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More Linux Activity in German Government
"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."
If these initial deployments are successful, and the organizations see real benefits from their switch to Linux then it could be the start of a wave of Linux deployments across Europe, at least in public organizations such as these.
.... So we can only hope it goes well!
However, if there are problems with some of them it could hold up the acceptance of Linux (etc.) for some while
It would be funny if the rest of world used Linux while the United States uses Windows. It would be just like the current state of measurement in this world, where the United States uses imperial and the rest of the world uses metric.
The more they cut prices in order to stave off linux, the more evident it is how overpriced their list prices are. Instead of trying to compete on price, they should be trying to compete on features such as easy management, and security...
Unfortunately for Microsoft, security isn't exactly their strength, and neither is easy management now that Linux has matured so much.
And thanks to Munich FFII Germany has the strongest anti-swpat movement...
In Munich they demontrated together with a social democrat politician Lochner-Fischer (Member of Bavarian House of representatives) that capaigned for Linux! See this picture with her election campaign banners.
Also European MEP Wolfgang Kreissl-Dorfler hold a speech at FFII demo munich.
German Wiki page about Munich demo
Note: As a Northern German I don't like Bavarian culture, but Munich is special, less ultra-conservative than the rest of Bavaria. As an European I am proud of the leading role of Europe in the current silent Open Source revolution.
Surely Capitalism should be contrasted to Communism as opposed to Socialism? One can have a capitalist and socialist system. eg the Labour party in the UK is socialist (ok, you can stop laughing now) yet the system is still capitalist.
A better comparison would be between conservatism (sticking to the old ways) and socialism (supposedly fairer and more inclusive of society).
More like Coercive (Microsoft) vs. Cooperative (Linux).
All them little Marxists at IBM seem to be in agreement. ;-)
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
Trusted Computing FAQ | Free Dawit Isaak!
Microsoft has adopted an extremely powerful public relations method, but it is a self-destructive one: Microsoft has declared that its software dies, regardless of how many users it has.
Linux, in contrast, offers software that lives forever, if an organization wants to support it. This makes a big difference to large organizations. There are many, many situations where a 350 MHz Pentium I computer running some data entry system is just fine, especially when it has been completely debugged and is giving no trouble.
When Microsoft enforces software death, those organizations must disturb something that is working well. As you can imagine, they are extremely reluctant to do so. The issue is often not money. The issue is often management capability. There is plenty of work to do without disturbing something that is working well.
From the IT World article:
"The cost of licensing Microsoft products and the lack of support for some of them, such as the NT operating system, which is still used widely in many city administrations, are among the chief reasons for the nine German cities to mull a switch from the U.S. software giant to providers of open-source products, he said." [My emphasis, of course.]
Not only do Microsoft's products regularly die, but Microsoft has a schedule of assisted suicide: Windows Desktop Product Life Cycle Support and Availability Policies for Businesses. Bill Gates has become the Dr. Jack Kevorkian of software. Mr. Gates has, for example, decreed the death of Windows 98, which is used by at least 50,000,000 people throughout the world.
Alternatively, in English:
;-)
Rheinland-Pfalz => Rhineland Palatinate
Niedersachsen => Lower Saxony
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern => Mecklenburg and Western Pomerania
Next you'll be spelling Hanover with two ns
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."
IMHO I think this is somewhat of a political move coming out of Germany, combined with the fact that MS has had MAJOR problems within the past few months with worms and all...
Now when I say political I mean maybe Germany doesn't want to spend their money on US products based on the tension between the US and Germany that started with the war somehow. It would also be benificial to Germany if say they were to choose SuSE for a distro of choice, maybe that would become a Euro standard distro of sorts. Something similar to what US companies think of when Linux comes to mind... Redhat. Sure geeks think of other distros, but have you ever mentioned Slackware, or Stampede to a CEO? Chances are he's heard of Redhat but not Slack, Debian, etc.
Let's not forget that nice little letter that went out earlier this month to the Dept. of Homeland Sec., which vendors asked the US gov to reconsider their use of MS products. Hell if US companies are turning their backs on MS, then why would foreigners want to use it.
MoFscker
Don't forget that many people are effectively forced into buying Windows.
I work at a small-to-medium sized company (about 1500 people, 250 of which use computers) that uses both Windows and Linux. We like open software, but when decisions have to be made about vertical applications specific to our organization, or when we consider practical facts of life like suppliers sending documents in office formats or computer suppliers not wanting to sell systems without Windows license, we are certainly driven towards Windows all the time.
Driven so strongly that you could call it forcing.
We use Mozilla, we use StarOffice, we use Apache, we use OpenLDAP and a Linux IMAP server, we use an open-source calendaring system (webCalendar), but for how long?
What if the next application insists on Outlook and Office for integration (this threat really exists, as the supplier of that application is a Microsoft shop)?
Maybe when you are a hobbyist at home, no-one is forcing you to buy Windows. Maybe if you are a large corporation or government agency that can develop its own software or can force open-software compatability when buying things, you are not forced.
But a big section in the middle really IS forced to buy Windows. And Microsoft, realizing that, is increasing their activity precisely on that sector.
