vienna back to vista (key factor = language-learning programme)???

Story: Wienux, a Linux for ViennaTotal Replies: 12
Author Content
henke54

Jun 06, 2008
2:30 AM EDT
Quoting:In a setback for the City of Vienna's three-year-old open-source migration programme, city authorities decided on Wednesday to scrap most of the systems that have so far adopted the city's custom-built Linux distribution, instead approving an €8m migration to Windows Vista.

The Vienna district council on Wednesday formally approved a budget of €8m (£6.3m) for migrating Windows 2000 systems to Vista and Office 2007, according to a report from Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF), the Austrian national public service broadcaster.

The Vista migration will include 720 kindergarten systems that had been migrated to Wienux, a Debian-based Linux distribution developed internally by the city's IT body.

"This is a major setback to the city's Linux migration," said Marie Ringler, a member of the district council and representative of the Vienna Green Party, according to the report.

A key factor in the rollback decision is software used in a kindergarten language-learning programme called 'Schlaumäuse', which requires Internet Explorer, according to city officials quoted in the report.
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/0,1000000121,39429910,00.ht... i wonder....how much bribe money is here involved???
jacog

Jun 06, 2008
3:29 AM EDT
Yeah... I can only imagine it must be a bribe, or sheer stupidity, because running something that requires Internet Explorer on Linux is a very easy problem to fix... you just run Internet Explorer. It's one of those apps that actually work quite well under many flavours of WINE.
tuxchick

Jun 06, 2008
6:53 AM EDT
$$$$$$$
techiem2

Jun 06, 2008
7:02 AM EDT
There's also the question: Does it just SAY it requires IE? Or is it actually dependent on IE only features/activex/etc.?
tuxchick

Jun 06, 2008
7:42 AM EDT
Silly geeks, asking such irrelevant questions. What's sad is not how so many people are easily bought, but for how cheaply.
rijelkentaurus

Jun 06, 2008
9:09 AM EDT
How do you migrate a Windows 2000 box to Vista? Heck, that 100% new equipment, I wonder what this cost Microsoft in backroom bribes?
Scott_Ruecker

Jun 06, 2008
9:36 AM EDT
Its not like they can't pull 2, 3 or 10 billion dollars from the M & B Gates Fund for preservation purposes as it is...
hkwint

Jun 06, 2008
4:21 PM EDT
Quoting:running something that requires Internet Explorer on Linux is a very easy problem to fix... you just run Internet Explorer.


Vienna doesn't only have to worry about technical problems, they also have to use their software in a legal way. It might be forbidden to run IE on Linux (and it is IIRC).

Quoting:I wonder....how much bribe money is here involved???


When Munich wanted to migrate to Linux, I remember S. Ballme pausing his Alps holiday and going to Munich. Maybe he was on holiday in the Alps again? Vienna is rather close to the Alps...
TxtEdMacs

Jun 07, 2008
7:59 AM EDT
HKW,

So you are telling me the Boomer visited and did a quick snow job on the city Vienna? Is that you want me to believe?

I assume it wasn't recent, being so late in the Spring with what I thought was a deficit of precipitation in the Alps this year. You people are all too cynical for my tastes, I think this falls in the realm of a religious experience of a transcendental beatitude. A veritable Miracle I say!!

Just wonder if they need some help laundering the loot. My rates are low, and I get those damn dollars converted to small denomination Euro coins lickiity split (for a fee). All they need is the goons to carry away the loot.
jdixon

Jun 07, 2008
9:33 AM EDT
> It might be forbidden to run IE on Linux (and it is IIRC).

I don't believe it is. I believe you can only run it if you have a "licensed product" (i.e. Windows) though. Fortunately, that includes Windows 98 and such.
jdixon

Jun 07, 2008
9:55 AM EDT
OK, you can find the EULA here:

http://www.virtualacuity.com/james/article/swliability/ie6li...

Here is the relevant section:

NOTE: IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A VALIDLY LICENSED COPY OF ANY VERSION OR EDITION OF MICROSOFT WINDOWS 98, MILLENNIUM EDITION, WINDOWS NT 4.0, WINDOWS 2000 OR ANY MICROSOFT OPERATING SYSTEM THAT IS A SUCCESSOR TO ANY OF THE FOREGOING OPERATING SYSTEMS (EACH AN "OS PRODUCT"), YOU ARE NOT AUTHORIZED TO INSTALL, COPY OR OTHERWISE USE THE OS COMPONENTS AND YOU HAVE NO RIGHTS UNDER THIS SUPPLEMENTAL EULA.

This doesn't specify that IE must be installed and used on the relevant operating system, only that you must have a licensed copy of one.

There's a second section dealing with multiple copies, but that doesn't apply in this case. Of course, IANAL.
azerthoth

Jun 07, 2008
12:44 PM EDT
Thats nice, except that if I remember correctly at least 2 court cases (one of which was the monopoly case) have ruled that the browser is not an operating system component.

How that applies to this would be interesting, other than them saying that they dont want thier software on anything other than MS products. I'm not sure if that clause would even hold up in court though. If I buy an engine the manufacturer cant tell me what I must use that engine in, be it a lawn mower, car, truck, boat or hot tub. They can refuse liability or warranty under some configurations, but they cant dictate the actual use.
tracyanne

Jun 07, 2008
2:04 PM EDT
This just goes to show how entrenched Microsoft Technology is. The writers of the package probably can't even produce a Linux version, given their dependency of Microsoft technologies.

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