In this regard, Peter Hofmann, project leader for Munich's Limux project said: "If the majority of applications is platform independent and the rest is running on terminal servers, then there is no need to use proprietary desktops."

Mr Hofmann presented the results of Munich's migration to a vendor independent and open source-based IT architecture, at the Linuxtag conference, held in Berlin, on 23 May 2012. In his presentation 'How to make the Linux desktop business-ready', he showed how the city's IT department now supports four different IT operating modes:

• First, about a quarter of its applications are web-based that no longer depend on the PC operating system.
• Second, some 30 % of the applications used in Munich run natively on Linux.
• Third, 15 % of applications now runs either virtualised or by using a terminal service.
• Fourth, the city's IT department says that when the migration is finished, only about 10 % of desktops will continue to depend on a proprietary operating system.

The latter is needed in order to run applications that are not yet available on Linux, or that cannot be made accessible in other ways.

While moving to this open source architecture, Munich managed to reduce the number of software applications it uses by 15 %. "A long list of applications is no longer needed", said Mr Hofmann.

Furthermore, he stated that Munich began preparing and examining its switch to a vendor independent IT architecture eleven years ago. "The organisation and the plan must be compatible", he said, adding that the key requirements for success are support by the politicians, communication and standardisation. "The civil administration's staff must be motivated and ready to take on new tasks and willing to adapt to novel ways to cooperate."

Further Information:

• Original news article - Joinup
• Original Source - muenchen.de - Linuxtag 2012 – Presentation by Peter Hofmann (in German)
• Limux project (in German)