On Oct 21, 2010, at 15:43, Roland Hedayat wrote:
> It is a pity that such bravery is totally lacking in
> the public administration here, arguably one of the
> best marketplaces of M$ worldwide. And
> Konkurrensverket, the "Swedish Competition Authority"
> continues chasing "asphalt" cartels or whoever else...
I find this shocking as well. I don't understand why Sweden, of all countries, is so Microsoft centric. Other European countries - even our rich neighbor Norway - have more Linux deployments.
Gnutiken, a Free Software economic cooperative (handelsbolag) in Gothenburg has been approached by school teachers looking for decent, inexpensive software for their students. Every time a discussion like this occurs, the teacher goes away from Gnutiken excited by the many possibilities that Free Software has to offer their students. Once they discuss the purchase of services from Gnutiken or even getting software online for free, they are invariably told that under no circumstances are they allowed to install Free Software on the school's computers. This would make Microsoft upset and they'd stop giving deep discounts.
This is an appalling practice that makes Swedes pay more for inferior software and robs the school budget for more pressing needs than crappy junkware from some American monopoly. Sadly, lobbies are extremely effective and the result of their work in Sweden can be seen on many desktops.
Jeremiah
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Received on 2010-10-21