Slashdot Mirror
Germany Withdraws Open Source Article
leine writes, "The statement written by a part of the German government to use Open Source Software (see this article) has been withdrawn from the public. The German magazine
c't cites in an article the spokesman of the German ministry of the interior, that the paper has been withdrawn on an order from the ministry.
(The article is in German, babelfish is your friend.) "
A woman shall not wear anything that pertains to man, nor shall a man wear a woman's garment; for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. (Deuteronomy 22:5)
Sorry, but obviously you don't have the slightest clue what you're talking about! I'm a 1975 born German and have been taught all my life about the dangers of racism an fascism, and if it taught me one thing it is being a tolerant openminded world citizen with a very critical view towards nationalism. Now i just wish that everyone else in every nation was raised to be as openminded, cause if that was the case i wouldn't have to read brainless drivel like the shit you just posted here! Maybe you should INFORM yourself a little bit about the world before you post such blatant BS! I know about the US, what's happening there at the moment, its history and all that, can YOU say the same about you? Obviously not.. still you rather post and annoy and alienate people instead of thinking! what a dork DeeKay, not really anonymous
The freedom in Germany is comparable to the freedom in the US -- apart from the fact that not every idiot is allowed to buy and carry weapons.
You obviously have not lived and worked in both Germany and the US. Germany has much larger scale of nit-picky bureaucracy, for sheer sake of bureaucracy, than in US does. Try running a small business such as retail sales or manufacture in both countries and you see that small businessman in US has much less rules and regulations pushed down his throat, especially tax laws.
Jeder tag tut die Bundesregierung dinge, die unsere Rechten und Phlichten weggerissen haben. Wir muessen eine Verbindung machen, um die Regierung zu aendern.
Danke!!
Errm, right. So getting people to learn new software is going to be a walk in the park is it? Think again flyboy. Whether you want to admit it or not there will always be costs when changing over to a new system, even if they are "hidden" costs like a reduction in efficiency. Learn something before flaming.
...and someone who wants a stable and secure NT can just install it right out of the box and go surfing for the rest of the day, right? Noone NEEDS an NT admin!
:-)
Maybe you should follow that rule? cause whether they switch to Win2k and LEARN this new software or whether they switch to Linux is hardly a difference!
And as for "easier" and "cheaper" administration, aren't Linux sys admins supposed to spend a lot of time getting new fixes, kernel updates and other enhancements to prevent security leaks? I mean I'm not a sys admin, but I'm sure plenty of them here could back me up on that. A Linux system, especially a large one, doesn't entirely run itself, which is why we have sys admins in the first place.
Jeez.. and gorillas fly outta my ass!...
DeCSS:Did you know you're supposed to read a post before replying? I never said I believed anything of the sort, I just said that was the image being presented by certain parts of the media, and which people tend to believe if they don't know all the facts.
Sorry, i am German, and this is complete and utter BS what you're saying there!.. No media except for very few Computer-related ones!) has ever reported on DeCSS! NOONE that i walk up to in the street even has HEARD of DeCSS! You can be glad if they already heard of DVDs at all!
But they heard of Linux... A friend of mine living in some small village in Bavaria (being "Mr.Computer" there!) called me up yesterday and said that his fellow citizens keep asking him about Linux, and he was VERY interested to learn about its features!
DeeKay
Ah comon. Hitler and Mussolini weren't buddy-buddy. Hitler needed Mussolini's help for the trouble in Northern Africa. Hitler couldn't give a shit about Mussolini. And that's a historical fact. After the war, mainstream press mangled the meaning of 'nazi' and 'facism' into one big pile of shit. I know that Hitlers definition of 'nazi' was different then the stuff he pushed down people's throats, but hey: be correct with historical facts. BTW: both (nazi as facism) are bad and should never happen again !!
http://math.usc.edu/~oliverm/linux
http://na.mathematik.uni-tuebin gen.de/~oliver/linux
You obviously have not lived and worked in both > Germany has much larger scale of nit-picky
> bureaucracy, for sheer sake of bureaucracy, than > in US does.
Funny. I've lived in both countries, and I
found just the opposite.
Bullshit. Linux has ease of use like the best of them. Except when administering a machine. But especially in a government environment, the normal user wouldn't have to do that. In fact, the administarion would be much easier and cheaper with Linux because you can make it impossible for Joe Average to fuck up his installation. And you can have remote administration, which is a huge factor.
