The Foreign Office signed an agreement with Microsoft on Wednesday to supply the software platform for Future Firecrest, their proprietary platform.
An FCO spokesperson said, "We considered an open source solution but in the end decided that choosing Windows would be more cost effective. We already run Firecrest on Windows, and decided to upgrade. Our focus is on evolution rather than revolution — we are trying to keep pace with technology, but are by no means revolutionary."
The FCO are only now upgrading from their current Windows NT4 based system. Windows NT4 became obsolete on 1 January 2005, when Microsoft ended support. Neither the FCO or Microsoft would say what they are upgrading to.
|