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.
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 29 2018, @02:03PM
Well, those governments are wrong, because Microsoft is already doing plenty of bad things. Microsoft makes proprietary software. It makes proprietary data formats to lock users into their proprietary software. It spies on users. It disables features that allow the user to disable certain aspects of the spying. And so on.
If those governments think they're going to send an army of lawyers in Microsoft's direction if it does anything bad, they're not doing a very good job of it.