[Linux-aus] And on the other hand...

[Leon Brooks <leon@cyberknights.com.au>]

http://news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,6788724%255E15306,00.html

    THE Australian Democrats are trying to embarrass governments
    into supporting legislation mandating open source software,
    by asking questions in parliament about how much departments
    spend on Microsoft products.

    And Democrats in NSW, the ACT and federal parliament are
    drafting open source preference legislation along the lines
    of upper house member Ian Gilfillan's Bill in South Australia,
    as part of a campaign to lift the profile of the software. 

    SA Democrat upper house member Mr Gilfillan has led the way
    with his private member's Bill. 

    NSW Democrats MLC Arthur Chesterfield-Evans has questions on
    notice with all state ministers requiring them to reveal
    their departments' expenditure on Microsoft products, and is
    planning to introduce his own private member's Bill. 

    "Bill Gates is the richest man in the world and we're making
    a hefty contribution," he said.

    "What the country doesn't need is to be tied into a
    profit-maximising licensing system, and the way to combat
    that is to get government to break out of the paradigm." 

    Dr Chesterfield-Evans said his legislation - modelled on that
    of Mr Gilfillan - would encourage competition. 

    "I've linked it to the idea of open market competition," he
    said. "Under the National Competition Policy, governments
    should follow procedures that allow competition.

...and so on...

Cheers; Leon

-- 
http://cyberknights.com.au/     Modern tools; traditional dedication
http://plug.linux.org.au/       Committee Member, Perth Linux User Group
http://slpwa.asn.au/            Committee Member, Linux Professionals WA
http://linux.org.au/            Committee Member, Linux Australia