PRNewswire: Mass. Taxpayers Hurt by Proposed Software
Monopoly
“The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) today
criticized Massachusetts Chief Information Officer Peter Quinn for
his stated intention to move all state and local government
computers to open-source operating systems. The ‘Freeware
Initiative’ will require that all IT expenditures in 2004 and 2005
be made on an open-source/Linux format. Proprietary vendors will be
effectively barred from competing for state contracts, limiting
competition and raising costs.“‘Governor Mitt Romney must put a stop to this boondoggle,’ CAGW
President Tom Schatz said…”
ESR: “Proposed” Software Monopoly?
By Eric Raymond
President, Open Source Inititative
Citizens Against Government Waste should be ashamed of itself.
As a liberty-loving foe of intrusive government, I’m normally
sympathetic to their crusade against bureaucracy and
over-regulation. But today, CAGW made the strongest argument I’ve
ever seen for writing them off as mere shills for corporate
greed.
CAGW’s press release attacking the Massachusetts Freeware
Initiative reads like it was dictated by Microsoft’s PR
department–complete with a fraudalent assertion that open source
is more expensive, and even an attempt to associate open source
with the hideous evils of the Soviet Union and socialism.
CAGW affects to be horrified by what it calls a “Proposed
Software Monopoly.” Which raises this question: where has CAGW been
all these years while Massachusetts taxpayers were being gouged by
an actual monopoly?
Massachusetts CIO Peter Quinn is doing his job, ensuring that
the government and the people of Massachusetts will no longer be
locked into closed formats and closed software and unhealthy
dependence on a monopolist. Open government demands open
source.