ZDNet Australia reports that the Sydney Diocese of the Anglican Church has decided to cut the Microsoft cord and move to open source software, starting with Office which will be replaced in the next three years.

In an interview yesterday, George Lymbers, CIO of the organisation, said he had uncovered substantial savings potential by getting rid of licence fees.

“Some people say, well you only need Windows. Wait a second: you need Office, you need Windows, you need this, you need that. Before you know it you have 10 to 12 licences on one PC covered across thousands of installations. The cost of that is just spectacular,” he said.

Although he wouldn’t say exactly how much the church expected to save in total, Lymbers did say that savings for the Sydney Diocese Secretariat alone will amount to AU$150,000 a year.

Interview and more at ZDNet Australia.