Bonum Certa Men Certa

Bulgaria May Have to Move to Free(dom) Software

Coat of arms of Bulgaria



Summary: The Bulgarian government cannot pay Microsoft, which leaves only one choice

SOME days ago we saw the Latvian Government speaking about a move to Free software as means of cutting costs. Bulgaria may be on a similar boat right now because reportedly it cannot pay Microsoft anymore.

The latest charge involves BGN 20 M which the new government must find to pay Microsoft for the replacement of the old Windows system in offices of the State administration. The contact with Microsoft has been signed by the former cabinet, but according to the PM, they “forgot” to slate money for the deal in the State budget.


The references below [1-7] (reverse chronological) ought to add context. Free software is already growing rapidly in this country [1], the government's use of Free software is said to be "inevitable" [3], the deal with Microsoft is under fire [2], the president is open to change [7], and moves are already being taken towards it [4-6]. There is at least one Bulgarian GNU/Linux distribution which is notable. _______ [1] Mozilla Firefox Catches up with Internet Explorer in Bulgaria

According to the Novinite website , In terms of market share, Mozilla Firefox is a lot more popular in Bulgaria than it is globally, and appears to be catching with Internet Explorer.


[2] Prosecutors launch inquest into Government deal with Microsoft

Bulgarian prosecutors have launched a probe into the contract Bulgaria has signed with US software giant Microsoft for the acquisition of software for the needs of the state administration, Dnevnik daily reported on July 1.

The investigation will seek to determine whether any state administration employee has committed any malfeasance, which carries a maximum prison sentence of five years, Sofia city prosecution spokesperson Steliana Kozhouharova told the daily.


[3] BG: 'Government's increasing use of Open Source inevitable'

The Bulgarian government will turn more and more to Open Source software, predicts Krasimir Panayotov, coordinator of the GNU/Linux User Group in the city of Rousse, the country's fifth-largest city.


[4] BG: Bulgaria to review its IT strategy, considers Open Source

The Bulgarian government organised a meeting with Open Source companies and developers on 21 March in Sofia. Nikolay Vassilev, the minister for State Administration, told the representatives of software companies, IT services companies and Open Source developers that the government is about to review the state's IT system and that it wants to get a better understanding of Open Source software. The minister admitted he had once worked with Apple Macintosh, but had in the last thirteen years only experienced Microsoft applications. He told the Open Source advocates he would listen to their views on IT: "We have an open mind and will accept reasonable propositions."


[5] Bulgaria's open administration

In France, government agency ATICA has supported the use of open software in the French public sector. In a special report to the French prime minister, the agency provided an action plan and the requirements for open standards. One of the six priorities was the use of open software in the public administration. Denmark installed StarOffice in its education system, and in addition the program was installed in the homes of students. In Spain, the senate, the council for nuclear security, the interior ministry and the justice ministry have used server applications with open code. These examples, however, are only about separate public structures.


[6] Sofia, Bulgaria: FLOSSWorld Workshop on Free and Open Source Software Policy

Professor Ivan Evgueniev at the Technical University of Sofia presented the FP6 Open Trusted Computing project, professor Vencislav Trifonov also at the Technical University of Sofia presented their e-learning system, Mircho Mirev elaborated the activities of the Bulgarian free and open source software community through the Linux for Bulgarians portal with over 5.000 hits per day.


[7] President praises Open Source conference in Sofia

Topics include a presentation on how to configure a thin client infrastructure using the Linux Terminal Server Project, an outline on FreeBSD and its new network and transport protocols and a discussion on the uses of the Cluster File system.


Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Parties and Milestones Again
we've begun putting up about 40 balloons
Microsoft is Disloyal Towards Its Most Loyal Employees
Against its most faithful enablers
Following the Line of Cocaine All the Way to the Top
Even a million denials and spin-doctoring won't distract from the core issue
Thankfully We've Made Copies of More Interesting Data From statCounter
If statCounter (the Web site or the 'webapp') vanished overnight, we'd still have something left of it
More Silent Layoffs at IBM/Red Hat
when the media counts such layoffs or presents tallies the numbers are very incomplete
 
Google News Drowning in Slop (and Slopfarms That Hijack About Half the Results)
Google News seems to be drowning in this stuff
Gemini Links 28/10/2025: "How to Maximize Your Positive Impact" and ASCII Art and Artist Attribution
Links for the day
PETA and Activism
Being staff or volunteer in PETA isn't easy
Big Blue, Huge Debt
debt will soar again
Links 27/10/2025: Mass Surveillance Sold as "AI", People Reluctant to Lose Physical Media
Links for the day
Techrights' 19th Anniversary: Bronze
Time to go back to preparing for this anniversary
Our Latest European Patent Office (EPO) Series Will Last Several Weeks, Will Ask the EPO Management and the European Union (EU) Very Difficult Questions
If nobody loses a job (or jobs) over this, then the EU basically became no better than Colombia or Nicaragua
Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, UbuntuPIT, Brian Fagioli, and Google News
We focus on stories that are fake or LLM slop that disguises itself as "news" about Linux
Links 27/10/2025: Wikipedia Vandalism, Bruce Perens Opens up on Childhood
Links for the day
This Site Could Not be Done by LLMs Even If It Wanted to (Because It's Not a Parrot of What Other Sites Say)
LLMs have no knowledge or deep understanding
19 Years, No Censorship
No factual information is ever going to be removed, more so if it is in the public interest
We Are Not a Conventional Site, That's Why They Hate (or Love) Us
Throughout the week this week we'll be focusing on the EPO
The Cocaine Patent Office - Part I: António Campinos Brought Corruption and Nepotism to the EPO, Then Came the Cocaine
High-level manager at the European Patent Office (EPO) caught in public with cocaine, the Office has some answering to do
Purchasing/Possessing Computers Isn't the Same as Controlling Computers
Let's strive to put computers back under the control of their users, no matter who purchased these (usually the users)
Gemini Links 27/10/2025: Alhena 5.4.3 and Fixing Bash
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, October 26, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, October 26, 2025
Links 26/10/2025: Microsoft Spies on Gamers, Open Transport Community Conference
Links for the day
Links 26/10/2025: LLM Slop / Plagiarism Programs Continue to Disappoint, CISA Layoffs Threaten Systems
Links for the day
Gemini Links 26/10/2025: Gemsync and Joining the Small Web
Links for the day
India.com a Click-baiting, SEO-Spamming, Slopfarming Heap
They do this almost every day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, October 25, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, October 25, 2025
Without XBox Consoles, XBox is No More, It's Just a Brand (More Rumours of Microsoft Ending XBox, Then Laying Off Lots of Staff)
All signs indicate that Microsoft wants to "exit" the XBox business (not brand), but it does not want to publicly admit this as it would alarm staff and shareholders