The Register: Dutch Govt Ends Exclusive MS Upgrade Talks

"The Dutch government has abandoned its negotiations with Microsoft over an ambitious plan to upgrade more than 260,000 workstations and servers.

"Despite a unanimous vote by the Dutch parliament in 2002 to adopt open standards and open source software, Microsoft recently opened exclusive negotiations with the Dutch government regarding a major software upgrade. After Dutch IT weekly newspaper Automatisering Gids leaked details about the €157m ($210m) deal, Dutch MPs demanded an explanation as to why there hadn't been a mandatory public bid.

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• ZDNet UK: Linspire Boss Urges Dutch Government to Go Open Source(Dec 15, 2004)
• SearchEnterpriseLinux: Impending Microsoft Deal is No Dutch Treat, Says Expert(Dec 15, 2004)
• The Register: Dutch govt Microsoft desktop deal riles MPs(Dec 08, 2004)