The Israeli government has suspended all purchases of new Microsoft licenses and will explore open source alternatives. A Finance Ministry spokeswoman describes the decision as "purely economic". Microsoft will not make any comment.
Suarez-Potts from OpenOffice.org says a Hebrew version of their office suite will soon be ready. OpenOffice.org is sponsored by Sun Microsystems. It edits Microsoft Office documents and uses XML for document formats.
Other countries exploring the possibilities of open source software include Britain, Brazil, Japan, South Korea, China, Denmark, France, Germany and Russia.
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