This article is extremely misleading and false. They are in the process of putting a expert commission in place that would give a opinion on migrating back to windows or not. Not even this expert commission is in place now. The original article in German states exactly this.
From what I gathered from German news the last couple of years is the following: The mayor Dieter Reiter is very Pro-Microsoft, so is his second in command. The levels below that are happy with Linux or want to deal with the whole issue rationally. Many employees are not happy with Linux, but its not clear to which extend. IT is very happy with Linux, but they would need around 20% more staff.
Although Microsoft claims otherwise the migration to Linux hasn't cost the city a dime more. They'll save a lot of money in the future and were able to give a lot of engineering effort back to the community. In the long run its way cheaper than a Microsoft solution.
Full Disclosure: I'm a avid Linux user myself, but I'm not sure if its the right OS for administrative work. Especially since everybody still uses MS Office formats.
> Issues arose when the Linux OS users tried to work with those outside the city and they were unable to share files easily with those on other applications.
Hmm...I wonder why that is. Oh wait, I know - because they are all using proprietary formats from Microsoft, and Microsoft makes sure to modify even the almost-standards they have with each new iteration just to break previous compatibility with other apps.
So how do you treat such an abusive company that does it best to abuse you and keep world governments hostage to its software? Why you go back to it and give it even more money, of course! What else could be the solution? A national enforcement of open formats to ensure everything is nice and compatible? No, that's just crazy talk. Decades-old beholding to a single monopolistic company sounds so much easier...just embrace it.
From what I gathered from German news the last couple of years is the following: The mayor Dieter Reiter is very Pro-Microsoft, so is his second in command. The levels below that are happy with Linux or want to deal with the whole issue rationally. Many employees are not happy with Linux, but its not clear to which extend. IT is very happy with Linux, but they would need around 20% more staff.
Although Microsoft claims otherwise the migration to Linux hasn't cost the city a dime more. They'll save a lot of money in the future and were able to give a lot of engineering effort back to the community. In the long run its way cheaper than a Microsoft solution.
Full Disclosure: I'm a avid Linux user myself, but I'm not sure if its the right OS for administrative work. Especially since everybody still uses MS Office formats.