GendBuntu

GendBuntu
Developer National Gendarmerie
OS family Unix-like
Working state Current
Source model Open source and proprietary software
Initial release 2008 (2008)
Latest release 12.04 LTS / December 2012 (2012-12)
Available in French
Package manager APT
Kernel type Monolithic (Linux)
Default user interface Unity (user interface)
License Various free software licenses, plus proprietary
Official website www.gendarmerie.interieur.gouv.fr

GendBuntu is a version of Ubuntu adapted for use by France's National Gendarmerie. The Gendarmerie pioneered the use of open source software on servers and personal computers since 2001 when it adopted the OpenOffice.org office suite, making the OpenDocument .odf format its nationwide standard.

Project

The GendBuntu project derives from the Microsoft's decision to end the development of Windows XP, and its inevitable replacement with Windows Vista or a later edition of Windows on government computers. This meant that the Gendarmerie would have incurred large expenses for staff retraining even if it had continued to use proprietary software.

One of the main aims of the GendBuntu project was for the organisation to become independent from proprietary software distributors and editors, and achieve significant savings in software costs (estimated to be around two million euros per year).

Around 90% of the 10,000 computers purchased by the Gendarmerie per year are bought without an operating system, and have GendBuntu installed by the Gendarmerie's technical department. This has become one of the major incentives of the scheme for staff; transferring to GendBuntu from a proprietary system means the staff member receives a new computer with a widescreen monitor.

The main goal is to migrate 75,000 computers by the end of 2014, a date which coincides with the end of support for Microsoft Windows XP. 35,000 GendBuntu desktops and laptops have been deployed as of November 2011.

A major technical problem encountered during the development of the project was keeping the existing computer system online while the update took place, not only in metropolitan France but also in overseas Departments and Regions. It was solved partly by redistributing dedicated servers or workstations on Local Area Networks (depending on the number of employees working on each LAN) and with the use of an ITIL-compliant qualifying process.

An extensive IT support team helped to implement the changes. This included the "core team" at Gendarmerie headquarters at Issy-les-Moulineaux, the "running team" of four located at the Gendarmerie data center at Rosny-sous-Bois, and about 1,200 local support staff.

Timeline

See also

References

  1. ↑ Guillemin, Christophe (28 January 2005). "La gendarmerie nationale passe à OpenOffice". ZDNet.fr (in French). Retrieved 14 September 2015.
  2. ↑ Bierhals, Gregor. "Towards the freedom of the operating system: The French Gendarmerie goes for Ubuntu" (PDF). Open Source Observatory and Repository. Retrieved 14 September 2015.
  3. ↑ Hillenius, Gijs (30 September 2013). "French Gendarmerie: 'Open source desktop lowers TCO by 40%'". Open Source Observatory and Repository. Retrieved 14 September 2015.
  4. ↑ Best, Jo (17 October 2013). "'It was a huge risk': How the end of XP support helped France's gendarmes embrace Ubuntu – fast". ZDNet.com. Retrieved 14 September 2015.
  5. ↑ Hillenius, Gijs (16 June 2014). "'Open standards and ITIL lead to open source', France's Gendarmerie tells Korean ICT ministry". Open Source Observatory and Repository. The police force now has 65,000 PC workstations running Ubuntu Linux (version 12.04).

External links

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