Nine German cities in the state of Rheinland Pfalz are in
advanced talks to replace many, if not all, of their Microsoft
software products with open-source alternatives, particularly the
Linux operating system.The move follows the May decision by the
authorities in Munich, the capital city of Bavaria, to equip all of
the 14,000 computers in its public administration with Linux and
other open-source office applications.
"We had an important meeting this month to
discuss what we need to know if we make the switch to open source
and will meet again on 14 October to plan pilot tests," said Markus
Donsbach, IT director for the League of Cities in Rheinland
Pfalz.
"Many of the cities have to make decisions by
the end of this year because their contracts with Microsoft expire
early next year."
The cities, Alzey, Kaiserslautern, Koblenz,
Landau, Mainz, Neustadt, Speyer, Trier and Worms, are among the
largest in the state.
Donsbach said most major German cities and
many smaller ones are giving open-source software "serious
thought", largely because of tight IT budgets.
The cost of licensing Microsoft products and
the lack of support for some, including the NT operating system,
which is still used widely in many city councils, are among the
chief reasons for the growing interest in open-source products, he
added.
One big hurdle for the cities to migrate to
open-source software could be their wide use of customised software
programs.
"The cities have systems running on different
IT infrastructures," Donsbach said. "The task force that we've
establish intends to contact all the vendors and find out if they
already provide interfaces to open-source systems and if not,
whether they plan to provide these in the near future."
Eager to maintain a position in Germany's huge
public-sector market, Microsoft has been willing to bend on prices
to keep key accounts for its Windows operating system and other
products.
In April, the German Interior Ministry signed
a licensing agreement with Microsoft to receive favourable
conditions for both buying and leasing the US company's software
products.
The deal came just weeks after Microsoft chief
executive officer Steve Ballmer paid a visit to government
officials in Germany.
John Blau writes for IDG News Service