LiMux

LiMux is a project in Munich for migrating 14,000 personal computers and laptops of public employees to Free and Open Source Software/free software. With 16,000 users, LiMux is the largestFact|date=June 2008 deployment of Linux and OpenOffice.org in the public sector so far, and this symbolic value turned it into one of the world’s highest profile migration projectsFact|date=June 2008.

LiMux is also the name of the Linux distribution being used for the project. LiMux is the first Linux-based workplace certified for industry use (ISO 9241) by the TÜV IT, Technical Service, Germany. [citeweb|title=TÜV zertifiziert Münchens LiMUX-Client|url=http://www.linux-magazin.de/meldung/12836|publisher="linux-magazin.de"|accessdate=2008-08-09Languageicon|de|German] It is based on Debian.

Goals

The migration project in Munich is ongoing and not a hard switch to free software on every desktop. The main goal is to achieve more independence from software distributors, concerning client/server and native client software. The decision in 2003 had two components, on the one hand to get free software running on most of the desktops, and on the other hand to buy and develop web-based and platform independent (e.g. Java-based) business applications.

Timeline

* May 28, 2003 - The city council of Munich votes to go ahead with planning. [cite web
title = Munich breaks with Windows for Linux
publisher = News.com
url = http://www.news.com/2100-1016-1010740.html
accessdate = 2008-01-16 ] (From the press release: "Until spring 2004, a detailed concept of implementation and migration will be developed. Based on the results of this evaluation, the city council will decide how the migration to Linux will take place." [cite web
title = Munich to Use Linux
publisher = Center for Digital Government
url = http://www.centerdigitalgov.com/international/story.php?docid=54099
accessdate = 2008-01-16 ] )

* June 16, 2004 - The city council votes 50-29 in favor of migrating and to start an open competitive bidding within months. [cite web
title = Limux – the IT-Evolution
publisher = IDABC
url = http://ec.europa.eu/idabc/en/document/3223/470
accessdate = 2008-01-16 ] [cite web
title = Microsoft Loses Munich Contract for 14,000 PCs to Linux Program
publisher = Bloomberg
url = http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000085&sid=aYjHOozAjHAE&refer=europe
accessdate = 2008-01-16 ]

* August 5, 2004 - The project is temporarily halted, due to legal uncertainties concerning software patents. [cite web
title = Munich halts biggest-ever Linux migration
publisher = News.com
url = http://www.news.com/Munich-halts-biggest-ever-Linux-migration/2100-7344_3-5298060.html?tag=st.nl
accessdate = 2008-01-16 ] [cite web
title = Patent fears halt Munich Linux migration
publisher = The Register
url = http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/08/04/munich_linux_patent_fears/
accessdate = 2008-01-16 ]

* April 28, 2005 - Debian is selected as a platform, over top candidate Novell SUSE. [cite web
title = Debian wins Munich Linux deal
publisher = News.com
url = http://www.news.com/2100-7344_3-5689003.html
accessdate = 2008-01-16 ]

* September 6, 2005 - It is decided that the project needs an additional one year pilot test, and migration slips one year. [cite web
title = Munich's Linux migration slips to 2006
publisher = News.com
url = http://www.news.com/Munichs-Linux-migration-slips-to-2006/2100-7344_3-5850633.html?tag=st.nl
accessdate = 2008-01-16 ]

* September 22, 2006 - The "soft" migration begins, one year behind original schedule. [cite web
title = Munich fires up Linux at last
publisher = News.com
url = http://www.news.com/Munich-fires-up-Linux-at-last/2100-7344_3-6119153.html?tag=news.3
accessdate = 2008-01-16 ]

* March 2008 1,000 out of 14,000 have migrated to the Limux environment (7%), in addition 6000 workstations have OpenOffice.org 2.x installed on windows and more than 90% have Firefox 1.5.x and Thunderbird 1.5.x installed on Windows clients. [cite web
url=http://www.muenchen.de/cms/prod2/mde/_de/rubriken/Rathaus/40_dir/limux/publ/first_year.pdf
title=The first year Limux in Munich
author=Florian Schießl, deputy project manager
date=2008-03-10]

* The migration of 80 percent of the users is expected to be complete late-2008 to mid-2009 Fact|date=March 2008.

See also

* Linux adoption
* List of Linux distributions

References

External links

* [http://www.muenchen.de/Rathaus/dir/limux/english/147197/index.html LiMux - The IT Evolution]
* [http://planetlimux.org/ Public administrator's Weblog]
* [http://osor.eu/case_studies/declaration-of-independence-the-limux-project-in-munich Declaration of Independence: The LiMux Project in Munich] (09/10/2008)