Microsoft in Hot Water with CERN

[IceDigger]

Round and round it goes where it stops only CERN knows. Gotta love licensing, I know CERN doesn't.

Over the past 20 years Microsoft has considered CERN an academic company/group and given them cheap academic licensing which is fantastic. The problem comes just recently with Microsoft taking away their academic status and they have to go with the standard enterpise business liscensing per user. This brings the cost up by more than a factor of 10 for them.

With these huge costs CERN is looking elsewhere for their computer OS and software needs. Specifically into the Open Source realm with Linux and such.

"The initial objective was to investigate the migration from commercial software products (Microsoft and others) to open-source solutions, so as to minimise CERN’s exposure to the risks of unsustainable commercial conditions. By doing so, the laboratory is playing a pioneering role among public research institutions, most of whom have recently been faced with the same dilemma.

MAlt is a multi-year effort and it will now enter a new phase with the first migrations.

The project’s principles of engagement are to:

• Deliver the same service to every category of CERN personnel
• Avoid vendor lock-in to decrease risk and dependency
• Keep hands on the data
• Address the common use-cases" - CERN

Good Luck CERN!

 

[Peter_Brosdahl]

I wish them the best of luck as well but this has to be a monumental effort that's difficult for me to visualize. I can't even imagine the detail, accuracy, and skills needed to credibly create software for what they need. This isn't like changing browsers or switching to a different email client. Nice thing is that open source has grown a lot. Downside is that MS also has their hands in Github and that might detrimentally affect their efforts.