法国立法者希望激发Linux革命

原文译言-yeeyan.com：http://www.yeeyan.com/articles/view/20180/26050

If the French National Assembly gets its way, the open-source Linux operating system will take over the governments of Europe, seizing on a weak economy to displace Windows.

如果在法国国民大会获得通过，那么，欧洲各国政府将抓住经济疲弱的机会，采用开源Linux操作系统，以取代Windows操作系统。

About 18 months ago, the Assembly shifted from running Windows on the 1,100 computers of its members and their assistants to running a version of Linux called Ubuntu. (I profiled the rise of Ubuntu in a recent article.) According to Rudy Salles, vice president of the assembly, the decision to abandon Microsoft’s Windows software was both an economic and political gesture.

18个月前，国民大会把议员及其助手运行Windows的1100台电脑改为运行一个称为Ubuntu的Linux版本。（在最近的一篇文章中，我对Ubuntu的兴起作了扼要的介绍。）根据国民大会副议长鲁迪?萨勒斯所说，放弃微软Windows软件的决定不但经济合算而且是一个政治姿态。

The French Parliament should save about 500,000 euros over the next five years, thanks to the low price of Ubuntu -- free -- and have lower management costs. Linux tends to have fewer security issues than Windows, for example.

法国议会未来五年将会节省约500,000欧元，由于Ubuntu的低价格----免费----以及管理费用较低。例如，Linux的安全问题往往比Windows的少些。

Politically, the European Union has proved tougher than the United States in its legal objections to Microsoft’s dominance over the operating system market. In addition, there’s a rising notion that backing Linux could lead to more local jobs, because local companies can try to disrupt the market by undercutting Microsoft on price and offering services to install and manage Linux for businesses.

政治上已经证实，欧盟对微软在操作系统市场上的垄断地位在法律上的反对比美国强硬。另外，还出现这样一种看法，支持Linux可能带来更多的本地就业机会，因为本地公司能够设法以低于微软的价码扰乱这一市场，并为企业提供安装和管理Linux系统的服务。

“We have tried to convince the government that investing in open-source is good for the local economy,” said Alexandre Zapolsky, the chief executive of Linagora, the French software services company that helped install Ubuntu at the Parliament. “If we try to play by the same rules as the U.S. companies, we will not be able to win a bright future. We have to change the rules.”

“我们努力使政府明白，投资于开源对地方经济有好处，”帮助在议会安装Ubuntu的法国软件服务公司Linagora的CEO亚历山大?扎波尔斯基说。“如果我们试图按美国公司同样的游戏规则行事，我们将无法赢得一个光明的未来。我们必须改变规则。”

Mr. Zapolsky also complains that French companies doing business with Microsoft help other countries more than France.

扎波尔斯基先生还抱怨说，法国公司与微软做生意对别国的帮助多于法国。

“At the end of the day, Microsoft does not pay taxes in France,” he said. “They pay the lower taxes through Microsoft Ireland.”

“在结账的时候，微软并没有在法国完税，”他说。“他们通过微软爱尔兰公司支付较低的税额。”

With economic woes sweeping through Europe, Mr. Salles says he believes France can offer a cheaper model for other countries to follow.

随着经济灾难席卷整个欧洲，萨勒斯先生说，他相信法国能够提供更廉价的模式供别国家仿效。

“We’re quite happy because it’s all working very well now,” Mr. Salles said. “We see that many countries are interested in our experience, and so we’ll try to help the other parliaments around the world.”

“我们很高兴，因为现在一切都顶好，”萨勒斯先生说。“我们看到，许多国家都对我们的经验感兴趣，因此我们会尽力帮助世界各国的其他议会。”

According to Mr. Salles, a survey polling members of the French Assembly found that 80 percent of the members were happy with the new software, which included new e-mail and office applications, while 14 percent felt Windows should return.

据萨勒斯先生称，一项对法国国民大会议员进行的调查发现，80%的议员对新软件感到满意，其中包括新的电子邮件和办公应用软件，而14%的议员觉得应该恢复使用Windows。