French National Police Switch 37,000 Desktop PCs to Linux

http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2013/09/gendarmerie_linux/

by Libertatea • 13 years ago

142 53 13 years ago

bdfh42• 13 years ago

I suppose the moment when there are only two questions to be answered before a non-developer's device is selected has arrived.

Q1: Does it run a mainstream, grade A browser? Q2: Is there an adequate way of generating documents I can share with users of other devices?

Answer yes to both and it is down to price, convenience and aesthetics - with (for some) the added advantage of a selection making life tougher for inter- (and infra-) national spies.

simgidacav• 13 years ago

As mentioned by many people, open source gives you peer review as an advantages, and bugs (both in-good-faith and intentional) get more easily spotted.

This however doesn't prevents bug from be there, and the question is: will those guys be keeping their custom systems up to date?

Also, as you point out, a lot of the work is now moved on this [gorram] cloud, and unfortunately the simple fact you're running GNU/Linux hardly prevents information from leaking. I wonder if they will also be using strong cryptography or custom online services!

EDIT: the distro is likely being a spin-off of something existing -- indeed, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GendBuntu as somebody linked -- so yes, that will be up to date.

devcpp2• 13 years ago

At least they get to solve the problems. You can't do that with closed OSs. Same goes for the cloud vs. your own server.

bencollier49• 13 years ago

Q3: Is it supported by a company I can trust?

philhippus• 13 years ago

Slow clap from Linux users everywhere. I think we are so jaded that some of us prefer the masses to remain ignorant to the fact of a more powerful, more stable and free OS. Things have become familiar this way.

ZenoArrow2• 13 years ago

"more powerful, more stable" Assuming you're comparing to Windows, in what ways more powerful and more stable?

I've used various versions of Linux and Windows, and in my experience Linux is great to use, until something breaks and you want to refresh that component. When I first started using it around 2005 it was network issues (luckily things are much improved now), when I use it now I most frequently have issues with sound. On the other hand, Windows might not be as nice a development environment, but at least you can rely on the drivers (for the most part).

narag• 13 years ago

These problems are much less important when you use it inside an organization, with a support department and hardware certification.

babuskov• 13 years ago

Stability depends a lot on the distribution you use.

I've used various Linux distos over the last 10+ years. If you use something like Slackware, it is rock solid. I still have some 5+ year old installs that simply just work. However, distributions that update/upgrade and install software automatically have lower stability as more people are involved in creating packages, and not of all of them are skilled or careful enough. Packages are often patched versions of vanilla software and sometimes the patch was just wrong because it does not sync well with some other installed software. I still recall major mess by Ubuntu and Fedora and their derivatives at many points in the past.

username42• 13 years ago

"refresh that component". That's the way of thinking in windows where you reinstall random stuff until system works as expected.

In Linux, you will need to go through a lot of documentation and forum until you learn enough about the component to understand how to fix the issue.

This may seems a huge effort, but it is very rewarding: your problem is solved forever, you know what caused it, you have discovered many useful features of you OS that you did not know, you have learned how to analyse similar issues.

Linux is very stable: almost everything I have learned 20 years ago remain useful.

vvvVVVvvv2• 13 years ago

Don't overdo it mate. I don't think there's a globally superior OS out there in the market.

Each has its own pros and cons.

And yes, your comment sounds really condescending : "masses, ignorant".

devcpp2• 13 years ago

I disagree, in the same way that I consider Firefox to be the best browser: because it is freely modifiable. So, you can make it the best for you, which is invaluable.

The fact that some distros are great for most people out of the box is just an extra perk for me, it's not that important. I could never make Windows as good as I made my Debian, or Chrome as good as I made my Firefox.

cones688• 13 years ago

transferring to GendBuntu from a proprietary system means the staff member receives a new computer with a widescreen monitor. (0)

This is a great idea to get staff to accept the change, not "forced" upon them but how about a bigger screen and a faster computer, now your colleague has one and you have a slow old one... it's a no brainer really.

