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The German city of Freiburg started using OpenOffice in 2007. The open-source solution was adapted and used in parallel with Microsoft Word. However, a few years later, the city council has voted in favor of ditching OpenOffice for its inadequate performance and the lack of concerted development of the platform.

The city council currently uses OpenOffice 3.2.1 which is fairly outdated. The chief contention of the council is that the software is causing frustration among its employees as it has a number of compatibility issues. For instance, opening OpenOffice files in Microsoft Office can often cause problems.

At the same time, the council cited its disappointment in the fact that not many other municipalities have taken up the open-source solution. This makes it even harder for Freiburg to continue on the path. In light of these contentions, the city council has voted with a majority favoring abandoning OpenOffice and reverting back to Microsoft Office.

However, the open source community in Germany has trashed these objections, stating that the city council wouldn’t upgrade to the latest version of OpenOffice, so it is natural they would face problems. The community further alleged that the council didn’t take advice or help from any open-source community personnel in making its OpenOffice decisions.

The arguments of the open-source community carry weight, especially in light of the fact that Munich city council has revealed that it has been able to save a whopping $12 million by making use of Linux, in place of Windows. And the city council hasn’t reported any significant issues in making use of the Linux so far.

Courtesy: Computer World

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