Swiss Open Source Decision Going Microsoft's Way

hardsix writes "The recent legal wrangling between a group of open source supporters led by Red Hat against the Swiss government's decision to award an IT contract solely to Microsoft appears to be going Microsoft's way. A Swiss lawyer close to the case claims that a preliminary ruling has rejected the open source group's request to overturn the Microsoft contract however the case is still ongoing and there is still room for appeal. 'The Administrative Court hasn't made its final ruling yet but even if it finds in favor of Microsoft, there is still room for appeal. No matter what the ruling will be, an appeal will likely be filed to the Supreme Court, whose final word will have substantial significance in the future for public authorities with regards to computing services,' said Swiss legal firm BCCC AVOCATS. Open source supporters argue there has to be real political will for open source projects to succeed in the public sector."

Comments

This isn't that outrageous

[Brian Gordon]

If they look at the options and decide they still want Windows then let them buy Windows. The Windows platform does has a lot of advantages like a huge software library (especially well supported by commercial software), existing user familiarity, and the Office suite. If Red Hat isn't a good fit for their needs then where's the problem?

Talk about bad losers!

[filesiteguy]

I'm an OSS advocate. I use Ubuntu and openSUSE at home. My kids run Ubuntu.

However, if a decision was made to go with lesser closed-source software, than so be it. Move on.

Stunts such as this - bringing a lawsuit against the government - can only serve to harm the OSS movement.

Re:Talk about bad losers!

[140Mandak262Jamuna]

I'm an OSS advocate. I use Ubuntu and openSUSE at home. My kids run Ubuntu.

Really? You think you are an advocate?. More like user. If a large market segment decides to award a contact without even looking at OSS and you think it is fair, you are not much of an advocate. If a private company does that, we can leave it to the market to correct it. But the government is often the only provider of some services and all its vendors to be tied to a proprietary system where the vendor has to pay (Microsoft) to play is very very unfair. Further, being government, it is much less susceptible to market forces, with its ability to tax the population and pay the fees.

Ability to avail services of the government and to be a vendor to it without having to pay some third party fees is one of the fundamental rights of the people. How would you react if the government posts all the contract details in some private club with access restricted only to the members? Do you think it is fair?

Re:Talk about bad losers!

[techno-vampire]

"I'm an OSS advocate and I practice what I preach. However, I'm not a fanatic or a bigot. If Windows is best for the job, then use it."

At least, that's how I read it. Of course, it's also my own position. I use Linux and I try to get other people to try it. If they're happy with Windows, or they try Linux and it doesn't suit them, that's OK with me. After all, it's their computer, not mine.

Re:They Did Not 'Look At The Options'

[Brian Gordon]

Yes I did. They decided that there would be no point to accepting bids because Microsoft was the only vendor who had a product that could meet their needs. They did look at the options, and they decided that Microsoft had no competitors who could meet their criteria.

Keep in mind that others do have different views than us and can make an informed decision without coming to the same conclusions...

Re:They Did Not 'Look At The Options'

[s73v3r]

If they didn't open it up to a public bidding process, then they have no idea what possible solutions were out there that could fit their needs.

Re:They Did Not 'Look At The Options'

[rastilin]

If they didn't open it up to a public bidding process, then they have no idea what possible solutions were out there that could fit their needs.

You're assuming the Government's IT department is completely ignorant of the world outside their doors; is it seriously plausible that they wouldn't know their options?"

Re:They Did Not 'Look At The Options'

[dhavleak]

Well, it's not like the OSS guys are talking about options here.

Quote from TFA: "Open source supporters argue there has to be real political will for open source projects to succeed in the public sector."

That's political wrangling. Build a better product and the rest will follow. "Political will" is well, politics.

Re:Why Not the Direct Route?

[amorsen]

Because the lower court does a lot of work which the higher court just has to review. You don't start over from scratch.