http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/04/30/ir...nt_open_source/



What's up with those Irish gov. people? First software patents, now this...

Are they like, totally lobbied or what?
I can understand their reasoning for open standards, but WHY the FUD? Are M$ and other big corps using Ireland as a kind of battleground for lobbying now??

I wonder what the the point of view of the Irish 'Open Source' people & Lugs on this is? Anyone Irish care to comment?

Well IMHO I don't think it is bad that a government is open to proprietary as well. The need for everything they use make a decision on the most appropriate choice. I can imagine that some things are just not there yet in open source, or that there might be other reasons why a certain proprietary tool is more approriate in certain circumstances.

So that point I do not care too much about. What I dislike is this:


That seems to be the real FUD to me. Even if the initial development is not following a certain standard, it should be easy to adapt it to do so. And if interoperability is indeed a problem, it seems very clear that someone will.

The Irish government is supposedly now the most corrupt in Europe. So if this decision was "bought" it wouldn't surprise me.

Secondly: Microsoft, is now one of the biggest employers in Ireland along withIntel and Symantec. The only bigger employer is the Irish government itself. Basically the entire Celtic Tiger economy is dependant on these companies.
So while it may seem that the decision is "bent" it may simply be a good pragmatic political decision.


Probably an over simplification -but that's my take on it.