"Lock in" - the term for a huge and dangerous problem illustrating the dependency of nations and governmental offices on the monopolist Microsoft, and the ruthlessness by which the Americans defend with all fangs and claws their powerpolitical priviliges that comes with such a monopoly in IT access. China, but also American key companies like Google and Amazon and Facebook know it better and run their IT infrastructure with open source solutions. Putin has made it a state policy to get Windows out of the Russian state'S IT infrastructure. But European states and their adminstrations and offices allow to get lobbied into the ground, to allow Microsoft the yearly cashing of 60 billions in licensing fees and accepting according threats and risks, since this always also includes American access to foreign IT systems and official services. At the same time Microsoft distributes its toxic software for free at schools and amongst juveniles, like drug dealers fish for new victims by distributing free pills first - and create lifelong addicts that then pay and pay on. The author of the following insightful article about "lock in" thereful correctly calls Microsoft'S business model that of a drug dealer indeed.
Unfortunately, this very good piece of information about the enormous and dangerous problem is
in GERMAN.
http://www.tagesspiegel.de/weltspieg...28246-all.html
On a sidenote, a nice anecdote told in that article, and I have read about this in more detail some months ago already: the French police in Paris has switched to Linux years ago, all by itself and by private effort. Since Microsoft started to massively lobby against that like it always does when somebody dares to reject Microsoft, it ended with the French higher ranks to order the police to return to Windows, although the Paris police demonstrated beyond doubt their Linux and open source software for its IT works better, more reliable and is more safe, than Windows. You have to give it to those Paris flics: they refuse until today the minister' order and refuse to switch back their IT infrastructure that they moved to Linux all by themselves, by own initiave and by investing private time.
And they refuse it since years.
The ministers and the mayors came and left, some fuming. But the police in Paris just does not do it. LOL
In Munich, they want to switch back from Linux to Microsoft, too,
and cannot give any explanation for that, for the city saves several millions per year in licensing fees, and has a more secure and stable IT network since 12 or 14 years with all offices beign used to, and things working fine.
Its just that parts of the coalition parties are in bed with Microsoft lobbyists.