Linux gets the hard shutdown as Microsoft garners a three-year contract with the Central Scotland Police.

It's been a rough few days for open source. Bruce Perens criticized the OSDL Patent Commons Program at LinuxWorld, and Firefox has seen a small drop in market share, with Internet Explorer picking up the same percentage.

Last week Microsoft disclosed an agreement made with the Central Scotland Police where Windows XP, Server 2003, and Office would become the "platform of choice."

"Although an open-source solution met our needs in the past, it was becoming more difficult to maintain in the increasingly joined-up environment of today," said David Stirling, head of ICT for Central Scotland Police, in a press release. "As the need for increased integration and compatibility with other criminal justice agencies and community partners grows, the value of similar infrastructures becomes more important."

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The department performed a study in January, and has found it could save $191,000 USD just by using Microsoft's Office SharePoint to fulfill requests under the Freedom of Information Act of 2002. Altogether, the study indicates the department could realize 30 percent savings in maintenance and 25 percent staff time savings.

Previously, the department had implemented Linux and the StarOffice productivity suite. But an ongoing need to coordinate efforts with other departments has driven the changeover. "For this to happen, local force systems and national standard systems need to co-exist and converge where possible. Police forces need to improve their ease of communication with other criminal justice partners," the study notes.

It's isn't the end completely for Linux at the department, though. In the study, they noted that Linux firewalls, and Linux servers hosting database applications, will be retained.