Government workers in the United Kingdom suggest the administration moves to open source software, replacing proprietary operating systems and proprietary office tools, in order to save money. Last month, UK Prime Minister David Cameron asked the 600,000 government workers to suggest ideas on saving money. From the almost 60,000 ideas that were submitted, the UK Treasury, the government department responsible for public finance policy and economic policy, last week published a selection of 31. "In terms of spending less - what about migrating the whole of government (the NHS, Education etc) from Microsoft products to Linux and open source software like Openoffice", is the eight item on the list. And suggestion number 28: "Annul the government’s agreement with Microsoft to provide software and operating systems (OS) to government departments and switch to open source software and Linux based operating systems. This would reduce costs by: Reducing the need to update hardware in line with new Microsoft OS releases. Linux OS and open source software has a lower whole life cost and is less susceptible to viruses. Support a more diverse spectrum of the IT industry, instead of one corporation; generating additional UK tax revenue." Publishing the list on 9 July, Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne called on UK citizens to send him "their very best ideas on how to get more for less from our public services". The UK treasury warns the 31 ideas are not shortlisted for further work or implementation. "They will all be considered individually alongside the other ideas that have been put forward." However, it is not the first time Osborne suggests moving to open source. Writing in the Times daily newspaper on 3 February 2009, he recommended the British government to "follow the example of businesses all over the world and take advantage of open source technology". The UK government is looking for ways to reduce its 155 billion GBP (about 185 billion Euro) budget shortfall. http://www.osor.eu/news/uk-government-should-move-to-open-source-to-save-mon...