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Re: [LUG] Government IT Procurement Suggestion

 

El sÃb, 12-06-2010 a las 21:03 +0100, tom escribiÃ:
> [...]
> However, if the average savings in licensing costs of the competitors
> could be calculated and then transferred for initial implementation,
> training etc ... could this be considered to be anti-competitive ?

The proprietary lobby is trying to sell the idea of "OSS is
anti-competitive if used by government" in Spain (I'm Spanish), but it's
too late for them in a lot of regions. Anyway they try from time to
time, and I guess they use "the right incentives" to convince
politicians (âââ).

The last case I can remember was when the central government promised to
provide netbooks for the schools, and they said that they'll set up
dual-boot to "give equal opportunities" (not the exact words, I'm
translating, sorry).

After that, there was a press release with the central government
responsible for education with a Microsoft Iberica representative
signing a deal to put Windows in the machines for... 8â each!!!! (the
idea of a drug dealer giving the first dose for free comes to mind
here).

Fortunately the education competences are already transferred to the
autonomic regions, and most of them already are 'open source
friendly' (we have a Linux distro for every region of Spain, sic).

In fact the Italian Constitutional Count ruled that the preference for
Free Software is legitimate and complies with the principle of freedom
of competition.

"In short, according to the Court, favouring Free Software does not
infringe freedom of competition, since software freedom is a general
legal feature, and not a technological aspect connected to a specific
product or brand."

Source:
http://softwarelibero.it/Corte_Costituzionale_favorisce_softwarelibero_en

Cheers,

Juanjo

-- 
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