Oh, my. Free was too expensive.
http://news.softpedia.com/news/brazil-to-replace-open-source-software-with-microsoft-products-510140.shtml

& off your link, Munich considering returning to Microsoft :-)

"One of the agencies that are supporting the transition back to Windows is the human resources department (known as POR), who explains that productivity dropped dramatically because of crashes and bugs that engineers had to fix. The department cites old software and issues such as errors in how PDFs are displayed as some of the problems that employees have to deal with every day.

"The POR strongly supports a swift and structured transition to Windows, Microsoft Office products and standard applications," the organization explains."

Quite a giggle...

Now... Try a simple web search for the two prominent names behind the 'report' and the 'recommendations'... Also note the one department named that looks to be still suffering from some very expensive proprietary lock-in...

To me, that looks very much like proprietary corruption in action and some very clever manipulation of the press to make a story out of a biased sales-shoot.

So... No further news and no further articles anywhere on the web... There is just that elaborated Softpedia article from the one blog post on ZDnet...

Rather curious and suspicious... Is that a (paid-for planted) snippet of 'news' that is trying to create its own reality?... Or opportunistic sensationalism from the ever repeated sales attempts and sales recommendations reports and whatever sponsored meals out?...


Compare with the background of:

Steve Ballmer: Linux Is No Longer ‘A Cancer’

... “The company made a ton of money by fighting that battle very well,” Ballmer was quoted...


Microsoft And Linux — A Song Of Mice And Ire

The software industry is as political as any, but when it comes to the one thing every computer needs the most, an operating system, the politics can resemble more of Medieval stage scene...

... For the last thirty years the commercial software arena has been so fast-paced and legally vicious that it could make an industry veteran cry...

... Linux rapidly laid siege to the server market...

... Fast-forward to 2016 and bear witness to a series of events that could leave a seer shocked and confused as Microsoft announces Azure Cloud Switch, a distribution of Linux aimed at cloud networking, and professes their love of Linux...


Inside How Microsoft Views Open Source

This article is paid for by Microsoft as a Diamond-level sponsor of LinuxCon North America

... When CEO Satya Nadella declared two years ago that “Microsoft loves Linux” it’s safe to say many in the open source community were flabbergasted...


The revenge of Linux

In the beginning of Linux they laughed at it and didn't think it could do anything. Now Linux is everywhere!

... Microsoft is making its own [Linux] distribution, runs it at Azure (Microsoft Cloud), and then... Windows 10 is going to get Bash on it...

... With Linux you learn fundamental computing, and build skills that work anywhere in IT.



Brazil adopts open-source software

... "The number one reason for this change is economic," says Sergio Amadeu, who runs the government's National Institute for Information Technology.

He explains that, for every workstation, the government is currently paying Microsoft fees...

"If you switch to open source software, you pay less in royalties to foreign companies," explains Amadeu. "And that can count for a lot in a country like Brazil, which still has a long way to develop in the IT sector." ...


And there are no recent big headlines other than that one ZDnet blog article...



Such is the game of getting very expensively locked into proprietary software...

IT is what you allow it to be...
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Is there any real competitive computer software to Microsoft Office products?
Please let me know.

STEAM?!
LoL :D

---

non-profit org. Play4Life in Zagreb, Croatia, EU

Is there any real competitive computer software to Microsoft Office products?
Please let me know.

STEAM?!
LoL :D

That's a good one:)
People working with a computer as a tool in corporations should have more fun.

Free rides

Bet that cost them over the weekend.

Is there any real competitive computer software to Microsoft Office products?
Please let me know.

STEAM?!
LoL :D

That's a good one:)
People working with a computer as a tool in corporations should have more fun.

On many computers I've put people Open Office or Libre Office...works quite nicely, looks same as Office 2003!
;)

---

non-profit org. Play4Life in Zagreb, Croatia, EU

Is there any real competitive computer software to Microsoft Office products? b
Please let me know.

STEAM?!
LoL :D

That's a good one:)
People working with a computer as a tool in corporations should have more fun.

On many computers I've put people Open Office or Libre Office...works quite nicely, looks same as Office 2003!
;)

Open Office works very well at small companies and at home.
But I sell softwares to corporations that always has a policy not to use any products but Microsoft Office.
Trying to sell products that are not Microsoft Office compatible is impossible here in my country.
So there is no competion in that sector any more:(

Is there any real competitive computer software to Microsoft Office products? b
Please let me know.

