The German state of Lower Saxony plans to follow Munich's example, and migrate a reported 13,000 users from Linux back to Windows.

Apparently undaunted by the cost of the Munich switch (which we reported in January could be as much as €100m), Lower Saxony is considering making the change in its tax office. The state seems to expect a much cheaper transition, with Heise (in German here) reporting the first-year budget is €5.9m, and another €7m further out.

Munich council finds €49.3m for Windows 10 embrace READ MORE

The tax office argues its decision is driven by compatibility: field workers and teleworkers overwhelmingly use Windows, while the OpenSUSE variants are installed on its office workstations. The office workstations are also ageing and due for replacement, something that helped open the door for Windows.

The move is in its early stages, however, with the Lower Saxony government currently defining the “framework conditions” of the migration; this will be followed by a pre-selection of possible solutions.

We can only hope Lower Saxony has a better time of it than Munich. After 15 years under the yoke of the Penguinistas, Munich voted in February 2017 to start the long march back to Microsoft.

As we noted in November 2017, some Microsoft software proved hard to kill even after so long. For example, Munich stayed with Microsoft Exchange for mail servers. ®