Edgar Villanueva, a legislator from Peru, has put a proposal for Peru government agencies to standardize on Free Software for their own internal use.
This proposal worries Microsoft!
Some government bodies around the world, e.g. in California and Peru, have adopted an aggressive attitude towards restricting the use of proprietary(read Microsoft) software and favouring open source.
Open source appeals to government bodies because of its high functionality, very low cost and easy compliance with licensing laws.
Of course, Microsoft will try to persuade governments to avoid open source software. They realize that , when governments choose Microsoft as their foundation they are likely to select the whole suite of products to go with it rather than fight incompatibilities.
In July 2002 the UK Government also announced a new policy on the use of open source software which favors a pragmatic approach.
Back to the Peru case: Villanuevas point is that: Everybody has to deal with the government. If a government uses Microsoft software, its citizens will probably have to use the same software to communicate with it. A government web site that only supports Microsoft Internet Explorer would lock citizens into that Microsoft product. In contrast, government sites using open standards and avoiding patented software would allow citizens to choose between many different kinds of software to access the site.
Free Software, also called Open Source, is itself a kind of open standard - its source code is its own reference. Developers of proprietary software can use that reference to create interoperating programs, without infringing on the actual Open Source code. Thus, when a government uses Open Source, it assures its citizens a choice to purchase both proprietary and Open Source software for communicating with their government. The people's choice will be based on factors like functionality, quality, and convenience, rather than on customer lock-in.
Read more about this interesting happening at www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/26616.html
Also see: www.SincereChoice.com
Ram