It’s not every day that one of the city’s top managers says goodbye with a downright thunderstorm. The IT officer Thomas Bönig, master of all computers in administration and schools, responsible for digitization, let it rip again a few weeks before his departure. Lightning and thunder got the Greens, who see themselves as the spearhead of all digital issues. Not only did she have little idea, Bönig attested to the strongest faction in the town hall, she was primarily focused on only one thing: open source topics.
If it doesn’t click right away in your inner computer: You can basically run the computer with an open operating system and programs whose codes are accessible to everyone and are (further) developed by a committed community. Or one buys standard programs from large providers whose inner workings one learns little about, but which are very common and widespread. For a long time, this was an ideological question that was also hotly debated in Munich. In 2003, the city publicly bid farewell to the industrial standards of the large corporations and set up its own open system. The then Microsoft boss Steve Ballmer even interrupted his skiing holiday in Switzerland to prevent this, as my colleague Mirjam Hauck writes in her review (SZ Plus). Vain. But in 2018, Munich’s special path resolved itself. “As a result, it was more expensive, worked significantly worse than other solutions and the risks had to be borne exclusively by the city,” says IT consultant Thomas Bönig in the SZ interview.
On June 30, he quits early because the Greens in particular did not want to offer him a long-term perspective in Munich. What happens now? IT technology and digitization are two core issues for the future that are having a hard time in Munich politics, because the turnaround in traffic, the ecological conversion of the city and the housing shortage require a lot of money and energy. The Greens will now be looking for a consultant who will further advance the city there. They attribute Bönig’s thunderstorm less to differences in content than to the bitterness of a man whose contract should not be extended. A backwards role in IT technology is not planned, says parliamentary group spokesman Florian Roth.
If you want to learn more about an unusual thunderstorm and its consequences, then read on.
THE DAY IN MUNICH
15 hours of surfing, every day After years of discussions, the city council found a solution for everyone involved. Surfers can now pursue their sport for up to 15 hours a day.
“My children are traumatized” The school family of the Truderinger Gymnasium is running a welcome class for Ukrainian refugees on their own initiative. The psychological support is provided by a mother who fled herself – from Bucha.
Violence begins in the schoolyard The city’s new handbook “Was just fun” is intended to help teachers to curb cross-border behavior against girls. The problem is not exactly unknown.
Backstreet Boys are coming back to Munich The boy band is going on tour again – and will be playing in the Olympic Hall in October.
Car crashes into elevator shaft – man seriously injured A 77-year-old accidentally drives into a car elevator – and falls seven meters down. High-altitude rescuers have to rappel down when the man is rescued.
2-year-old left home alone – neighbor hears shouting and knocking Police and fire brigade get the toddler from an apartment in Pasing. The youth welfare office takes care of the girl, and the mother is now being investigated.
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