Errm, right. So getting people to learn new software is going to be a walk in the park is it? Think again flyboy. Whether you want to admit it or not there will always be costs when changing over to a new system, even if they are "hidden" costs like a reduction in efficiency. Learn something before flaming.
And as for "easier" and "cheaper" administration, aren't Linux sys admins supposed to spend a lot of time getting new fixes, kernel updates and other enhancements to prevent security leaks? I mean I'm not a sys admin, but I'm sure plenty of them here could back me up on that. A Linux system, especially a large one, doesn't entirely run itself, which is why we have sys admins in the first place.
Now this is total bullshit, if I ever saw any. As has been explained a 100 times before, DeCSS is not a "pirating program", and anyone with half a brain understands that whatever some people do with an OS, it doesn't make the OS bad.
Did you know you're supposed to read a post before replying? I never said I believed anything of the sort, I just said that was the image being presented by certain parts of the media, and which people tend to believe if they don't know all the facts.
If you want to reply this time, learn some facts first.
PLEEZ HEP ME HACK MICRO$UCK$ SERVER!!!!!!!!!!!
Just look through the history of Germany, and what do you see but facism and failed attempts to conquer France. If you know a bit about facism, you'll know that it's a term first used with Mussolini, not with the nazi's from the 30's wich were 'national socialists'. Mainstream press mangled those two names into one big pile ...
why the hell is it that some of you people feel the need to link everything to microsoft?
Microsoft doesn't pay its PR people for nothing. They go out and make calls, write letters, to elected officials, newspapers, companies, you name it. They have to account for thier time and having a list of contacts made is justification for getting paid. Many companies do this and Microsoft not only has its own employees, but hires outside contractors to do this too.
Its not paranoia, its just a matter of when you will be contacted by a Microsoft sales rep.
offensichtlich haben die Bauteile der höherer Stufe (und folglich intelligenter) von Regierung Deutschlands Steuerung und klar gebildet wieder hergestellt, daß die USA's geschlossenen Quell" Window" Produkte die sehr beste Wahl für irgendwelche und alle Anwendungen, auf diesem Planeten oder irgendeinem anderem sind-.
wir lieben Sie, Bill Gates! Kuß, Kuß!
> And even apart from these issues, there's
> the image issue. Linux has recently been
> linked to all kinds of criminal activities
> in the public eye, especially the DVD
> pirating program DeCSS. If the German
> government were to embrace Linux it would
> seem like they were condoning the piracy
> of DVDs and the like. In the international
> community this would harm their reputation,
> something governments never enjoy.
I am rather shocked to say this, but this
is perhaps the most stupid comment I have
ever seen on Slashdot. Do we have a poll
for "The dumbest Slashdot comment"?
I really hope this comment was made out
of ignorance of the facts and the law,
the alternative is just too scary to
think about. It is a good thing you
posted as an AC, if you are really
this ignorant folks might not even
take the time to listen to what
you had to say in the future.
Mo DeJong
Red Hat Inc.
I'm posting this as an AC since I work for a fairly large company you might have heard of here on /. a few times :) Anyway, let me say that when we heard of this from some of our people in Germany, some of our PHBs were somwhat worried, after all we have enjoyed a good relationship with the Germans for some years.
I'm not entirely sure of what went on, but I know that there was a flurry of meetings, and some of our top people flew over the Germany for a few days last week, and now this. Coincidence? I don't think so.
My ghod does the MS paranoia run rampant here.
HA HA
Friday, and time for some trollin.
I demand it.
will the German government moderate this post down to a -1?
Yes, a stronger grip is one way to pull off the Holocaust.
Sounds odd, I know, but people that live there know what I mean
Right, people with their heads down while neighbors were being dragged away know what you mean also.
Exactly, didn't want to upset those companies building the gas chambers either.
you don't bite the hand that feeds you
Or the Gestapo comes after you.
Despite all claims to the contrary, the moon is made of Swiss cheese and the earth is a flat pancake.
- mikaelhg who doesn't remember his password :/
Hey moderators, lighten up. ITS A JOKE.
Yeah, well why do you guys always turn up late? Answer that.
