The penguin waddles into Italy.

Yes, that’s right, despite the overbearing heat a penguin is about to take up residence in Italy.  The penguin which I’m referring to is that used as a mascot by the Linux open source operating system, that Microsoft loves to hate. 

According to an article in my favourite Il Sole 24 Ore supplement, Thurday’s technology mini-magazine ‘Nova’,  the ’speaker’ of the Italian house of commons let’s say, one Fausto Bertinotti, who also happens to the leader of the Italian commnist party, has agreed to the use of the Linux operating system in Italy’s central government offices, thus depriving Microsoft of the sum of 600,000 Euros a year in licence fees, and, hopefully, diverting this windfall towards some worthwhile cause.

Nice move Mr Bertinotti, have a drink on me (at the 442, of course!). 

For the kind of work done by government officers, Linux and the applications which run very well on it, should be just fine.  For simple admin purposes, Vista would be absolute overkill.  Although, between you and me, I do hope Bertinotti’s boys have had a good look at the open source versions of PowerPoint and Excel, which, at least from my experience, are not quite up to scratch.  The OpenOffice version of PowerPoint just does not run well on my pretty up to date laptop.  I think my ATI graphics card drivers are to blame, incidentally, but I’m not sure how to sort the problem out.  Presentation transitions are unuseable, at least for me.  As for the OpenOffice sheet, for everyday operations, it’s just fine, but for more complex work, Excel is still ahead of the game.

Still, the move to penguin power is good news for Italy - Linux is, despite reports to the contrary, more stable and more secure, and it’s even become more user friendly. It just works, as the slogan for some ad or other goes.

Alitalia, the hot potato.

Somewhat unsurprisingly the Alitalia auction has fallen through and all the bidders have run away as fast as their little legs could carry them.  You see, instead of letting go of this money draining leviathan, the Italian government has been setting lots of conditions for the sale of this loss-making airline.  These conditions are so onerous that nobody wants to touch the company. 

Even the all-purchasing private equity groups, who seem to be buying just about any business that can be bought, seem to be staying a long way from Italy’s beleaguered national airline.  This says a lot, in my opinion.  If the private equity bunch won’t go near this animal, then it must really be thought of as being a king-size liability. 

Why the Italian government is imposing so many conditions is anybody’s guess and it sounds as though they are being held over a barrel, as usual, by Italy’s all-powerful unions, who do not seem to care that Italy’s population are paying to keep this unwieldy and unprofitable beast above the water line. 

The saga continues.  It’s a bit like a round the world flight with no destination - things just keep going round in circles.  Italians should hold a referendum on the issue as to whether the Italian government should continue to use their money to keep bailing Alitalia out.  If I could vote, I would vote a big ‘no’ and hope that the money saved be directed towards something more worthwhile, like Italy’s education system.

Boy, is it hot here in sunny Milan.

The pavements are literally squirming underfoot.  It is, I imagine, a bit like walking along the back of a huge snake, and it almost feels as though the sidewalks are alive.  Weird.

In fact, it is just the heat of the sun which turns the asphalt to syrup, making the pavements become soft and squidgy.  That’s how hot it is here. 

In summer it is quite common to see motorbikes lying on their sides, as a result of their side-stands sinking into the pavements.  And the pavements are pock marked with little holes made by stiletto heels.

It is all in stark contrast to the ’summer’ back over in the UK.  My father wrote me an email saying that it has been rainy and cold for the last couple of months.  Fairly typical unpredictable ’summer’ weather.  Glad that I’m not heading back there for August.

Yes, the heat is tiring, but I would not have it any other way.  I like summers! Real summers. that is.

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