Global environmentalist action group Greenpeace UK has canned Windows and opted for an open source desktop alternative in a bid to save money.

The organisation said that it has successfully migrated its operation-critical fundraising systems in the UK from Windows to a Java Enterprise system running on Linux.

As a non-profit organisation, Greenpeace is entirely dependent on contributions and relies heavily on its database system of supporters and fundraising activities. The organisation opted for Red Hat Linux to reduce the total cost of these core systems, while ensuring stability and security.

"While our systems development team were not initially very familiar with Linux, its stability and depth of support has made it the easy, as well as the cost-effective, choice," said Kit Kline, systems developer at Greenpeace UK.

Greenpeace UK evaluated Red Hat against Windows NT and Sun Solaris, comparing performance, reliability, configurability and support services. The result was Dell servers with Red Hat Linux 7.1, running a Java application server and IBM's DB2 database.

Scott Harrison, director of Red Hat Northern Europe, said: "A robust, secure computer network has to be at the centre of any successful organisation, whether their aim is to dominate the world or to save it."