After deciding many months ago to begin a migration to Linux, the French parliament has picked Ubuntu as their distribution of choice. Not particularly surprising, as Ubuntu has made quite a name for itself as an easy to use yet still robust install, with one of the best package managers around. They've also decided on a few standard desktop applications, such as Sun's OpenOffice, Firefox and Thunderbird and more. The decision to move came as the result of a study of both financial and functionality impact:
Before making its decision, the assembly hired Atos Origin to undertake a study into the matter, which concluded that "open-source solutions now offer functionality adapted to the needs of MPs and will allow the realization of substantial economies despite certain installation and training costs."
This represents another portion of an overall move for them to convert to open source software, which they already had begun for server software.