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> http://translate.google.com/translate?sourceid=mozclient&num=50&u=htt...
>
Here is a start at better translation (best I can do):
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Criticisms rain on the agreement between Microsoft and the Government
Certain representatives of the majority do not mince words in their
criticism of the agreement by which the Italian government has given
free rein to Microsoft for the establishment of three centers for
research and innovation which will link together industries,
universities and Microsoft technologies. According to Pietro Folena,
president of the commission "Culture of the Chamber" [ie chamber of
deputies, I think] "the agreement is wrong."
"I am sincerely surprised and embittered," Folena declares. "In the
first place," he explains, "it is necessary to point out that an
agreement like this has been reached without a transparent procedure
or public exposure. In the second place, it is well known that in the
academic world the use of open source software, like Linux,
predominates by far, because, thanks to its open and public content,
it can be studied, modfiied and adapted."
The pronouncements of Oliveriero Dottorini of the Greens [ie the
poltiical party], president of the commission on the Budget and
Institutional Affairs of the region of Umbria [evidently a commission
of the regional government] run along the same lines. According to
him, "The signature of the protocol of agreement between the Minister
of the University, the Minister of technological innovation and
Microsoft is a serious error. Our society does not need monopolistic
corporations that apply their standards and licences of use to
detriment of small entrepreneurs and small and mid-sized businesses
who every day see themselves forced to compete with the giants of
information technology." According to Dottorini, "to motivate the use
of Microsoft technologies by means of a protocol of agreement is
absurd and counterproductive."
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I have worked at Italian universities, including in Umbria. The
administrative staff uses Windows, but Linux is popular among the
scientists, and there is some Mac usage. Solaris is used by the IT
staff of the department I worked in. Some scientists I talked to who
use Windows were enthusiastic about switching to Ubuntu when I was
there last December, and I plan to help them switch when I return this
year. No one like the idea of having to purchase new hardware to
accomodate Vista.
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