Thursday, August 28, 2008

Quebec Government Sued for Ignoring Open Source

The CBC reported today that an organization called FACiL is sueing the Quebec provincial government because it buys Microsoft software. The government purchases proprietary software using a loophole that allows it's procurement when there are no alternatives. For their part, FACiL argues that the loophole is being exploited so the government doesn't have to evaluate open source contenders.

If it wins, this will be an interesting precedent in Canada. The Netherlands and France already have regulations that favour open source in the government.

1 comment:

  1. This is brutal - As if gov'ts didn't have enough hoops to jump through to buy software. Now they have to prove that they searched SourceForge too?

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