German Government suspends the use of Open Source Software
In a move that was sure to attract the ire of the open source activists, the German Foreign Office announced its decision to discontinue the use of free open source software in favor of Microsoft in February. This announcement was a complete about turn of the German Government's policy since 2005, of exclusively using only open source software.
As a result of this move, Government will go back to using Microsoft XP & Windows 7 instead of Linux and open source software. OpenOffice & Thunderbird will also be replacing MS Office & Outlook under the new guidelines.
The German Government's decision has been heavily criticized and led to an inquiry by the green Bündnis 90/Grüne Party. However, Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE), the non profit organization engaged in creating awareness and support for the open source software usage, is not very happy with the government's response to the inquiry.