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Bye Bye, Linux: German State Planning Switch Back to Windows

Lower Saxony wants to move 13,000 PCs to Windows 10

Jul 28, 2018 20:34 GMT  ·  By
Windows 10 will most likely replace OpenSuse on Lower Saxony PCs
   Windows 10 will most likely replace OpenSuse on Lower Saxony PCs

While switching to Linux appears to be quite an easy thing to do for many organizations and authorities, what seems to be a lot more difficult is to actually remain committed to the open-source world once the transition is completed.

After Munich itself started the migration back to Windows earlier this year, now German state Lower Saxony is planning to do the same thing for no less than 13,000 PCs.

Lower Saxony decided to give up on Windows and embrace Linux with a broad adoption of OpenSuSE on all systems operated by its tax office. With technically no licensing costs, the German state invested in training and adjacent services to make the transition smoother, betting on Linux as a long-term solution.

But as it turns out, German authorities have finally figured out that although OpenSuse is installed on workstations, most field workers and teleworkers use Windows. Obviously, this has created a more or less significant compatibility problem, despite efforts to address the gap between the two operating systems.

All-in on Windows 10

And now that the OpenSuse version that Lower Saxony is using is no longer supported, the German state has the opportunity to plan its next move. And according to reports, this next move won’t be an upgrade to a supported Linux distro, but a return to Windows.

While a decision regarding the Windows version to be installed by the tax office hasn’t been made just yet, it’s expected to adopt Windows 10 on all systems. Lower Saxony has already proposed a budget of 5.9 million Euro for the transition, as new hardware would also be needed, and it’s ready to expand it to 7 million Euro should more money be needed.

For the time being, there’s no ETA as to when the switch should be completed, but the process is still in its early days, and it could take a while until the tax office begins deploying Windows 10 on its computers. But as another large German state prepares to give up on Linux and return to Windows, Microsoft is very close to scoring an important win in the fight against the often-praised open-source alternative.

Heise via The Register