This was a surprisingly interesting and fun read. Contrary to what my assumption is, the switch to Linux was not chosen for being cheaper, as they projected the cost of migration to be more expensive than upgrading the Microsoft machines from NT/2000 to XP. The fact that a "conservative" city council went with Linux based on the strategic long-term is pretty impressive...Assuming that they aren't all tech engineers, it would be natural to stick with a computing platform that you yourself have been using your whole life, rather than impose an entirely new (and more expensive) one on your constituents.
Also, at least in the American market, the money poured into sales people to wine-and-dine for government contracts provides even more compelling reasons for politicians and bureaucrats to not rock the boat. And in Munich's case, Steve Ballmer himself flew out, in person, to try to convince them not to quit Windows (and, in the OP's assessment, that apparently was an unwise tactic for Microsoft).
OT: The body font of this article, Roboto (http://www.google.com/fonts/specimen/Roboto), stuck out to me as being both legible and distinctly different than Helvetica...I was reading the article on a tablet but went to my desktop just to see what it was...I think I've seen Roboto before on Google Fonts but not used as body text...I kind of like it, more than some of the common Helvetica replacements (Open/Ubuntu/PT Sans)...even before I started reading the article, I thought, "this is a really nice sans-serif font"
Also, at least in the American market, the money poured into sales people to wine-and-dine for government contracts provides even more compelling reasons for politicians and bureaucrats to not rock the boat. And in Munich's case, Steve Ballmer himself flew out, in person, to try to convince them not to quit Windows (and, in the OP's assessment, that apparently was an unwise tactic for Microsoft).
OT: The body font of this article, Roboto (http://www.google.com/fonts/specimen/Roboto), stuck out to me as being both legible and distinctly different than Helvetica...I was reading the article on a tablet but went to my desktop just to see what it was...I think I've seen Roboto before on Google Fonts but not used as body text...I kind of like it, more than some of the common Helvetica replacements (Open/Ubuntu/PT Sans)...even before I started reading the article, I thought, "this is a really nice sans-serif font"
edit: Apparently typography aficionados do not like Roboto, calling it a "frightening cross-breed creature" and a "hodgepodge brute" http://typographica.org/on-typography/roboto-typeface-is-a-f...