11.23.10
April (or Others) Should Sue the French Government for Illegal IT Procurement Favouring Microsoft
Summary: April, which promotes software freedom in France, can take its awareness campaign further and arrange a lawsuit to end Microsoft corruption of the system
Free software gains popularity and proprietary software comes under fire in Italy and in France where members of the government adopt GNU/Linux (on their desktops/laptops). April has just made this statement in French and OSOR helps in demystifying it:
FR: Advocacy groups camparing against discriminatory IT procurements
French public administrations will be educated on how to properly procure IT solutions. April, c, and the National Council of Free Software (CNLL), a group representing French providers of free and open source software services, last Thursday announced a campaign to raise awareness on illegal IT procurement.
April should consider suing, especially after the OOXML fiasco in France (we covered it in 2008). A similar action proved fruitful in Quebec where there was a lawsuit Microsoft lost [1, 2, 3]. In Switzerland too there was a lawsuit which we covered in:
- Microsoft Sued Over Its Corruption in Switzerland, Microsoft Debt Revisited
- Can the United Kingdom and Hungary Still be Sued for Excluding Free Software?
- 3 New Counts of Antitrust Violation by Microsoft?
- Is Microsoft Breaking the Law in Switzerland Too?
- Microsoft Uses Lobbyists to Attack Holland’s Migration to Free Software and Sort of Bribes South African Teachers Who Use Windows
- ZDNet/eWeek Ruins Peter Judge’s Good Article by Attacking Red Hat When Microsoft Does the Crime
- Week of Microsoft Government Affairs: a Look Back, a Look Ahead
- Lawsuit Against Microsoft/Switzerland Succeeds So Far, More Countries/Companies Should Follow Suit
- Latest Reports on Microsoft Bulk Deals Being Blocked in Switzerland, New Zealand
- Swiss Government and Federal Computer Weekly: Why the Hostility Towards Free Software?
- Switzerland and the UK Under Fire for Perpetual Microsoft Engagements
- Lawsuit Over Alleged Microsoft Corruption in Switzerland Escalates to Federal Court
- When Microsoft-Only/Lock-in is Defined as “Technology”
This case is still going on. It is not impossible to sue one’s government for discriminatory procurements and actually win the case. The government exists to serve the people, not Microsoft. █
