Mindef sees open source software like OpenOffice as strategic alternatives to proprietary software but it does not plan to replace Microsoft Office 97, which will continue to be used on all desktop computers.

Dr Cheok acknow-ledged that many users are still comfortable with Microsoft Office 97 and that they might take some time to switch to OpenOffice. And while staff members are encouraged to use the open source software, they are not forced into doing it.

OpenOffice and Micro-soft Office are not wholly compatible. Tables and bullet points in a Micro-soft Word document, for example, may not display correctly in OpenOffice. So, users are advised to stick to Office 97 when working on a Microsoft Word document.

The same goes for OpenOffice documents, which should only be launched in OpenOffice, said Dr Cheok.

To get employees to warm up to OpenOffice, Mindef engaged local Linux solutions provider, Resolvo Systems to conduct a two-day training course for 40 staff members.

Mr Jimmy Lee, Mindef's assistant CIO of pro-jects said "the response was good".

The only negative comments were from full-time national servicemen who felt they didn't learn very much from the course as they were able to use the software on their own, he added.

The training efforts have paid off as there are now more people using OpenOffice to create PDF files and presentations, said Dr Cheok.

He found the portable document format writer - which turns documents into the ubiquitous PDF format - useful for cre-ating "read-only" documents where further editing is not required. This feature is absent in Microsoft Office.

MINDEF SAVES ON CAPITAL COSTS BY USING OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE

Organisations that have taken the open source road are often attracted by the lower cost of open source software. For the Ministry of Defence (Mindef), the savings are likely to be "significant' because of the quantity of software licences it buys.

A majority of open source software is free or can be acquired at a fraction of the cost of proprietary ones, said Dr Cheok Beng Teck, director of Mindef's CIO office. So, the ministry does not have to pay for proprietary software licences.

In contrast, a licensed copy of the Office 2003 Professional Edition costs almost $800, although bulk licence pricing is available from Microsoft.

'There will be savings in terms of capital costs,' he said. But Mindef does not have exact figures now on how much it is expecting to save by using OpenOffice.

This is because OpenOffice co-exists with Office 97, so it is still premature to talk about before-and-after cost savings now, explained Mr Chong Chan Meng, Mindef's assistant CIO of plans.

Cutting costs with choice

Detractors say the lack of expertise in open source software may make it more expensive than pro-prietary ones because of higher support and training costs. But Dr Cheok noted that such costs are negligible to Mindef.

He said that Mindef users "pick up new skills very well' and can adapt to new software easily. For software support and expertise, the ministry turns to the Defence Science and Technology Agency.

However, Dr Cheok commented that the cost of not having a choice is very high. "If you are only depen-dent on one vendor for software, he can jack up the prices.'

Apart from OpenOffice, Mindef is also running Linux, an open source operating system on some of its e-mail and web servers where the high reliability and robustness of Linux is required.

The fact that the source codes, or building blocks of software, are free for all to see and modify also makes Linux an attractive option, Dr Cheok said.

'When we can read the code, we know what's happening. If there are security leaks in the code, we should be able to pick it up. This gives us assurance, because you can't read the source codes in proprietary software,' he added.

Mindef plans to run Linux on desktops eventually, but Dr Cheok emphasised that like OpenOffice, it will be rolled out in stages.

'We will test it until we know that people can work with it, and can exchange files with users of other operating systems. If we roll out Linux on the desktops tomorrow for everybody, it will be too disruptive.'