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posted by chromas on Saturday July 28 2018, @12:16PM   Printer-friendly
from the progress dept.

Another German state plans switch back from Linux to Windows

The German state of Lower Saxony plans to follow Munich's example, and migrate a reported 13,000 users from Linux back to Windows.

Apparently undaunted by the cost of the Munich switch (which we reported in January could be as much as €100m), Lower Saxony is considering making the change in its tax office. The state seems to expect a much cheaper transition, with Heise (in German here) reporting the first-year budget is €5.9m, and another €7m further out.

The tax office argues its decision is driven by compatibility: field workers and teleworkers overwhelmingly use Windows, while the OpenSUSE variants are installed on its office workstations. The office workstations are also ageing and due for replacement, something that helped open the door for Windows.

Related: Linux Champion Munich Takes Decisive Step Towards Returning to Windows
Munich Switching From Linux to Windows 10
German Documentary on Relations Between Microsoft and Public Administration Now Available in English


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  • (Score: 2) by bobthecimmerian on Saturday July 28 2018, @08:59PM (3 children)

    by bobthecimmerian (6834) on Saturday July 28 2018, @08:59PM (#714097)

    Well, "open source" just means "open source". What you really meant in your post was "open source capable of supplanting proprietary software by mass end user choice alone".

    With respect to your Excel example, I think the situation goes even further than you state. I work with people that won't use Excel in a browser with Office 365. They want the Excel desktop experience they know, and even an equivalent product from Microsoft - let alone a third party open source alternative - with all of the same features is unacceptable just because a few buttons were moved or renamed.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 28 2018, @11:32PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 28 2018, @11:32PM (#714142)

    Having tried to use libre office calc... it's shit.

    If I can't even find the buttons there's a problem.

    I say this as a Linux user and lover who has been using Linux as my system for around 7 years, libre/openoffice is shit. I have to learn random bits of latex to get anything done (in LyX), calc crashes every 5 seconds, etc. That's not going to fly for non-techies.

    • (Score: 3, Touché) by maxwell demon on Sunday July 29 2018, @07:21AM

      by maxwell demon (1608) on Sunday July 29 2018, @07:21AM (#714256) Journal

      I say this as a Linux user and lover who has been using Linux as my system for around 7 years,

      I don't believe you.

      I have to learn random bits of latex to get anything done (in LyX)

      First, LyX is not part of either OpenOffice or LibreOffice. Second, LyX is a LaTeX front end, what did you expect?

      calc crashes every 5 seconds

      I've never had calc crash on me once. Now I'm not a heavy user of it, but if it were really as bad as you describe, I should have had a few thousand crashes by now.

      --
      The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
    • (Score: 2) by bobthecimmerian on Sunday July 29 2018, @03:02PM

      by bobthecimmerian (6834) on Sunday July 29 2018, @03:02PM (#714361)

      I haven't used LibreOffice Calc for anything extra complicated, but for the stuff I thrown at it, it's been rock solid. I used it with company spreadsheets because I was too lazy to install Office for years.