THIS WEB site has a unique archive of EDGI exhibits. These are antitrust items that Microsoft paid to hide -- court exhibits which show quite clearly how Microsoft abuses its monopoly power to pretty much bribe its way into deals and detail prospective deals of the competition, notably Free/open source and GNU/Linux. We would like to draw attention to the following couple of links from this week:
In 1944/1945 my father risked his life to liberate The Netherlands from tyranny and now the Ministry of Education has submitted the school system to another tyranny, M$’s lock-in, without a fight. The Netherlands has been very friendly to FLOSS. Why this turnabout? Has EDGI been at work?
Dutch education authorities have decided to throw out their government’s open standards policy and instead lock in to Microsoft proprietary software for years to come, according to open-source advocates.
Marja Bijsterveldt, the Netherlands’ secretary of education, said that she was unwilling to force open standards on educational institutions, sparking an outcry from open-source advocates who say that Dutch students using free software or devices without Silverlight-support will find themselves locked out of schools' online systems.
The open standards policy was approved by the Dutch Parliament in 2007, but has not been fully implemented. Now, free software advocates are starting a new battle to make the use of open standards mandatory for all publicly funded institutions.
Comments
tinus61
2011-11-11 08:46:12
After the Desktop GNU/Linux pilot of Amsterdam seemed successfully Dutch Microsoft's CEO Theo Rinsema complained that the Open Desktop was "unfair".
I wrote a lot about the so called Open Desktop at Dutch public services. In stead of running Desktop GNU/Linux they migrated to Windows 7 and in stead of Open Standards it's Microsoft Office.
I quit writing about it, because it is too embarrassing!
About 3 months ago a study proved that Free Software would save public services in the Netherlands at least 1 billion Euros A YEAR! Yet the Dutch Minister of National affairs Piet-Hein Donner kept the report secret.
Also the former Minister of Financial Affairs Wouter Bos was clearly bribed by Vole.
One thing is crystal clear Vole has been doing quite some "Politicians Shopping" in the Netherlands lately.
mcinsand
2011-11-10 17:14:57
Seriously, though, when Apple and MS have no genuine innovation or performance advantages, how else can they compete. They have to use whatever means to keep FLOSS below critical mass, at least for as long as they can hold out.
Michael
2011-11-10 18:40:20
Then your external links:
1) A school system selected some tools some guy did not like. So? 2) Another school system selected some tools some guy did not like. So?
I am not saying I agree (or disagree) with the decisions of the school districts, but product selection should be based on merit, not religion. Picking open source software by default makes no more sense than picking MS software or Apple software by default - school districts (and businesses) should use what will serve them best. And, yes, many will make choices you or I disagree with. So?
Unless you can show where these examples include MS getting unfair consideration this is a complete non-story. If, on the other hand, MS did somehow bribe their way in or otherwise break the law (or go against morality / ethics) to be the selected option, that is different. You *imply* that but never support it.
Support it and I am all for jumping on the band wagon to say MS is wrong in this case.