Triplesourced

Although the European commission might be proud of its record of hitting Microsoft with fines that dig deep into Redmond's seemingly bottomless coffers, the fact is that for many European countries, Microsoft is still the first and sometimes only choice when it comes to government tenders.

http://press.redhat.com/2009/05/21/red-hat-challenges-microsoft-lock-in-and-seeks-open-competition-in-switzerland/

As last week's Switzerland example showed, some government's operate on the basis that IT is basically another word for Microsoft. That means tenders that specifically call for Microsoft products as if no other alternatives exist.

Hungary - where I am currently based - only a month ago agreed to put open source options on the tender list for government tech projects. Previously, government tenders would simply state, "Microsoft or equivalent products". Microsoft has splashed its cash around the country both in terms of marketing and lobbying that it has much of the public sector sown-up, as open source guru Richard Stallman remarked on a recent visit to Budapest.

And let's not forget that the UK only just agreed to "level the playing field for open source" software - basically admitting that up till now the game has been firmly rigged against non-proprietary software.

That said - that doesn't meant that all UK government projects are considering open source all of a sudden. The head of IT for the Olympics told me at a recent green IT conference that he had more or less ruled out open source because it was "high risk" in terms of issues such as application compatibility.

http://www.eweekeurope.co.uk/news/london-olympics-says-no-to-open-source-821

Yep - it seems that while the Olympics might carry lofty ideals of international cooperation and openness - that doesn't actually carry to the software running the event.

And it's not like the Olympics has money to burn - the event is way over budget already by billions of pounds - you'd think that the organising committee would be looking for the most cost-effective options available. Time's are tough it seems but not tough enough for some.

The genesis of netbooks can be seen in machines such as the One Laptop per Child XO device, and its rival the Intel Classmate - both originally targeted at the developing world.

However, design doesn't always translate to execution - so a year or so ago ZDNet.co.uk teamed up IT charity Computer Aid to test a range of low-power PCs including the OLPC, Classmate as well as more mainstream netbooks such as the Asus Eee to see whether they could really stand up to the riggers of day to day life in African schools.

Computer Aid - which sends refurbished PCs to developing countries - wanted to find out whether netbooks and other low-power options such as thin clients would be a better solution for the patchy and relatively expensive electricity provision in Africa than a standard PC.

The full report of the charity's findings - compiled from initial trials in ZDNet UK's labs as well as testing at three African Universities - are now live on Computer Aid's site:

http://www.computeraid.org/

You can also find the initial ZDNet UK tests here:

http://reviews.zdnet.co.uk/hardware/0,1000000323,39363065,00.htm

I like to work with BBC World News on in the background over here in Budapest. Working on your own is fine but you get used to noises of a busy(ish) editorial office so its nice to have some buzz and chatter on in the background - which is exactly what the BBC excels at.

The downside is that the Beeb - although not as bad as CNN for this - tends to loop the same reports over and over again.

The latest one that keeps grabbing my attention is a report on UN technical staff being trained to cope with the dangers of working in war zones and disaster areas. You can see the report here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8000947.stm

However, aside from the paratroopers and automatic weapons, what really caught my attention about the report is that I actually covered the story for ZDNet.co.uk last year. TV normally gets the pick of these kind of stories so its nice to know we got their first on this one!

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/communications/0,1000000085,39426601,00.htm

Second time is lucky too it seems. Hungarian ex-Microsoft Billionaire Charles Simonyi has landed safely after his second space-tourist mission.

I am living in Budapest for a while and so taking an interest in anything Hungarian in the news these days. Most of it is economic doom and gloom - the country recently lost its Prime Minister - but Simonyi's space flight, and the fact he is rolling in cash, is a welcome positive story.

Charles Simonyi is one of the lead creators of Microsoft Office. Wikipedia has all the skinny. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Simonyi

Temporarily based in Hungary as I am - been here in Budapest for a couple of months - anything Hungarian in the news gets my attention.

Right now its mostly how the Hungarian economy is in meltdown - the PM quit on Saturday - but every now and again there is a bit of good news. A lot of that happens when I find another famous person who turns out to be Hungarian.

There are loads of them from obvious ones such as George Soros to Tony Curtis and Jerry Seinfeld.

But the most newsworthy at the moment is Charles Simonyi who has just blasted into space for the second time on a Russian Soyuz space mission - with a bit of help from the US. While a lot of Hungarians might be justifiable proud of Simonyi - swathes of the open source community might not be as well disposed to the creator of Microsoft Office. Wikipedia has all the skinny.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Simonyi

Interestingly from an open source perspective - I saw free software campaigner and GNU Founder Richard Stallman speak in Budapest recently. Stallman was on fine form as usual criticising everything from EU adoption of open source to the links between green and free software - but he missed the chance to berate the Hungarians for Simonyi's Office development. But then again Simonyi did all his work in the US so guess Hungarians can just take the credit for the good stuff ;-)

You can read the Stallman interview here: http://www.eweekeurope.co.uk/interview/richard-stallman--free-software-costs-the-environment-less-404