I am not at all hostile to the open source movement as long as it seeks to compete on the merits and not in the halls of government. Politicians are fine people, but I used to be a lobbyist and I will assert that most politicians have zero understanding of software and are the last people we should entrust with the responsibility of handicapping software products.

Making full disclosure of related interests can be substantive, so the requirement of disclosure shouldn’t be a surprise, and goes a long way to explaining the sometimes twisted reasoning in some of the TLF posts.

But I don’t want to comment any more about that, but concentrate on your statement: “it’s no secret that Europe’s software industry is years behind Microsoft,”

I find it interesting that you use a reference to a specific firm, rather than “U.S. software industry” or less precisely “American software industry”, which would also include Red Hat, Novell, Oracle and IBM. Of course, those companies are all free software users and supporters (admittedly to varying extents) This would, of course, undercut the unstated agenda that I believe is part of this post: to frame Nellie Kroes as anti-American, rather than as anti-monopoly, and anti-Microsoft, by equating Microsoft with the U.S. software industry.

In any case you should be explicit about what metrics you use, and since you have chosen Microsoft, I would comment that the quality of the Linux kernel (a multi nation effort, but including many Europeans, including Linus Torvalds) compares very favorably to the quality of the Microsoft Windows operating system.

I am not at all hostile to the open source movement as long as it seeks to compete on the merits and not in the halls of government. Politicians are fine people, but I used to be a lobbyist and I will assert that most politicians have zero understanding of software and are the last people we should entrust with the responsibility of handicapping software products.

Making full disclosure of related interests can be substantive, so the requirement of disclosure shouldn’t be a surprise, and goes a long way to explaining the sometimes twisted reasoning in some of the TLF posts.

But I don’t want to comment any more about that, but concentrate on your statement: “it’s no secret that Europe’s software industry is years behind Microsoft,”

I find it interesting that you use a reference to a specific firm, rather than “U.S. software industry” or less precisely “American software industry”, which would also include Red Hat, Novell, Oracle and IBM. Of course, those companies are all free software users and supporters (admittedly to varying extents) This would, of course, undercut the unstated agenda that I believe is part of this post: to frame Nellie Kroes as anti-American, rather than as anti-monopoly, and anti-Microsoft, by equating Microsoft with the U.S. software industry.

In any case you should be explicit about what metrics you use, and since you have chosen Microsoft, I would comment that the quality of the Linux kernel (a multi nation effort, but including many Europeans, including Linus Torvalds) compares very favorably to the quality of the Microsoft Windows operating system.

If a European politician comes out for fuel-efficient cars, does that mean we get to hear from GM-backed policy groups?

If a European politician comes out for fuel-efficient cars, does that mean we get to hear from GM-backed policy groups?

Greg Shaw, Pacific Northwest director [of the Gates Foundation], explains that the grant to Discovery underwrites the institute’s “Cascadia Project,” which strictly focuses on transportation in the Northwest. The Discovery Web site lists several program goals, including financing of high-speed passenger rail systems and reduction of automobile congestion in the Cascadia region, which encompasses Oregon, Washington and British Columbia. (The Gates Foundation, which is based in Seattle, gives a small slice of its money — about $40 million in 2004 — to groups that aim to improve life in the Pacific Northwest.) Poor transportation is a key problem for low-income families, Shaw says, and “when Cascadia came to the Foundation, there was a sense that there had not been a regional approach to studying transportation. Cascadia’s plan to solve the transportation problem “was very much a bipartisan state, local and regional approach with a variety of states and counties and mayors.”

My views on government interference in the market are pretty consistent across the board. Check out, for example, what I recently said on this site about the Google/Yahoo! arrangement.

If you want to discuss my post on a substantive level, be my guest.

Greg Shaw, Pacific Northwest director [of the Gates Foundation], explains that the grant to Discovery underwrites the institute’s “Cascadia Project,” which strictly focuses on transportation in the Northwest. The Discovery Web site lists several program goals, including financing of high-speed passenger rail systems and reduction of automobile congestion in the Cascadia region, which encompasses Oregon, Washington and British Columbia. (The Gates Foundation, which is based in Seattle, gives a small slice of its money — about $40 million in 2004 — to groups that aim to improve life in the Pacific Northwest.) Poor transportation is a key problem for low-income families, Shaw says, and “when Cascadia came to the Foundation, there was a sense that there had not been a regional approach to studying transportation. Cascadia’s plan to solve the transportation problem “was very much a bipartisan state, local and regional approach with a variety of states and counties and mayors.”

My views on government interference in the market are pretty consistent across the board. Check out, for example, what I recently said on this site about the Google/Yahoo! arrangement.

If you want to discuss my post on a substantive level, be my guest.

Maybe, just maybe, the truth is that software procurement is a bit more complex than that.

Maybe, just maybe, the truth is that software procurement is a bit more complex than that.