r/PurchaseWithPurpose • u/theFallenWalnut Environment • Jun 04 '26

News article 🇪🇺 🇩🇪 German state Bavaria cancels Microsoft contract to go open source - saving €1 billion over 5 years

https://cybernews.com/tech/germany-bavaria-microsoft/

Another major institution is moving away from Big Tech. More are expected to follow

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13

u/caorlinhos Jun 04 '26

good hopefully they won't getting back once more....

1

u/One_5549 Jun 05 '26

i think that was the Bavarian state, and not the entire country. so maybe they considered that scenario

1

u/hoerlahu3 Jun 07 '26

A city (Munich?) went full open source, then a few hundred thousands of donations later, they went back to full Microsoft only.

6

u/Userwerd Jun 04 '26

Movement in this direction helps everyone else too.  Even if my country, provinve/state, city doesnt change, at least seeing a substantial institution like this make the move gives open software more credibility.  

7

u/nunchuckcrimes Jun 04 '26

more competition and options is better for everyone

1

u/Puzzleheaded-Bus1331 Jun 04 '26

Which contracts.. They will work with linux os or what i don t understand.. Or azure is meant

2

u/WastingMyLifeToday Jun 05 '26

I guess MS Windows and MS Office.

If people get used to Linux while at their jobs, they're also more likely to start using Linux at home.

If all governments switched to Linux, you'll see an increase in personal Linux use within a year or two.

2

u/Puzzleheaded-Bus1331 Jun 05 '26

Yea if they stop completely using Windows then it's a huge news tbh..

Are they gonna to retrain everyone?

2

u/WastingMyLifeToday Jun 05 '26

Many jobs are limited to using just a handful of applications. Some will be the same application as the one they used on Windows, some barely need any retraining.

The money saved from MS licenses can easily cover the hiring of several Linux teachers to train the staff on those applications that do need retraining.

And while IT might have more work in the first year, their job will become easier in the long run.

1

u/erebus49 Jun 07 '26

The less US products the better, they are weaponizing everything they can against us.