[chaoskanzlerin]

There's a history of German public administrations using Linux and other open-source software. In particular, the City of Munich has pioneered this with their 2006-2019 LiMux [0] project, which was ultimately cancelled in exchange for Microsoft moving their German offices to Munich proper.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LiMux / Discussion at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15661372

[torusle]

Back then Microsoft was lobbying as hard as they could to turn that decision to move to linux over.

They knew: If Linux makes it in Munich, it will likely spread over and they loose tons of contracts with other German states.

[qwertox]

- Sir, can we bribe you?

- Of course, of course.

[psteinweber]

Munich seems to have become the preferred destination for US companies opening their German office (most recent: OpenAI, Notion, Anthropic).

So if Microsoft would have paved that way, it would have been totally worth it for the city.