STEAM?!
LoL :D

That's a good one:)
People working with a computer as a tool in corporations should have more fun.

On many computers I've put people Open Office or Libre Office...works quite nicely, looks same as Office 2003!
;)

Open Office works very well at small companies and at home.
But I sell softwares to corporations that always has a policy not to use any products but Microsoft Office.
Trying to sell products that are not Microsoft Office compatible is impossible here in my country.
So there is no competion in that sector any more:(

I know...at work I also work on Office 2016...
& switching from SolidWorks to CATIA soon!
;)

---

non-profit org. Play4Life in Zagreb, Croatia, EU

Is this where Windows10 'flat-lines'?... Can't even be given away for supposed zero cost?...


Windows 10 market share growth just barely has a pulse

Thanksgiving turkey: Free [free-of-cost or pay by loss-of-freedom] turns out to be what you were willing to pay

... Microsoft likes to talk up the success of its operating systems in two ways: number of machines running it ... and; pace of business adoption...



The chart shown is interesting for the wide swing between Windows7 use during the week that is replaced by Windows10 use during the weekend...

An interesting trend to watch...

Meanwhile, how are all the others (non-Microsoft) gaining?... ;-)

IT is what we allow it to be...
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Meanwhile, how are all the others (non-Microsoft) gaining?... ;-)

Not well enough.

MS 87.53%
Apple 4.42%
Linux 2.31%

Source

Love the chart ML. Shows American's went on holiday and surfed the government websites from their phones not their desktops. Love the post-truth there!

---

Meanwhile, how are all the others (non-Microsoft) gaining?... ;-)

Not well enough.

MS 87.53%
Apple 4.42%
Linux 2.31%

Source

Who cares about Desktops? From your source Android (Linux) is on almost 70% of mobile/tablet devices, iOS on about 25% and Windows on less than 2%.

Even with it's commanding position in Desktop OS, it's still got less than 45% of the browser market, and Bing only has a 5% share of of the desktop search engine market, i.e Windows users generally don't use MS products to browse or search the net.

---

I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that ...

Can you afford Open Source?
https://www.govtechworks.com/open-source-software-hidden-costs/#gs.Hie8dq4

But that doesn’t mean it’s free.

“It’s free – like a puppy,” said Scott Gregory, deputy director of the Office of Digital Innovation for the State of California’s Department of Technology (CDT). “You’ve still got to give it shots. You’ve still got to care for it.”

For information technology departments, that means ensuring that systems updates and security patches are installed and that applications and plug-ins remain up-to-date. And when something goes wrong, it’s you, the IT manager, who’s responsible for getting it fixed.
...
CDT has built procedures and protocols to test open source WordPress plug-ins for an internal web publishing platform, centralizing a mandatory review process before any extensions are made available to its IT community. That testing takes time, money and resources – another reason open source software is not totally free.
...
Once open source software is cleared by the California Technology Department, Gregory said, the state tries to make it easy for users to try it out. A state-run Innovation Lab offers a secure cloud where government developers can build tools and applications using Open Source software, testing them in a virtualized environment. That sandbox gives developers an opportunity to see how things work without putting real systems at risk.

Can you or your company afford to do the above? Can you afford not to?

Eric Mill, a senior advisor on technology for the GSA’s Technology Transformation Service (TTS), said Open Source is a critical piece of what the service is trying to do – push down costs and streamline development timelines – it is not a cure-all. There are no great open source email systems, for example, so there may be no escaping large-scale proprietary solutions.

So can you afford to run both open source and proprietary? Got the cash for experts in both?

---

Microbook v Facebook

Ah, so, all employment applications will be powered by Micro$oft on the Micro$oft cloud with Micro$oft monthly subscription fees!

So if you want to hire, you can't use open source, it has to be Micro$oft! What a wonderful way to ensure you have 100% market penetration. Maybe I should buy some of that Micro$oft stock while it is still a bargain!

---

Imagine that, illegal to break into a computer ...
https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2016/12/28/meltdown-over-international-cybersecurity-agreement/

How do you keep dangerous exploit software away from bad guys (and countries) and still let the good guys (security researchers, white-hat pentesters) have it when they need it? It’s never been easy – and it’s even tougher when 41 countries need to agree. They’ve been trying all year… and, for the moment, they’ve just given up.
...
With us so far? Good. In December 2013, the US and other governments convinced the Wassenaar group to unanimously add “intrusion software” to the list of technologies requiring export controls.

