INTERCONNECTS

FORD is joining the ranks of governments and local authorities across the world that have switched from Microsoft software to the free open-source alternative Linux, according to Scotsman.com. The car giant will run its sales operations, human resources, customer relations management and the rest of its infrastructure operations on the upstart technology. Until now, defectors to Linux have largely been national governments such as China and local authorities in countries like Germany concerned that Microsoft’s Windows operating systems represented a security risk by not allowing them to inspect the source code, the systems’ software foundations, for weaknesses. But government is a small part of Microsoft’s custom and it is its almost total domination of the business market that has made it the world’s leading software company. That makes Ford’s defection to Linux the biggest potential threat to Microsoft in the software developer’s 28-year history. Business software applications can now run as easily on Linux as on Microsoft’s Windows operating systems.