Gartner: Patent issues aren't the only cause for Munich's Linux delay
Published: 12 Aug 2004 10:10 BST
Event
On 4 August 2004, the City of Munich decided to postpone its program to migrate 14,000 desktops from Microsoft's Windows operating system to an open-source offering based on Linux. This decision came one-and-a-half months after the city officially announced the project, nicknamed LiMux. The city said that it needed to review legal and financial concerns over software patenting before proceeding.
Analysis
Shortly before publishing the call for tenders to procure the migration project, Munich's mayor and CIO stated that the city had decided to put LiMux on hold due to the risks posed by the European Union's (EU's) impending directive on software patents. Software patent issues have somewhat clouded the open-source landscape since the SCO Group filed its suit against IBM in 2003. Recent press reports have suggested that almost 300 US patents could support legal cases against the Linux kernel.
However, Gartner does not believe that the EU directive was Munich's primary motivation. Legal risks mostly come from US patents, and no vendor with relevant patents seems to have shown any interest in threatening or initiating a lawsuit. Instead, the patenting issue may have suggested to Munich that it underestimated costs and risks when calculating the TCO for LiMux. In addition, a recent study by the city of Vienna was less favourable to migration. Both these factors more likely influenced Munich's decision.
The EU directive will have no short-term impact on Munich's implementation of LiMux, because it will not go into effect retroactively. But it does raise issues for any strategic commitment to open-source software. The directive, not yet in final form, is receiving its second reading by the European Parliament. Munich has called for concerted opposition to the proposed directive by interested municipalities and enterprises.
Recommendation:
Governments should supplement their TCO models with elements of cost and value that take into account legal and political factors. The business case for migration must assess not only legal risks, which should not be overrated, but also any positive impact that a large-scale migration might have on local economic development, the competitiveness of the city or region, and similar issues. Governments considering a migration to open-source software should watch what Munich and Vienna are doing.
Analytical Source: Andrea Di Maio, Gartner Research
Did you find this article useful?
47 out of 92 people found this useful
- Share this article:
