Nine German cities poised to adopt Linux

Nine German cities in the state of Rheinland Pfalz are in advanced talks to replace many, if not all, of their Microsoft Corp. software products with open-source alternatives, particularly the Linux operating system.

"We had an important meeting this month to discuss what we need to know if we make the switch to open source and will meet again on Oct. 14 to plan pilot tests," said Markus Donsbach, IT director for the League of Cities in Rheinland Pfalz. "Many of the cities have to make decisions by the end of this year because their contracts with Microsoft expire early next year."

The cities are among the largest in the state of Rheinland Pfalz: Alzey, Kaiserslautern, Koblenz, Landau, Mainz, Neustadt, Speyer, Trier and Worms.

Should they dump Microsoft for open source, they would join two other cities that have already made the move: Schw