More than 500 German public-sector groups signed up for a discounted IBM computer offer with SuSE Linux preinstalled, according to a June 2003 report. That figure does not mean more than 500 agencies completed a Linux migration or used only open-source software. It records sign-ups for a specific offer, not a verified count of completed deployments.
What did the “over 500” figure count?
In June 2002, Germany’s Federal Ministry of the Interior and IBM agreed to offer public-sector bodies discounted IBM computers with SuSE Linux preinstalled. One year later, InfoWorld reported that more than 500 groups had signed up for the offer. The agreement was signed by Interior Minister Otto Schily and IBM Deutschland chairman Erwin Staudt. InfoWorld’s June 25, 2003 report describes sign-ups—not a census of agencies that had completed installation or migration.
Schily named the Cartel Office, Monopoly Commission, Federal Data Protection Commissioner and Animal Breeding Agency among the bodies signed up. The report also named the cities of Schwäbisch Hall and Munich. The reported total combined public-sector groups; it should not be read as a count of government agencies all running Linux.
Did all of them switch to Linux?
No. The report gives two concrete migration examples, but they do not establish that every sign-up became a deployment. Schwäbisch Hall was described as having made a complete switch to a Linux-based IT infrastructure. Munich had chosen to migrate 14,000 computers. A decision to migrate is not the same as evidence that the migration was completed, and neither example can be generalized to all groups in the offer.
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Schily called the agreement a “milestone” toward a diverse, open software landscape in the public sector, while making clear that the policy was not a rejection of commercial software: “This means that we also want to work together with Microsoft.”
How the later numbers and initiatives differ
Germany’s subsequent open-source activity involved separate projects and measurements. Their figures describe different things and should not be added to, or substituted for, the 2003 sign-up count.
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| Item | What it describes | Evidence and date |
|---|---|---|
| Schwäbisch Hall | Municipal use of GNU/Linux infrastructure, begun in 2001 and subsequently expanded | European Commission Germany country report; initiative history, not a national agency count. Country report |
| Open CoDE | Public code-sharing and collaboration platform | The European Commission report says the platform had more than 1,800 users and 500 projects as of June 2023. These are platform figures, not the 2003 IBM-SuSE sign-ups. |
| Sovereign Workplace | Interoperable open-source workplace initiative for the public sector, started in 2022 | The European Commission report described a major release as forecast for December 2023. That dated forecast does not establish current release status. |
| Bitkom Research survey | Organisations’ reported use of open-source software | In a 2023 survey, 59% of 102 public-administration respondents said their organisation used open-source software. Bitkom states that the sample size and distribution were not representative of public administration as a whole. Bitkom Open Source Monitor 2023 |
What federal open-source policy says today
In a speech on May 19, 2026, Federal Minister Karsten Wildberger said OpenDesk was being introduced in federal administration and that the federal government intended to prioritize open source in new procurement where a viable solution exists. He said migrating from decades-old proprietary systems is challenging and that repositories and communities need to be built. These are statements of policy and ongoing work, not evidence that a nationwide migration has been completed. Wildberger’s federal speech states: “Bei allen neuen Beschaffungen des Bundes hat Open Source Vorrang, wo immer es eine tragfähige Lösung gibt – nicht in Absichtserklärungen, sondern in den Vergabekriterien.”
Wildberger also said: “Der Code, den der Bund mit Steuergeld bauen lässt, gehört der Öffentlichkeit – Public Money, Public Code.” That expresses a public-code principle; it does not establish that every publicly funded system is open source.
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What the headline can—and cannot—claim
- Supported: A 2003 report said more than 500 public-sector groups signed up for discounted IBM computers preinstalled with SuSE Linux.
- Not established by that figure: That all sign-ups installed the computers, completed migration, or adopted open source across their IT systems.
- Separate evidence: Named local migration examples, later platform and workplace initiatives, a non-representative 2023 survey, and 2026 federal policy statements each show activity of a different kind.
- Not established by the cited material: A current nationwide total of German government agencies using open source.
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