Munich goes with Open Source Software
Munich Council Press Statement (translated)
The city of Munich will use Linux as the operating system for
their 14,000 PC clients as well as open source software for their
office applications. With the votes of SPD, Alliance 90/Die
Gruenen/Pink list, FDP, OEDP, REP and Party of Democratic
Socialism, the town assembly followed Mayor Christian Ude’s
proposal.
An appraisal given by the city in order to evaluate the pro and
cons of a conversion of the present urban standard “Windows
NT/Microsoft Office” alternatively on “Windows XP/Microsoft Office”
or “Linux/Open Office” comes to the conclusion that there is a
clear strategic-qualitative projection/lead for the open source
solution.
Mayor Ude: “With this trend-setting decision Munich secures
itself as the first major city to have a major portion of its IT
infrastructure be supplier-independent and sets also a clear
indication of more competition in the software market. The
prehistory of this decision already showed that a competitive
situation helps the formation of prices pretty well. “
Regarding the decision, mayor Ude pointed out that this is not a
decision for a specific IT partner, but a strategic positioning
based on a noncommittal market evaluation.
Until spring 2004, a detailed concept of implementation and
migration will be developed. Based on the results of this
evaluation, the city council will decide how the migration to Linux
will take place.
IBM Germany Statement
The city council of Munich today made a key decision to deploy
the open source operating system Linux instead of alternative
operating systems. This initiative will see Germany’s third largest
city migrate 14,000 desktop and notebook computers to Linux. Their
objective is to deploy information technology that stimulates more
commercial and technological flexibility at a lower cost to the
public sector. Although the council has not made a decision on its
choice of vendor, Linux distributor SuSE AG and IBM Germany will be
participating in the resulting contract bid.
Walter Raizner, Country General Manager IBM Germany: “In the
public sector in Germany we have seen a variety of new
implementations of open standards-based software such as Linux. And
worldwide, more than 75 IBM government customers–including
agencies in France, Spain, UK, Australia, Mexico, the United States
and Japan–have now embraced open computing and Linux to save
costs, consolidate workloads, increase efficiency and enact
e-government transformation.
With Munich’s decision, one thing is clear–it’s open season for
open computing. Linux represents freedom and flexibility. This is
essential in e-government–they need more flexibility to serve
their constituencies better and faster, and freedom of choice to do
it at less cost to the public. Munich is leading the way.”