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Public Procurement and Open Source
Steve writes "Open code in public procurement is an interesting take on free software and open source software in a federal or state environment. Pawlo: 'It is time that public bodies and governments look over their public procurement policies. The policy should guarantee competition, not stifle it.' Thinking of the latest Bill Gates rant this make sense."
It seems that this is "merely" a matter of enforcing existing standards. But then, I am not a bureaucrat.
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
...and that's exactly where OpenSource is weak, let's face it.
OpenSource is not allways that easy to install and use and interoperable as Microsoft product are. Support is not as well available. If we think in terms of competition on the desktop, OpenSource falls flat on the belly.
This is not something, which can be fixed by speeches. We need to cooperate and coordinate better, we need to have better interoperability with de facto standards (and isn't any standard a de facto standard?).
What the government can (and should) do, is to take care, that the interface definitions are open and without patents or copyrights. That's it's typical role. Everything else is up to us.
Windows-Interfaces should be open and public - all of them.
File formats of Word, Excel, Power Point etc. should be open and public.
I think, it's time to come out of the religious-like discussion and go for competition. We have the pole position in the server market and a very good base in the schools and universities - next areas to tackle will be desktop and then quality, documentation and support.
Geee, an OpenSource AG!!! With Linus for core development, Taco for press relations and me as janitor!