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More Linux Activity in German Government

Posted by timothy on from the first-a-trickle dept.

__past__ writes "The decision of the bavarian capital city Munich to switch their desktop systems to Linux has caused a lot of discussion, and has been widely regarded as an important step for Linux on the desktop. And even if Microsoft tried hard to make their offerings more attractive since, including a special license contract that could save the public sector 'a lot of money' according to interior minister Otto Schily, it looks as if Munich was only the beginning."

"9 more cities in Rheinland-Pfalz, including the capital Mainz, are seriously considering to replace most, if not all of their Microsoft software with Linux after their current contracts expire in early 2004, noting that there are many other cities in a similar situation, and with similar plans.

Meanwhile, the police in Niedersachsen (german) is busy rolling out RedHat Linux on 11,620 desktops and 120 servers, running both standard Linux software and a custom information system called "Nivadis" based on WebLogic and Oracle running on Itanium servers, citing savings of about EUR 20 Mio compared with a Windows-based solution.

In a less desktop-related project, the state Mecklenburg-Vorpommern started a project with SuSE, IBM and others porting a mission-critical system called ProFiskal from Reliant Unix to Linux on zSeries, again citing cost as the primary reason, but also noting the benefits of using open standards for both software developers and users."

4 of 367 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Will.. by jhunsake · · Score: 0, Troll

    More like Capitalist (Microsoft) vs Socialist (Linux).

    Sure, mod me down, but you still know it's true.

  2. One word about Lochner-Fischer by presroi · · Score: 1, Troll
    Monika Lochner-Fischer

    http://www.lochner-fischer.de/themel/linux1.htm

    Lets's have a look at the source code....(http://www.lochner-fischer.de/the/thefri0 2.htm)
    <head>
    <meta HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=windows-1252">
    <meta NAME="Generator" CONTENT="Microsoft Word 97">
    <title>"Wirtschaftspolitik"</title>
    </head>
  3. Re:Will.. by Eric+Ass+Raymond · · Score: 0, Troll
    What about people who work at an MS-only shop?

    That is a "problem" with the shop - not with Microsoft's software.

    Besides, if your workplace has a policy of only using software from a single manufacture - it makes sense to have a homogeneous envirnoment, you know - it's just that: a company policy. You do your work with the tools you've been given. Or do you perhaps complain about the color of your computer or your cubicle walls too?

    Or people who buy an OEM boxen and have Windows XP shoved in their face on first boot?

    So, you would like to coerce technically less adept people into making decisions about their operating system or even coerce them into installing it?

    If you insist on having Linux on your box, it's not really that hard to shove in a RedHat 9 disc and boot...

    --
    BOO! TERRO
  4. Re:MS: Our software dies. Linux: Have it your way! by gilesjuk · · Score: 2, Troll

    They're a commercial company, it's in their interests to kill off old products as people aren't going to buy your new ones.

    Every company has to draw the line somewhere, otherwise their support departments will have to keep on growing, eating away at profits.