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German Parliament Considers Linux
daramannen writes ""The committee is examining whether switching the Bundestag's more than 5,000 computers to open source would improve stability and security, as well as save money, Schroer said. By the committee's estimate, implementing open source software throughout the federal government could result in savings of 250 million marks (US$116 million)." "
the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology help fund the development of GnuPG.
Check out the press release.
Well I remember germany sponsering GPG development, and lately encryption extensions to both kmail and mutt. This seems like one giant step forward in this process.
The administration of the state
Schleswig Holstein already switched to Linux some time ago.
Other administrations (or parts of them) are switching currently.
The main reason is not the money but Germans fear that there are hidden backdors in US commercial software. After Echelon they don't trust
US closed source software anymore.
There are rumors (and proofed facts) that the US is doing economic espionage on German firms.
The administration could be the next target...
So they try to become independant.
--- censored
Actually, you can get a pretty expensive support contract qith a commercial company.
Yes, SuSE Gmbh is a commercial company that provides solutions for companies in forms of:
-24/7 support
-training
-selling of products
-software customization
and all those goodies and security nets that a big company is used to.
Also, get some zSeries mainframes from IBM Corp were SuSE is te distribution of choice. They will have reliable hardware for a (comparative) cheap price. Do you recall the article about cost savings while running a Mainframe instead a server farm? Here's one: in this link
And, of course, if they do not like SuSE, because the product is OpenSource, the German Government can hire and train their own team to support themselves the whole thing.
Big government organizations in Europe tend to have tight budgets. I know because I used to work in one of them. And that organization is right now, as we speak, evaluating the full migration towards Linux-based solutions. Yes, tehy cannot afford in any way the new Microsoft pricing policy, so they have decided to go the Penguin way. Too bad they did that after I left.
All the best,
OpKool
European mail endings accounted for 37% of all contributions!
http://www.ibiblio.org/osrt/develpro.html
for more including graphs.
Certified Black Helicopter Pilot *** Unwitting Dupe of One World Gov'ment
In the EULA case, the government wasn't involved, it was (IIRC) a civil case where a reseller took on Microsoft and won hands down in court. The verdict couldn't have been clearer. Microsoft was instructed in no uncertain terms that they would not be bullying anyone in Germany with extra-legal EULA's. I don't honestly know how they dealt with that, it's in stark contrast to the convoluted and toothless conduct remedies that they have become used to arguing against or just ignoring in the US.
Interestingly, Microsoft have already voluntarily modified Windows to remove a component with very tenuous links to Scientology to head off any trouble in Germany.
No, Microsoft and Germany really don't see eye to eye at all.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
From a business point of view: Use "Linux Terminal Server". Yes, get a fat machine to serve all the applications to your users. This way, to modify/update/change/configure.... all the clients means working in a single machine: the fat server.
This is that the city of Largo has done. This is what Linux at schools project is doing.
Actualy, any distribution will do. But I will recommend you to look for a
"support contract" from RedHat, SuSE, Mandarke...
Some links:
Linux Terminal Server Project. You will see that they have packages for any distribution
Linux in Schools. Although it is oriented for schools, school needs are the same as Your Big Comany or Government.
The City of Largo uses Linux as desktop. So it is possible for plain clerks and secretaries to learn and be productive on Linux Desktops.
A worker just needs a working desktop, so he/she can use a word processor and an spreadsheet program. The "configuration and control" must be done byt he Support Team.
And my mom is unable to properly use Windows98. She's not a moronic mom. She is smart. But she has never been trained as computer specialist. But she can use word processing and spreadsheets. Yes, she uses or has used AmiPro, Office, WordPerfect... they are all the same in the end. No FUD about "difficult StarOffice". But when Windows crashes, she enters in panic mode. delete Windows, add Linux and you get no panic mode.
Do not extend FUD.
Use OpenOffice. Fairly soon should be available as a non-beta product.
Easy to use stuff? Try KDE and make it pretty with themes.
Use KDE as the desktop. Easy transition from any user. Install the "Acqua" or "Acqua-Graphite" Theme & "MacOS Loon'n'feel" with top desktop menu for your MacOS users.
Install the Win2000 Theme & "Win2000 Look'n'Feel for your Windows users.
My 2 cents
C'mo on.
The point is how much Microsoft is expending on Marketing for 1 product. The same amount that IBM is spending to integrate Linux into all its product lines!!! 1! billion!!!
And WinXP innovation... Well, read your InfoWorld Magazine (here and here)and you will discover that Brian Livingstone, the author of Windows 95 secrets, Windows 98 secrets, WindowsMe secrets, Windows 2000 secrets... has explicitely said that he is not gong to upgrade to WindowsXP. Also, he is not going to write WindowsXP secrets.
This sure means something, isn't it?
I believe that many slashdotters are missing the point: should the Bundestag take the decision to switch to Linux, this would be a powerful signal. Don't forget that while Microslob is getting out of trouble nearly unscathed in the US, thanks to a justice system which is overtly partisan (and now swings with G W B), the European Commission investigation on Microsoft is not over yet.
I think that showing that in Europe not everybody has to play by the MS tune is very important.
Should Americans like to see how their government fanatically preaches free market but acts otherwise, go here: http://europa.eu.int/comm/trade/pdf/usrbt2001.pdf and see how you have been fooled so far...
Thufir Hawat
Part-time Mentat
Internet Connection Firewall, DualHead, Integrated CD Burner, Integrated Zip Utility, Integrated Themes, Integrated Icon Chooser, Different views for folders, Windows Messenger, etc. etc. etc...
I could go on and on. So go ahead and mod me up as insightful.