Anyone who reads, and has their perceptual systems working properly, knows there's an "s" in "fascism". Unfortunately, horribly wrongheaded and widely-used methods of teaching reading create the equivalent of brain damage. The root word is Latin, I'm fairly sure. Look up "fasces" and "fascicule". Good luck!
Seig Heil, cult memeber.
The kool-aid is in the back.
I love that "those of us who support him"
Get a brain, there is no such thing as GNU/Linux. it is Linux. You are just repeating the useless tripe flowing from his mouth.
This seems appropriate to the subject. And it's Friday anyway... Enjoy :-)
There was a knock on the door. It was the man from Microsoft.
"Not you again," I said.
"Sorry," he said, a little sheepishly. "I guess you know why I'm
here."
Indeed I did. Microsoft's $300 million campaign to promote the
Windows95 operating system was meant to be universally effective, to convince
every human being on the planet that Windows 95 was an essential, some
would say integral, part of living. Problem was, not everyone had
bought it. Specifically, I hadn't bought it. I was the Last Human
Being Without Windows 95. And now this little man from Microsoft was
at my door, and he wouldn't take no for an answer.
"No," I said.
"You know I can't take that," he said, pulling out a copy of Windows
95 from a briefcase. "Come on. Just one copy. That's all we ask."
"Not interested." I said. "Look, isn't there someone else you can go
bother for a while? There's got to be someone else on the planet who
doesn't have a copy."
"Well, no," The Microsoft man said. "You're the only one."
"You can't be serious. Not everyone on the planet has a computer," I
said. "Hell, not everyone on the planet has a PC! Some people own
Macintoshes, which run their own operating system. And some people who
have PCs run OS/2, though I hear that's just a rumor. In short, there
are some people who just have no use for Windows 95."
The Microsoft man look perplexed. "I'm missing your point," he said.
"Use!" I screamed. "Use! Use! Use! Why BUY it, if you can't USE it?"
"Well, I don't know anything about this 'use' thing you're going on
about," The Microsoft man said. "All I know is that according to our
records, everyone else on the planet has a copy."
"People without computers?"
"Got 'em."
"Amazonian Indians?"
"We had to get some malaria shots to go in, but yes."
"The Amish."
"Check."
"Oh, come on," I said. "They don't even wear BUTTONS. How did you get
them to buy a computer operating system?"
"We told them there were actually 95 very small windows in the box,"
the Microsoft man admitted. "We sort of lied. Which means we are all
going to Hell, every single employee of Microsoft." He was somber for
a minute, but then perked right up. "But that's not the point!" he
said. "The point is, EVERYONE has a copy. Except you."
"So what?" I said. "If everyone else jumped off a cliff, would you
expect me to do it, too?"
"If we spent $300 million advertising it? Absolutely."
"No."
"Jeez, back to that again," the Microsoft man said. "Hey. I'll tell
you what. I'll GIVE you a copy. For free. Just take it and install it
on your computer." He waved the box in front of me.
"No," I said again. "No offense, pal. But I don't need it. And
frankly, your whole advertising blitz has sort of offended me. I mean,
it's a computer operating system! Great. Fine. Swell. Whatever. But
you guys are advertising it like it creates world peace or something."
"It did."
"Pardon?"
"World peace. It was part of the original design. Really. One button
access. Click on it, poof, end to strife and hunger. Simple."
"So what happened?"
"Well, you know," he said. "It took up a lot of space on the hard
drive. We had to decide between it or the Microsoft Network. Anyway,
we couldn't figure out how to make a profit off of world peace."
"Go away," I said.
"I can't," he said. "I'll be killed if I fail."
"You have got to be kidding," I said.
"Look," the Microsoft man said, "We sold this to the AMISH. The Amish!
Right now, they're opening the boxes and figuring out they've been
had. We'll be pitchforked if we ever step into Western Pennsyvania
again. But we did it. So to have YOU holding out, well, it's
embarassing. It's embarassing to the company. It's embarassing to the
product. It's embarassing to BILL."
"Bill Gates does not care about me," I said.
"He's watching right now," the Microsoft man said. "Borrowed one of
those military spy satellites just for the purpose. It's also got one
of those high-powered lasers. You close that door on me, zap, I'm a
pile of grey ash."
"He wouldn't do that," I said, "He might hit that copy of Windows 95
by accident."
