Germany is trying again to switch from Windows and MS Office to Linux and LibreOffice. Why didn't it work last time?
The other day it became known that a project is being implemented in Germany, the goal of which is to transfer many thousands of computers in government agencies to open source software. In particular, instead of Windows from Microsoft, the authorities are going to install one of the Linux distributions, and Microsoft Office will be replaced by LibreOffice.
Overall the initiative is not bad. But this is not the first attempt by the Germans to switch to open source software. And the previous ones did not end very well.
What's happening in Germany?
Now there is talk about replacement only in one of the regions of Germany – in Schleswig-Holstein. Here, 30 thousand Windows computers will be immediately transferred to Linux. It is interesting that officials have not yet chosen the distribution kit that they plan to install instead of the Microsoft operating system.
The transfer of systems will be carried out in approximately three years – everything should be completed by 2027. During this time, not only computers will be modified, but also user-officials will be taught new skills in working with Linux and related software.
It was first announced that the region was going to switch to Linux in 2021, and in general everything is going according to plan. Among the factors that led to the decision to replace Microsoft software with free software were cost savings and information security. In particular, the Germans are concerned that telemetry collected by Windows is going somewhere outside the European Union. According to the Germans, Microsoft software does not currently meet EU data security requirements. Well, officials hope to save money by not having to pay for licenses.
At the same time, officials still do not have much understanding of how and with what to replace some of the specialized capabilities of the Redmond company’s OS. In particular, Active Directory, a directory service, allows the administrator to manage various devices, user accounts, software settings, etc.
Attempt number…
The point is that in Germany attempts have already been made to switch to free open source software. One of the first started in 2003, i.e. 21 years ago. Then, within 10 years, about 15,000 government officials' computers were switched to Linux. Of course, the staff was retrained, the software was prepared – everything went according to plan.
In 2012, a year before the transition was completed, the Munich city council published a report on spending on Microsoft software and free software. The report compared the costs of LiMux with two technologically equivalent scenarios. The first is Windows and OpenOffice, the second is Windows and Microsoft Office. As it turned out, in the first case the savings amounted to 7.1 million euros, in the second – 11.3 million euros.
At that time, a number of media outlets published positive news that revealed the essence of the transition, showed savings, etc. But, as it turned out, not everything was so smooth. The fact is that not all software that officials work with can be transferred to Linux. The mail servers eventually had to be switched back to Microsoft Exchange. After suffering a little more, officials in 2017 decided to return to Windows and Office.
Even before the reverse operation, the Germans meticulously formulated the reasons for returning to proprietary software:
Free software is noticeably behind Microsoft software in terms of functionality.
For normal mail operation on smartphones, we had to install a separate mail server (Exchange).
There is no software for integration with mail, contacts and meetings.
Exchange of information with citizens and other municipalities is difficult because they use Microsoft software.
The expectation that “Linux is cheaper” was not justified, because the need arose to independently improve the functionality.
The main problem is the lack of support in Linux for about half of the programs previously used by officials. It turned out that it is more cost-effective to use commercial solutions that already support everything that is required and require only minimal configuration (compared to the new open source software ecosystem).
During the implementation of the project to switch to open source software, it turned out that very little worked out of the box. And yes, everything seems to be free, but setting up all the software requires specialists whose time costs money, and a lot of it. Improvements to software, system services, etc. accumulate and turn into a “snowball” of tasks requiring more and more additional work. This means that costs are rising, and instead of saving, officials end up with holes in the budget.
What now?
As for the new project, it is not yet clear whether its authors are aware of the previous attempts of their colleagues, but perhaps everything is simpler now, since Linux has become more advanced, and there is already more software for it. The same LibreOffice has been used without problems in the IT department of the municipality for the last two years. At the same time, for officials, the developers of LibreOffice created a special software interface for the interaction of programs from the office software package with the software used by department employees. It was tested for six months and there were no problems with it.
By the way, they will replace it with free analogues and other programs. For example, Zoom will be replaced by a free analogue, Jitsy. The changes, as mentioned above, will affect representatives of the public sector.
