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Swiss Open Source Decision Going Microsoft's Way

Posted by timothy on from the or-else-we-bank-secretly-elsewhere dept.

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."

6 of 105 comments (clear)

  1. Talk about bad losers! by filesiteguy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

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    The Kai's Semi-Updated Website Thingy
    1. Re:Talk about bad losers! by robot_love · · Score: 4, Informative

      No public tendering process was made. The contract was handed straight to Microsoft. Therefore your comment is irrelevant.

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      .there is enough of everything for everyone.
    2. Re:Talk about bad losers! by techno-vampire · · Score: 4, Insightful
      "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.

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      Good, inexpensive web hosting
  2. They Did Not 'Look At The Options' by MediaStreams · · Score: 4, Informative

    Did you bother to read the actual articles? The issue is the fact that a single vendor was handed a contract without competing bids.

    So, no, they didn't 'look at the options'.

    1. Re:They Did Not 'Look At The Options' by rastilin · · Score: 4, Insightful

      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?"

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  3. Re:Wait, So The Slashdot Strategy Isn't Working? by Toonol · · Score: 4, Funny

    My plans are evidently working; I've already gotten to "everybody ignores me" stage. Two more steps to world domination!!!!