"cumbersome" and "of very limited use"

Story: Calls for city that ditched Microsoft for Linux to switch laptops to WindowsTotal Replies: 13
Author Content
BernardSwiss

Aug 19, 2015
10:40 PM EDT
I don't care for Ubuntu, either, but this "cumbersome" and "of very limited use", sounds like a better description of the politicians who are trying to whip up an issue around this, than a meaningful description of the computer technologies involved.

:-P
penguinist

Aug 19, 2015
11:35 PM EDT
Microsoft is playing politics. Plain and simple.

I recall that the MS influence in the party politics of Munich was documented a few months ago. Now the tactic is playing itself out.

Fortunately the Force doesn't work as well in Germany as it does in the US. They are smarter over there.
nmset

Aug 20, 2015
4:37 AM EDT
I wonder if there would have been such noise if two dumb councillors shouted : "Help ! Virus invasion on our laptops !".
seatex

Aug 20, 2015
9:28 AM EDT
> They are smarter over there.

Smarter, or less corrupted? Maybe both.

jdixon

Aug 20, 2015
9:29 AM EDT
> Smarter, or less corrupted? Maybe both.

Neither, just a different kind of corruption that Microsoft doesn't know how to work with. Some may say that's a cynical view, but...
mbaehrlxer

Aug 20, 2015
10:30 AM EDT
to translate from the actual letter, the reasons are: "cubersome to use", "incompatibilities" and "missing permissions". "among other things they are not able to install software by themselves (word processing, skype, office, etc) which prevents normal use"

i'd like to note that switching government offices to linux is quite different from forcing elected politicians to do the same. for the former, it's their job and they are employed to do the work. as such they simply have to do as told.

politicians on the other hand, don't have to do as told, and they may also only be elected for one term and don't want to spend time learning a new system, and in a way it is also their mandate to not simply put up with a status quo, if they don't like it.

we may not be happy with the politicians choice for themselves, but i'd rather not make a big deal out of this. forcing the politicians to use linux if they don't like it could lead to them overthrowing the whole city switch just for their own sake. "if i have to force the whole city to switch to windows, just so that i don't have to use linux, so be it" (they are not asking for this now, but they could go that route if they fail to get their will now.)

in my opinion, given their position, they should simply be offered a choice. since they now chose to simply not use these computers, giving them a choice would not make things any worse.

seatex: thank you! (was: could you please make the image smaller? it ruins the formatting here. (can't read all the text because of it))

greetings, eMBee.
humdinger70

Aug 20, 2015
3:56 PM EDT
Complaints from a bunch of political clowns who couldn't find their own with both hands. Probably paid shills of M$, because they haven't been getting their kickbacks. In the article it says they saved 10 million euros by switching. Not a small amount.
the_doctor

Aug 20, 2015
10:39 PM EDT
But wait! It gets worse:

Italian City Drops Open-Source Software for Microsoft Apps to Save Money

Quoting:But as far as Italian city Pesaro is concerned, using software developed by Microsoft is a lot less expensive than going all-in on open source.


Quoting:'So how is this possible?' you could ask. Basically, the final cost of open-source software involves not only licensing, but also employee training, as nobody used these apps before, IT experts for coping with all kinds of issues that might be experienced, developers for better compatibility with a number of internal apps, as well other deployment costs.
mbaehrlxer

Aug 21, 2015
2:20 AM EDT
yes, but again, this is not about the whole city switching back, but about buying a few dozen licenses for elected representatives.

more interesting is that aparently one of the two wo made the request, is apparently a long-term unix developer and IT consultant, and a year ago made a strong statement in support of linux.

http://www.computerbase.de/2015-08/linux-zwei-muenchner-stad...

it doesn't necessarily follow that he changed his mind on that.

but why does he reject linux for his own desktop?

greetings, eMBee.
cybertao

Aug 21, 2015
3:49 AM EDT
Chances are they want to use their laptops for personal use, which other employees won't be allowed to do with their provided systems. I hope they get given Windows installations without administrator access.
penguinist

Aug 21, 2015
7:18 AM EDT
Wouldn't it be funny if they were given Windows 10.

That would be "poetic justice".
gus3

Aug 22, 2015
9:54 AM EDT
Well, this *is* Italy, known for jailing seismologists for not pre-announcing deadly earthquakes.
mbaehrlxer

Aug 23, 2015
11:02 AM EDT
from the discussions and other articles in german it was pointed out that restrictive permissions would be a matter of policy and also apply to windows.

greetings, eMBee.
henke54

Aug 25, 2015
4:44 AM EDT
I have put this link on the ubuntu forum, and there is a interesting video of the recent DebConf15 included a talk by an Munich IT fellow about LiMux ; http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2291528&page=3&p=13...

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