"Oh, Bill's gotten pretty good with that laser," the Microsoft man
said, nervously. "Okay. I wasn't supposed to do this, but you leave me
no choice. If you take this copy of Windows 95, we will reward you
handsomely. In fact, we'll give you your own Caribbean island! How does
Montserrat sound?"
"Terrible. There's an active volcano there."
"It's only a small one," the Microsoft man said.
"Look," I said, "even if you DID convince me to take that copy of
Windows 95, what would you do then? You'd have totally saturated the
market. That would be it. No new worlds to conquer. What would you do
then?"
The Microsoft man held up another box and gave it to me.
"'Windows 95....For Pets'?!?!?"
"There's a LOT of domestic animals out there," he said.
I shut the door quickly. There was a surprised yelp, the sound of a
laser, and then nothing.
Hitler and Mussolini were best buds. All the right-wing isolationist Americans (e.g. Charles Lindbergh) who admired Hitler, admired Mussolini also and for the same reasons. Hitler was a socialist the way China is a "People's Republic". If you're too dumb to see past the marketing bullshit, stay the hell out of politics . . .
"it's the TCO that counts in these matters."
Umm are you sure ?
Germany is not (just) a big corporation, it has to consider national security issues as well.
Being subject to a closed source American company known to include backdoors cannot not be in national interest.
well, gotta say, Microsoft _does_ have power.
Just learn german. I'm sure you guys already know about 8 programming languages... what's one more spoken language?
Hallo again!
You can find more informations on this page:
lug.mfh-iserlohn.de
This means you can find links to the original document and reports about it on this page.
bye... lugis
For the German government, embracing the open-source movement at this moment in time would be tantamount to suicide. There are several resons why I think this is so, which I'll go through.
Firstly, the cost of installing, configuring and running open-source software would be prohibitive. Yeah, sure it's free to buy, but let's face it, it's the TCO that counts in these matters. If they were to go with Linux they'd have to hire a load of sys admins to go with it, and they would cost far more in wages than the equivalent professionals, MSCEs. And how long would it take for them to get a system up and running? IMHO it would disrupt the normal business of government for far too long.
And then there's the fact that for your average Joe who works for the government, Linux is far too complex to use. Despite all claims to the contrary Linux is still unwieldly and old-fashioned in its approach to the user interface, and staff training costs would again be enormous.
And even apart from these issues, there's the image issue. Linux has recently been linked to all kinds of criminal activities in the public eye, especially the DVD pirating program DeCSS. If the German government were to embrace Linux it would seem like they were condoning the piracy of DVDs and the like. In the international community this would harm their reputation, something governments never enjoy.
Anyway, that's why I think that this was all just a rumour started by some idealists in the government and then stopped by the more worldly members, rather than a definite policy.
Who took all my gruntles? : )
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
Government grinds to a standstill : )
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
The German Goverment has to think about relationship with it current vendors.
It was premature of releasing that document if they really wanted to go with an OSS
(not only linux) solutions. They should have had a plan laid out before they said a
word or just start replacing things slowly then tell the world. In this world everyone
looks at what you and do and say it all has repercosion.
http://theotherside.com/dvd/
For some reason I fear government use of the word Ministry.
I don't know. It might have something to do with a book I read back in '84.
..the article taken down, 1984? and which ministry took it out? Yup, thats right minitrue!
The basic sleazeware produced in a drunken fury by a bunch of UCBerkeley grad students was still the core of BIND. --PV
Don't be dissappointed, I guess they have no chance to refer to the actual situation because the magazine should be already printed.
Microsoft has 95% of the market for buggy software. RedHat, Caldera & so on are bad enough as competition, but they're really in the "stable software" market, where Microsoft doesn't do much of their business.
Now Celera has open-sourced the fruit fly genome, anyone can generate as many bugs as they want (although only a company with Microsoft's resources could create 65,000 of them). Expect Celera to be the target of a hostile takeover pretty soon.
Score: -1. Not very funny.
--
E_NOSIG
> Just shows that you can't take stuff like that
;-)
> off the net. The question is, however, how many
> people will be able to find any of these mirrors
That's what search engines are for...
EOS [End-Of-Story]
This post encoded with ROT26. If you can read it, you've violated the DMCA. Handcuffs please, sergeant.
Are you serious or trying to be funny?
Shmsh!
Brain explodes.
I'll assume for a second that you're not just a troll and actually hold something like the above opinion.
