The City of Amsterdam said Friday it will spend euro300,000 (US$400,00) testing open source software in two administrative districts in 2007, in a potential blow for the city's current main supplier, Microsoft Corp.
Open source software is developed for free by volunteer programmers, and leased by providers who usually only charge for service and support.
City spokeswoman Marjolijn van Goethem said Amsterdam's housing department and one of its borough offices _ Zeeburg _ would test a Linux-based operating system on city computers, and open-source document software, replacing Microsoft Windows and Office.
Numerous European towns and cities, notably Munich, Germany, and Vienna, Austria, have switched partially or mostly to open source systems but they remain a tiny slice of the overall market.
"Earlier this year, a study ordered by the (Amsterdam) city council showed that an 'open' software strategy leads to more independence from suppliers," the city said in a statement. "In addition, the use of open software can lead to better exchange and storage of information, without unacceptable financial or logistical risks."
The test is scheduled to run during the first half of 2007, and, if successful, the rest of the city may start using open source software, the city statement said.
It said it didn't plan to stop using Microsoft software entirely in any case, but "it is the expectation that a new contract with ... Microsoft will be smaller." The current contract expires in at the end of 2008.
The statement did not reveal further details of the Microsoft contract.
Nine other Dutch cities, including Haarlem, Groningen, Eindhoven and Nijmegen have joined in signing Amsterdam's "manifesto for open software in government," penned earlier this year.
But Van Goethem said it was up to each city individually to decide how it will honour that statement of principle.
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