Open source migration: Schleswig-Holstein's digital minister admits problems

Schleswig-Holstein's Digital Minister Dirk Schrödter (CDU) has admitted mistakes in the ongoing migration to open source software in a letter to all state employees. According to NDR, he apologises for the stressful weeks and the problems that have arisen. In the past, Schrödter also held the employees responsible and emphasised that "you don't learn to ride a bike by watching".

According to the report, the minister struck a much more conciliatory tone in his letter. He thanked the administrative staff, as the software changeover would not have been possible without their support. Schrödter's previous communication had been heavily criticised by the judiciary, law enforcement and the opposition. Among others, FDP politician Bernd Buchholz accused him of having a "management style from the last century".

In the letter, Schrödter also states that the state's own IT service provider Dataport is now working with a larger team to solve the problems. To date, 35,000 of a total of 44,000 mailboxes have already been successfully migrated to Open-Xchange and Thunderbird.

Dependence on monopolies

There had previously been complaints from the workforce. Judges criticised the fact that they were unable to access their emails at times. This was particularly critical, as their everyday work often involved urgent matters such as arrest applications and house searches. The police union (GdP) already spoke of "chaos" in the Ministry of the Interior in mid-August. It was reported from police circles that planned changes had been cancelled or postponed at short notice.

Although the opposition is generally in favour of the software changeover, it criticises the poor management of the process. The state data protection commissioner Marit Hansen also urges caution. She recommends slowing down the pace and coordinating more closely with other federal states instead of forging ahead alone as a pioneer. At the same time, however, the inspector emphasises: "Monopolies are always difficult." This means that the administration is leaving itself at the mercy of a provider such as Microsoft. The Cloud Act also allows US authorities to access user data from US companies in principle, even if it is stored on servers abroad.

Windows should be removed from desktops

Despite the problems, Digital Minister Schrödter plans to have converted almost all email accounts by the end of September. In the long term, the Windows operating system is also to be replaced on all computers by open source alternatives such as +1.Linux. Schrödter himself already uses such a system with free software.

In Munich, Microsoft was able to "window shop" again in 2017 after a 14-year hiatus. With the majority of the red-black coalition at the time, the city council decided to switch back to Windows by 2020 and end its foray into the Linux world with the former open source prestige project LiMux. One reason for this was the dissatisfaction of employees with the switch. The current green-red coalition has moved closer to free software again with a 5-point programme.

(vbr)