But try as I might, I cannot understand how you find RMS and Hitler similar. The only match I find is unwillingness to compromise. And that only goes for RMS pesonally, not those of us who support him.
You're not just a troll, you're a muddle headed troll.
Fixing copyright
This will be a good thing! c't already anounced to put an article on it in their next issue(I think - monday?). And others will follow. But not to forget: the German government is already sponsoring open source projects like the GNU Privacy Guard.
Read too many Asterix comics lately?
Hari.
Umm... When? The earliest country-like organisation I know of had Gaul where France is and what's now Germany occupied by the Norse, and before that it was just tribal with only linguistic connections that seem to still favor a separation between the two regions.
WTF are you on about? There was a nation called Gaul inhabited by Celts at about the time of the Roman Empire. Either you're just unfunny or plain wrong, I really can't tell which.
So basically, their paper on open source is itself the complete opposite thereof?
"We have a paper on free public open source but it's ours and you can't have it!"
----
Don't underestimate the power of peanut brittle
ADVENTURERS! - ANTIHERO FOR HIRE - CARDMASTER CONFLICT
What I'm talking about is the kingdom of "Karl der Grosse" (or "Charlemange" in French).
The illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional takes a little longer.
--Henry Kissinger
Fascism is a very new concept, so of course your statement, can't help to be anything but bullship, but among other things that you will see in German history, is that Germany and France used to be the same country at first.
Besides, the relationship between Germany and France is, at the moment, really good, so please spread your stupid propaganda (that reeks more of fascism than anything Germany has done recently) elsewhere.
The illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional takes a little longer.
--Henry Kissinger
well, if i were microsoft i`d be at least slightly offended about the $cientologist/disk-defragger thing.
The German government is a people's government, though one that retains a stronger grip than most governments. Sounds odd, I know, but people that live there know what I mean. Their recommendation was probably pulled from the public eye to avoid upsetting any potential commercial software sources (though this is speculation) that they may use as well as/instead of open source software sources. As the saying goes, you don't bite the hand that feeds you, and the last thing a gov't needs is their software providers being disgruntled.
Desperation is a stinky cologne
Actually, Facism was only a blip in German history - no more than 15 years at the most in a history lasting thousands of years. As for "failing" to defeat France, the Germans kicked French butts all over Europe for the better part of a century. The Germans didn't want France in the 19th century, and only American/British intervention kept Germany from annexing France completely in the 20th century. The French haven't won a war since Napoleon. In fact, the U.S. had to bail France out of every war they've faught in the 20th century - WWI, WWII, and Vietnam.
JA
http://www.johnalex.org/
I ought to make a more detailed response, but I'll limit it to generalities:
- ---------------------------------
The first Holy Roman Emperor, Charlemagne, ruled over an Empire which consisted (loosely speaking) of what we would consider both France and Germany today. Charlemagne was crowned Emperor in 800 AD.
Upon the death of Charlemagne his kingdom was divided amongst his three sons. One got France, one got Germany, and one got the stuff in the middle. (Guess who got ganged up on.)
The three were occasionally reunited, reseparated, etc., but the pattern persisted. Eventually things settled down to the way they are now: separate France and Germany.
(People who actually know this stuff: I *said* it was limited to generalities.)
---------------------------------
All employees must wash hands before seeking equitable relief.
>>the U.S. had to bail France out of every war they've faught in the 20th century
:-)- ----------------------
>I don't remember Yankees fighting in Egypt or in Algeria...
Well, we fooled around with the Suez Crisis, and fought the Vichy French in Algeria during WWII. Does that count?
--------------------------------------------
All employees must wash hands before seeking equitable relief.
I don't remember Yankees fighting in Egypt or in Algeria...
sigmentation fault
This thread begin to go severly off-topic, I think we better stop now.
sigmentation fault
As a french guy I think I can say the AC who write this is a perfect troll, and a flamebait also. Or maybe just a braindead.
Removing a pro-Open Source article from public access don't mean a fascist attempt to destroy Linux.
(And, off topic but to answer the Anonymous Troll, "brave France" lose the war, elect for president an old puppet which happily collaborate with nazis; and would not have been freed without the help of her "allies who abandonned Her".)
sigmentation fault
Take a look ate =url&lp=ge_en&url=http://members.surflin e2000.net/linux/Innenm-Brief.html
http://translator.go.com/cb/trans_entry?input_typ
for the translated article . Cheers, johann
Hey!
