Petition Of Alexander Ilin: Adopt Free Operating Systems And Open-Source Software Across Government Agencies

Preamble

We, the undersigned
citizens and residents of Aotearoa New Zealand, respectfully
call upon the New Zealand Government to adopt Linux-based
operating systems and open-source productivity software
across all government agencies, ministries, and publicly
funded institutions.

New Zealand taxpayers currently
fund tens of millions of dollars each year in licensing fees
for commercial proprietary software — primarily Microsoft
Windows and Microsoft Office — software that is freely and
openly replaceable with mature, secure, and world-class
open-source alternatives. This ongoing expenditure is
unnecessary, fiscally irresponsible, and out of step with
global best practice in digital
government.

The Problem: Wasteful Software
Licensing at Taxpayers’ Expense

1.
The Scale of the Spending

The New Zealand
Government spends an estimated NZD $100–$150 million per
year on Microsoft licensing agreements across central and
local government bodies. This covers Windows OS licences,
Microsoft 365 subscriptions (formerly Office 365),
SharePoint, Teams, Azure Active Directory, and related
products.

This money is paid directly to a foreign
multinational corporation, leaves New Zealand’s economy, and
provides no lasting asset to the public. Every year, the
licences must be renewed — and prices have consistently
increased above inflation. New Zealand taxpayers are
essentially locked into a perpetual rental agreement with no
exit strategy.

2. Vendor Lock-In and Digital
Dependency

By relying exclusively on
Microsoft products, the New Zealand Government has created a
dangerous single-vendor dependency. This creates the
following risks:

• Security vulnerabilities: When
  Microsoft products are exploited globally, New Zealand’s
  entire public sector is exposed
  simultaneously.
• Price gouging: With no competitive
  alternatives in use, Microsoft can and does increase pricing
  at will with little recourse.
• Data sovereignty
  concerns: Citizens’ data processed through foreign-owned
  cloud infrastructure is subject to overseas legislation,
  including the US CLOUD Act.
• Skills monoculture:
  Public servants trained only in Microsoft tools are less
  adaptable and less competitive in an increasingly diverse
  technology landscape.

3. Unfairness to
Taxpayers

New Zealanders pay taxes on the
expectation that their money is spent wisely and in the
national interest. Paying recurring, escalating fees to a
foreign corporation for software that has mature, free,
open-source equivalents is a failure of fiscal
responsibility. The public has never been consulted on this
spending, and the true cost — including integration,
training, and ongoing subscription escalation — is rarely
disclosed transparently.

The Solution: Linux
and Open-Source Software

What Is
Linux?

Linux is a free, open-source
operating system — the software that runs a computer. It
is the most widely used operating system in the world when
measured across all devices: it powers the vast majority of
the world’s web servers, cloud infrastructure,
supercomputers, Android smartphones, and increasingly,
desktop computers. Linux is:

• Free to download,
  install, and use — zero licence cost.
• Actively
  maintained by thousands of developers and major technology
  organisations worldwide.
• Highly secure — its open
  codebase means vulnerabilities are spotted and patched
  faster than in closed proprietary systems.
• Highly
  customisable — governments can adapt it to their precise
  needs.
• Available in many user-friendly distributions
  (versions), including Ubuntu, Linux Mint, and Fedora, which
  are as easy to use as Windows for everyday
  tasks.

Open-Source Office
Alternatives

The most common justification
for retaining Microsoft products is the need for office
productivity software — word processing, spreadsheets,
presentations, and email. All of these have excellent
open-source alternatives:

LibreOffice,
in particular, is fully compatible with Microsoft Office
file formats (.docx, .xlsx, .pptx), meaning documents can
still be exchanged with the public and private sector
without issue. It is already used by millions of
organisations worldwide, including many
governments.

International Precedent:
Countries Already Leading the Way

New
Zealand would not be pioneering uncharted territory.
Numerous governments and public institutions worldwide have
already made this transition, demonstrating both the
feasibility and the significant financial savings
available:

The
pattern is clear: governments that have embraced open-source
software have saved enormous sums of taxpayer money while
increasing digital sovereignty, improving security, and
building local technical capability.

What We
Are Asking the New Zealand Government to
Do

We call on the New Zealand Government to
take the following concrete
steps:

1. Commission an independent
   cost-benefit analysis of transitioning government
   agencies from Microsoft Windows and Office to Linux and
   LibreOffice, including total cost of ownership over a
   10-year horizon.
2. Establish a pilot programme
   in at least two government agencies to trial Linux
   desktops and open-source productivity tools, with results
   reported publicly.
3. Develop a
   whole-of-government open-source software policy
   that gives open-source solutions equal or
   preferential consideration in all future procurement
   decisions.
4. Invest savings in local ICT
   capability — training public servants in
   open-source tools, supporting New Zealand-based open-source
   developers and businesses, and building a sovereign
   technology capability.
5. Require transparency
   in software licensing costs — all government
   agencies should be required to publicly disclose annual
   spending on proprietary software
   licences.
6. Mandate open document formats
   — all government documents should be published
   and stored in open, non-proprietary formats (such as ODF) to
   ensure long-term public access and software
   independence.

Why This Matters
Specifically for New Zealand

• New
  Zealand is a small, trade-dependent economy. Every dollar
  spent on overseas software licences is a dollar not
  circulating in our local economy.
• New Zealand has a
  strong tradition of pragmatic, evidence-based policymaking.
  The evidence from overseas is overwhelming: open-source
  saves money and works well.
• Digital sovereignty
  matters. New Zealanders’ government data should not be
  dependent on the decisions of foreign corporations or
  subject to overseas laws.
• Our public schools and
  universities teach on Microsoft platforms, creating a
  generation of citizens who are dependent on expensive
  proprietary software from their first day at school. A
  government shift would broaden digital literacy for all New
  Zealanders.
• Climate and sustainability: open-source
  software often runs efficiently on older hardware, extending
  the life of devices and reducing e-waste — aligned with
  New Zealand’s sustainability
  goals.

Conclusion

The
technology exists. The international precedent is clear. The
financial case is compelling. The only thing missing is the
political will.

We, the undersigned, urge the New
Zealand Government to act in the interests of all taxpayers
by investigating, piloting, and adopting Linux and
open-source software across the public sector. This is not
about ideology — it is about responsible stewardship of
public funds, digital independence, and building a more
resilient and capable New
Zealand.

https://petitions.parliament.nz/4094c3f9-c504-4274-5bd3-08ded15165c4?lang=en

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