233 lines
8.8 KiB
HTML
233 lines
8.8 KiB
HTML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
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<html newsdate="2017-03-01">
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<version>1</version>
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<head>
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<title>What happened in Munich</title>
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</head>
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<body>
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<h1>What happened in Munich</h1>
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<p>
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On 15 February 2017, the city council of Munich, Germany convened
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to discuss the future of their LiMux project. In its public
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session, the plenary voted to have the city administration develop
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a strategy to unify client-side IT architecture, building atop a
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yet-to-be-developed "Windows-Basis-Client". A translation of the
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complete decision is included further down.
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</p>
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<p>
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The opposing parties were overruled, but the decision was amended
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such that the strategy document must specify which
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LiMux-applications will no longer be needed, the extent in which
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prior investments must be written off, and a rough calculation of
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the overall costs of the desired unification.
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</p>
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<p>
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Since this decision was reached, the majority of media have
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reported that a final call was made to halt LiMux and switch back
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to Microsoft software. This is, however, not an accurate
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representation of the outcome of the city council meeting. We
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studied the available documentation and our impression is that the
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last word has not been spoken.
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</p>
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<p>
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We succeeded thus far in forcing the mayor Dieter Reiter (SPD) to
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postpone the final decision, and this was possible through the
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unwavering pressure created by joint efforts between The Document
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Foundation, KDE, OSBA, and the FSFE together with all the
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individuals who wrote to city council members and took the issue
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to the media.
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</p>
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<p>
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Although the mandate is highly suggestive in that it suggests that
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the existing vendor-neutral approach is to be replaced with a
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proprietary solution, it leaves the door open; Or are you aware of
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a commonly-used software standard that ensures maximal
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compatibility in all directions?
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</p>
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<p>
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The new mandate buys us some time. And we will keep going.
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</p>
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<h2>Background information </h2>
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<p>
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What lead to this public hearing on 15 February? In 2014, Dieter
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Reiter was elected new mayor of Munich. He had referred to himself
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as "Microsoft fan" even before he took office. He prides himself
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with having played a major part in the decision to move the
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Microsoft Germany headquarters to downtown Munich. He started to
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question the LiMux strategy as soon as his term started, and asked
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Accenture, a Microsoft partner in the same building as Microsoft,
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to analyse Munich's IT infrastructure. The report can be found
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<a href="https://www.ris-muenchen.de/RII/RII/DOK/SITZUNGSVORLAGE/4277724.pdf">here</a> (German). It's
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noteworthy that in their report, the analysts identify primarily
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organisational issues at the root of the problems troubling LiMux
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uptake, rather than technical challenges.
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</p>
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<p>
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The coalition of SPD and CSU filed a surprise motion with minimal
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lead time before the city council, with the goal to put LiMux to
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rest once and for all.
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</p>
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<h2>Our reaction</h2>
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<p>
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Given the importance of this matter, an ad-hoc coalition of The
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Document Foundation, KDE, OSBA, and the FSFE
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collected <a href="https://blog.schiessle.org/2017/02/14/rolle-ruckwarts-in-munchen-diese-fragen-sollte-man-sich-stellen/">questions
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about this motion</a> (German), as well as the processes that
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lead up to it. We reached out to all members of the city council
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prior to the public hearing. Additionally, we sent a <a href="https://wiki.fsfe.org/Activities/LiMux/CallForAction">call for
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action</a> (German) to all our supporters in Germany and Austria, asking
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them to get in contact with politicians on this issue. The
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reaction was phenomenal. During the public hearing, politicians
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quoted some of our question, and said that they had never received
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as much input from the public before.
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</p>
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<p>
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Thank you everyone who made this happen!
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</p>
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<p>
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We also generated quite a bit of press coverage this way, not only
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in Germany, but also in other parts of the world. An incomplete
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list of press coverage can be found
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<a href="https://wiki.fsfe.org/Activities/LiMux">here</a>. Please
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share with us any additional material you might know about.