... but it is there!
Here you can find the document of the German KBSt:
KBSt-Letter
Its German
Lugis
It is all a bit different then you think. Whenever a government organisation wants to buy something they have to check if the services or goods do not exceed 200,000 Euro.
Yes, I shouldn't have talked about 3000 licenses.
The important part here is that one of the things you are not allowed to specify what product you want. Only what it is intended to do.
That was the real point I was trying to make. Said article talks about linux and it's viability for office applications, file and printserver, about cost, service options and states that linux+(corel office/applixware etc.) are completely able to replace a windows desktop machine.
Following the rules I know about (and the things you mentioned), which are posed on gov'orgs for acquiring services and goods, the presence of ms-ware at every desktop today is very dubious if not against the law.
OTOH someone has to evaluate software and I think the omnipresence of windows is based on the fact that nobody "official" stated: "Most of the things you can do with windows are possible in linux too - for free". So you could pose deaf and dumb and just lookout for WinXX.
But the situation changes with this official report.
By the way, the same questions occurs in case of star office for windows.
http://translator.go.com/cb/trans_entry?input_t
Could you require an open source product, i.e. project must be released under a GPL compatible licenss? Just say you want a product which will prevent people from ever locking you into one vendor, i.e. BSD would not work because someone might sell your orginisation custom modifications which were not open source in the future.
Regardless, it would be nice for them to set up a requirment for an "open source bid," i.e. we must access the cost of hiring a university or open source group to write the software that we need (if it dose not exist). The gov. could spend a little bit of money funding the open source bidding process too.
The Christian religion has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world. -- Bertrand Russell
Regards,
January
http://members.tripod.de/cnstat/brief/brief2-2000. html f 2-2000.html r ief2-2000.html l
http://user.cs.tu-berlin.de/~mbhb/kbst_brief/brie
http://www.netzgeschmack.de/brief/
http://www.Informatik.Uni-Oldenburg.DE/~prefec2/b
http://www.ba-horb.de/~stju/index.html
http://athene.owl.de/~hauke/linux/brief2-2000.htm
Just shows that you can't take stuff like that off the net. The question is, however, how many people will be able to find any of these mirrors?
"We won't use guns, we won't use bombs, we'll use the one thing we've got more of and that's our minds" - Pulp
Yes really. I don't want to say that pulling this article means they now want to offer more information or things like that.
But from a publicity point of view this should be interesting. Before nobody but some interested groups would have seen this information.
Now this has a touch of conspiracy and suddenly is interesting for many more people. The discussion forum at heise is exploding, the ct will report about that study next week - now the article or followers will be somewhat more - uhm - entertaining for non-techis.
Other newspapers will follow, even perhaps nontechnical. The ministry will get a lot of heat, people are discussing if there's a connection to some deals concerning free software from ms for schools.
Every newspaper can point out that free software is for free, they will not bother to discuss the TOC-issue so no chance for the ms-fud. They just will say "This costs xxx DM, open source cost 0 DM and you pay this with your tax."
Germans are very suspicious against government deals in the moment anyway, so this could hit a nerve.
the official reason is that this paper was intended for internal use and evaluation of the ministry, even though they published it the same way as all other KBSt letters, and the others are still available online. Go figure.
...not much. What happened was that an analysis in favor of open source software was redrawn from public display. A decision of any kind had not even been made yet. Though I can't imagine a reason either, except for not wanting to publically offend M$.
The illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional takes a little longer.
--Henry Kissinger
The paper was only intended for the internal use and for the public, did not say Kiel.
Worrying should not be doing, because obviously just decision internal was, knickers should not be twisted until elucidation forthcomes.
Open source still may be option that is by the government preferred.
It is all a bit different then you think. Whenever a government organisation wants to buy something they have to check if the services or goods do not exceed 200,000 Euro. If it does, they are obliged to start a European Procurement Procedure. This Procedure is such that by formally announcing the intent to buy something in the publication paper of the EU you ask people to bid for the contract. It is an entire procedure that I could explain to you. (I wrote a 80 page report on it) The important part here is that one of the things you are not allowed to specify what product you want. Only what it is intended to do. This all became clear in the UNIX-case, where a government agency specified they wanted several UNIX-licenses. The judge ruled that they could not specify that. They should say that it had to be UNIX or similar.
