[Am-info] Israel Stops Buying Microsoft Softwar

[Gene Gaines]

See story below.  Also, I hear a major battle is being fought
in Britain between Microsoft and departments of the government.

Gene Gaines
gene.gaines@gainesgroup.com
Sterling, Virginia

(From Computer Reseller News)
http://www.crn.com/sections/BreakingNews/breakingnews.asp?ArticleID=46931

Israel Stops Buying Microsoft Software
By Peter Enav, AP

3:48 PM EST Tues., Dec. 30, 2003

In an apparent showdown over price, Israel's government has
suspended purchases of Microsoft productivity software and is
encouraging the development of an open source alternative.

A spokeswoman for the Finance Ministry, which oversees government
purchases, said Tuesday that government agencies would use
existing Microsoft Office products for the time being rather than
upgrade to newer versions.

The Israeli government also will encourage the development of
lower-priced alternatives to Microsoft software in an effort to
help expand computer use by the public.

To that end, the Finance Ministry has cooperated with Sun
Microsystems and IBM in designing the Hebrew language version of
OpenOffice software, a freely distributed open-source alternative
to Microsoft Office.

"The move with Microsoft was a purely economic decision," said the
Finance Ministry spokeswoman, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"The Israeli government will not be purchasing new products from
Microsoft, but will implement its contract to secure existing
systems."

"On a policy level, the government is committed to expanding
computer use. We want open source technology to spread, so more
people will be able to afford computers," she said.

...

The Israeli move comes amid growing public sector interest in open
source, or non-proprietary, software led by the Linux operating
system.

Some federal agencies in France, China and Germany, as well as the
city government of Munich, have opted to use Linux not just on
servers but also on individual workstations. Entire national
governments, including those in Britain, Brazil, Japan, South
Korea (news - web sites), China and Russia, are exploring open
source alternatives to Microsoft.

Governments are a huge software market, accounting for about 10
percent of global information technology spending, according to
research firm IDC.

Federal, state and local governments in the United States spent
$34 billion last year on huge systems to track everything from tax
collection to fishing licenses.

(Excerpt of AP news item on CRN)