Microsoft to be considered in Munich again?

[viking60]

Since Microsoft was kicked out of Munich and replaced with an Ubuntu based system: Munich has been somewhat of a light tower for open source in public services.
One Year ago the total victory was declared and 15000 people had migrated to Linux.

The third mayor of Munich Christine Strobl made the announcement and also added that Linux had become the daily routine a long tome ago.

The second Mayor -Josef Schmid- does not agree though and he claims that there have been a lot of complaints regarding the use and he claims that regardless of what meeting he goes to he gets confirmation that all the people are suffering under the use of Linux.

Schmid claims that the decision to move to Linux was more of a political demonstration against the monopolist Microsoft than a decision for Linux.
Some aspects naturally were against the buildup of dependencies towards Microsoft - so he has got a point. Microsoft is bravely showing off as the "brave looser" and have "somehow accepted" that Munich did reject their OS - but they are "always prepared for talks".
It almost makes one want to point out that Microsoft is no battered and mistreated dwarf (as many of their customers are?).

The top dog (and new), Mayor Dieter Reiter, does partly agree with Schmidt and claims that some free applications for Linux are "limping behind Microsoft apps".
He has personal experience from it because he had to wait for weeks for his Smartphone, because they had to implement the e-mail service to get it working - or something like that.
(This makes one wonder how the meetings in the Munich city council look like )

He cannot have meant the phone's OS because that is most likely Linux (Android) with a market share of over 50 % - and there Windows is limping behind with a puny 3 %.
If he is referring to the servers it does not make much more sense, since the web servers are dominated by Linux OS - world wide.

They also doubt that Linux is cheaper since they have to develop a lot for themselves. This should be a one time cost - while the cost for Microsoft's apps are forever though. Munich is also getting a lot for free (developed by others), and can freely use any future Linux app.

In any case; they will spend some taxpayers money to have an "impartial" expert group evaluate the project - 8 months after it has been positively evaluated - and will consider moving back to Microsoft if they conclude as they already have done.
Somehow it belongs to the picture that Microsoft will move their German headquarters to Munich - and that probably means some extra tax money.
There have been bogus HP/MS "internal" reports before which were leaked to the magazine Focus, but not handed out to Munich on request. These reports concluded That Windows would be cheaper than Linux - but did not take all MS costs into consideration.


What does make sense is that people do complain about the unknown - and Windows is better known than Linux... until people get to know it.

The Germans have a saying:

Was der Bauer nicht kennt, frisst er nicht

Which means : "What the farmer does not know; he doesn't eat"

So it is official then: The first and second mayors of Munich are farmers

Source SZ

viewtopic.php?f=14&t=1950

More background

[R_Head]

Love that, is so much truth to that.

There is one in Castellano that says... "Es mejor un malo conocido que un bueno por conocer"
Translate to some like... Is better to know a bad one than a good one yet to be known.

Typical MS person does not like to leave their comfort zone. Even if is hell..

To me sounds like a greased politician as usual.

[viking60]

It is surprising that Windows gets into consideration again given the closed source and the US willingness to spy on German politicians.
If they want to do that they can do it via Windows - better than with any other OS. An Order to MS and a gag order is all it takes.

Sadly this is no science fiction.

I guess tax money talk too though....

[viking60]

The last standing - and conclusion - is that a transfer back to Microsoft Windows would cost Millions of Euros:
The New Mayor of Munich who is a declared Microsoft fan did order an IT audit and got some answers that he might not like.

€14m invested in Linux would have to be written off.
All the training the staff has received and their experience would go down the drain (normally an argument for Windows - here it is vice versa).
Munich saved €11m on Hardware and Microsoft Licences.

He did find something to mangel though:

He also addressed a question about the relative security and Windows and Linux-based OSes. Reiter referred to a recent study by the German national security agency BSI, which found that Linux had a higher number of vulnerabilities than Windows but a smaller proporition of critical ones. However, he added the comparison was open to interpretation.

I seriously doubt this, but I will keep in mind that it is interpreted by a Microsoft Fan.

More here

[dedanna1029]

Just HOW is Linux supposed to be less secure than Windows again? 'Splain it to me please?

[viking60]

I think this was brought up during the Heartblead disaster. This did affect Linux and is patched on all distros now.
Even so, this did also affect Windows.

I cannot see any area where Windows is more secure than Linux. The argument that Open source is vulnerable - because it is open- has proven wrong.

