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posted by martyb on Friday January 22 2016, @09:52AM   Printer-friendly
from the lock-in-is-expensive dept.

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.


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  • (Score: 2) by linuxrocks123 on Friday January 22 2016, @09:25PM

    by linuxrocks123 (2557) on Friday January 22 2016, @09:25PM (#293328) Journal

    Because you're misunderstanding the "multiplier effect" and it's not an important consideration for these decisions?

    The multiplier effect means that government spending stimulates the economy by some multiple of the cash spent. Stimulating the economy sounds good, but, unless you're in a recession, it's really not; it just increases inflation. This is why we have central banks and monetary policy -- to balance the competing goals of growth and inflation.

    Keeping cash local is a silly goal. If Munich hires programmers it otherwise wouldn't need to manage its infrastructure, it's hiring those programmers away from jobs in the private sector of Munich, or jobs outside of Munich where the programmers would commute and then return home at the end of the day, thus bringing in cash to the local economy.

    Unless those programmers can't find work. In which case, the area is in a recession, and the central bank should act. For this reason, the multiplier effect is typically defined for an entire economy, not a piece of it. "Entire economy" usually means "the area in question and all areas in the same currency union".

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 22 2016, @10:11PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 22 2016, @10:11PM (#293352)

    That is true.
    I understand the Multiplier Effect at least as well as you do.

    unless you're in a recession

    Nonsense.
    The Multiplier Effect is about getting money circulating.
    N.B. Some guy who already has a bunch of wealth and doesn't spend that on goods and services does nothing for the economy.
    (Buying art that was produced 500 years ago doesn't count; neither does simply "buying" other rich guys' homes at ever-inflated prices in a round-robin fashion.)

    Additionally, the stock market is NOT The Economy.
    This is very apparent when over 23 percent of the population want a job and can't get one.
    The vast majority of an economy is ordinary folks buying ordinary stuff.

    Keeping cash local is a silly goal

    Not when you can produce all the stuff you need locally.
    Trade|outsourcing is for stuff you can't -already- produce.
    ...and you second-guessing the phenomenally successful Germans is just comical.

    the central bank[...]

    ...should die in a fire.
    It's the greatest source of misery in Europe.

    -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]