"The IT department of the city of Munich has exactly one mission and that is to enable the employees of the city to service the citizens of Munich in the most efficient manner"
Exactly. It is more efficient for Munich as a City to support local business than to transfer money to american sharehoulders, if they think faresighted instead of shoresighted. Because part of the money comes back as taxes.
National economy is not a profit business but a money circuit. Therefore the efficienty laws are different.
The goal max. efficiency is the same, but the ways to accomplish this are totallly different, because the economic systems are different.
The city shouldn't maximise for profit, that's clear. But in this case they might be optimizing for a vague political goal at the cost of quality of service. Stuff like, a planning permission taking longer to process, but, hey, we benefited the local open source community.
I'm not saying that's what happened, I'm saying that's the kind of unintended consequences you risk running into when you muddle the mission goal.
By the way, any contract of any meaningful size must be tendered EU-wide. It's illegal for a city to demand that its providers are local.
The quality of service in Munich is excellent.
The goal is not vague but a very clear strategic one. Be not dependent on a foreign monopoly. Support and adjucate your own people. That is the constitutional duty of any government. And Munich excells in this regard with the help of Free Software.
Exactly. It is more efficient for Munich as a City to support local business than to transfer money to american sharehoulders, if they think faresighted instead of shoresighted. Because part of the money comes back as taxes.
National economy is not a profit business but a money circuit. Therefore the efficienty laws are different. The goal max. efficiency is the same, but the ways to accomplish this are totallly different, because the economic systems are different.