Munich to Go Ahead with Linux After All 142
Saeed al-Sahaf writes "According to Groklaw and the German publication Heise (it's in German, of course) Munich's mayor Christian Ude has held a press conference, in which he said that the bidding process for the switch from Windows to Linux will go forward as originally planned, despite patent issues. InfoWorld (in English), quotes Bernd Plank, a spokesman for Munich town hall, saying that he expected that the administration would take a maximum of 'two to three weeks' to decide whether the EU's Directive on software patents could affect the city's plan to switch to Linux, and that would be no 'dramatic setback.'" We reported this earlier as well, but now that it's making the rounds again in English, more of us can read it without resorting to Babelfish.
Linux in munich (Score:5, Insightful)
The next generation will do without VMWare and will lower the cost to migrate to Linux.
Oh, and I might add that 5 cities in Bavaria are also thinking in joining Munich directly.
Also, in 3-4 years, if any hardware company will want to sell hardware to Europe or Asia, it will have to provide Linux drivers which will be beneficial for ALL Linux users.
Re:Why (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Discounts? (Score:5, Insightful)
Maybe there is more in it than just price, ya know...
Re:Linux in munich (Score:5, Insightful)
The more organizations deploy Linux, the lower the cost will become for further deployments.
Not only will a sizable deployment of Munich office workers using Linux reduce the transition costs of future organizations migrating to Linux (that is, applications evolve more into what people are used to from Windows), but it will also help drive further improvements in the quality of Linux applications and tools (we want this new feature added to this Linux application).
Munich could very easily be the first leak in what could turn into a torrential migration.
Every day that goes by, the costs of migration away from Windows go down and the benefits of migration to Linux go up.
Gun, foot, bang. Ouch! (Score:3, Insightful)
Dumb, dumb, dumb.
So now what happens? The city government takes the same gun, and shoots itself in the other foot. "No, Linux is still threatened by software patents, but...uh...well...we're going to go aghead with the bidding because...we're going to ignore the threat we tried to blackmail all of Europe with." Yeah, that's the ticket, boys -- make it intentionaly infringement. Right.
Somebody send these guys a clue, please?
Linux Community Support (Score:4, Insightful)
Imagine the field day Microsoft will have if the project goes over budget or outright fails!
I still say you have to throw the cost argument right out the window though. In the end, organizations will pay a premium for quality support/service and applications that play nice together easily. That is the biggest challenge Linux has to overcome before it can truly stand toe to toe with Microsoft.
Re:Why (Score:1, Insightful)
On the EU software patent issues:
Just what are they going to do about pre-existing software patents? Just void them and keep the money spent in obtaining them? Will said patents be grandfathered in?
I'm not a fan of software patents, but if I did spend good money in getting one, it was made useless/unenforcable, and I didn't get a refund, I think I'd be rather pissed off about it.
This might be political?!? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:green party is for open source (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Why (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Discounts? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Discounts? (Score:2, Insightful)
Of course, even if they halved their prices they'd still be making a massive profit.
This is encouraging, perhaps Linux is just what market needs to bring back competition into play.
Re:Show respect (Score:4, Insightful)
You're right, this is far from being physically dangerous, but it could cost the city lots of money in lost taxes, jobs and the image of the city. Getting Linux into their offices doesn't mean abandoning Microsoft altogether, and losing money in the process.
Considering my city's moves towards Daimler-Chrysler (Stuttgart), I think it is courageous of Munich to not give in to the demands of a big corporation.
About Microsoft being the Mafia: Most big corporations here behave like the Mafia, not only Microsoft. What Daimler-Chrysler demanded here was outrageous considering how much money they earn.
Re:This might be political?!? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Gun, foot, bang. Ouch! (Score:3, Insightful)
they might have a long-range clue. this dilemma raises the issue of software patents in a stark way *now*, while policy is still being formed.
can you imagine trying to roll back software patents *after* they've been absorbed into the consciousness (and bottom line) of the german economy?
there are no patent issues (Score:5, Insightful)
The fact is that Linux does not have any more or less "patent issues" than any other OS: nobody who develops software and has good legal advice will try to do background searches on patents. Instead, the rational thing to do is to develop the software and then see who complains. As a result, just about every major piece of software infringes on lots of patents.
Given that Linux source code is out in the open, any patent holder who believes that their patent is being infringed can complain, and as soon as they do, the infringing code will be removed from Linux and life will go on.
Re:Linux in munich (Score:5, Insightful)
The germans are generally considered to produce the finest things in the world on a technological standpoint. They also recognize the finest things, technologically. People all over the world (and there are) know this.
I contend that while Linux may cost more than windows in TCO, it is a better investment because it is a better, more reliable product.
Not to mention that a lot more money stays in the country when linux is used, and that always affect the elected ones.
Re:Gun, foot, bang. Ouch! (Score:5, Insightful)
This was incredibly smart as they are now producing a legal report that the goverment will have to act upon, thus derailing the European directive to approve software patents as unanimity is likely to be needed on the Commission.
They have not admitted to the existence of any patents that affect Linux, but rather have stated that it is a troubling issue that needs to be examined.
This was very shrewed. They raised public awareness, will get the city's legal department to produce a patent-unfriendly report which will be elevated to the German national government, which will then adopt a no-patents European position at the Comission.
The trees not letting you see the forest?
Munich Knows it is Setting a Trend... (Score:2, Insightful)
I for one, welcome our new open source leaders...