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posted by mrpg on Saturday February 18 2017, @01:02PM   Printer-friendly
from the spending-a-huge-amount-of-money-for-zero-benefit dept.

The city will investigate how long it will take and how much it will cost to build a Windows 10 client ahead of a vote on whether to replace its Linux-based OS from 2021.

A decade ago, Munich was at the vanguard of a movement towards open-source software, switching thousands of staff to Linux from Windows at a time when a move on that scale was almost unheard of.

After spending nine years and millions of euros on the project, today the city's politicians agreed to begin preparing to return to Windows by 2021.

Under a proposal backed by the general council, the administration will investigate how long it will take and how much it will cost to build a Windows 10 client for use by the city's employees.

Once this work is complete, the council will vote again on whether to replace LiMux, a custom version of the Linux-based OS Ubuntu, across the authority from 2021.

Source: Linux champion Munich takes decisive step towards returning to Windows

Before the decision: Statement by The Document Foundation about the upcoming discussion

Linux's Munich crisis: Crunch vote locks city on course for Windows return

Previous: No, Munich Isn't About To Ditch Free Software and Move Back to Windows


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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Rich on Saturday February 18 2017, @04:59PM

    by Rich (945) on Saturday February 18 2017, @04:59PM (#468635) Journal

    The municipal administration is happy with their Linux-based workstations:

    http://www.schwaebischhall.de/buergerstadt/rathaus/linux/migration.html [schwaebischhall.de] (in German)

    So, a Linux-based infrastructure is nothing that can't be done, but entirely within the abilities of a well run IT department.

    The Munich issue seems to mostly revolve about politics and pork, and maybe a bit of incompetence in the wrong places, and I wouldn't even rule out that certain factions were involved in disruption strategies. It will be interesting to see if bad things happen when they try to re-entrench the other system. The gears might happen to grind to a halt and slide into widespread chaos on the first big patch day after the rollout is done. To much delight of people interested in the comfy mayor chair...

    On the cost side, as I read it, the whole migration has cost about roughly as much as the license cost saved so far. The return will probably be much more expensive, because a set of all-new computers will be needed for W10, the accompanying license cost, and the plan to hire (expensive!) external consultants to get the work done.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 18 2017, @07:39PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 18 2017, @07:39PM (#468696)

    The municipal administration is happy with their Linux-based workstations

    Yes, a supermajority is contented with what they have.
    After a decade of use, the "new" stuff is in muscle memory and it seems second-nature to use it to get things done.
    It's not that different than having switched to another version of Windoze/upgraded Windoze-compatible apps years ago.

    The Munich issue seems to mostly revolve about politics and pork

    The politics is pretty obvious.
    This is a cadre attempting to leave its mark on things and undoing the accomplishments of the old guard.
    It's the final thing that I mentioned in the original summary. (Worth a read.)

    If there is actual graft involved and that is revealed, this will get VERY interesting.
    It seems to be the OPPOSITE of pork to me.
    The FOSS system kept support and money for that local.
    By comparison, M$'s stuff has a very poor fiscal multiplier effect; they will instead be exporting cash.

    It will be interesting to see if bad things happen when they try to re-entrench the other system.

    Indeed. With M$ having had several releases since Munich stopped giving them cash, many who are now used to the FOSS OS will find Redmond's latest stuff jarring.
    I mentioned in TOS how the city fathers handed out Ubuntu disks when eXPee was reaching EoL.
    Rather than buying new hardware, the very practical citizens of Munich simply switched to the zero-cost solution.
    Windoze use there is a small minority.

    patch day

    With folks now used to the ease of Linux updates, one wonders what the reaction will be to a return to the brokenness of MICROS~1's update paradigm.

    On the cost side [they avoided] a set of all-new computers

    When the dust has settled, how taxpayers/voters react to this unnecessary waste of money will be the big story.

    -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

    • (Score: 2) by Rich on Sunday February 19 2017, @12:58AM

      by Rich (945) on Sunday February 19 2017, @12:58AM (#468789) Journal

      It seems to be the OPPOSITE of pork to me.
      The FOSS system kept support and money for that local.

      Correct. Let's call it "maybe benefits for individuals". I picked the wrong word here. Pork would be if a representative from Nuremburg lobbied for SuSE ;)