In Germany Sco.de was stopped by munich district court. They may not spill anti-competitive statements against Linux. And they already had to pay a penalty. Sco.de also doesn't sell these doubtful licenses.
That my friend, is the effect of coercion - if not directly on you as the user, then certainly as a consequence of coercive pressure on the manufacturer/OEM/vendor.
But, your handle marks you 9/10ths troll already.
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
While SuSE is certainly the most important distro in germany (and, for example, was behind the Munich deal), I think it's quite interesting that the police desktops and servers will run Red Hat. You normally can see new SuSE releases prominently advertised in every bigger bookstore here; for a lot of people SuSE is Linux, they think they are running Linux 8.2 Professional. Finding an up-to-date Red Hat box can require some searching, sometimes you'll see Mandrake, but everything else is completly geek-only.
Programming can be fun again. Film at 11.
... Microsoft has recently added BMW boss Helmut Panke to its board of directors [1] - a move to get more insight into the German political system?
And a German Member of Parliament, Ekin Deligoz, recently said (on TV) that she thought it was frightening "if you think about how much money Microsoft invests into their parliament work". [2]
Both links in German language only, unfortunately:
[1] Heise
[2] 3sat
I think one oft-unspoken reason overseas governments contemplate wholesale adoption of open source solutions is that doing so creates a lot of high-end local IT jobs (e.g., software development and support). This offers the prospect of creating more in-country "silicon valleys" and the possibility of local "dot.boom" economies.
Open source may have the advantage of better access to legacy civil documents and lower TCO, but the real motivation of politicians is getting re-elected, and job creation is always a good way to do that.
I hope that after I die the one word people use to describe me is "resurrected."
Canada, having one of the most active e-governments in the world, is also being actively woo-ed by linux. At the chateau laurier in ottawa I attended the linux conference by IBM and while they did seem to ramble abit, they were being taken very seriously by the people in attendance. I guess the high amount of online government computers for vital functions probably plays a big part in most peoples minds about what sort of security and stability they want when it comes to their servers.
My TiBook is certainly without M$ Window$!! And don't come tell me PowerBooks are not one of the "major Laptop"!?!?!!!
The point of both the Slashdot story and my grand-parent comment is that Microsoft is killing future profits completely by being aggressive. Supposedly the aggressive behavior is an attempt to get more profit, but in reality it is a strong bid to get zero profits, and fast.
Once the German government switches entirely to Linux, Microsoft will not make another penny from that source. The draconian, one-sided licensing changes would not in themselves be enough to push customers away from Microsoft. It is software death that is perhaps the aggression that is most disliked by customers. The Microsoft license cost is small compared to buying 20,000 new computers because Windows XP won't run on hardware that works well with Windows 98. That's the sort of problem huge organizations face.
Of course, fundamentally, licensing and software death are not as important as the fact that Microsoft's international government customers are under the control of a foreign company controlled in part by a foreign government that runs the biggest spy organizations that have ever existed. Who was using the Microsoft security vulnerabilities before they became publicly known?
I really hope this movement will change the opinions of most teachers here.
In our schools here in Germany, they teach you the
'work' with Windows as it is the industry standard and got no alternatives.
At least at our school we got one teacher who really is pro-linux. He uses Debian, doesnt like Microsoft, is happy about the current movement and teaches the histroy of Linux, installation of Debian and configuration/installation of various services.
And beleive me, thats thousand times more interesting than clicking through a Windows application installer...
--
One by one the penguins steal my sanity...
It's simple economics. Why send money out of the country when you don't have to? That is truly a testament to the power of Microsoft's monopoly.
Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken - Tyler Durden
This is probably only the tip of the iceburg. Apparently if you haven't yet seen Micro$oft's EULA's that they now include in all their updates, you have missed the boat off this island.
They now are installing software to "check your license validity" with all the updates, and you have to agree to this in order to install and use the updates.
I happened to paruse the EULA's with Directx 9 and Media Player 9, and both of them contain these requirements that you click through and allow them to spy on you, and what you have in your computer. On one machine, I allowed it and had Sygate installed to catch stuff, and sure enough, some stuff was trying to get out to the internet as soon as stuff was finished loading. I didn't have time or a way of looking at the packets, and what DLL's were doing it but suffice to say my suspicions were raised when the machine starts up and takes an unusual amount of time to boot, and my HD light was on for a really long time.
Talk about the "New World Order" or what???!!!!!!!! Bastards.
I'm very closely scrutinizing my Laptop since it has Windows XP Pro on it, and already discovered NOT to trust the Microsoft firewall that comes with XP!!! Apparently they might be caught with the pants down if you have Sygate, or ZD's firewalls, and if people are actually willing to try them also.
I have to try the new browsers soon as I'm going back to experimenting with Linux and BeOS (rogue versions and my legit Pro 5 ed).
Cheers;
Jeff
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Supermarkets have to take back any unwanted packaging, and many consmuners unpack their goods when they pay for them.
Shops have to close early on Saturday afternoons and cannot open on Sundays.
I cannot think of appropriate words to describe the difference in driving techniques on freeways.
America may yet be surprised by "old" Europe.