“States facing budget shortfalls are poring over government
management and purchasing practices in search of any sort of
savings. At the same time, a worldwide movement for ‘free and open
software’ falsely promises something for nothing plus the ability
to modify code and share changes among users.“State legislators attracted to the free software flame are
likely to get burned if preference legislation opens a dangerous
back door to purchasing safeguards and ends up costing more than
commercial software alternatives…”
[Editor’s Note: Just for perspective, according to the
article’s bio, “Steve DelBianco represents the Association for
Competitive Technology [ACT] and the NetChoice Coalition.” ACT is a
lobbying organization with members that include many proprietary
software companies, including Microsoft.]