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</p>
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<h2>Conclusion</h2>
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<p>
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LiMux suffered from organisational problems, including lack of
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clear structures and responsibilities, which the Accenture report
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also makes clear. These are independent from the software used on
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client machines, and switching operating systems will not solve
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them.
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</p>
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<p>
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LiMux as such is still one of the best examples of how to create a
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vendor-neutral administration based on Free Software. The project
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was started 13 years ago when the city had to replace their no
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longer supported Windows NT4 workstations. Since then, they
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migrated 15.000 workplaces to vendor-neutral Free Software
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solutions, and Open-Standard-based file formats, supported by
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local IT companies. Overall this initiative displays not only a
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successful move to more independence, but also serves as role
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model of how to strengthen the local IT industry. By solving the
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organisational problems only, Munich could continue to successfully
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foster not only an independent administration but also a strong and
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healthy IT landscape.
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</p>
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<h2>Our goal</h2>
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<p>
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We understand that LiMux has not solved all problems, but we
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maintain that the root of the problems are of organisational
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nature, and thus must not be confounded with the technical
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choices.
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</p>
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<p>
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Public infrastructure must stay independent of singular commercial
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interests, that are known to stifle innovation. Free Software
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provides the unique opportunity to invest into common assets and
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benefit from everyone else's contributions, while staying in
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control of what gets deployed, and when. Local service providers
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operating in healthy competition boost the local economy and
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ensure best use of tax payers' money.
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</p>
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<p>
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We also note that the trend moves away from client-side operation
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to more centralised infrastructures, which
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operating-system-independent use across multiple devices and
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users' browsers of choice. It may turn out best for LiMux to
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adjust its focus, while the vendor-neutral strategy must prevail.
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</p>
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<h2>The modified motion, as passed on 15 February</h2>
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<p>
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The following conclusion was reached (overruling the opposition by
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Die Grünen - rosa liste, BAYERNPARTEI Stadtratsfraktion,
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Freiheitsrechte, Transparenz und Bürgerbeteiligung, ÖDP, DIE
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LINKE, LKR und BIA):
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</p>
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<p>
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The motion filed before the plenum by SPD and CSU shall have its
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section 6b (new) extended, as shown between the *** markers:
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</p>
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<p>
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"The administration shall without delay propose a strategy how to
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unify the city's client-side IT architecture by 2020-12-31,
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building on a yet-to-be-developed 'Windows-Basis-Client'. Baseline
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functionality (word processing, spreadsheets, presentation
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software, PDF reading, e-mail client and Web browser) needs to be
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provided by commonly-used, standard products, which must guarantee
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maximal compatibility with existing internal and external
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processes, as well as other software infrastructure (such as SAP).
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</p>
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<p>
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***
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The strategy must be clear on which applications on LiMux-Basis
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will no longer be needed. The city council is to be informed on
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the extent that this requires write-offs of prior
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investments. Furthermore, a rough budget to illustrate the costs
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associated with the unification is to be presented. The city
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council will then make a final decision.
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***
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</p>
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<p>
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Throughout the transition, the various departments are free to
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deploy the new, unified solution building on the
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'Windows-Basis-Client', or continue using their existing,
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multi-tier (Window/LiMux) solution, depending on technical status.
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</p>
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<p>
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Strategic goal must remain that administrative tools shall be
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usable independently of the client-side operating system (e.g. web
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apps, virtualisation, remote desktop services)."
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</p>
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<p>
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The original decision is only available in German and can be found
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<a href="https://www.ris-muenchen.de/RII/RII/DOK/TOP/4372059.pdf">here</a>,
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augmenting
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the <a href="https://www.ris-muenchen.de/RII/RII/DOK/SITZUNGSVORLAGE/4367152.pdf">original
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motion</a>.
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</p>
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</body>
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<tags>
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<tag key="front-page"/>
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<tag key="limux">LiMux</tag>
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<tag key="policy">policy</tag>
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<tag key="limux">München</tag>
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<tag key="public-administration">ÖffentlicheVerwaltung</tag>
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</tags>
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<author id="schiessle"/>
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</html>
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