Birmingham City Council is to evaluate the viability of open-source software on desktop PCs.

The large-scale trials are funded from the Office Of the Deputy Prime Minister. The move follows another trial by the London Borough of Newham, which led to a landmark partnership deal with Microsoft.

The technology will be tho Linux operating system, OpenOffice applications and the Firefox web browser.

Glyn Evans, director of business solutions and IT at the council, commented "I don't have any desire to use open source just because it is not Microsoft," he said.

The ODPM group, Open Source Consortium is actually supplying the finance.

In the background, is the Gershon report, which has prompted the government to look for massive savings from IT.

The trial will last for a year, ending with an independent evaluation.

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