HAMBURG, May 27: In a highly politicized decision, the Munich city administration in Germany is to dump the Microsoft Windows operating system from its computers and convert to the open-source system Linux.

The city, Germany’s third largest, has about 14,000 desktop computers which currently run on the NT version of Windows. US giant Microsoft is to soon stop servicing NT, and had offered to license the city to use its newest Windows version, XP.

After a bidding war that included Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballard cutting short a skiing holiday in Switzerland to pay a persuasive visit on Munich mayor Christian Ude, a majority of the 80 councillors favour the Linux option.

Analysts say it is not only one of the biggest successes worldwide for Linux, but also a stab in the heart for Microsoft which has a near-monopoly among business and government users around the globe.

Microsoft earlier won a similar battle at the German federal parliament, the Bundestag, with a decision by legislators to install Linux on 180 servers, but migrate most of their 5,000 desktop computers to Microsoft XP.

Munich’s decision is expected to be a formality Wednesday after Ude recommended Monday that his 35 councillors vote for Linux, as will 8 Greens. Microsoft had earlier been tipped to win after offering Munich a 15-per-cent discount.

Linux was originally developed in 1991 by a Finnish programmer, Linus Torvalds, and has been improved by an army of enthusiasts swapping messages over the Internet. Its source code is publicly available and it is free.

However Munich will have to pay about 30.2 million euros (35.6 million dollars) for a German company, SuSE Linux, to adapt the software to its needs with backing from US computer giant IBM.

Staff will not only have to get used to different screen colours and symbols, but will also be trained to do without the subsidiary Microsoft Office programmes when writing letters. A free program that operates with Linux, Open Office, is likely to be installed.

Analysts say the decision partly reflects a feeling among German purchasers that Microsoft has ratcheted its price up too high for a mature software product that no longer needs major improvement.

Microsoft offered the city a package deal for 27.3 million euros, reports said, but the city was worried about follow-on costs.

As in most countries, German home users generally buy computers with Windows pre-installed, so they are not aware of its price and have little interest in using Linux.

Microsoft earns most of its money by charging professional users, with the added benefit that most employees prefer to use the same operating system at home as they have installed at their workplace.—dpa