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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)." "
I don't think using Microsoft products is an option for them... They aren't on very good terms to begin with (since their dispute over Microsoft's EULA).
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Programming is like sex... Make one mistake and support it the rest of your life.
With all this news about large organisations thinking about switching to Linux, I predict that Microsoft will reconsider their new licensing scheme and go back to their 'old' way of doing business. They're digging their own grave if they don't. One thing that interests me is that the 'the main cost is in the maintenancei, not in the price of the licences' argument against Linux doesn't seem to work anymore.
-- Cheers!
Even if they need 5x the number of support techs to run on Open Source, this has to be A Good Thing for the German economy. Why spend all that money on a foreign product when you can spend it on your own engineers? Quality jobs instead of low quality imports.
Any government could use that as a driving reason for change - especially with a downturn happening around us. Every little helps!
I think that it is great that foreign governments are considering Linux seriously. It makes it harder for legislation in America, such as the SSSCA to kill the OS and makes it more likely to succeed in the long run.
And it will probably save them a bundle of money for as long as they get decent support contracts or have the people in house. This will be a great thing for SuSE...
LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
...and it it (predictably) Germany that got there first. German has always been the second language of the Internet as far as I can see (large quantities of KDE are commented in german - took me a lot of time with the dictionary, that did). Germany is establishing itself as a very technologically-conscious country.
Even relative technophobes are less inhibited about using an out-of-the-box Linux installation. Germany is where it's all happening in the computing world...
Steve Ballmer Says: 'So, you think you can get avay vith abandoning the reich, eh? Don't be so sure. Ve haff vays of makink you upgrade...'
The next Slashdot story will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and slashdot the links early!
You mean.. the NSA isn't gonna be able to figure out how the Germans engineer such wonderful cars anymore? This is an outrage! What else does the German gov't have to offer, anyway?
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.
It is a good thing that they consider this, but can you see this happening?
.doc documents as they were shown in someone else's Word 2K (with correct table dimenstions, bullets, idents and images), it would make people laugh hard at them. If they give a Linux desktop solution a try, Bundestag staff will probably make Linux go away again because they will get many problems they didn't have before.
If the Bundestag administration is not able to print
They won't do it, I say. They'll buy WinXP. Maybe they are just trying to get a good price for it.
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
If the tech support costs are paid to German IT workers, that's much better than paying a US company for software from a political standpoint even without any overall savings.
I'd really like to see more governments harnessing the zeal of open source advocates and realizing that we actually like doing this stuff and would do it for a resume addon or certificate. Just my thoughts on the issue.
Dacels Jewelers can't be trusted.
If the Germans lead the European governments into using Linux (or any other Open Source OS) and the US goverment makes it illegal to own any non-trusted (non-Microsoft) OS through the SSSCA, then it is possible that people on different sides of the Atlantic would be split to using different computer systems.
Personally I think this would be great for European software companies as they would have opportunities that US companies would normally go for.
Not so great for any non-Microsoft software companies in America though, if they aren't allowed to write non-secure software for Europe and M$ keeps forcing other companies out of the market place by bundling features with the OS.
"Free software as in beer, copy protection as in racket" - Telsa Gwynne
Consider the history of government computing, They still run old mainfraimes because of the software they built decades ago, Tax and voting software is still running on hardware fom the 1970's and 1980's. Why? because re-writing something that works is economically dumb. Plus they have the source code so if a modification is needed, hire a programmer or use the in-house programmer to change it, no vendor needed, no more "at the mercy" of other companies. you can impliment changes and new projects in-house without having to spend another $2.9 million in order to upgrade the OS again.
Linux has that advantage... The source code, and you OWN it. Hey, I have linux and noone can take it away from me,
Linus cant stand up and say "everyone with the last name that starts with A can no longer run linux" like microsoft can, or IBM can or Apple can, or SCO, etc....
This isnt about the software, it's about the licesnes' The german govt cant tell everyone to "go to hell in a handbasket" if they use a open source system. Noone can sue them for contract breach, charge them millions for illegal search and seizure (Microsoft audit) or be blackmailed (Microsoft audit)
Any company or Government that has any brains would see that geting out from under the control of another entity will save thousands and even millions. and hiring Linux guru's at a paltry $60K USD each saves even more money.
as for user training... XP is coming out and will require the SAME amount of training... so that point is only typical Microsoft FUD.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
If the buying public continues to blindly lick the boots of MS, while governments move to *nix (for the desktop) solutions due to costs (and as well they should .. I prefer my taxes going to something like social programs rather than MS), they might just find themselves aligned with *nix geeks. Who else thinks governments would find themselves in a very good spot if they became a main source of employment for OS and *nix pundits? I don't want the tech infrastructure of my government to depend on MS's marketing strategies rather than actual need and opportunity for IS improvement.
"Old man yells at systemd"
The basic problem is that the PC market is saturating. Perhaps the server market too but that is not so sure. If Microsoft continues in their "old way" I think that they will have to raise prices substantially. This is why they are going to the new scheme. It is not so much a lack of competition as it is an inability to meet their current revenue needs as the market shifts.
