German Governmental Agency Says: Use Open Source

belbo writes "An official team of the German Ministry of the Interior has released a statement which examines the possible use of Open Source software in the German administration. The statement concludes: "Linux and FreeBSD and accompanying Free or commercial software provide a stable, cheap, low-on-resources, safe and sufficiently supported environment even for professional offices." Does this mean I can write my next tax declaration in Vi? ;-) "

Comments

Re:Just when MS is having problems in Germany

[Hanno]

> Under German Law, state and federal
> governments can't do business with a
> member of the Church of Scientology
> (maybe someone knows exactly why, I
> don't).

For more info about Scientology (plus a lot of English translations of the German governments' view on this self-declared "church"): http://www.xenu.net/

Quote: L. Ron Hubbard (founder of Scientology): "Writing for a penny a word is ridiculous. If a man really wants to make a million dollars, the best way would be to start his own religion"

To sum it up: Scientology claims to be a church, but Germany (among others) does not grant this organization this status and generally calls Scientology's beliefs and practices unconstitutional.

The German government sees Scientology as an oppressive psycho-cult that uses its "church" status to hide behind laws that protect religions and grant tax reductions.

Scientology, firm in its belief that it is destined to "clear" the world to make it a Scientology-only place, has repeatedly engouraged its members to use dirty and illegal tricks against non-members for the (financial) benefit of the cult.

Now you may understand why having a core application of an operating system used by most businesses and governments world wide under the control of an unethical, mad cult creates a bit of an eery feeling for some folks.

Sure, Microsoft is jokingly called the evil empire, but nevertheless, Scientology *is* an evil empire.



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