Summary: One of the biggest proprietary failures ends up turning to Free software; Korea has lesson to teach the UK

AFTER repeated failures [1, 2], the London Stock Exchange (LSE) -- being the black sheep that does not use UNIX/Linux for trading -- is dumping Microsoft/.NET, according to this report.

Last month, the LSE announced it will acquire Sri Lankan trading firm Millennium IT for €£18 million, replacing its Accenture built, Microsoft .Net-based TradElect platform. The new platform is understood to be based on Linux.

What we were unable to determine last month was the underlying framework of Turquoise, which is now said to be bought by the LSE.

The London Stock Exchange is in exclusive talks to buy Project Turquoise, the rival trading platform set up by nine banks in order to push down transaction fees.

One of our British readers, who was unfamiliar with Turquoise and its use of GNU/Linux, asked us: "What technology does this rival platform run on and when will Microsoft be reported to the monopolies commission?"

The other day we wrote about potentially-illegal deals that Microsoft signs in the United Kingdom's public sector. They turn the nation into a monoculture filled with vendor lock-in, so Glyn Moody, who is based around London, currently uses Korea for a cautionary note:

Korea Cottons on to the Microsoft Monoculture

[...]

That is, by instituting a monoculture, and becoming completely dependent not just on one manufacturer, but on one particular - and very unsatisfactory - technology used by that manufacturer, the Koreans find themselves trapped, left behind even by Microsoft, which wants to move on.

There could be no better demonstration of why mandating one proprietary technology in this way, rather than choosing an open standard with multiple implementations with the scope for future development, is folly.

Here is the post cited by Moody:

The article goes on to cover a lot of the issues affecting web users in Korea and how many valiant efforts have gone into trying to affect change, most significantly the 3 lawsuits that Dr. Keechang Kim has brought against various Korean policy-making bodies, without success.

Microsoft already has antitrust convictions in Korea -- two of them so far this year [1, 2]. ⬆