this post was submitted on 26 Jan 2026
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Once these countries leave, they'll never go back. And then the rest of us get better alternatives to this enshitification model.
Munich went open source / Linux a couple of years ago, ditching Microsoft. Using a big budget to convert everything and support employees etc. It was a huge act.
...Then they went back to Microsoft in yet another huge act, using a big budget. And then never revealed the budget for the last one. Which is really weird, considering its public money.
edit: just wanted to say that when idiots get power, there is always a way back. No matter how obviously stupid that would be
Also improves Teams/slows the enshitifcation. It's harder to make the product bad when it's hardly a monopoly.
Seriously, enshitification is the only thing US companies do well these days. They just dig deeper moats around their walled gardens because they’re too greedy to make decent products that people actually want.
Enshittification, AI slop and fascism are America's greatest exports. And that's not even a joke.
We grow pretty good weed too, that isn't nothing.
Not exported overseas though.
I have a feeling it probably must be though. What other countries are pumping out literal metric tons annually?
My understanding is it's only legalized on a state level and not federal. So I guess if they're shipping it from an international airport or by sea the feds might see that as drug trafficking.
I absolutely mean smuggling
I live in Maine and the market is so flooded nobody can even grow straight for the black market and compete anymore, it's all spills over from licenced grows. $80/oz for top shelf if you look around a little, $100 if you don't. It's almost impossible to spend more than $200. That has to be having farther reaching effects.
I’m on medcan in Australia. It gets imported from everywhere but I’ve yet to come across a US grown flower.
All of the North American stuff I’ve gotten is Canadian.
I think enshitification is a product of public traded companies promising infinite growth, not necessarily a problem of US only companies.
It's also a consequence of low taxes on capital gains and corporate profits.
When those taxes were higher it made more sense to reinvest the profits back into your own company. You'd build a reputation and a structure that would pay out you and your family for a hundred years.
Now the dream is to build up a company just enough to sell it to some megacorp and cash out asap, with you and your family living off of investment money that only increases over time.
While I would love to see them never going back, here in Germany, all it takes is some corrupt politician taking a huge bribe from a lobbyist and swoosh, they are back to Microslop.
Edit: Knowing our little corrupt fuckers in charge in German politics, the bribe probably doesn't even have to be mediocre.
In Australia a lobbyist would get that for around 10k AUD from Labor and probably 6 from the Coalition.
Our system (in the end it's the same no matter where you are) is so fucked up :/ Kids need to learn empathy and selflessness as the most important school subject.
Look up LiMux and the massive Microsoft deal that followed.
No, please stop with this garbage misinformation. Microsoft made a (suspected) under the table deal with the Munich government at the time to setup a Microsoft office in Munich if they switched back to Windows.
That's what the news reported on endlessly. That's the narrative that keeps getting falsely repeated over and over, and no one ever checks the BS stories they spread.
The rest of the story didn't make headlines, where the new incoming Munich government said "hell no!" (prob in German) and continued the Linux rollout.
Today the environment is a mix of Linux and Windows, but they already have a large focus on FOSS software.
Despite the astonishingly stupid decision to roll their own in-house distro (LiMux), the program was massively successful, with Linux users filling only 40% the number of tickets the Windows users did.
Edit: I'm correcting something I said, they didn't "continue the Linux rollout" as they had already covered most of their systems. The current status is a mix of Windows and Linux, because they vetoed the rollback to Windows in 2020.
Citation Needed
You first
Are you afraid to provide any reference to your claim? Do you need extra time making up stuff?
"Die 43 000 städtischen Mitarbeiterinnen und Mitarbeiter nutzen also mittlerweile wieder Word, Outlook und PowerPoint [...] Einfacher sei die Software-Frage bei den Servern im städtischen Rechenzentrum zu beantworten. Zwar haben man durchaus auch Windows-Server, aber die meisten laufen mit Linux, so Gernhardt." (29. Juni 2025) https://www.sueddeutsche.de/muenchen/muenchen-verwaltung-open-source-it-microsoft-li.3256886
So Linux on servers, Windows including MS Office on desktops. The migration to Linux on desktops was completely reversed.
So where is "“hell no!” (prob in German) and continued the Linux rollout"? Where has it been "garbage misinformation"? Where are the exact stats about opening tickets? After all, you claim "Linux users filling only 40% the number of tickets the Windows users did". That's pretty specific.
No. Just calling out your double standard. If you didn't provide sources for your statements, then it's rich for you to demand sources from me.
https://www.zdnet.com/article/linux-not-windows-why-munich-is-shifting-back-from-microsoft-to-open-source-again/
https://youtu.be/XBRh2G29NNE
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LiMux
"In May 2020, it was reported that the newly elected politicians in Munich, while not going back to the original plan of migrating to LiMux wholesale, will prefer Free Software for future endeavours."
There are no official numbers, but the rollback to Windows was halted. It's estimated that it's currently a mix of Linux and Windows. And it's been acknowledged that the move back to Windows was almost entirely political due to influence from Microsoft.
So you lied. You claimed that Munich said "Hell no" to Microsoft Migration but here you spell it out yourself: The politicians did sell out to Microsoft and only newly elected politicians partially reversed it.
They use Windows and MS Office on desktops to this day and use Linux on servers and some FOSS tools ON WINDOWS DESKTOPS.
I was right, you lied.
Citation needed.
I know for a fact that there are no official numbers, and it's estimated to be a split between the two OSes.
Ya, I'm not sure which part confuses you, but I'll try to help:
Politician A sells out to MS
Migration back to Windows begins
Politician B gets elected
Politician B says "hell no" (hyperbole) to Microsoft switch back
Politician B halts the migration
Still confused? Then I can't help you.
I already provided one: https://lemmy.world/comment/21796829
Cannot read a German news article about German news? Your problem. I'm 100% correct.
The previous administration did.
Which the previous administration did do and the new administration did not reverse on desktops. Windows and MS Office remain in use.
There was no “hell no”. They adopted a few FOSS tools on Windows. Windows and MS Office remain in use. I already provided a source from June 2025, so quite recent.
You clamed there was no Microsoft migration. You claimed that any sort of Migrosoft migration is garbage misinformation. You're a blatant liar.
Did you read the article? Because nowhere in there does it say how many Linux or Windows desktops are being used.
Yes, Dieter Reiter. He's the one quoted in the article. He's the one that made that "deal" with Microsoft.
"We want to go back to the “industry standard,” said Lord Mayor Dieter Reiter."
Clearly you didn't read my sources.
Like I said, your 2025 source does not back up your claim that all the desktops are Windows.
I never "clamed" anything. But what I said was that the declaration of LiMux being a failure, and a reverting back to Windows wholesale is false.
Apparently you are also.
That deal that totally had nothing to do with Microsoft relocating their headquarters closer to Munich
The Bavarian state government is still entirely in Microslop's pocket
Not surprised. From what I've heard from pretty much every German person I've talked to, Bavaria is basically their Texas (read UP if you're Indian, not sure about analogies for other countries).
Im not an expert on this, but it seems like Ms was worried that success of Limux would be the drip that starts the trickle so to speak. It made sense for them to do whatever it took to patch that leak.
Things have really changed since then though. Valve has been very successful in a Linux end user environment, and Eu is becoming disenfranchised from the US rather than Microsoft specifically.
I think Munich's motivations were financial, but Frances will be ideological.
With these things in mind, the calculus has changed. That doesn't necessarily mean France won't fail, but id be surprised if Microsoft pursues them in the same way.
Don't listen to that other commenter. They're wrong about the Munich LiMux story. It keeps getting repeated but it's not correct.