Article from Sueddeutsche Zeitung (German)


Article from The Inquirer (English)


Article from Heise News-Ticker (German)


Babelfish Translation of Heise article


Even though the entire program using SuSE Linux, at a cost some 30 million euros, will be 3 million euros more expensive than the proposed Microsoft XP solution would have, the city council has changed its mind. Microsoft had heavily discounted its offer; Steve Ballmer, VP of Microsoft, even personally interrupted his ski vacation to try to convince the council. The thought is that with such a large German city taking the risk and making the change, it will eventually prompt other cities to follow suit.


The changeover will affect 14,000 computers, which are currently running Windows NT, for which the article mentions the support contract had run out. The changeover will take several years to complete.


Even though this is not a huge monetary loss for Microsoft, they are obviously very concerned about the success of Linux and erosion of their market share. According to The Inquirer article, "There's also the interesting footnote that Ballmer sold off 40 million shares of Microsoft stocks, right about the same time he left Munich."