Vietnam Pushes Open-source Software for Government Use

The Vietnamese government will move to several open-source applications by the end of next year as the country also tries to reduce the use of pirated software.

Vietnam's Ministry of Information and Communications has mandated that applications such as the OpenOffice.org productivity suite, Firefox browser, Thunderbird e-mail client and UniKey Vietnamese keyboard client be installed at government agencies by the end of June, according to a report by Wednesday VietnamNet, a government-owned news agency. The ministry published the original order on Dec. 30.

At least half of the employees at those agencies should be able to use the programs by the June deadline, VietnamNet reported. By the end of 2009, 70 percent of the workstations in local state agencies should have the software installed, with 40 percent of employees proficient in their use. Vietnam is aiming for all employees to be trained to use the applications by the end of 2010.

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