Portugal Schools Switching to Linux OSs

The global economic crisis is forcing government all over the world to reduce spendings. The Ministry of Education and Science from Portugal has advised the school boards from around the country that 50.000 computers, distributed from 2004 to 2007, will not get their Windows licenses renewed.

Instead, schools will have to switch to a Linux distribution, where cases apply. The problem with these computers is that they are just old, and newer Windows operating systems will not work properly.

There weren't any advises issued on what Linux distribution should be used, but this move from The Ministry of Education and Science will save 1.16 million EUR ($1.62 million USD).

By year's end, almost 50.000 computers, a third from nation's total school computers, will run some form of a Linux distribution.