In short this means that no government agency in Europe can just buy Windows 2000. The procedure has to be open to everybody supplying an Operating System, that is capable of doing the things which are specified. If Suse is going after the contract for an operating system then they have to be given an equal and fair chance against Win2000. (you ofcourse do understand that when government agencies really want a certain product they will change the specs in favor of the product they want. But this sometimes fails)
Use Adsense for Charity
I am a native english speaker and have lived in Germany for more than 8 years. My German is exceedingly good so let me take another crack at it.
-------begin translation--------
The cowardly Ministry for Internal Affairs draws back the Open Source paper
Obviously, the internal analysis which was released to the public was the work of some "Linux Crazed" programmer. The document, in which the experts of the ministerium stress the advantages of the free software as to it's security and possibilities of savings, was withdrawn immediately by higher ups who have consistently received payments from an unnamed west coast based U.S. software company.
The letter entitled "Open Source Software in the German national administration" was made available on the Internet last week by the so-called "Coordination and Advice Office for Information Technics at the German Administration" (KBSt, the letter was KBSt 2/2000). KBSt was obviously not recieving sufficient payments or the payments themselves were late in arriving for the month of February.
The text was withdrawn from the KBSt server after heise online reported about this letter, then it reappeared during this week again, but now it has finally disappeared. Answering a question from c't, Roger Kiel, the speaker of the Ministery, stated that the programmer who masqueraded as an official spokesman for the Ministry of Interior has been sacked. The supervisors of the programmer have also been sacked. The pointy headed boss of the supervisors has returned to Redmond for reprogramming.
Right now the letter is still on the list of KBSt letters, but the link itself points to an IIS server which is almost always down for maintenance.
Among the experts in the field, the idea of usage of Open-Source-Software as a possible alternative to commercial Software is widely approved. Daniel Riek, the member of the head-commitee of the Linux group "LiVe", said he regrets the decision of the Ministery and sincerely wishes that the Ministry could "shake the shackles of commercial corruption". This radical Linux advocate has been promoting the usage of OSS for a long time, and would gladly see a public discussion on this subject. "Those ministry of interior guys are a bunch of brainwashed cowards. Sure, they don't want Open source software. They're too stupid to know how to configure it without some sort of wizards", said Riek.
More informations about the details of this study [= KBSt letter] can be found in c't 7/2000 (which appears on Monday).
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Finally, Ive set the record straight. The original poster was obviously not a native German speaker.
r/
Dave
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The Ministry for Internal Affairs draws back the Open Source paper
Obviously, an internal analysis about the use of free Software in the German administration was not appraised by some higher officials. The document, in which the experts of the ministerium stress the advantages of the free software as to it's security and possibilities of savings, was withdrawn from the Internet on the command "from people up there".
The letter entitled "Open Source Software in the German national administration" was made available on the Internet last week by the so-called "Coordination and Advice Office for Information Technics at the German Administration" (KBSt, the letter was KBSt 2/2000). KBSt is subordinated to the German Ministry of Intenal Affairs; the letters are supposed to give other administration offices a view and expertise about the developments and experiences in the field of computational techniques.
The text was withdrawn from the KBSt server after heise online reported about this letter, then it reappeared during this week again, but now it has finally disappeared. Answering a question from c't, Roger Kiel, the speaker of the Ministery, confirmed that the letter was removed due to a direction of the Ministery. The letter is supposed to be only for internal use and not for the public, said Kiel. Checking whether Open-Source-Software is fit for the use in the Ministery is - so Kiel - not finished yet.
Right now the letter is still on the list of KBSt letters, but the link is pointing nowhere, whereas all other KBSt letters since 1997 are still available.
Among the experts in the field, the idea of usage of Open-Source-Software as a possible alternative to commercial Software is widely approved. Daniel Riek, the member of the head-commitee of the Linux group "LiVe", said he regrets the decision of the Ministery. This Linux group has been promoting the usage of OSS for a long time, and would gladly see a public discussion on this subject. "The KBSt letter calls price- and security advantages as core arguments, which, so our analysis, support the usage of OSS", said Riek.
More informations about the details of this study [= KBSt letter] can be found in c't 7/2000 (which appears on Monday).
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Regards,
January