Politicians in the German states of Berlin and Lower Saxony are again pushing for the use of free and open source software solutions by the states' public administration, the IT trade press reports.

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A lawsuit in Germany in which mobile handset maker Samsung is attempting to force its rival Apple to remove the VoiceOver screen reader function from its iPhone smartphones in the country has been halted by the courts.

VoiceOver allows users to have content on the screen read aloud to them. It is marketed as an accessibility aid for blind and visually impaired users, since it can help people use and navigate an iPhone by touch and audio alone.

The City of Munich stands by its November 2012 cost estimates, which concluded that using free and open source software for desktops and office productivity for its 15,500 PCs is over 11 million euro cheaper, compared to the ubiquitous proprietary alternative. "There is no reason to correct this information", the city's IT department comments on 11 February to claims to the contrary.

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The City of Munich stands by its November 2012 cost estimates, which concluded that using free and open source software for desktops and office productivity for its 15,500 PCs is over 11 million euro cheaper, compared to the ubiquitous proprietary alternative. "There is no reason to correct this information", the city's IT department comments on 11 February to claims to the contrary.

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The German city of Munich refutes the claims over high costs of the city's switch to an IT system mostly based on open source. The IT department takes apart the numbers published by Focus earlier this week. The German weekly questions the city's move to open source, citing the author of an unpublished report commissioned by the maker of the ubiquitous proprietary office software and operating system.

The German city of Munich refutes the claims over high costs of the city's switch to an IT system mostly based on open source. The IT department takes apart the numbers published by Focus earlier this week. The German weekly questions the city's move to open source, citing the author of an unpublished report commissioned by the maker of the ubiquitous proprietary office software and operating system.

A study group in the German parliament advises changes to the national budget laws, to allow publishing as open source the software written for or by public administrations. Currently, Germany's budget law prevents public administrations from giving ICT solutions away for free.

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The German city of Freiburg will end its use of open source suite OpenOffice and is switching back to using a proprietary alternative The city also abandon's its default use of the Open Document Format, confirms Green Party city council member Timothy Simms.

Twittering the results of yesterday's city council meeting, Simms comments: "It is a shame". The city council approved the city board's proposal, with 25 votes in favour, 20 against and 2 abstentions.

The German city of Freiburg will end its use of open source suite OpenOffice and is switching back to using a proprietary alternative The city also abandon's its default use of the Open Document Format, confirms Green Party city council member Timothy Simms.

Twittering the results of yesterday's city council meeting, Simms comments: "It is a shame". The city council approved the city board's proposal, with 25 votes in favour, 20 against and 2 abstentions.

The German city of Freiburg will end its use of open source suite OpenOffice and is switching back to using a proprietary alternative The city also abandon's its default use of the Open Document Format, confirms Green Party city council member Timothy Simms.

Twittering the results of yesterday's city council meeting, Simms comments: "It is a shame". The city council approved the city board's proposal, with 25 votes in favour, 20 against and 2 abstentions.

Five civil groups advocating the use of free and open source by public administrations urge the German city of Freiburg to continue to use the Open Document Format as its default format for electronic documents. "Free office suites are making progress. LibreOffice today has over 60 million users worldwide."

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