City Saves 11 Million Euros by Switching to Linux
By giving up on Microsoft’s Windows OS and on the Office productivity suite and by switching to Linux and OpenOffice.org, the city of Munich, Germany, saved more than 11 million Euros (that’s about $14 million).
The city of Munich had a choice: upgrade to a more modern Microsoft-based IT infrastructure which meant spending a lot of money in the process, or give up on Windows and use Linux, the popular and open source operating system. The city decided to take the cost effective route and gave up on Windows in favor of LiMux, a Linux-based project started in 2004. The city also gave up on Microsoft Office in favor of OpenOffice.org. In doing so, the city saved millions.
Upgrading to Windows 7 and Office 2010 would have cost the city more than €34 million in total, the city government estimated. Upgrading to Windows 7 and OpenOffice.org wasn’t cheap either - €29.9 million. But switching to LiMux and OpenOffice.org on the other hand, now that came with a considerably smaller price tag - €22.8 million, according to a cost comparison published this November.
So the city government made the wise decision of migrating 11,000 users to open source applications on Linux. By doing so they saved €6.8 million on software licenses and €4.7 million in hardware upgrade costs.
Speaking about money, I remind you that The Linux Foundation is giving you the chance to win one of two $75 gift cards by getting an individual membership. All who get a membership until the 14th of December will be entered into a draw and could win a gift card that can be used to purchase cool merchandise that reflects "geek culture". From the Linux.Com Store, the winner can get original T-shirts, hats, mugs and other exclusive merchandise. Additional information on this topic is available here.
The city of Munich had a choice: upgrade to a more modern Microsoft-based IT infrastructure which meant spending a lot of money in the process, or give up on Windows and use Linux, the popular and open source operating system. The city decided to take the cost effective route and gave up on Windows in favor of LiMux, a Linux-based project started in 2004. The city also gave up on Microsoft Office in favor of OpenOffice.org. In doing so, the city saved millions.
Upgrading to Windows 7 and Office 2010 would have cost the city more than €34 million in total, the city government estimated. Upgrading to Windows 7 and OpenOffice.org wasn’t cheap either - €29.9 million. But switching to LiMux and OpenOffice.org on the other hand, now that came with a considerably smaller price tag - €22.8 million, according to a cost comparison published this November.
So the city government made the wise decision of migrating 11,000 users to open source applications on Linux. By doing so they saved €6.8 million on software licenses and €4.7 million in hardware upgrade costs.
Speaking about money, I remind you that The Linux Foundation is giving you the chance to win one of two $75 gift cards by getting an individual membership. All who get a membership until the 14th of December will be entered into a draw and could win a gift card that can be used to purchase cool merchandise that reflects "geek culture". From the Linux.Com Store, the winner can get original T-shirts, hats, mugs and other exclusive merchandise. Additional information on this topic is available here.
