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Munich still uses 41 proprietary apps that will only run under XP or 2000. The city has estimated it will cost $18M to replace them over a 4-year span.
Nick Heath at TechRepublic reports
Windows XP and 2000 are used by fewer than 1,500 of the more than 16,000 staff at the council, which relies on the aged Microsoft systems to run 41 applications.
[...] In order to stop using Windows XP and 2000, these 41 applications will either be migrated to a newer, supported operating system, replaced with more modern software, or phased out--as part of a four year project costing €16.6M ($18.03M).
[...] Munich carried on using XP and 2000 due to these 41 applications being used for crucial work in the city, from monitoring emissions for air pollution to flood protection.
To secure the OSes, Munich ran them on virtual machines and on standalone computers, as well as using what it calls "restrictive data interchange", quarantine systems, and additional protective measures.
The council has decided to stop using these older unsupported versions of Windows now as, not only are they a security risk, but according to a report [PDF, Deutsch] they have limited support for network and data security features the council wants to use.
[...] Often it can be the case that organisations can't update the application to run on a newer OS because the people with the necessary skills are gone or the company that originally wrote the software no longer exists.
[...] The project at Munich will be split into two phases: The first will assess the work needed and the second will carry it out. Work got underway at the end of [2015] and is expected to be complete by the end of September 2019.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by stormreaver on Friday January 22 2016, @12:51PM
The cost of replacing all Windows apps with Free apps for the entire city of Munich is a one time cost of $18M. Munich will recoup that cost in a few years, and then be free of Microsoft's (and others') iron grip. The city will then see ongoing savings and ongoing independence, the latter of which is priceless.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Francis on Friday January 22 2016, @03:33PM
Exactly. The library here replaced the proprietary software they had been using for their website and tracking software a few years ago. There was up front expenses and some glitches, but now they have a lot more control over what their software does and can add or remove features as needed. They can also hire whomever they like to fix things rather than the previous vendor.
$18m for an entire city isn't even that much money. That comes out to less than $20 per man, woman and child in the city. As a one time cost that's hardly unreasonable. If they handle things correctly from there on out the cost shouldn't be any higher than what they were paying and might well be lower. Plus, they have a lot more control over what happens in the future.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 22 2016, @07:55PM
The tense of your verb may already be incorrect.
Back in 2012, the then-mayor estimated a €4 million savings.
He grossly underestimated the more than €10 million [googleusercontent.com] (orig) [h-online.com] they had saved up to that point.
...and, once again, saving money was not the goal of the transition to Free Software--that was just a happy coincidence.
The goal was to gain CONTROL of their software ecosystem.
That same then-mayor has one of the great lines of all time (which left the world's richest man speechless).
"Freedom from you, Mr. Gates." [googleusercontent.com] (orig) [europa.eu]
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]