(0) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GendBuntu

netcan• 13 years ago

It's the exact opposite of the linux desktop tradition: take a seven year old dust caked laptop. Put linux on it. Get excited about how much better it is than Windows NT. Hand it over to your 17 year old niece and watch her compare it to her friend's new macbook air.

masklinn2• 13 years ago

There's an extensive discussion on the subject a few links below: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6469559

bambax• 13 years ago

Gendarmerie is not "national police"; they are different entities (and of course they hate one another).

johnchristopher6• 13 years ago

Keep it that way. It didn't do us any good to merge both (Belgium).

mercurial2• 13 years ago

This makes me curious. Can you elaborate?

haiduc• 13 years ago

This is NOT the Police but the Gendarmerie, one of the four military bodies along with the navy, the army and the air force. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Gendarmerie

They are soldiers, not civil servants. Unlike french public administrations, when the army has an execution plan, it get things done!

yannickmahe• 13 years ago

Didn't they just move from Defense to Interior?

masklinn2• 13 years ago

For budgetary/employment yes (back in 2009), but status-wise they remain a military force.

So they're really halfway, under both defense and interior.

Vlaix3• 13 years ago

Getting things done ? You must have missed the Louvois scandale. You know, thousands of soldiers no being paid for almost a year and stuff...

vinight• 13 years ago

we will definitely start to see more and more stories like this around the world. obviously not in the US.

fyolnish• 13 years ago

2013: Year of linux on the desktop!

zmmmmm• 13 years ago

I wonder if Windows 8 will be accelerating this kind of thing. The metro UI is so annoying, useless and unsuitable in a corporate environment, it finally provides a climate where even people who like Windows are happier with Ubuntu than they are with Windows 8.

selmnoo• 13 years ago

I know this horse has been already beaten to death... but, I just got a laptop with Win8 this week and I have to say this, my goodness I am just awestruck that this Metro interface actually made it to the public in its current form. What the hell happened? Isn't Microsoft a company that conducts very basic UI tests before shipping a big product?

I like to think of myself as a fairly technical person, and yet I could not figure out how to do simple things like close windows, change windows, shut down, etc. for a good while.

My dad, a 68 year old guy, calls himself a geek computer person, his friends affectionately/comically refer him to as a "computer genius". He was trying out the Win8 laptop the other day... and I heard him say "Hm, I'm not as good with computers as I thought I was". That just really made me very sad. I'm just going to get a Win7 laptop for him now.

spongle• 13 years ago

To be honest, 8.1 is OK. It's not perfect but it sits in the rankings between XP and 7. It's also going to be a free upgrade.

Basically you can turn off most of the crap and use the start screen as a start menu and it's bearable. I'd take it over XP but not 7 (which it looks like I'll be using until 2020)

r0h1n• 13 years ago

It's so heartening to see the scales finally beginning to tilt in favour of free and open-source software after decades.

While one reason (for OSes) is of course the much improved UI, installation/upgrade and app availability, I wonder how big a role the relative decline in the importance of the OS itself plays?

I chanced by this tweet earlier today:

"Steve Jobs told Dropbox they were a feature. Increasingly its looking like he had it backwards, the host OS is the disposable feature"

(https://twitter.com/tolmasky/status/384756799351451648)

pilooch• 13 years ago

Interestingly, Linux is moving to win on several fronts. Economy and debt crisis, in addition to rising Ubuntu-like UI (easy to use, LibreOffice included, etc...) increase the benefits for governments and agencies. That's one front.

On another front, Linux clearly being the top platform for software development, it can naturally then be a top OS for game development, and become a top gaming platform itself, typically with SteamOS and Android.

At Ubuntu install parties, it's been a pleasure to see older French citizens coming in with already good information, knowledge and know-how of the Linux platform, for some because of their daily job at government agencies. And they want the OS at home! What else ;)

lloeki2• 13 years ago

A bit of trivia, which makes the title actually wrong: it's "Gendarmerie Nationale" (which is a military corps, handled by "Ministère de la Défense" ~ DoD), not "Police Nationale" (which is not a military corps, under "Ministère de l'Intérieur" ~ DoHS).

The USA relies (IIUC) on 2nd amendment to resist oppression, possibly from its own police forces and government, whereas in France guns are outright forbidden but there are by design those two distinct and independent entities, with an autonomous chain of command, hopefully guaranteeing one will defend the people rights should the other be subverted.

jackjeff• 13 years ago

Sort of... There has been a lot of talks about merging the two bodies, and some steps have already been made towards that goal by the current administration and the previous one.

