IBM Germany on Munich's choice of Linux over Windows

FYI: This afternoon, the city council of Munich, Germany, announced that
they plan to move 14,000 PCs and 16,000 users from Windows to Linux, in a
move to make Linux their standard desktop operating system environment. 

The City of Munich's decision comes on the heels of reported efforts from
Microsoft to win this business, including a visit from executive Steve
Ballmer to the Mayor of Munich, as well as press reports of significant
discounts from Microsoft in order to win against Linux. 

Although the council has not made a decision on its choice of vendor, Linux
distributor SuSE AG and IBM Germany will participate in the resulting
contract bid, expected to begin in 2004. 

The City of Munich's move to Linux builds on the momentum that IBM is seeing
around Linux in Germany. IBM already has contracts with the German
Governments of Schwaebisch Hall and the City of Dortmund.  And worldwide,
more than 75 IBM government customers - including agencies in France, Spain,
UK, Australia, Mexico, the United States and Japan - have now embraced Linux
to save costs, consolidate workloads, increase efficiency and enact
e-government transformation. 

Today's decision is more evidence that Linux is a powerful alternative to
proprietary systems. 

Pasted below is (1) the Munich Council Press Statement (translated) and (2)
a statement from IBM Germany.

Munich Council Press Statement (translated)

Stefan Hauf
Presseamt Muenchen
http://www.muenchen.de

Munich goes with Open Source Software 
The city of Munich will use Linux as the operating system for their 14,000
PC clients as well as open source software for their office applications.
With the votes of SPD, Alliance 90/Die Gruenen/Pink list, FDP, OEDP, REP and
Party of Democratic Socialism, the town assembly followed Mayor Christian
Ude's proposal.

An appraisal given by the city in order to evaluate the pro and cons of a
conversion of the present urban standard "Windows NT/Microsoft Office"
alternatively on "Windows XP/Microsoft Office" or "Linux/Open Office" comes
to the conclusion that there is a clear strategic-qualitative
projection/lead for the open source solution. 

Mayor Ude: "With this trend-setting decision Munich secures itself as the
first major city to have a major portion of its IT infrastructure be
supplier-independent and sets also a clear indication of more competition in
the software market. The prehistory of this decision already showed that a
competitive situation helps the formation of prices pretty well. "

Regarding the decision, mayor Ude pointed out that this is not a decision
for a specific IT partner, but a strategic positioning based on a
noncommittal market evaluation. 

Until spring 2004, a detailed concept of implementation and migration will
be developed. Based on the results of this evaluation, the city council will
decide how the migration to Linux will take place.  

IBM Germany Statement

May 28th 2003

The city council of Munich today made a key decision to deploy the open
source operating system Linux instead of alternative operating systems.
This initiative will see Germany's third largest city migrate 14,000 desktop
and notebook computers to Linux.  Their objective is to deploy information
technology that stimulates more commercial and technological flexibility at
a lower cost to the public sector.  Although the council has not made a
decision on its choice of vendor, Linux distributor SuSE AG and IBM Germany
will be participating in the resulting contract bid.

Walter Raizner, Country General Manager IBM Germany: "In the public sector
in Germany we have seen a variety of new implementations of open
standards-based software such as Linux.  And worldwide, more than 75 IBM
government customers - including agencies in France, Spain, UK, Australia,
Mexico, the United States and Japan - have now embraced open computing and
Linux to save costs, consolidate workloads, increase efficiency and enact
e-government transformation.  With Munich's decision, one thing is clear -
it's open season for open computing.  Linux represents freedom and
flexibility.  This is essential in e-government - they need more flexibility
to serve their constituencies better and faster, and freedom of choice to do
it at less cost to the public.  Munich is leading the way."