News that the Italian Corte dei Conti is adopting Red Hat Enterprise Linux is interesting. Even more so when you consider the role the Corte dei Conti plays and recent complaints regarding the apparent re-allocation of state funds previously committed to open source development.

Questions have recently been raised by Italian open source supporters as to exactly what has happened to €10m that was committed towards “stimulating the information society” through the use of open source software during 2007.

Roberto Galoppini reported in late 2007 that, according to “well informed voices” the funds have been allocated for different purposes. Several other bloggers have joined the cause, resulting in an open letter to Italian Minister for Technology Innovation Luigi Nicolais asking him to account for the allocation of funds.

It is something of a coincidence, therefore, that the Corte dei Conti (English information here) has adopted Linux. Set up with the role of “safeguarding public finance and guaranteeing the respect of jurisdictional order” among its responsibilities are the ‘a priori’ audit of the legality of Government acts, and ‘a posteriori’ audit of the State Budget’s management.