[Infowarrior] - FAA May Ditch Microsoft For Google And Linux

[Richard Forno]

FAA May Ditch Microsoft's Windows Vista And Office For Google And Linux

FAA chief information officer David Bowen said he's taking a close look at
the Premier Edition of Google Apps as he mulls replacements for the agency's
Windows XP-based desktop computers and laptops.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=197800480

By Paul McDougall
InformationWeek

March 6, 2007 11:00 AM

March is coming in like a lion for Microsoft's public sector business. Days
after InformationWeek reported that the Department of Transportation has
placed a moratorium on upgrades to Windows Vista, Office 2007, and Internet
Explorer 7, the top technology official at the Federal Aviation
Administration revealed that he is considering a permanent ban on the
Microsoft software in favor of a combination of Google's new online business
applications running on Linux-based hardware.

In an interview, FAA chief information officer David Bowen said he's taking
a close look at the Premier Edition of Google Apps as he mulls replacements
for the agency's Windows XP-based desktop computers and laptops. Bowen cited
several reasons why he finds Google Apps attractive. "It's a different sort
of computing strategy," he said. "It takes the desktop out of the way so
you're running a very thin client. From a security and management standpoint
that would have some advantages."

Google launched Google Apps Premier Edition last month at a price of $50 per
user, per year. It features online e-mail, calendaring, messaging, and talk
applications, as well as a word processor and a spreadsheet. The launch
followed Google's introduction of a similar suite aimed at consumers in
August. The new Premier Edition, however, offers enhancements, including
24x7 support, aimed squarely at corporate and government environments.

Bowen said he's in talks with the aviation safety agency's main hardware
supplier, Dell Computer, to determine if it could deliver Linux-based
computers capable of accessing Google Apps through a non-Microsoft browser
once the FAA's XP-based computers pass their shelf life. "We have
discussions going on with Dell," Bowen said. "We're trying to figure out
what our roadmap will be after we're no longer able to acquire Windows XP."

Bowen, however, said he has not definitely ruled out an FAA-wide upgrade to
Windows Vista and related software -- if Microsoft can satisfy his concerns
over compatibility with the agency's existing applications and demonstrate
why such a move would make financial sense given Google Apps's low price.
"We have a trip to Microsoft scheduled for later this month," said Bowen.

Like the Department of Transportation, the FAA -- technically under DOT but
managed separately -- has its own moratorium in place on upgrades to Windows
Vista, Internet Explorer 7, and Microsoft Office 2007. Among other things,
Bowen said the FAA's copies of IBM's Lotus Notes software don't work
properly on test PCs running Windows Vista.

Bowen's compatibility concerns, combined with the potential cost of
upgrading the FAA's 45,000 workers to Microsoft's next-generation desktop
environment, could make the moratorium permanent. "We're considering the
cost to deploy [Windows Vista] in our organization. But when you consider
the incompatibilities, and the fact that we haven't seen much in the way of
documented business value, we felt that we needed to do a lot more study,"
said Bowen.

Because of Google Apps' sudden entry into the desktop productivity market,
what once would have been a routine decision at the FAA to eventually
upgrade to Microsoft's latest software is now firmly up in the air. With
similar debates doubtless playing out at other government agencies -- and in
the private sector -- Microsoft is going to have to work a lot harder than
in past years convincing customers to follow its well worn path of new
releases and follow-on patches.