The administration of the city of Las Palmas on the Canary Island will start using LibreOffice on all of its 1200 desktop PCs. This free and open source office suite is already used on nearly 120 of the city's desktop PCs. In a press release published on 27 June, the city explains that is why it can calculate that the migration will save about 400,000 euros.
The city administration explains that LibreOffice is free of charge, and is very similar to a proprietary equivalent. Public administrations are increasingly turning to LibreOffice, writes the city, " because of its many advantages, among which cost savings."
Las Palmas' statement quotes Claudio Rivero, a top government official involved in the move to LibreOffice. "Open technologies are a rising star, that rival alternatives in terms of quality, safety, economy of use and technological independence."
By increasing its use of free and open source, Las Palmas also aims to meet the goals promoted by Cenatic, the national resource centre on free and open source. "This is a strategic project of the Spanish government that seeks to promote and disseminate open source in all areas of society."
Las Palmas is the largest city in the autonomous community of the Canary Islands.
More information:
Press release by Las Palmas (in Spanish)