Linux not Windows: Why Munich is shifting back from Microsoft to open source – again

guest · May 14, 2020

Linux not Windows: Why Munich is shifting back from Microsoft to open source – again
May 14, 2020
https://www.zdnet.com/article/linux...ing-back-from-microsoft-to-open-source-again/

In a notable U-turn for the city, newly elected politicians in Munich have decided that its administration needs to use open-source software, instead of proprietary products like Microsoft Office.

"Where it is technologically and financially possible, the city will put emphasis on open standards and free open-source licensed software," a new coalition agreement negotiated between the recently elected Green party and the Social Democrats says.
The agreement was finalized Sunday and the parties will be in power until 2026.

The decision is being hailed as a victory by advocates of free software, who see this as a better option economically, politically, and in terms of administrative transparency.
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"We're very happy that they're taking on the points in the 'Public Money, Public Code' campaign we started two and a half years ago," Alex Sander, EU public policy manager at the Berlin-based Free Software Foundation Europe, tells ZDNet. But it's also important to note that this is just a statement in a coalition agreement outlining future plans, he says.
Any such step-by-step transition can be expected to take years. But it is also possible that Munich will be able to move faster than most because they are not starting from zero, Sander noted.

"This is a political rather than a rational decision," another suggested.
"They're not purely technical and, in my opinion, that is not necessarily a bad thing," he says.
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So far, it's more words than deeds, the Fraunhofer Institute's Thapa concedes. As yet, none of the big players appears to have lost significant business to the free software movement in Germany. But it seems likely that commercial vendors will have a tougher time here in the near future.
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FSFE - Free Software Foundation Europe: Public Money, Public Code: Munich one step back - others two steps forward

More than two years ago, Munich abandoned their strategy of developing an independent IT infrastructure built with Free Software and the free operating system GNU/Linux and went back to depending on proprietary software.

We followed this process closely and like to give an update today about what has happened since then in Munich and in Europe in general. Did we manage to gain more independence and control over our IT or did dependencies on monopolies increase over the past two years?
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guest · Jun 5, 2020

Microsoft dropped for open source: Why Hamburg is now following Munich's lead
Former Microsoft bastion Hamburg's decision is particularly telling, say observers
June 5, 2020
https://www.zdnet.com/article/micro...ce-why-hamburg-is-now-following-munichs-lead/

The trend towards open-source software on government computers is gathering pace in Germany.
In the latest development, during coalition negotiations in the city-state of Hamburg, politicians have declared they are ready to start moving its civil service software away from Microsoft and towards open-source alternatives.

It was presented on Tuesday but has yet to be signed off. The political parties in charge in Hamburg are the same as those in Munich, who recently agreed to revert back to that city's own open-source software.

"With this decision, Hamburg joins a growing number of German states and municipalities that have already embarked on this path," said Peter Ganten, chairman of the Open Source Business Alliance, or OSBA, based in Stuttgart.
He's referring to similar decisions made in Schleswig-Holstein, Thuringia, Bremen, Dortmund, and Munich. But, he adds: "The Hamburg decision is nevertheless remarkable because the city has always been more aggressively oriented towards Microsoft.
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In the near future, the preference for open source needs to be written into public tenders, and Hamburg will also need to coordinate efforts with other municipalities and states so as "not to reinvent the wheel over and over again", Ganten notes. "As has happened occasionally in the past."
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zapjb · Jun 5, 2020

Nice, nice, nice.

Daveski17 · Jun 5, 2020

I got drunk in Munich once. Not only do they have excellent lager, now they're going to ditch Windows. An excellent decision.

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