It's not unthinkable that distinction and separate chain of command would eventually go away in the next decade or so.

epsylon• 13 years ago

A bit of trivia, which makes the title actually wrong: it's "Gendarmerie Nationale" (which is a military corps, handled by "Ministère de la Défense" ~ DoD), not "Police Nationale" (which is not a military corps, under "Ministère de l'Intérieur" ~ DoHS).

Well, since 2009, the Gendarmerie receives its budget and orders from the Ministère de l'Intérieur. It's not a police force stricto sensu, but their missions are those of a police force.

scriptproof• 13 years ago

Gendarmerie is the police for rural areas.

mathattack3• 13 years ago

This seems very much a French ideal. I used to visit France a lot for work, and there seemed to be a lot of disrespect of authority. (Strikes, unions, etc.)

This gets me thinking about Open Source. I would think that adoption is consistent with the Power to the People ethos in France. How is their Linux adoption as a country compared with the rest of the world?

forgottenpaswrd2• 13 years ago

In France Unions ARE the authority.

Most of the French work for the government and unions have lots of power.

Vlaix3• 13 years ago

The adoption of Linux is just consistent with the fact that we're getting poor.

johnchristopher6• 13 years ago

This gets me thinking about Open Source. I would think that adoption is consistent with the Power to the People ethos in France. How is their Linux adoption as a country compared with the rest of the world?

There is a funny fad of the week in the part of the IT field I am involved in that has old-timer one-finger typing IT guys shouting "Yes but the cost of maintaining linux and training people greatly outweigh those of windows; people don't realize that everybody knows windows but if something goes wrong with linux you have to pay to get help".

The bearded windows guys are scared.

brudgers• 13 years ago

"The migration started in 2004, when the Gendarmerie was faced with providing all its users with access to its internal network. In order to save money, the agency switched from Microsoft Office to OpenOffice. Then the agency rolled out Firefox and Thunderbird in 2006. Finally, in 2008, it switched the first batch of 5,000 users to a Linux OS based on the Ubuntu distribution."

They started the transition to FOSS in 2004, which means planning began even earlier: That's more than a decade.

They have transitioned approximat 7000 users a year to Linux for the past five years. They still have a significant fraction of their desktops that have not transitioned.

As an enterprise, they not only have state level funding but funding at the level of a security/military organization.

In my opinion it would be a mistake to ignore the scale and pace at which the transition was made. It would also be a mistake to discount the way in which the character and culture of the institution facilitated the transition - corporations don't have enlisted and staff officer cadres.

Sure there is no longer conscription, is not as if a gendarmerie can just quit for a job elsewhere in the industry if they prefer OSX.

lloeki2• 13 years ago

As an enterprise, they not only have state level funding but funding at the level of a security/military organization.

Which also means that they're procedural and bureaucratic in a way that can make the term "enterprisey" sound like euphemism.

josteink• 13 years ago

Good for them!

As more and more people transition away from Windows, I'm always sad to see some move to OS X. If you're going to leave one proprietary, commercial & licensed platform for another, then really what's the point?

This sort of migration at least brings some tangible benefits, with one of them being tax dollars not spent paying Microsoft a tax for having a PC.

These sort of stories definitely cheer me up.

forgottenpaswrd2• 13 years ago

"If you're going to leave one proprietary, commercial & licensed platform for another, then really what's the point?"

The point is using a complete UNIX operating system that works with any Unix code using standards like OpenGL, but at the same time, is respected by manufacturers of hardware and supported by service providers.

Half our computers(lots of them)in our company are Linux, half of them Mac. Using Unix means we could inter operate between them very easy, not like using Windows forcing DirectX(in theory you could use OpenGL, ha!).

Using Linux means we have total freedom in what we could do. We are outside USA, not software patents here.

johnchristopher6• 13 years ago

What exactly are you working on ?

dublinben• 13 years ago

This article was already posted yesterday. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6469559

Just another duplicate spam post from Libertatea.

French National Police Switch 37,000 Desktop PCs to Linux

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