Title: French army sides with Mozilla in Microsoft email war
Authors: Marie Mawad and David Lawsky
Publisher: Reuters
Date (published): 09/12/2009
Date (accessed): 12/12/2009
Type of information: article
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
A new email client unveiled by Mozilla this week contains code from an unusual source -- the French military, which decided the open source product was more secure than Microsoft's rival Outlook.

The story of how the French government became involved with the open source movement, which has transformed much software around the world from proprietary to free, goes back six years.

Title: Affordable Computing for Schools in Developing Countries: A Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) Model for Education Officials
Pages: 34 pp.
Publisher: Vital Wave Consulting
Date published: 2008
Date accessed: 19/06/2009
Type of information: comissioned white paper
Language: English
On-line access: yes (pdf, 524kb)
Abstract:
Education decision-makers face the challenge of equipping young people with the skills necessary to compete in the global economy and need information and tools for formulating effective policy. This white paper discusses key issues related to technology in education and presents several major findings, including:
• Academic research and private-sector investment decisions indicate that computers in schools contribute to improved academic outcomes, boost a nation’s economic competitiveness, and attract job-creating economic investments.
• Governments need to consider the entire cost of school computing solutions, rather than merely the initial expenses. A total cost of ownership model takes into account recurrent and hidden costs such as teacher training, support and maintenance, and the cost of replacing hardware over a five-year period.
• Support and training are recurrent costs that constitute two of the three largest costs in the total cost of ownership model. They are greater than hardware costs and much higher than software fees.
• Ultra-low cost computers and Linux-based solutions are relatively equal in cost to traditional hardware and proprietary software solutions because they require higher labor and replacement costs over a fiveyear period.
• The total cost of ownership for different computer types and software platforms is relatively consistent. Critical success factors, such as IT ecosystems and platform stability and longevity therefore need to be considered in affordable computing decisions.

The study was commissioned by Microsoft.