[ Thanks to RobW
for this link. ]
[Editor’s Note: The Hon. Mike Rann MP is currently Premier
of the South Australian Government. -BKP]
“Mike Rann’s South Australian Government has moved to
demonstrate there is little chance of it mandating open source
software in state departments…“Microsoft lobbyists are labelling such laws as protectionist
and anti-US and the timing of the latest brouhaha comes just before
US and Australian negotiators are due to meet to discuss a free
trade agreement.“A SA politician, Democrat MLC Ian Gilfillan, has flagged the
State Supply (Procurement of Software) Amendment Bill, which calls
on public authorities to use open source software in preference to
proprietary products ‘where practicable.’“But to make sure the upcoming discussions are not disrupted by
claims of protectionism, Rann’s Government wrote to US lobbyist,
the Initiative for Software Choice, to say it did not support
Gilfillan’s Bill…”