The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Security of South Korea plans to change the operating system from Windows 7 to Linux, and not to Windows 10.
The ministry will test Linux on its PCs and will deploy this practice more broadly, unless there are serious compatibility or security issues, writes Engadget.
It is not clear which Linux distributions will be used by the government, and at this stage there is no specific timetable. It is noted that switching between systems «will not be shocking.»
Free support for Windows 7 ends in January 2020, and this may increase the cost of maintaining multiple workstations. After that, commercial users can apply for extended support for Extended Security Updates (ESU) for a maximum of three years, while the cost of support will increase every year.
South Korea will have to upgrade to a newer version of Windows after 2023. The transition to Linux will also require costs, but not so large. It is expected that the transition to Linux and the purchase of new PCs will cost the government about 780 billion won ($ 655 million).
The failure of the South Korean government to use Windows will hit Microsoft. However, now he will not affect her as much as he could ten years ago. Currently, the company is more interested in promoting its cloud services, rather than selling copies of Windows.
