Re: Open source and government

[zentara]

I'm not directly involved, but I keep myself aware and "read between the lines" when it comes to Microsoft and government. (I say Microsoft, because for all intents and purposes, it's OpenSource vs. Microsoft).

First there are 3 big factors which everybody likes to avoid talking about, but are the driving force behind this.

1. Microsoft has alot of money for lobbyists.

2. Many pension funds are heavily dependent on Microsoft stock, so it's "pyramid stock scheme" needs to be kept propped up.

3. Microsoft makes it very easy to spy on workers.

Put all those together, and you will not see OpenSource push Microsoft out, except in "MissionCritical" situations were the project managers refuse to use Microsoft, because of the crap it really is.

Now if you go overseas, where the countries don't care if US pension funds tank, where they are leary of Microsoft backdoors spying on their systems, and the lobby money dosn't reach, etc. you will find OpenSource is becoming the first choice. There have been quite a number of newstories lately, where a country has decided to go with OpenSource and Microsoft was forced to go in and basically give itself away, to stem the tide. (Possibly nudged by US agencies who desparately want to spread their backdoor-capabilities overseas.)

Now that is the reality, yet you will hardly ever hear those issues discussed in the press.....all you hear is the crapola about "Microsoft makes people more productive".... the US is a nation of sheep, and it won't be long before the hordes of poor (yet intelligent) hackers in third world countries, running OpenSource, will start to dominate the programming world.