This is the great strength of open source. Proprietary software requires that one company absorb all the R&D costs and then distribute that cost on to their customers. Fewer customers means higher overhead, and this is a very steep trend because R&D is such a large cost. Open source on the other hand, distributes the cost of development by distributing the development and thereby passing the cost on to the consumer without needing to rely on sales. In essence, it is a strategy where needs are met at a price, and any need can be met.
OK. So how is this on topic? If the German government wants to save money and retain quality as this industry continues to saturate, they have no reasonable alternative than to go to open source solutions. FreeBSD is great and all, but my experience is that the Linux Documentation Project is far enough along to make Linux a real compelling buy. And much of the material is either available in German or could be easily translated. And Linux is to the Windows desktop at least what DOS was to the Mac desktop (since when has ease of use really been a defining factor, and I have found that when properly set up, Linux can result in less reliance on tech support than a new version of Windows when given to beginners).
Linux is the obvious choice.
LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
The government often "back" international trade contracts, and therefore likely have inside information. Some of these compete with US companies, who would just love to know what their german competitors are bidding on a contract.
More to the point of NSA (or CIA), Germany traditionally have a more arab-friendly foreign policy that the US. The US government would probably like to know any changes (like e.g. lifting the embarco against Iraq) in the German policiy before it becomes official.
For the longest time, if you want to work with the US Armed Forces, you couldn't submit anything but Wordperfect documents to them- if you did, it got filed in the bit-bucket. Same goes now for the Legal profession. Most courts will not accept anything but Wordperfect documents. An MS Word document will get a request for a resubmission in Wordperfect format.
All it would take is the German government insisting that they don't accept Word/Excel 2000 documents from ANYONE and the people will have to deal.
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
Yes. Linux for the german parliament. That is a Good Thing (TM). But wait. There is no decision yet. It is under consideration. Under consideration only. No doubt the party who's not gaining from such a deal (now who would that be) will put much effort into convincing the german parliament that it should decide otherwise.
... advocates: Do your thing and do it well. And hurry!
A few months ago there was talk of Linux for educational institutions in Mexico. Where are we now?
So
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
Technologically speaking, we're the cream of the digital era crop. However, when you get into laws, policies, and general perception, the United States seems to be getting more and more short sighted. Corporate interests and "the bottom line" have more influence than what's best for the industry and the people.
That one misguided law has opened the door for more just like it, and no one seems willing to stand in the doorway to stop it. The governement shouldn't be influenced by companies, it should be influenced by people. Companies should be doing what's right for their customers, not what's right for their checkbooks and customers be damned. However, both groups have been acting like they forgot that in the end they answer to us the consumers and citizens. We make them, and we can break them if there's enough of us.
Until we actually stand up and quit letting the corporations buy laws that screw our rights, we are going to be behind and we're going to stay behind. You're right, we made the digital era. We're also in danger of watching it pass us by.
Electronic Frontier Foundation for online civil rights information
Have a look at StarOffice 6 beta. I'm having no issues at all moving .doc documents between it and MS Word 97 and MS Word 2000. My company IT department is currently taking a serious look at StarOffice as a drop in replacement for Microsoft Office. It really is a lovely piece of work.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
We made the damn digital era.
*laughing*
Here's a few clues: The US is _way_ behind in telecom and wireless. WAY behind.
(oh, and look up who Charles Babbage was
it's in my head
Also my city, Turku (in South-West Finland) is seriously considering switching all city computers to Linux and OpenOffice. This would mean about 3000 computers. The topic has been discussed in many news.
The simple reason is that with new Windows and Office licensing, the software costs would be about 1-2 million euros per year.
"The Microsoft has changed its licensing policy from stealing to plain robbing. Cities simply can't afford to make such contracts," says the information management officer of the city.
"Finland is nowadays a Microsoft nation. This sort of changes would create certain kinds of problems."
Turku will not pay any licensing fees to Microsoft before the examination about Linux is finished before the end of this year.
At least 20 other cities are waiting for the City of Turku decision, and will follow its strategy. Turku has about 160,000 citizens.
As bad as it is to live with an economy that can be easily trashed by 5 million idiots...
I don't think the economy was trashed by the idiots, although a segment of the stock market took a beating. The dotcom debacle merely points out that the free market system has glaring deficiencies and cannot claim to be wiser than government agencies in every instance.
When someone in the private sector wastes his company's or his investors' money, he doesn't usually get the chance to repeat the process.
On the contrary, he usually gets the chance to repeat the process.
Case in point is the chief financial officer of Nortel Networks succeeding the president of Nortel after overseeing the largest corporate losses in history.
Furthermore, the board of directors of corporations remains constant from one disaster to the next. The CEO often takes the fall but he's provided with a handsome severance package despite the company's dismal results.
If a failed corporate executive doesn't get a second chance, it's because he doesn't need the work.
Linus was heard muttering: "Today Germany, tomorrow, the world!"
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."