German Foreign Office Going Back To Windows 901
A user writes "The German government has confirmed that the German Foreign Office is to switch back to Windows desktop systems. The Foreign Office started migrating its servers to Linux in 2001 and since 2005 has also used open source software such as Firefox, Thunderbird and OpenOffice on its desktop systems. The government's response to the SPD's question states that, although open source has demonstrated its worth, particularly on servers, the cost of adapting and extending it, for example in writing printer and scanner drivers, and of training, have proved greater than anticipated. The extent to which the potential savings trumpeted in 2007 have proved realizable has, according to the government, been limited – though it declines to give any actual figures. Users have, it claims, also complained of missing functionality, a lack of usability and poor interoperability."
Change of government (Score:5, Informative)
it is difficult (Score:5, Informative)
It's hard not only for governments. A retail operation was trying to switch to Ubuntu boxes and one of the problems became Zebra LP 2824 thermal printer drivers [zebra.com], which are all for windows and none are for unix/linux. Of-course CUPS support these printers to an extent, but not completely and the worst part is printing in Cyrillic - it doesn't work. Barcodes do print and English prints though. Is this a show stopper for Linux on desktop? It well could be in this case.
Printer drivers? (Score:5, Informative)
Really?
I mean, I suppose I don't really know much about this, but did they really have the sort of volume where a rollback to Windows was cheaper than writing printer drivers, and writing printer drivers was cheaper than buying a printer with open drivers? Seriously, what doesn't CUPS support these days?
Worth to note which party is responsible (Score:5, Informative)
The foreign office is run by Guido Westerwelle, leader of the FDP (so called "liberals") who are pretty known for having close ties to companies and the industry in general. To be more blunt: pay them enough money and they do what you want them to do. Just recently they halved the taxes on hotel bills - after receiving a noticeable amount of money from a company running lots of hotels (Mövenpick) for their election campaign a few months prior.
So it's safe to assume that some coffers with money changed owners in return for this step. They are corrupt (pretty much everyone knows this) and they use it where ever they can. So far they (mostly) managed to stay within the legal limits (which is not too hard considering that there are very few restrictions for politicians in Germany, so basically once elected you can do pretty much anything you like without too much fear of of any serious consequences).
Re:Implausible (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Sad (Score:5, Informative)
Well,, I'm from Argentina, and I disagree. I know TONS of people (even non-geeks) that use ubuntu or some other flavor of linux on the desktop willingly, and the cost of a copy of windows here is absolutely irrelevant, as almost everyone pirates it, unless it came preloaded with a notebook or a brand pc (and even then, many notebooks come with win7 home or starter and it gets replaced with a pirated copy of win7 pro or ultimate).
Also while I agree there must be a few, I haven't seen any jobs where you're forced to use linux on the desktop, but so far I've worked on 3 companies that either let me install it on my desktop, or already had a corporate approved image with all the corresponding software to use at the workplace (i.e. with lotus notes etc)
Re:Blame the report! (Score:5, Informative)
This isn't about Linux "just working" for cheap crappy disposable "win-printers". This is about Linux for business printers. These are the same sorts of heavy duty workhorse printers that were working well in the early days of SunOS with little in the way of explicit printer vendor + OS vendor interaction.
This isn't about random cheap crap that was chosen entirely based on the fact that it had the lowest price tag that day.
Re:Blame the report! (Score:4, Informative)
Oh, no, no, nooo!
Standard procedure at this point is to blame the users; "I don't like using this." "What are you, a retard?"
I love Linux, but facts are for the average user its desktop experience is not as pleasant as Windows. Now you can blame anyone you like about that; it's the users' because they can't/won't learn anything different, it's the hardware vendors for not providing appropriate drivers, it's the developers for writing impenetrable half-assed documentation, but the end result is the same. And the bottom line is never going to go away; if your software isn't liked by users then it's your problem, not theirs.
Re:Blame the report! (Score:5, Informative)
Instead, lets blame the idiot vendor they're relying on to deliver their solutions.
The 1 system not running Linux in my house is my wife's Macbook. My 2 daughters run Linux successfully. We all print to and scan from a multi-function scanner/printer/fax/copier. We can all network print. I have a scanner that I use for more detailed work. My wireless router is a homebrew running Linux which also functions as a print server.
My business runs on Linux. My client solutions run on Linux. I'll just say it, my world runs on Linux.
This article states there has been a change in leadership [h-online.com]. The new boss is apparently anti-Linux, despite their own studies showing that the current systems are viable.
Re:Sad (Score:5, Informative)
Look, I understand the passion that people feel for Linux, FOSS, etc., but why is it sad news? If you step back and look at it from a 65,000 foot level, there are a few notes to take away.
First, try and understand why they made the switch back. It's probably not licensing fees, right? So it's more likely to be difficulty in switching, missing functionality, etc. What are the lessons to be learned?
Second, don't be sad. Seriously. I've said this before - it's supposed to be about choice. If someone chooses to use Windows/other Microsoft products/other closed source products, well then isn't that their choice? I know some people will say "but it's wrong, abc product always crashes, MS can't build secure software" and so on. But - a technologist's job is to find the best solution, for whatever value of best applies to the particular customer in their particular context. And sometimes that may be a Microsoft product, or some other closed source product.* No product is a one-size-fits-all item. If you try and force something to fit the problem, or argue from politics or ideals rather than logic, you're less likely to make a positive impression.
Sometimes it seems as though people on this site want Linux to be everything to everyone, everywhere. I suppose it's not technically a monopoly, and maybe it's harder to argue that there's a lack of freedom of choice if there are different distributions - but I think it goes against the spirit of freedom and competition.
* Except for CA. They're dreadful, and there is never a context where CA is the best solution.
Re:Sad (Score:3, Informative)