The Germans see the remote control and secure boot stuff as an additional risk where the Americans simply find it great. On an governmental level this is not secure at all - even if a private person has less risk of being hacked.

The Trusted Platform Module is giving any other government than the US headaches.

The latest edition of the TPM chip included with Windows 8 will come already activated when you receive a new PC. In addition, while you can "disable" the TPM chip, there is no way to completely shut it off and insure that it won’t re-enable itself.

While this all might sound keen and dandy to the average user, the new Trusted Computing platform could possibly serve as a backdoor into the system when updates are pushed. The new TPM chip also removes complete control from the user without a firm way to opt-in and opt-out of the technology.

I guess trust is the key word - and that is a rare commodity after Snowdens revelations. There is not trust because the US have proven themselves to be untrustworthy in matters of IT.
I am referring to the spying on the German head of state.

What the German state does is not to be reported to the US more than the other way around. In Germany Americans are foreigners - does that make it OK to spy on them?

Apparently that is the case in the US...

[R_Head]

Blasphemy !!! We are the good guys, we do not do such heinous things

[Blackcrack]

Buddy's, this is nothing else as an rape from Linux Peoples,
this is for M$ an war for making money and bring back the old earnings..
This Man, where now be in front, make exactly this, what Microsoft want..
Either Microsoft has him in the hand, or he become much money
or other private things, maybe a supporting in the past.. or something else..
other , can it not be.. this is my opinion ..
So, don't let you angry, it's makes only damage you nerves ..
The best way is, support Reactos .. bring the right open source peoples to Reactos,
speak around to be reactos good.. and help for growing up reactos..
this is the best way..

best regards
Blacky

and by the way, the war contract between US and German it's not made !
we are still Americans.. and not Free Citizens, in the German Passport stay "German" but not an Citizen of the Republic of Germany or something ..
This what it is now, its a Huge Factory, where have the American still the fingers on it..

[viking60]

Germany is one of very few countries that have credibility in matters of IT.
The next Silicon Valley should be in Germany
Mosertahl Valley with Siemens as the German answer to Apple Google and Microsoft.

Or maybe Munich has deserved to be this center. Microsoft is already placing its German headquarters there - clearly as a tempting bribe to squeeze out Linux.
Let Redhat, SUSE and Canonical follow and the European Silicon Valley is on its way....

I don't think they will run the risk of ordered hardware and software manipulation with gag orders there.

Those methods include covert measures to ensure NSA control over setting of international encryption standards, the use of supercomputers to break encryption with "brute force", and – the most closely guarded secret of all – collaboration with technology companies and internet service providers themselves.

Here is an old articlecomparing the security

At the end of the day, the question of which is more secure depends a great deal on who is using it and how they're using it.

...There is some truth to that - that leaves you with making sure that your soft and hardware is not manipulated by some government (it is clearly not a US monopoly - they are just very good at it according to Obama).

We will not apologize simply because our services may be more effective

That is hard and way too expensive to detect and control. So who do you trust? That is the question....

..At least if you suffer from the notion that you should be in control of your IT infrastructure..

[R_Head]

Perhaps Munich is the Colorado of the USA. They went against the grain and legalized pot, also proves the States has sovereignty. Munich could be a test bed for a Linux infrastructure. In the way things are going, I am under the impression that Germany will drop the Euro Zone and join the BRICS as one economical power. The rest of Europe will decide on which side of the fence they want to go, NATO or BRICS. When that time comes, they will need a good IT infrastructure and I believe M$ is not invited.

I think the mayor is clueless and is getting greased by M$. Perhaps he is pitching M$ and the BMI is knocking on his door.

[viking60]

Ah now I got it. That is why Munich has chosen Linux
This has become a cyber war - so Obama has a point. It does not hurt to be good at it. Using it against your allies makes him untrustworthy though.

And an untrustworthy US government is bad news for Microsoft, Apple, Google, Dell, Cisco, HP, IBM - you name them.

[R_Head]

I think we are up to some here. In this world there are too many layers, the news only shows what they want us to see. I am true believer that money is the driving force of the planet. Things gets done becuase there is a monetary gain. Politics is nothing but the salesmanship to control masses; the art of conviction so they do not turn against them.

As long people are fed, amused and safe they are nothing but humble sheeps

But our very own scams is our biggest enemy. With all the cyber bullcrap, contractors ripping he Gov off, nothing is getting done. Is a quagmire of contractor and is very anarchistic; nobody knows if their networks are safe or not. The only way to safeguard your safety is only you, the user.