Wittelsbacher Fountain in Munich, Germany

YEARS ago when this Web site was young there was legitimate concern that Microsoft's patent assault -- waged with Novell's help -- would suppress the free adoption of GNU/Linux. Ever since Microsoft lost its momentum in businesses, then released Windows Vista, announced losses to the public and laid off staff (while first-tier managers fled the company) things have looked somewhat different. Then came Android world domination, which made Linux the de facto platform almost everywhere except desktops and servers. In desktops and servers, however, progress has been made by GNU/Linux and earlier this month we saw some key news from Germany [1,2], China [3], Argentina [4], and the UK [5], to name just four countries. We are going to cover more such examples in days to come, including some government adoptions.

1. German city hands out Linux CDs for Windows XP users

   The southern German city of Munich has come up with a novel solution for its Windows XP-using citizens, whose operating system will be officially unsupported by Microsoft in April next year.

2. City of Munich throws Ubuntu lifeline to Windows XP holdouts

   Windows XP users in Germany’s third largest city are being offered free upgrades to Ubuntu ahead of termination of Microsoft support for the OS next Spring.





3. Hewlett Packard brings Ubuntu to China

   China has been in the spotlight lately. Most recently, the country was rumored to be the major catalyst for the "low cost" iPhone 5c. However, this has largely been discredited since the phone was revealed to not be "low cost", but instead a relatively expensive, premium device. However, China is still a major player in the computer market and manufacturers are chomping at the bit to take advantage of it. Today, Canonical announces that Hewlett Packard is focused on the nation and will be selling Ubuntu-based laptops in its 1,500 retail stores.





4. Government of Argentina Launches Linux Distribution

   The news has been full of headlines of happenings at this year's LinuxCon, but one tiny little headline stands out today as different. Although it hasn't made it into English speaking press yet, it seems the Argentine government has sponsored the development of a Linux distribution to be used on all state provided education computers.





5. British school switches students' computers to Linux, reducing costs and improving computing knowledge





6. Latest Wikimedia Traffic Analysis Report Shows A Jump In Usage Of GNU/Linux

   The highlights:
   
   Android/Linux 5.67% GNU/Linux 2.06% That Other OS 51.26% If we only consider non-mobile PCs, TOS gets 70.7% of page-views