IDG.net: Analysis: Microsoft vs. Open Source Gets Political

[ Thanks to Jason
Greenwood for this link. ]

“Microsoft Corp. is facing a growing battle against open-source
software that is edging into politics on a global scale.

“Just last week, the German government announced a deal to
replace parts of its IT system with open-source programs, and
Taiwan officials announced, as part of an effort to curb
Microsoft’s dominance in software, preliminary plans to promote the
development of local Linux software.

“Germany and Taiwan are only the latest countries to take sides
in a software battle in which Microsoft and developers of
commercial, or proprietary programs, are increasingly facing off
with proponents of open-source software…”

Complete
Story

[A related sidebar to this story provides an excellent
synopsis of open source progress in various national national
governments. -ed]

Snapshots From The OS Front

“Nations wading in the Linux waters:

“Finland:

“Homeland of Linux creator Linus Torvalds, Finland has embarked
on a government test of open source software. Twenty-eight
employees from 13 government agencies (out of 100 total) completed
a project in April to test the free Open Office open-source desktop
productivity suite and its commercially available version, called
Star Office, from Sun Microsystems Inc. The project coordinators
determined that it would recommend use of the suite, mainly for
users who do not exchange documents on a regular basis with users
of competing software. It cited compatibility problems, namely
among users trying to receive Microsoft World documents. The
government has also begun hosting seminars for employees to
introduce them to Linux and other open source software. About 13
percent of government servers are running Linux, but the country
has no policies that mandate what software government agencies use,
according to Arja Terho, a counsellor in Finland’s Ministry of
Finance…”

Complete
Story