Steve Ballmer, chief executive of Microsoft Corp., appears to take delight in the troubles that Munich is having as it switches 14,000 city computers from Windows to a rival Linux operating system.
The German city, roughly comparable in size to Toronto and just as strapped for cash, decided nine months ago to embrace the open-source software as a way to lower costs, improve competition in the marketplace and make the city less reliant on the world's largest software company.
It was a high-profile defection for Microsoft, one that prompted Ballmer to cut short a family vacation and pay a visit to the Munich mayor. Ballmer offered a much better deal, but the municipality had already made up its mind.
"They're saying it's more expensive," Ballmer told the Star yesterday.
"All of a sudden it's more expensive now to use the Linux solution than the Windows solution," he said after appearing at Microsoft's annual Can-Win event in Toronto.
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