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Local authorities in Newham and Nottingham are expected to migrate more than 10,000 desktop computers from Windows to Linux

Open source software is set to dramatically increase its foothold in the public sector. Two councils, Newham in London and Nottingham City Council, are examining the feasibility of shifting all their 11,500 staff desktop computers from Windows to Linux with open source desktop applications by the end of the year, according to E-Government Bulletin.

To date, open source has made slow progress onto public sector desktops, with only Penwith District Council in Cornwall and Scottish Central Police moving all their PCs to Star Office desktop software over a year ago.

An expected second wave of pioneers had so far failed to materialise, but now Newham has commissioned a feasibility study paving the way for the migration of its 5,000 workstations to open source later this year.

News source: ZDNet UK

Bouyant sales

Apple's music store has proven to be a major commercial success, overshadowing the online subscription services offered by the major record labels.

The iTunes store has more than 200,000 songs from artists such as U2, Eminem and Sting for sale at 99 cents (62 pence) each.

The service got off to a flying start, selling a million tracks in its first week.

I didn't realise yesterday's presentation was supposed to be confidential. When I found out, I pulled the details. Honest mistake

CD Baby website

The initial buoyant sales have continued. The leaked notes from the meeting last week show that Apple has sold 3.5 million songs in the six weeks the store has been open.

Worries in the record industry that customers would cherry-pick hits have not come true, with 45% of all songs downloaded as part of a full album.

The store offers an opportunity to sample 30 seconds of a track before you buy. The notes say that people tend to listen to 10 previews for every song they buy.

And most people seem happy to store their credit card details on the iTunes store. Some 90% of sales are one-click downloads, which means a credit card is automatically charged when a track is bought.

Private meeting

About 150 representatives were invited to the meeting with Steve Jobs to discuss making their music available on the iTunes store.

The meeting was supposed to be private, but notes taken by one of the people at the meeting have leaked onto the net.

CD Baby took the notes off its website shortly after posting them. A note on the site says: "Sorry, there used to be more details here. I didn't realise yesterday's presentation was supposed to be confidential.

"When I found out, I pulled the details. Honest mistake."

However, the information has found its way onto other sites.

One deal for all

The notes also provide an insight into how Apple deals with record industry.

It treats everyone the same way, rather than giving preferential treatment to the major labels with the big stars.

The independent music representatives were told they would be offered the same terms as bigger labels and have the same team looking after their tracks.

According to the notes, Mr Jobs said: "We have to be more efficient, though. We're not going to deal with 200 lawyers.

"Everyone is going to get the exact same deal. It's not negotiable. It's take it or leave it."

So far the iTunes service is accessible to fewer than 5% of the world's computer users - those owning an Apple Macintosh and living in the United States.

A Windows version of iTunes is planned for later this year, and an overseas expansion is also on the cards.