EC rebuffs Microsoft over open-source report – ZDNet UK“The European Commission has resisted efforts by Microsoft to make it abandon its report into open-source software, it was revealed this week. But the Commission was swayed into allowing a 10-day period for feedback before completing the report.”
“Harnessing the opportunity to provide feedback, Microsoft produced 20 pages of arguments as to why the report — which quantified the benefits of open source to European organisations — should be shelved. The software giant also commissioned a respected university academic to back its case and enlisted the help of a trade association, CompTIA. The academic produced 44 pages of evidence supporting Microsofts case, while CompTIA wrote a five-page submission.”
A direct link to the 287-page, 1.7Mb PDF report here. A tip of the fedora to Harish Pillay for blogging this.
It is reprehensible that the CompTIA-backed mis-named “Initiative for Software Choice” can be opposed to a discussion about choice. (CompTIA, in turn, is partially Microsoft-funded.) Both FOSS and proprietary software may have a place in the market, but it is the free market’s job to determine that. Who asked us to “Get The Facts?” The study, clearly marked as “not the opinion of the EU” offers information worthy of study. We have been living in a world of 90% proprietary and 10% free software; I suspect those proportions may invert soon, and a new balance be achieved. This is progress.
Sad news from the organizers of the spring and fall Hosstraders ham radio festival: they have chosen to end the event.