What is the advantage of using free-of-charge software in state institutions?

Communications Minister Valerian Vreme, appointed in thisposition at the beginning of the month, says he is consideringdevising a strategy to introduce free-of-charge open-sourcesoftware, which would see a decline in contracts between the stateand software producers, but would mean cost savings for thegovernment.

"We will work on a strategy that will consider using open-sourcesoftware. There are European countries, such as France and Germany,which use such software extensively," Vreme told a pressconference.

Vreme (47), who worked for over ten years in IT in the privatesector, says first interoperability rules will be set, in order foran institution that uses open-source software to be able tocommunicate with one that is not using such software. Open-sourcesoftware, such as the OpenOffice suite, the Linux operating system,and the Firefox browser, is free-of-charge, and can be analternative to Microsoft's Windows and Office, produced by theworld's biggest software company. Office 2010 for instance,Microsoft's latest suite of applications, costs between 110 and 578euros.