Posted on 06/04/2002 10:53:21 AM PDT by knighthawk
In a move aimed at increasing security and cutting costs, the German government says it will switch most of its administrative computers from Microsoft Windows to the Linux open-source operating system.
Tux the Penguin is invading Germany.
No, the South Pole creatures at the Berlin Zoo haven't escaped. The bird behind this feathery technology attack is the coat-and-tie clad mascot for the computer operating system Linux.
The German government said on Monday it had reached a deal with software giant IBM to deploy Linux software at all government agencies.
Saving money, increasing security
The move came as a serious blow to Microsoft, which had hired a small army of lobbyists in an attempt to sway Berlin in its direction. In the end, the government said it chose to enter into a cooperative agreement with IBM in order to save money and increase security.
"We're increasing our IT security by avoiding monocultures," Federal Interior Minister Otto Schily told reporters. "We're reducing our independence on individual suppliers and we're saving money on software purchases and overhead."
In the wake of September 11, increasing domestic security has been a top priority for Schily. Shortly after the terrorist attacks, he began meeting with information technology leaders in the public and private sector to find new security solutions. The deal with IBM and the shift away from Microsoft came as a part of that work.
Though Linux is an open-source operating system - meaning it can be downloaded and operated free of charge - the German government has contracted with IBM to provide consulting and services related to its deployment.
A growing trend
In switching to Linux, the German government is joining a growing global trend. The American, Chinese and French governments have deployed Linux as a standard operating system in certain ministries.
It also comes at a time when Microsoft is planning a controversial restructuring of its pricing. Beginning in July, the company is seeking to charge an annual subscription fee to corporate and government instead of a one-time fee for version of a software product.
However, many organizations are content with purchasing upgrades every few years and fear that the new model will drastically increase overhead costs for information technology.
One reason for the government's decision to go with Linux is that the operating system will make it easier for agencies to create their own applications.
Interior Minister Schily said program codes could then be posted publicly to help find errors or suggestions for improvement within the enormous and global open-source software movement.
Information technology departments at European universities, which lack commercial interests, could also be tapped to develop software for government enterprises.
Back in February, Germany's parliament, the Bundestag, decided to provide its elected officials with a choice of Linux or Windows operating systems on their computers starting in 2003.
Democracy in action
The idealistic possibilities of using an open-source system led to a large political debate over whether the government should use Linux or Microsoft. Many politicians saw Linux as a more democratic option that would spur competition in a landscape where Microsoft controls the desktops of 90 percent of the government's computers.
Champions of Linux even started their own online petition earlier this year called "Bundestux: Penguins for Office." In a text appearing on the site, they drew the political battle lines.
"The democratic component is not simply in the increased security and flexibility of the software," the proponents argued, "but is more the expression of a broad democratic understanding that encompasses economic and technological developments. Based on these considerations it is plainly the duty of a democratic state to choose free software."
Microsoft, however, felt broadsided by the campaign. At the time, Microsoft Germany's chief, Kurt Sibold, accused the signatories of conducting a biased political campaign.
"What you are achieving by supporting this campaign is public discrimination, accusing our products and services of being undemocratic and an obstacle to democracy," he wrote.
Now, as the number of government computers with Windows and Linux increases, politicians will be able to make their own decisions about which platform is better. It is clear that, in the end, either Tux the Penguin or Bill Gates will prevail.
I have worked on Linux and Microsoft (NT,2000) systems 50% each over the last 5 years or so, so I KNOW what I am talking about.
I expect the penguins to flame away, so... getting out my asbestos undies.
Not that Linux is bad, but not very practical. Although compiling kernals is a hobby of mine!
For back-office SERVER environments, I find it far more reliable than NT 4.0, and more reliable than Win2K.
The caveat: you need a GOOD Systems Administrator to run and maintain a Linux system. Microsoft works better with less-experienced admins and fresh-out-of-school MCSEs.
Of course, good, experienced Sysadmins aren't as cheap to employ as the dime-a-dozen MCSEs, but you tend to need fewer of them.
To each his own: I use Windows 2000 for some things, and Linux for others. . .
I've run Red Hat Linux 7.3 and frankly, it still doesn't seamlessly add new hardware support like Windows 98/ME/2000/XP does, due to the lack of Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) Plug and Play support.
This is why one of the goals of the next version of the Linux (2.6.x variants) will include ACPI support so installation becomes quite a bit easier, to say the least.
As a server operating system, Linux is wonderful; but as a desktop operating, sorry, not ready for prime time.
Hm. I think if I were a bad guy looking for ways to exploit an operating system, it'd be a lot easier if I had access to the source code -- complete with the upgrades supplied by the German gov't. Then I could experiment with all sorts of hard-to-detect ways of getting into a system.
Now they'll have to emphasize profit more. Really going after copies and seriously forcing upgrades. Neither is as friendly as MSFT is now, which is not much.
BTW: For the next few years, if they are paying big bucks for Linux types, there may not be as much spare computer expertise in the MSFT area as before. Life may get exciting.
Yeah. I love these threads. Feels like I'm peering in on some alien race.
You could look, but you'd have a much harder time actually finding any, since many security experts would also have looked at the code and corrected any problems that they found. Case study: IIS vs. Apache.
Not to mention a vast number of buffer overruns and exception handling.
You're looking at it from the perspective of finding holes and closing them. I'm looking at it from the perspective of somebody subverting the system -- for example, creating a virus "patch" in such a manner that the system operates normally, except that it's acting as a door.
I'm reminded of the story of a guy a few years ago who, while programming a banking system, noticed that the interest computations rounded the results to the nearest cent. He realized that he could divert the "rounded cents" to an account of his own, without anybody noticing -- which he did for quite some. He was finally caught because of his sudden and unexplained wealth.
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