EU Official Tells Governments to Go Open Source

by Sam Dean - Jun. 10, 2008Comments (1)

The European Union's top antitrust official has called on governments throughout Europe to use open source software, in what's being interpreted as a jab at Microsoft, the Associated Press is reporting. Choosing technology formats that can be used by different vendors — often without paying a fee — is "a very smart business decision," AP reports European Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said. Is this really part of the EU's tough stance against Microsoft?

The European Union has levied the largest fines in its history against Microsoft for what it perceives as abuse of market dominance. And the EU's stance against Microsoft even caused the company to hire a new legal czar. Slated to start July 1st, former General Electric executive John Vassallo will be Microsoft's vice president of EU affairs as well as associate general counsel.

If Neelie Kroes' recent comments about open source are indeed a jab at Microsoft, the move is indirect. She didn't mention the company while speaking at a conference organized by OpenForum Europe, a nonprofit group that advocates open standards. However, if you take a look at what the AP quotes her as saying, it does appear that she has Microsoft in mind:

"No citizen or company should be forced or encouraged to choose a closed technology over an open one, through a government having made that choice first, We need to be aware of the long-term costs of lock-in: you are often locked-in to subsequent generations of that technology. There can also be spillover effects where you get locked in to other products and services provided by that vendor."

I agree that governments around the world should take a leadership role in adopting open source technology, and it would be good to see them contribute to development efforts as well. We've written before about the United States Navy's decision to pursue open source and open standards. There is no reason why branches of the U.S. government shouldn't lead the open source charge as well.