As Ars Technica reports: “Those changes were intended to prevent repressive regimes from gaining access to commercial malware – such as the code sold by the Italy-based Hacking Team to Sudan and the surveillance tools from Blue Coat that were resold to Syria’s Assad regime and used to catch dissident bloggers.” (As Ars reported elsewhere, similar rules had already been implemented for “stingray-type” cellphone interceptors, after governments used them against citizens during the “Arab Spring” uprisings. Pages 4-5 of EFF’s attached testimony are replete with examples of Western infotech being applied to abuse human rights.)

Devil being in the details, and all that, the US Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) tried to translate “intrusion software” into an actual, enforceable regulation. We’ll let Engadget take it from here: “It ignited an online firestorm of meltdowns, freakouts, and vicious infighting within the most respected circles of hacking and computer security. That’s because the new rules change the classification of intrusion software and Internet Protocol (IP) network communications surveillance – setting in motion a legal machine that might see penetration-testing tools, exploits, and zero-days criminalized.”

---

Imagine that, illegal to break into a computer ...

It's not illegal to break into a computer.
However users of a Operating System or a particulary software are bound to a EULA.
Install an open source OS and your own software and you are home free.

But using it to break into somebody elses computer network...
Please don't!

Yes it is illegal to break into a computer. At least here in the states it is. "Breaking in" implies that you don't own it. If you did, you wouldn't need to break in. Therefore to gain access ("break in" / hack) a computer is most certainly illegal.

http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/10-things/10-ways-you-might-be-breaking-the-law-with-your-computer-updated/

Many states have criminal laws that prohibit accessing any computer or network without the owner's permission. For example, in Texas, the statute is Penal Code section 33.02, Breach of Computer Security. It says, "A person commits an offense if the person knowingly accesses a computer, computer network or computer system without the effective consent of the owner." The penalty grade ranges from misdemeanor to first degree felony (which is the same grade as murder), depending on whether the person obtains benefit, harms or defrauds someone, or alters, damages, or deletes files.

It has nothing to do with Microsoft's EULA vs Open Source.

And if Tech Republic isn't good enough, here's the official legal statute.

Accessing any computer or network without the owner's permission is illegal.
The problem I see it's the "owner" of a software.
You own a computer but not the software.
Can you state any other products that have the same regulation?

Can you state any other products that have the same regulation?

Everything leased or rented.

In California it is Penal Code 502

Can you imagine if it wasn't illegal to use the banks computer to transfer some money around?

---

Accessing any computer or network without the owner's permission is illegal.
The problem I see it's the "owner" of a software.
You own a computer but not the software.
Can you state any other products that have the same regulation?

The topic Gary brought up was about hacking into things, not about who owns the software, so I'm not quite sure why you decided to derail the conversation in that direction. But at any rate, I'm not aware of any software that anyone "owns". In every case, the user is bound by the licensing, be it a license by closed-source software or open source software. You don't own closed or open-source software. You are merely permitted the right to modify the source code if it's open source and if you know how, but you never own it. In the case of closed source, you are merely granted a license to use it, but you've never owned it.

Oddly, this seems to be a common misunderstanding about the world of software licensing that a lot of people get confused by. I think it is easy to misunderstand because people think that if they buy something, it is theirs. They buy a car, a house, a baseball bat, computer hardware and they own all those, right? Software falls under the same terms as music and movies. When you buy a movie or audio CD, you only are permitted the right (or license) to listen to it. You never owned the music or movie itself.

This brings us to copyright laws, if you want to take the discussion in that direction. I'm all for copyright reform, but I'm not entirely against copyrights themselves. I see no problem with the owner of a piece of work or art to make money off their endeavor for a period of time. This is the way copyright was originally setup. Extensions to the law have been added over time to grant owners the right to keep ownership for currently up to 75 years. The Walt Disney corporation has been the biggest proponent of extending the law because they don't want their beloved Mickey falling into the public domain. But I'm digressing.

If you want meaningful copyright reform, that is right out the window now with Trump (at least here in the states). The balance of power has shifted in favor of content producers and away from consumers. We'll have to wait at least another 4 years, and that's even if copyright reform is on the table as an important issue (and it usually isn't).