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this post was submitted on 10 Apr 2026
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There was the Munich public administration before that ran everything on Linux 2003-2017 until MS paid for a big new HQ in Munich - I don’t know if the then mayor, Dieter Rieter, had any direct incentives. The French Gendarmerie have been using their version of Linux too (Gendbuntu) since 2005. Regions of the PA in Spain use it too. It’s also fairly common in European militaries.
There is more to the Munich story https://www.zdnet.com/article/linux-not-windows-why-munich-is-shifting-back-from-microsoft-to-open-source-again/
https://blog.desdelinux.net/en/munich-and-hamburg-resume-the-initiative-to-migrate-to-linux/
Thanks. The big driver was the EU’s European Interoperability Framework (first version 2004), which promoted: Open standards, Vendor neutrality, Long-term accessibility of public data. It was envisioned for public administration, businesses and citizens: And notably the framework was updated 2015-2017 - the period the Munich administration steered away from it. Though I see they are now saying they should reconsider their move to MS, or maybe that’s just a negotiation tactic.