ITWire

reports that Novell have clinched a deal with the NSW governments Department of

Commerce—this will place them on the governments preferred open source

suppliers panel.  Novell will also provide

consulting services to departments considering a move to open source platforms.

This underlines a trend being set by governments and large

organisations; I previously reported on Novell’s success in gaining contracts

with the Swiss government.  Another ITWire report

highlights the move these organisations are making away from Microsoft–the US state of Massachusetts has stated that by 2007 all

Executive Department documents must be stored in either PDF or Open Document

Format (ODF).  It’s believed that using

open standards ensures ‘official public records are freely and openly available

for their full lifecycle’, maybe Microsoft’s refusal to adopt ODF is an own

goal?