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Munich Makes Good
June 03, 2008
Posted by: Glyn Moody
Remember Munich, and its city council's 2003 decision to rip out Microsoft Windows and Office, and to replace them with free software? It was a seminal moment for open source, when Microsoft brought its heaviest guns to bear – in the shape of Steve Ballmer, no less, who made the city an offer it couldn't refuse – and failed:
The local government in Munich, Germany, has voted to move 14,000 computers from Microsoft's Windows to the rival Linux operating system, despite efforts by the software giant to hang onto the multimillion-dollar contract.
The council of Germany's third-largest city said Wednesday that it will spend about 30 million euros, or $35 million, on the transition. In addition to switching operating systems, the city plans to move from Microsoft's Office productivity software to the open-source OpenOffice.
Microsoft had fought hard to retain the business, offering deals and discounts, with CEO Steve Ballmer interrupting a ski vacation in Switzerland to pay a personal visit to Munich's mayor about the issue, the city said.
Munich's move stands alongside Massachusetts' decision to opt for ODF rather than Microsoft's Office formats (although that decision was irremediably muddied by later Microsoft shenanigans), as a pivotal event that changed people's thinking about open source - when those outside the free software world began to sit up and take notice.
So where exactly has the Munich project got to, five years later? Well, according to the home page of the project, called LiMux, it's proceeding steadily:
Status quo of the LiMux project:
1000 work stations migrated to LiMux
6000 work stations using OpenOffice.org
90% work stations using Firefox and Thunderbird
Moreover, in the best free software style, the project is not only adopting other people's code, it's writing its own, and releasing it as open source:
The WollMux is an OpenOffice.org plugin developed by the Municipality of the City of Munich, Bavaria. It's main features are
Cross-platform operation (Linux and Windows)
A toolbar for accessing document templates, PDF files, web pages,...
On the fly template generation from separate files (e.g. letterhead, footer, form)
Pre-filling templates with personal and organizational data from a variety of databases (e.g. LDAP)
Advanced form support with auto-computed fields and input validity checking
Hiding and showing parts of the document based on form input
Advanced autotext support with identifier pattern matching and a shortcut syntax for filling in placeholders
Chainable printing plugins to provide custom dialogs and transformations when printing
Automatic printing of document variants according to Sachleitende Verfügungen.
Enhanced serial letter functionality that ties in with the form functionality (e.g. auto-computed fields) and the custom print plugins.
This are classic open source dynamics: the more people that use free software, the more code is generated, and the more everyone benefits.
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About the author
Glyn Moody Glyn Moody's look at all levels of the enterprise open source stack. The blog will look at the organisations that are embracing open source, old and new alike (start-ups welcome), and the communities of users and developers that have formed around them (or not, as the case may be).
Comments received
pogson said on Wednesday, 04 June 2008
This is progress but it is disappointing. We all hoped Munich would be a shining example of migration. No one would welcome such a long drawn-out process. Fortunately there are better ways to migrate:
1)switch all the easy desktops to GNU/Linux thin clients on a weekend like Extramadura did
2)grind away on the rest at your leisure
3)do it one department at a time instead of globally.
Glyn Moody said on Wednesday, 04 June 2008
It's been drawn-out, but at least it's happening: at various points even that was in doubt. I think it's inevitable that pioneering schemes like this take longer than hoped.
Chris Hildebrandt said on Wednesday, 04 June 2008
The "Wienux" project started 2005 to offer voluntary migration for all city of Vienna/Austria employees in a similar way. It consists of a highly adapted Debian Linux, OpenOffice.org and Firefox, together with a bundle of costumized small applications.
Today, 1000 of 32.000 desktops have switched to Linux and OpenOffice.org is already installed on 15.000 of them.
http://www.wien.gv.at/ma14/wienux.html
Glyn Moody said on Wednesday, 04 June 2008
Thanks for the info and links.
Jason said on Wednesday, 04 June 2008
I'm impressed; they are on target to finish the migration in 70 years. Big win for open source.
Glyn Moody said on Wednesday, 04 June 2008
Hey, open source is a long-term solution...
JSG said on Wednesday, 04 June 2008
So... after what, six years... All they've accomplished were 1000 desktops?
I checked on this last year, and the only news I heard was that about 85% of the "converted" machines were still running Windows... in emulation. So that didn't seem like progress- booting into Lunix, in order to emulate Windows, where people work in Windows. Seems like a high paid consultant's vision of progress... and tons of billable hours.
And a bill of at least $35 Million already? Wow. Sounds like it would have been far, far cheaper to just stick with Windows.
What benefit could this possibly have, either for the organization or the users? I'm pretty darn sure the users weren't the ones with such a burning, all consuming hatred of all things Microsoft.
Jennifer said on Wednesday, 04 June 2008
5 Years into the project:
(1) Budget increased from 30 million euro to 35 million euro.
(2) 7% of the computers (1000 out of 14000) use LiMux
Jone said on Wednesday, 04 June 2008
I have to wonder if maybe the transition from MS Windows to GNU/Linux will speed up over time. Getting users familiar with OpenOffice is a huge step in itself. Even if the GNU/Linux desktops have MS Windows emulation it is a temporary measure. I would hope that long term is not going to take 70 years. Like any good migration of a large organization the transition needs to be taken in strides.
Jibbidy B said on Wednesday, 04 June 2008
Oh come on, it's a government project, of course it's going inordinately slowly.
The telling sign is that the project is going ahead nicely. A project with proprietary software would have had its budget ballooned out of all proportion, along with a huge timescale hike.
They also had to stop the project dead for a significant amount of time due to software patent FUD flying around the EU at the time. You can blame the corrupt Charlie McCreevy and Microsoft for that.
db0 said on Thursday, 05 June 2008
5 years for 1000 stations (less than 10%) unfortunately does not seem a very good result to me.
I know this is a difficult undertaking but still..
I'm happy though that it is still going on.
Anonymaste said on Monday, 09 June 2008
5 Years?? The migration started in September 22, 2006 - one year behind original schedule. The political DEBATE and VOTING started in 2003. It's been delayed because of FUD about software patents et.c since.
Check timeline here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LiMux
Anonymaste said on Monday, 09 June 2008
Oh, by the way: it is by design a "SOFT" migration, NOT a hard migration. Soft migration means machines are successively migrated when they naturally become obsoleted by age.