Here here, Hoerst. Good news! Regards, Jim Darrough
On Sun, 2001-12-09 at 16:46, Horst Lueck wrote: > Sorry for forwarding some politics -- but those are some good news from > Germany ! I am a subscriber to the weekly news and have only left the > general overview and the article about linux in the appended message. > - Horst > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2001 13:46:35 > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > To: German Information Center <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: wk_11_30_01 > > The Week in Germany > November 30, 2001 > Editors: Valerie Belz and Margaret Dornfeld > e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > Our topics this week: > > UN-Led �Post-Taliban Process� Begins at Bonn Conference > > Bundestag Passes 2002 Budget > > Greens Back Military Participation at Party Congress > > German Armed Forces Deployed in Operation Enduring Freedom > > Flying Hospital Ready to Help > > > The Press > > > New Consumer Protection Laws Proposed > > Ecotourism Gets a Push from the Chancellor > > Germany Leads the Way with Linux > > Euro Countdown � With Four Weeks to Go, Consumers Seek Assurances of > Security > > Germans Feel Closer Ties to U.S. in Wake of Terrorist Attacks > > Berlin�s Museum Island Jewel to Reopen Its Doors > > Digital Dexterity Restores Medieval Manuscripts > > W.G. Sebald to Be Honored with Bremen Literary Prize > > Harry Potter�s Silver Screen Sorcery Works in Germany, Too > > German Boy Band Grows Up > > > ... clipped > > Germany Leads the Way with Linux > > Germany�s reputation as a high-tech hothouse has spread wildly in the past > few years. According to a recent report in Die Woche, German companies are, > appropriately, on the vanguard of adopting a progressive operating system > known as Linux. Linux is a free, open source computer operating system > originally created by Finnish programmer Linus Torvalds in cooperation with > developers around the world. Torvalds built the operating system to take > into account users' comments and suggestions for improvements. The system > is heralded by a spectrum of users from computer freaks to blue-chip > companies. Now even the German federal government is considering Linux for > the nodal computers in its intranet and Internet. > > This would come as little surprise to most German companies. In recent > years, they have posted the highest commercial use of Linux worldwide. > Roughly 40% of all German companies now run on the open operating system > and 55% of all German web servers run on Linux. Earlier this year, the > venerated German investment banking house Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein > became the first investment bank to adopt Linux for its risk management > operations. All this has prompted the federal government to ask, If Linux > is good enough for the economy, why not for politics? Nearly all > parliamentary parties have come out in favor of open source code in the > past few months. The ruling red-green coalition recently made a push for > more widespread use of �standardized, secure and stable soft- and > hardware,� which would also save taxpayers DM 125 million (US$ 62.5 > million) in software licensing fees. > > This could happen as early as next year. In 2002, about 5,000 parliamentary > members� computers are slated for updating. The change from the current > system, Microsoft Windows, is �more a question of psychology than ability,� > according to Tom Schwaller, an advocate of the open source operating > system. The U.S. software giant is laboring to retain customer loyalty, > holding workshops on its new Windows XP operating system for interested > parliamentary members. However, influential politicians seem to be lining > up in the Linux camp. The government�s Information Technology Office has > been advocating the open system in a 60-page brochure for several months. > Federal Minister of Economics and Technology Werner Mueller contends that > the bottom line isn�t the system�s only appeal. Since September 11, > information security has vaulted to the top of the government�s agenda. > Mueller believes �open source code offers a fundamental security > advantage.� The system�s transparency gives companies and governments alike > a critical advantage in blocking corporate and international intelligence > gathering efforts. > > ... clipped > >
