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German Free Software Group asks Gov't Say No to MS

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the stop-the-building dept.

A reader writes "A German free software advocacy group has asked local government officials to halt their agreement with Microsoft to sponsor a new e-commerce center.. The group has made a good arguement, stating that taxpayer dollars are being used to pay for something that can already be obtained for free. The government's current reply is that partnering with Microsoft doesn't preclude involvement from other operating system.

1 of 64 comments (clear)

  1. Doesn't preclude what? by Hrunting · · Score: 4

    The German gov't sure is tip-toeing around this one. They don't seem to understand (or maybe the do understand) the power that Microsoft is going assert over this project. Yes, other organizations can (and should) sponsor the project, but they won't have nearly the same financial power when it comes to buying computers, setting up classes, etc.

    And 'Linux' won't be able to sponsor this, no matter what the government thinks. Linux isn't a corporation.

    You know, given the German response to this (and the other incident mentioned in the article), I'm surprised that such a movement hasn't taken place in the US. Given Microsoft's funding of school computer labs, one might think that similar organizations here (here being the US) would possibly want schools to also look to alternatives. Maybe Apple's a bit more powerful in these situations or perhaps our country just isn't as open to these new ideas as Europe is.

    Hmm.