Massachusetts v. Microsoft

[kentborg at borg.org (Kent Borg)]

On Fri, Sep 26, 2003 at 02:13:17PM -0400, Dan Barrett wrote:
> On Friday 26 September 2003 12:59, Rich Braun wrote:
> > Anyone catch this in today's Boston Globe?
> > 
> > State to move to open-standard systems
> 
> Could you send a link to the article?  I can't readily find it.

I couldn't find it on the Globe web site either, but Google's news
search came up with a hit in Miami:
<http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/business/6868096.htm>.

Lemme stretch fair use and paste it in:


Posted on Fri, Sep. 26, 2003
Mass. Wants to Use Linux-Type Systems
JUSTIN POPE
Associated Press

BOSTON - Massachusetts, the lone holdout state still suing Microsoft
Corp. for antitrust violations, will become the first state to adopt a
broad-based strategy of moving its computer systems toward open
standards, including Linux, the rival operating system to Microsoft's
Windows.

State Administration and Finance Secretary Eric Kriss said Thursday
that the decision, adopted at a meeting of state information officers,
was made on "technical grounds" and had nothing to do with Attorney
General Thomas Reilly's pursuit of Microsoft.

In the technology industry, the term "open standards" refers to
nonproprietary software. Microsoft's software is considered "closed"
because application developers and other programmers don't have free
access to the blueprints.

Kriss said the state's decision was driven by a desire to reduce
licensing fees but also "by a philosophy that what the state has is a
public good and should be open to all," Kriss told The Associated
Press. He characterized the decision as the "most visible concrete
action by a state government" to move toward open standards.

A Microsoft spokesman had no immediate comment.

Microsoft is facing increasing challenges from Linux, which has been
developed over the past decade by a global community of programmers
who share their work on the condition that it be redistributed
freely. It has become appealing to cost-conscious companies looking
for an inexpensive means to run their servers.

Government agencies from Germany to France to Peru have adopted or are
considering Linux-based software as a cheaper alternative to Microsoft
products.