Analysts have noted that the hesitation might also have been brought on by political goals and cost issues. Whatever the reasons for the delay, Munich mayor Christian Ude recently emphasized in a press conference that the city is committed to open source, and anticipates it will follow through with the migration as planned.

In a recent report, Gartner analyst Andrea Di Maio noted that the research firm does not believe patent concerns were the primary motivation for Munich's postponement.

He wrote, "Legal risks mostly come from U.S. patents, and no vendor with relevant patents seems to have shown any interest in threatening or initiating a lawsuit." Instead, he continued, the patenting issue might have suggested to Munich that it underestimated costs and risks when calculating TCO for LiMux.

In an interview with LinuxInsider, Di Maio noted that Munich declined to share details of its Linux decisions with analysts. "To me," he said, "this indicates that they might have wanted more time to go through the numbers."

As Linux becomes more widespread in Europe, it is possible that other countries looking to adopt open source will face the same TCO issues and take a harder look at cost.

"The bottom line, in our view, is that if you're a government entity and you're considering Linux, you need to get your act together," said Di Maio. "You have to look at all the factors, such as how open source will benefit local industry." 

Read more at LinuxInsider