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Comment by Htsthbjig | Hacker News Reader

Translation:

MS offered Munich Windows completely free, or even offered to pay for the transition.

MS probably also offered the decision makers free travel around the world, free laptops and other gear, and some under the table money for being "convinced". This was done in my University so I could only imagine what will be with a big city like this.

The decision makers argument that given that Windows is "free"(first dose s free until you are hooked) and Linux takes development money (to German developers)then it is a better decision to just switch.

It is quite significant that there is so many Linux mini distros in government, instead of uniting and solving the general problems Linux have on a State or even multi State.

E.g Solving the program to handle mail,calendar and contacts is common for Spain, French, German and UK gobertment. Why can't they work together to solve it?

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I am not sure why this post begins with the header "Translation:". It is not a translation of the article.

If your comment is not a whoosh, gp is not using "translation" as "language X to language Y" but in the sense of "said vs unsaid". This usage of "translation" is a rhetorical device often to express satire or cynicism.

Example: "The department will thoroughly investigate the police officers' fatal shooting of the unarmed teenager to ensure justice is upheld."

TRANSLATION: "The police officers will get paid leave, possibly a vacation to Hawaii to escape the media spotlight, and then get a promotion in rank."

That said, whether gp's "translation" adds any insight is questionable.

But it is quite confusing to use that idiom when the original article is in a language most HNers don't speak.

An actual translation from German to English is what's expected, and would have been a lot more useful.

And indeed, I suspect that many of the comment's upvoters did so on the assumption it was a non-editorialized German -> English translation of the article.

>But it is quite confusing to use that idiom when the original article is in a language

I agree. I was simply explaining to thebear why Htsthbjig used the word "translation" in a non-language-mapping sense in case he might be unaware of "translate" as a cynical idiom. Apparently, the downvote shows my explanation was not helpful. :-)

> MS probably also offered the decision makers free travel around the world, free laptops and other gear, and some under the table money for being "convinced"

Those are some pretty big accusations. Do you have any sources for them or are these just your speculations?

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=microsoft+bribery

Please change "Translation" to "Speculation".

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