
From Linux to Windows 10: Why did Munich switch and why does it matter? - amelius
https://www.techrepublic.com/article/linux-to-windows-10-why-did-munich-switch-and-why-does-it-matter/
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merricksb
Earlier discussion:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15779226](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15779226)

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stupidcar
To be honest, without a strong political or ideological motivation to do so,
it's hard to see why any government organisation would use Linux on the
desktop, or how they would justify it. Cost, perhaps, but that's always going
to be difficult to really quantify, because what you save in licensing fees,
you might end up spending on the migration process, hiring expert contractors,
retraining users, etc.

Since you're funded by taxes anyway, you're inevitably less motivated by
purely economic concerns than by the quality and efficiency of the service you
can provide. While I frequently see people defend desktop Linux and
LibreOffice against hyperbolic claims about their inadequacy, I don't often
see people promoting them as _more_ usable for the everyday user than Windows
10. Other than the Windows 8 debacle, Microsoft keeps the happy-path of a
typical business-user workflow in decent shape.

Of course, a plan to migrate every computer to Windows is just that: a plan.
And IT plans have a bad habit of colliding messily with reality. It seems more
likely that, by 2023, Munich will have a lot of computers running Windows 10,
a lot still running LiMux, and a lot still running old versions of Windows. Or
maybe the political landscape will have shifted again, and they'll be in the
middle of a switch to Apple, Chrome OS, Ubuntu, or who knows what?

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zython
I believe the one sentence about ms moving its german headquarters to munich
last year should have been expanded.

I wonder if ms moving its hq and everything that comes with it sped up
someones decision making.

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criddell
Is it really that hard to believe that a Windows-based infrastructure is
better for a city government?

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ackfoo
"...obsolete, partially unsafe, usually extremely cumbersome IT, leading to
lots of wasted time and productivity".

That is an excellent short description of Linux. The kernel is fine, but the
distros and application software are mostly garbage.

Linux needs an absolute asshole to take charge of everything other than the
kernel. His/her favourite word must be "no", as in, "No you shrinking violet,
your code is crap and it needs to be totally rewritten. Get outta my distro."

A Steve Jobs of Linux to tell people to make it "just work" and point out the
parts that are pure garbage (over 90% at this point.)

It is not clear whether a benevolent dictator can exist in an open-source
world. But someone needs to try.

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hd4
That's just bullshit. The design committee of the major DEs/distros are
already that benevolent dictator. What have you tried that you found it was
mostly garbage? I used Unity just fine for about 5 years until the recent
switch to GNOME and then I went to Fedora KDE, and was surprised at how solid
it is. Maybe its just you/your hardware?

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tgragnato
KDE and GNOME are over-engineered, there's too much complexity in the wrong
places and this leads to confusion.

More specifically, KDE has too many configuration options, while GNOME is
dictating how one has to do things.

As an example:

> "Documents is a document manager application designed to work with GNOME 3.
> It's included in the default set of core applications since GNOME 3.2."

The file system has been used for decades as a document manager, why is this
in the set of CORE applications ?

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CuriouslyC
The complexity you denigrate in KDE is the result of its massive
configurability. The average joe might find it offputting, but I like being
able to completely control my environment. I suppose that mirrors Linux in
general.

If Linux had to be dumbed-down to make it a generally acceptable desktop
environment, something else would invariably arise in its niche. I think
things are just fine as is with MacOS as Unix for the masses, and Linux as
unix for hackers.

~~~
tgragnato
Do not misunderstand me, I do not want to denigrate anything, as I appreciate
the potential of configurability, but this is not the average case of a public
employee.

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rapsey
Open source is good for things programmers like writing. Kernels, databases,
game engines, etc. Fails completely when it comes to UIs.

~~~
ardi93
I disagree with this. Take a look at KDE Plasma, I think it has one of the
best desktop UI out there.

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jaimex2
LiMux? Did these guys make their own distro specifically for the city?

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madspindel
Yes:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LiMux](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LiMux)

