Germans seek savings through Linux in tough economic times

FRANKFURT, Germany — Tough economic times in Germany have made Linux and other open source software products appear tantalizing to local businesses. Yet many remain hesitant to dump their Microsoft Corp. software completely, if for no other reasons than it performs relatively well, and nearly everyone in corporate Germany uses it. That was the general impression from speakers delivering presentations Tuesday at the LinuxWorld conference in Frankfurt.

“Making more efficient use of capital resources, particularly in the IT area, is a top priority of German businesses currently exposed to a very harsh economic climate,” said Wafa Moussavi-Amin, analyst and regional business manager of IDC in Germany. “Price is the key differentiator. New software features and functions have become secondary.”

But Moussavi-Amin warned users that while Linux software is basically free to acquire, it can be costly to deploy if a company doesn’t have sufficient Linux competence. “Businesses can see costs pile up quickly for support, maintenance and, in particular, training if they lack in-house knowledge,” he said. “Each enterprise should carefully study whether the low fee to acquire the software will offset these other costs.”

Cost is one of the main reasons why Wilken Rechenzentrum GmbH, a mid-size IT service provider, is converting nearly 80 percent of its operations to Linux, according to Roman Hoffmann, the company’s managing director. Other reasons for the move include the operating system’s high stability and flexibility, its reduced risk to virus attacks, support from the “large and helpful” open source community and a particular desire to develop software products not based on Microsoft’s Windows operating systems, he said.

Wilken Rechenzentrum was also encouraged by the decision of several large German cities, including Munich and Schwäbisch Hall, to migrate to Linux and by the general support for open source software coming from the German federal government, Hoffmann said. “We were initially nervous about the migration and whether we could manage everything,” he said. “But we are very pleased with how our systems are now operating under Linux and, in particular, the money we are saving, which is substantial.”

By comparison, Heinz Huber Internationale Spedition GmbH & Co. is pursuing a less pervasive open source approach, although the company says that it, too, is saving plenty of money. The 38-person logistics company has deployed Linux in its servers and installed open source applications, including StarOffice, on Windows-based clients.

“We have stuck with Windows on the clients mostly because our logistics software runs on Windows but also because I’m the only person in the entire company with any knowledge of Linux, which, I must confess, is limited,” said IT Director Oliver Grenz. “So if I’m not around to fix something, then we have a problem.”

Grenz said all open source applications have run “incredibly smoothly” and employees have adapted with few problems. But he cautioned that introducing open source software in a small company — and Germany, like most countries, consists mostly of small and medium-size businesses — “is something not to be taken for granted.”

“You really need to bring a good portion of enthusiasm if you hope to introduce open source software in a small company,” Grenz said. “You’re going to find resistance to change — not because it’s Linux or open source but because it’s new.”

Although steadily growing, Linux deployment in Europe still represents a small portion of the region’s software market, according to new IDC market research presented at LinuxWorld.

In the server market, Linux grew from 1 percent in the first quarter of 1999 to 9 percent in the third quarter of 2004 and is expected to grow to 18 percent by the end of 2008, IDC said.

However, in other areas, such as software development tools, content management and desktop applications, “Linux usage remains small,” IDC’s Moussavi-Amin said.

The LinuxWorld conference and exhibition runs through Thursday.

IDC is a division of International Data Group Inc., the parent company of IDG News Service.