of educational Linux
systems in Spain[3]. 

"Linux and open source delivers a broader range of technologies to
schools and pupils, because one of the great advantages of Linux and
open source software is that schools can now afford all forms of
technical, graphical, educational and business apps - it's all free
software after all. This in turn leads to better educational outcomes.
Open source software also leads to positives for those local ICT
industries, as billions of dollars aren't sucked out of the coffers of
school districts, to pay for Microsoft licence fees," Zymaris said.

"The funny thing is, Microsoft would probably pay handsomely to ensure
that school children learn Microsoft products and not alternatives like
Linux and open source. Instead of using this fact to demand that
Microsoft covers the costs involved in deploying Microsoft's wares, the
Victorian Department of Education is actually paying $23 million in
Microsoft licence fees alone," continued Zymaris.

"By subverting the power of competitive markets, the Department of
Education is hurting local platform vendors. By keeping innovative
technology off school desks and by adopting Vista, they're wasting
taxpayer money. And by stubbornly refusing to seriously consider
alternative technologies such as Linux and open source, they are
shackling themselves to the Microsoft upgrade treadmill in perpetuity,"
concluded Zymaris. 


References:
[1] http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;1582266183;fp;16;fpid;1
[2] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7034828.stm
[3] http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/0,1000000121,39118695,00.htm

- - -
About Cybersource Pty. Ltd.                                                     

Cybersource, founded in early 1991, is the second longest running open
source solutions company in the world. We have been demonstrating the
better value, security and robustness of open source technologies to our
clients since then. We also produce products like:

* The Small Business Linux Server: the best value small business
  server on the market and 75% less expensive than the Microsoft
  alternative.

* Cybersource Prison PC: Designed for correctional and detention 
  facilities. The most secure, hardened and zero-maintenance 
  general-purpose PC available.

* Cybersource TrimClient: All the advantages of a thin-client with
  none of the disadvantages. http://www.trimclient.com/

http://www.cybersource.com.au/

Spokesperson/Contact: Con Zymaris
Phone: +61 3 9621 2377
Email: info@cybersource.com.au
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