[HN Gopher] German state ditches Microsoft for Linux and LibreOf...
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German state ditches Microsoft for Linux and LibreOffice
Author : CrankyBear
Score : 63 points
Date : 2024-04-04 21:57 UTC (1 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.zdnet.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.zdnet.com)
| lwde wrote:
| We'll have to see how long it takes, as it did with LiMux
| (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LiMux) when Microsoft Germany
| headquarters magically moved to Munich and everything got back to
| running on Windows again.
| mlok wrote:
| Munich did it a few times already since 2003. Last one was in
| 2020 :
|
| https://www.zdnet.com/article/linux-not-windows-why-munich-i...
| jll29 wrote:
| Munich reportedly chickened out of Linux a few years later -
| due to lobbying.
| perihelions wrote:
| Duplicate thread,
|
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39928173 ( _" German state
| moving 30k PCs to LibreOffice"_, 322 comments)
| jokab wrote:
| > ...cites cost, security, and digital sovereignty...
|
| With the recent XZ Utils backdoor fiasco, I would really think
| twice with this decision.
|
| Might be worth sticking to MS for a little bit longer, who knows
| if the backdoor code has been reused somewhere else? Besides,
| wasnt it a MS employee who uncovered this backdoor?
| Alupis wrote:
| What makes you believe Microsoft Source Code is somehow more
| immune to bad actors?
| antx wrote:
| It's wasn't just "an MS employee". It was an experienced
| postgres developer. Someone who understands the benefits of
| open-source.
|
| We simply don't know how many backdoors there are in closed-
| source software... do you prefer to live with your head in the
| sand?
| mupuff1234 wrote:
| https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/apr/03/microsoft...
| adhamsalama wrote:
| As if Microsoft never got hacked before...
| yayr wrote:
| 1. Every software needs resources to be maintained and improved.
| Those resources finally will need to be paid for by someone.
|
| 2. Getting Linux and LibreOffice does not get you a functioning
| productivity environment. You still need mail, calendars, shared
| document storage, web conferencing, security etc. There are
| various levels of usability in those and on basic levels you
| could get those already 30 years ago mostly. But not on a level,
| where you could reliably have your workforce be flexibly working
| from home.
|
| So, let's see how it plays out, but it is not making life easier
| for the IT admins I guess...
| HeavyStorm wrote:
| While I work for msft, I'm all for open source, even more in this
| space - consumer and office apps - however, my government has
| tried this and rolled it back a while later in some branches,
| while others just suffer with it.
|
| Office is much superior to any open source and even paid
| alternatives, and we must remember that most people using the
| software don't have a degree in CS.
|
| I wouldn't be surprised if we see the reverse news a few years
| later.
| bkor wrote:
| > Office is much superior to any open source and even paid
| alternatives, and we must remember that most people using the
| software don't have a degree in CS.
|
| Germany is investing in improving free software, see
| https://www.sovereigntechfund.de/. Though not sure if this is
| linked to that state switching.
|
| I think LibreOffice is riddled with loads of small "paper
| cuts". Basically loads of small issues that make it annoying to
| use. I hope that they understand it shouldn't be about cost, it
| should be about being sovereign. So hopefully the investment
| (ensuring additional developers, UI/UX people, etc) increases
| as they use more free software,
| jll29 wrote:
| The more people use free software, the more it will become
| cost effective to improve it using government funding.
|
| There can be enormous net savings (zero license fees), which
| is fantastic for the taxpayer.
| geraldwhen wrote:
| Without an actual design vision, all open source software
| will flounder and never replace commercial counterparts.
| 000ooo000 wrote:
| What a ridiculous thing to say
| dataflow wrote:
| > I hope that they understand it shouldn't be about cost, it
| should be about being sovereign
|
| Makes sense in principle, but practically speaking Germany
| would seem to have higher priority threats to address than
| software from the United States?
| breadwinner wrote:
| > _Office is much superior to any open source and even paid
| alternatives_
|
| Bullshit. The only reason to use Microsoft Office is
| compatibility with Microsoft Office files. What improvements
| have been made in the last 10 years in Outlook and Word?
| Nothing. There are some new bugs that didn't exist before, but
| no advancements. That's what lack of competition gives you.
| dade_ wrote:
| Exactly. Especially for contract negotiations & track changes
| with a counterparty. Only MS can figure out their screwed up
| document formats. Office is terrible these days, it is so
| dmaned slow. I remember Office 97, so fast and responsive on
| a Pentium 90, now back in the dark ages of slow bloatware and
| network latency. It takes so long to open a document, I
| forget what I was doing the week I double clicked on the
| file.
| financypants wrote:
| Does libreoffice do hotkeys similar to excel/powerpoint?
| okasaki wrote:
| Microsoft is richer than ever, and Europe is poorer than ever.
| Maybe this time Microsoft won't scheme to prevent this simply
| because they're no longer interested in what the poors do?
| wolverine876 wrote:
| > Europe is poorer than ever
|
| Europe is richer than ever.
| okasaki wrote:
| Wealth only matters in comparison to others, and Europe is
| poorer than ever compared to other regions.
| duringmath wrote:
| They do that every now and then but eventually they come crawling
| back
| whstl wrote:
| Yeah, because of lobbying.
| holografix wrote:
| Very hard for me to understand why, in a world of Google docs,
| anyone would want to deal with the bloated mess that is ms
| office.
|
| I was helping an elderly relative who works as a translator and
| hasn't touched a modern version of word in about 5 years.
|
| They had a new computer and I got an ms office sub for them.
|
| The poor person re-did about 4 hours of their work 3x because
| they couldn't find the file MS Word had guaranteed them it had
| saved, so they had to start from scratch.
|
| It did save it. In their fucking cloud and made it so opaque that
| the user couldn't possibly understand wtf was happening. It took
| me, a tech professional a good 5 minutes to snap out of the dark
| pattern and realise what was going on.
| acchow wrote:
| Don't the most recent documents appear on the welcome screen
| when you open MS Word?
| csdreamer7 wrote:
| > Very hard for me to understand why, in a world of Google
| docs, anyone would want to deal with the bloated mess that is
| ms office.
|
| My mom had to buy a copy of MS Office. Her university provided
| free ms office online, but there were certain features missing
| from it she needed for her papers. I am remembering wrong, but
| it was annotations? Citations? I do not remember.
|
| Libreoffice kinda could do it, but I could not find how online,
| while MS had it properly documented on their website and so
| many youtubers making videos on MS Office had it listed on
| their website.
|
| Edit: also found out MS Office can screen record and record her
| webcam. Very useful for her giving a remote presentation during
| covid.
| doener wrote:
| Previous discussions:
|
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39916133
|
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39928173
| AtlasBarfed wrote:
| ..... again?
|
| I think it was, what 2005 or so?
| wolverine876 wrote:
| Can LibreOffice on Linux deliver management solutions?
|
| Think of 1,000 workstations, a small to mid-sized network: you
| need software that automates installation, configuration,
| security, etc. It's not like at home: Even if everyone is in the
| same building, you can't manually install, configure, change
| configuration, upgrade, etc. 1,000 times (think about it; not
| only the time and quality issues, but you'd spend a total of days
| just walking around). With Microsoft Office, you click a box in
| Group Policy and the entire group, or whatever subset you desire,
| changes configuration. You can automate installs, patches, etc.
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