public services of an entire german state switches from Microsoft to open source (Libreoffice, Linux, Nextcloud, Thunderbird)
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I think this has been tried before.
Yup. And MS had to bribe the city of Munich with moving their German HQ there to make them switch back.
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I just switched to Linux and got a new win11 laptop for my wife.
Had to install a old HP Laser MFC (going to switch to brother when I run out of toner).
It just worked on Linux mint. Auto installed. Printing and scanning.
On win10 worked automatically. Printing and scanning.
On Win 11 it installed with a generic driver and printed fine but not scanning. Had to get the win10 driver from the site... WTH.wrote on last edited by [email protected]My Brother printer worked way better on W11 then W10, but I disliked W10 more than I dislike W11 at least at the start
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they will save 188,000 € on Microsoft license fees per year
Unfortunately nextcloud sucks
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Unfortunately nextcloud sucks
I was thinking about trying it out on my server. Why does it suck?
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Unfortunately nextcloud sucks
So use some of that money saved to pay some nextcloud developers to improve it.
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I was thinking about trying it out on my server. Why does it suck?
I wouldn't say categorically that it sucks.
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It is inefficient and requires far too many server resources for what it does. Won't really run on less than 2gb/RAM minimum, with 1-2 users.
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Add ONS seem to be all over the place with lots of incompatibilities, some default add ons that just plain don't work.
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In my short testing it seems to be a bit unstable.
In my opinion, it suffers from many of the same problems as other projects that started out and we're developed largely by hobbyists like zoneminder, and even home assistant to some extent. Sprawling growth, no strict architecture, little concern for refactoring.
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I wouldn't say categorically that it sucks.
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It is inefficient and requires far too many server resources for what it does. Won't really run on less than 2gb/RAM minimum, with 1-2 users.
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Add ONS seem to be all over the place with lots of incompatibilities, some default add ons that just plain don't work.
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In my short testing it seems to be a bit unstable.
In my opinion, it suffers from many of the same problems as other projects that started out and we're developed largely by hobbyists like zoneminder, and even home assistant to some extent. Sprawling growth, no strict architecture, little concern for refactoring.
Interesting. What would you recommend as an alternative?
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they will save 188,000 € on Microsoft license fees per year
Good, amazing but I'm not a linux fanboy who will feel giddy for this. My friends would definitely press me over this. But yeah I'm happy
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My Brother printer worked way better on W11 then W10, but I disliked W10 more than I dislike W11 at least at the start
Going from win7 to win10 is definitely more harsh than from win10 to win11
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they will save 188,000 € on Microsoft license fees per year
I admire the plan, but I doubt the public sector is going to completely acclimate to Linux. The average age of an employee in the public sector is something like 40+.
You might get lucky and get them to use one new program like LibreOffice, but there's no way you're going to completely revamp every desktop PC to Linux. I work in this field, and while everyone has been nice and friendly, they (and the entire system around them) are also hugely resistant to digital change.
If they ever make the move to a Linux Desktop environment, the IT support will go through hell. -
Some localities in Germany have been incorporating Linux into their systems for 20+ years.
That may explain why the financial benefits seem low.
Certainly not this one: 6 EUR/user/year doesn't cover even Windows
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That is such a crazy amount of money on license fees, especially when you consider that there are mostly free alternatives. I am always choosing foss options as I build my small business.
Right now, I am using onedrive, and Microsoft for my business email. Which I think comes out to like $5 a month.
My understanding is that for reliable email, you need to host with microsoft or google otherwise you are more likely to get sorted into junk mail. If that is incorrect, please let me know.
It isn't or the op posted the wrong number: 6 EUR/user/year is nothing for organizations
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I admire the plan, but I doubt the public sector is going to completely acclimate to Linux. The average age of an employee in the public sector is something like 40+.
You might get lucky and get them to use one new program like LibreOffice, but there's no way you're going to completely revamp every desktop PC to Linux. I work in this field, and while everyone has been nice and friendly, they (and the entire system around them) are also hugely resistant to digital change.
If they ever make the move to a Linux Desktop environment, the IT support will go through hell.I know what you are saying, but it is not so bad: First of all, most things people are doing at work is not really related to the OS underneath. So if you are responsible for creating passports, you are using the special government program for passport creation. If you are a policeman, you are using the special police software to do your policework. Yeah, you need additional training, but in the best case your usual software keeps working. Most people are not really interacting with the OS during their work day.
(and let's be honest: Microsofts totally insane UI changes are also requiring lots of training. If you are used to just click on some specific buttons that somebody told you to click on, you're totally lost in Microsofts crazy wonderland of ridiculous UI changes )
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Or way worse, what you said but senior techs.
Microsoft has been at this long enough that there is an army of old guys whose only - but extremely specialized - skillset is navigating arcane GUIs for group policies and AD administration. But drop them in a bash terminal and they're like a fish dropped on a tennis court.
Modern MS infra administration is far from "navigating arcane GUIs": it's all about PowerShell, IaC, automation etc.
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Interesting. What would you recommend as an alternative?
I'm not sure myself, there seems to be better software out there for each individual part of what nextcloud does, but not the whole thing. I've been reading up on open cloud, which is a fork of a rewrite of owncloud, which is what nextcloud is forked from. https://opencloud.eu/en/opencloud-community
I haven't tried it out yet though.
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they will save 188,000 € on Microsoft license fees per year
Holy fuck, that's the clearest sign for war prepararion ive seen from Europe yet, they don't want the US in their computers.
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So use some of that money saved to pay some nextcloud developers to improve it.
The money saved will pay for one dev, or two if you cheap out
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I know what you are saying, but it is not so bad: First of all, most things people are doing at work is not really related to the OS underneath. So if you are responsible for creating passports, you are using the special government program for passport creation. If you are a policeman, you are using the special police software to do your policework. Yeah, you need additional training, but in the best case your usual software keeps working. Most people are not really interacting with the OS during their work day.
(and let's be honest: Microsofts totally insane UI changes are also requiring lots of training. If you are used to just click on some specific buttons that somebody told you to click on, you're totally lost in Microsofts crazy wonderland of ridiculous UI changes )
Plus government computers are always old as shit so Linux should install nice and easy, give em mint for that windows like UI.
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I admire the plan, but I doubt the public sector is going to completely acclimate to Linux. The average age of an employee in the public sector is something like 40+.
You might get lucky and get them to use one new program like LibreOffice, but there's no way you're going to completely revamp every desktop PC to Linux. I work in this field, and while everyone has been nice and friendly, they (and the entire system around them) are also hugely resistant to digital change.
If they ever make the move to a Linux Desktop environment, the IT support will go through hell.There used to be skins for KDE that made it look and feel 1:1 like Windows XP, I don't know if these things still exist. If yes, there you have it: Just make the system behave like Windows and they won't notice a difference. They only have to use Office, Mail and print files anyways. Most other tools they use are browser-based and will feel the same way
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Holy fuck, that's the clearest sign for war prepararion ive seen from Europe yet, they don't want the US in their computers.
This has been planned for quite some time, so not really.
Also, other states insist on using Palantir so there's that...
