public services of an entire german state switches from Microsoft to open source (Libreoffice, Linux, Nextcloud, Thunderbird)
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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.wrote on last edited by [email protected]I also work for the state and it's pretty discouraging how MS has us by the balls on everything. Every application we use is written in VB.net or Visual C# which also depend on running on a Windows server. Switching to Linux would be a nightmare and cost millions for no real gain. Maybe we could run SQL Server on Linux but I'm sure that even that has some gotchas that the state would not want to deal with.
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This right here. Linux security is so good that the easiest way to break in is via Phishing someone with a windows laptop.
The old jibe was that Windows users are so gullible that they're just easier to phish.
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If the trend continues then maybe the hacker community will start focusing on Linux. Can you imagine "I don't need a virus scanner, I use Windows, the under dog OS"
You say that like it's not already focused on. The majority of Internet infrastructure runs on Linux.
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This is my biggest thing. How come nobody really has any MDM or MEM for Linux? One that actually offers everything that Intune does.
Hell i even use AD (Yes Microsoft Active Directory) on my Linux servers because it actually works
There are several CM tools already available. Chef, Puppet, Ansible, Salt, etc. Just pick one.
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I hate microsoft as much as the next guy but their office suite is best in class. Its far better funded which makes it so surprising that the other suites arent to far behind. I think with proper funding other suites can get to a point where it makes sense to switch to them.
It's really not though. Most of what you can do with Office can be done with other tools, you just have to learn how to use them.
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IT absolutely does still have to manage those things though. At my company we have all sorts of obscure boxes controlling things like diagnostic readers and CNC machines. Things that the mechanics/engineers [imo] should be able to manage, its still on us.
Plus they usually still want those things to access the internet (because they require it) or access to file shares (to get gcode files and whatever) which is firmly an IT task
I mean... my condolences and/or yay you get to be a honorary machinist?
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It actually does now. Your M365 license also includes a windows license.
The cheapest M365 I see is 8 USD/month, not per year
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There are several CM tools already available. Chef, Puppet, Ansible, Salt, etc. Just pick one.
I've tried all of them but none of them are quite as fully featured as the M365 platform. That's really where they get you. It offers MDM, MEM, email, account control, file shares, antivirus, patch scanning, group policy, and countless other things all under one platform.
None of those are really a whole ecosystem.
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The cheapest M365 I see is 8 USD/month, not per year
wrote on last edited by [email protected]Maybe you responded to the wrong person? I didn't talk about price but yeah M365 is paid monthly. Mostly, you can get annual licenses with a bit of a discount.
But an exchange online license is only $4/month
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Depends on your relationship with Microsoft.
wrote on last edited by [email protected]50 cents per user per month doesn't make any sense: I think for MS it might be cheaper to give products for free than to process these payments
Note that that number (180000) is per year, not per month
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they will save 188,000 € on Microsoft license fees per year
Would love to see further movements towards foss software in many other governments
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Maybe you responded to the wrong person? I didn't talk about price but yeah M365 is paid monthly. Mostly, you can get annual licenses with a bit of a discount.
But an exchange online license is only $4/month
Mate, are you sure you don't confuse per year and per month numbers? Those 180000 is per YEAR (for 30000 users)
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Would love to see further movements towards foss software in many other governments
Moreeeee MOREEEE preach it
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I have seen this happen before, for a while, then somehow M$ convinced them to switch back.
Yeah, I think this happens somewhere in Germany every few years. MS then makes a concerted effort to woo some politicians back, and a few years later we have news that a city or state is moving back to MS.
Yes, it is good that cities / states are trying Linux and challenging MS, but there is soo much more to any of this than technical superiority or licensing fees. -
LibreOffice is a great alternative for 99% of people, but there is that 1% of people who is gonna be disappointment.
This is a great step though.I.wouldn't be so sure, the world runs on M$ spreadsheets and their shenanigans.
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You say that like it's not already focused on. The majority of Internet infrastructure runs on Linux.
But the vast majority of viruses focus on end users.
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I haven’t heard of notesnook. I’ll need to check that out.
I don’t love Obsidian, it’s just the best free app I’ve come across so far.
It's really close to OneNote so far and has an acceptable self hosting option. The import function seems good compared to other apps I've tried
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50 cents per user per month doesn't make any sense: I think for MS it might be cheaper to give products for free than to process these payments
Note that that number (180000) is per year, not per month
I'm guessing it's a really small state with not much IT going on.
As for cheaper to give for free: ABSOLUTELY. But, with free then they don't have their sales guys in there talking with them, they don't have the state "acknowledging the debt" and the legitimacy of their right to charge for their software.
In the 1990s M$ let the world pirate DOS and Windows with wild abandon, they were just happy that people were using their stuff and not others'. After the world was good and hooked, shortly after we all survived Y2K, they started turning the screws - requiring license keys for full functionality, getting serious about demanding payment.
Bill Gates net worth was "only" $30B before they got serious about charging for their software, today I see it's over $200B even after all of Melinda's philanthropy.
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Yeah, I think this happens somewhere in Germany every few years. MS then makes a concerted effort to woo some politicians back, and a few years later we have news that a city or state is moving back to MS.
Yes, it is good that cities / states are trying Linux and challenging MS, but there is soo much more to any of this than technical superiority or licensing fees.188K dollars or euros, is basically the cost to put one warm sales body in the territory, to keep the hooks in acknowledging that they should be paid for their software.
To me, it's about digital sovereignty, and the states should stand on their own two feet and know how their own computers work, not just rely on a foreign company.
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It's really close to OneNote so far and has an acceptable self hosting option. The import function seems good compared to other apps I've tried
I just checked it out and at first it looked perfect… then I started noticing local features like exports, notebook counts, etc that were paywalled behind a subscription. For an app that is “open source” that really rubs me the wrong way. I may look through the source code later. I have a feeling they’ve tied those features arbitrarily to web services to drive subscriptions, which would be really creepy… though not as creepy as if the code exists locally and is paywalled. sigh
