Open Source vendors band together against Microsoft. Network World's Google Subnet reports that Google is one of more than 50 companies that have banded together to pressure the U.S. government to buy more open source software. The coalition calls itself Open Source for America and its motives are seen as specifically targeting government no-bid renewals of Microsoft products. For years, Microsoft had no significant competitors in the desktop operating system and Office markets (after it wiped out '80s icon products like WordPerfect and Lotus 123). The bummer of being a monopoly is that the government wants to micro-manage you. The upside is that the government was allowed to renew contracts without sending them out to bid. But open source companies ... with Red Hat as their cheerleader... say no more. Microsoft may still be a monopoly because of the market share it controls, but that doesn't mean competitors don't exist and should be excluded from getting a piece of the billions that governments spend on software.
展开▼
