NewsForge: Affirmative Action for Open Source

“Last month Oregon, with House Bill 2892, and Texas with Senate
Bill 1579, proposed requiring state agencies to consider open
source products when purchasing computer software and to ‘provide
justification whenever a proprietary software product is acquired
rather than open source software.’

“Neither of these proposals attempts to regulate private
companies. They apply only to government agencies, which of course
are funded by citizens’ tax dollars.

“There’s nothing wrong with asking states to consider open
source software as well as proprietary. Every organization ought to
consider all the products that might meet their needs. I’m a little
wary of provisions that force written justification when purchasing
one particular category of software over another. That seems like
unnecessary bureaucratic red tape if we presume that our public
employees are trying to do the best possible job…”

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