Sun has managed to oust Microsoft from its position as provider of desktop software to Allied Irish Bank (AIB), and has secured the deal to supply its Java Desktop System (JDS) to the bank's 7,500 desktop users. Sun is, as always, particularly pleased to have nabbed a bit of business from its rival. Curtis Sasaki, vice president of desktop solutions at Sun, said that it is the biggest deal the company has signed for its JDS in the financial services sector. However, the company has not said how much the deal is worth.

"We are very pleased to have AIB as a client and see growing demand in the financial, education and government markets," Sasaki said in a prepared statement. "This deal follows recent government agreements with China and the United Kingdom."

AIB may be familiar to regular readers as the bank hit by a tax evasion scandal earlier this year, resulting in calls for the head of its CEO, Michael Buckley.

The news is the latest in a series of losses for the Redmond firm. eWeek reports that by the end of 2004, the Norwegian city of Bergen plans to have completed migration of 100 schools and 32,000 users to Linux, away from its proprietary Unix and Microsoft's Windows applications platform. Munich has also voted to make the switch.

According to this French news site, the City of Paris is looking carefully at Linux, and Microsoft is already offering a 60 per cent rebate. And, as reported on El Reg, the town of Motala in Sweden says it will save $53,000 a year by swapping from Microsoft to Linux. ®

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