[Am-info] Microsoft muscle and children's education

[Roy Bixler]

On Fri, May 02, 2003 at 10:38:13AM -0700, Mitch Stone wrote:
> Innocent question here: Why do the Oregon school districts require  
> legislative permission to use open source software, or any type of  
> software, for that matter? Or do they? It looks to me like one district  
> already made the decision to go open source entirely on its own.

That's a good question.  I don't see anything that would prevent them
from deploying FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) now and, as I
understand it, some of them have done just that due to earlier licence
audit threats the BSA has made to them.  Ironically, the lobbyists
like American Electronics Association (of which some Microsoft sales
branch offices are members) argue that, since there is nothing
preventing state agencies from deploying FOSS right now, no law is
necessary.  They are just afraid that, if a law encouraging FOSS is
passed, it would set a precedent and increase momentum for similar
laws that may be even less to their liking.

R.