Open Sauce Software
Tasty titbits from people using Linux and other open source software in business.
Tuesday 23 October 2007, 6:06 PM
Is our government subsidising Microsoft?
Becta's dealings with Microsoft got a slating on this site on Friday - but is it possible that our Government is illegally subsidising Microsoft?
Becta put out a release on Friday to say it had taken
Microsoft to the Office of Fair Trading. This sounded like a positive step for the open source community which has been campaigning for a long while to get Becta to stop pandering to Microsoft.
It rapidly became clear that referring Microsoft to the OFT is just a negotiating tactic. And the timing of the release might just have been designed to save it from a mauling at the OSA (Open Schools Alliance) conference.
In fact, Becta is beavering away trying to get a better rate on Microsoft's licence fees to schools, not looking at the alternatives. Its party line is that it shouldn't push one technology over another, but that, say the critics, just supports the status quo.
By spending so much time on negotiations with Microsoft, and working with suppliers who only deal with Microsoft, Becta is, effectively subsidising Microsoft's marketing.
And that's where Becta might find it comes unstuck. The European Union has a whole legal framework to deal with Illegal subsidies, originally created to stop European nations supporting their own national industries against competition within Europe.
It would be deeply ironic if the UK were taken to task for subsidising a foreign competitor - especially one that is already dominant in the market.
Becta put out a release on Friday to say it had taken
Microsoft to the Office of Fair Trading. This sounded like a positive step for the open source community which has been campaigning for a long while to get Becta to stop pandering to Microsoft.
It rapidly became clear that referring Microsoft to the OFT is just a negotiating tactic. And the timing of the release might just have been designed to save it from a mauling at the OSA (Open Schools Alliance) conference.
In fact, Becta is beavering away trying to get a better rate on Microsoft's licence fees to schools, not looking at the alternatives. Its party line is that it shouldn't push one technology over another, but that, say the critics, just supports the status quo.
By spending so much time on negotiations with Microsoft, and working with suppliers who only deal with Microsoft, Becta is, effectively subsidising Microsoft's marketing.
And that's where Becta might find it comes unstuck. The European Union has a whole legal framework to deal with Illegal subsidies, originally created to stop European nations supporting their own national industries against competition within Europe.
It would be deeply ironic if the UK were taken to task for subsidising a foreign competitor - especially one that is already dominant in the market.
PreviousComments on this post
I wholeheartedly agree with this. In fact I can see a day when Microsoft bankrupts the whole of the UK government. Imagine if every government vehicle from fire engines to tanks to milk floats was made by Ford.
When is someone going to bite the bullet in mainstream media and really ask the awkward questions?
