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[News] [Rival] Quebec Government Agency Sued for Microsoftification

  • Subject: [News] [Rival] Quebec Government Agency Sued for Microsoftification
  • From: Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Tue, 18 Mar 2008 02:26:50 +0000
  • Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.advocacy
  • Organization: Freelance
  • User-agent: KNode/0.10.4
Savoir-Fair Linux, Inc. sues Quebec government agency over Microsoft

,----[ Quote ]
| [PJ: It's in French, but the general translation is that you can find at the 
| link the documents regarding a lawsuit a company called Savoir-Faire Linux, 
| Inc. has filed in the Superior Court of Quebec against the government's 
| pension plan for choosing Microsoft software without putting the job out 
| publicly for bid. It seems the law in Quebec is very strict that the 
| government is supposed to publish an invitation to tender for any acquisition 
| of more than $25,000, and this job was a good deal more than that.      
| 
| I gather Savoir-Faire Linux's position is that only open standards, formats 
| and protocols are suitable to match the demands of a public market policy 
| upholding four fundamental principles: act in an transparent way, favor 
| strong competition, favor local economic development, get the best overall 
| cost.]    
`----

http://www.groklaw.net/newsitems.php

Watch out, MSBBC. :-)


Related:

BBC Director General grilled by MPs on iPlayer

,----[ Quote ]
| During the meeting there is discussion of iPlayer’s total cost to the licence 
| fee-payer - the BBC representatives are unable to give a figure, but start 
| the bidding at £20m, excluding staff costs. Thomson gives incorrect 
| information - that Mac and Linux versions of iPlayer have the same 
| functionality as Windows versions - and has to change his evidence at the 
| end. Perhaps it was this confusion that prompted Dr John Pugh MP to follow up 
| the encounter with a letter direct to Mark Thomson today discussing platform 
| neutrality in greater detail. A copy of this letter has been passed to the 
| Open Rights Group.        
`----

http://www.openrightsgroup.org/2008/01/10/bbc-director-general-grilled-by-mps-on-iplayer/


BBC Corrupted

,----[ Quote ]
| Today the BBC made it official -- they have been corrupted by Microsoft. With 
| today's launch of the iPlayer, the BBC Trust has failed in its most basic of 
| duties and handed over to Microsoft sole control of the on-line distribution 
| of BBC programming. From today, you will need to own a Microsoft operating 
| system to view BBC programming on the web. This is akin to saying you must 
| own a Sony TV set to watch BBC TV. And you must accept the Digital  
| Restrictions Management (DRM) that the iPlayer imposes. You simply cannot be 
| allowed to be in control of your computer according to the BBC.      
`----

http://defectivebydesign.org/blog/BBCcorrupted


BBC iPlayer Protests 

,----[ Quote ]
| Who are the people responsible for creating this mess?
| 
|     * Mark Thompson, BBC director general (DG)
|     * Erik Huggers, group controller at BBC Future Media & Technology
|     * Ashley Highfield, director of new media and technology
| 
| Right now, there is very considerable concern within the BBC that the actions 
| of the Director General and his team are sending the corporation in the wrong 
| direction. The BBC has been embroiled in a number of recent controversies, 
| all linked back to the DG's leadership.   
`----

http://www.defectivebydesign.org/iPlayerProtest


Why Linux Users Should Be Furious At BBC

,----[ Quote ]
| Recently the BBC had a bit of a wake up call regarding numbers and how many 
| Linux users were really out there. Why does any of this matter? It has to do 
| with something the BBC provides called the iPlayer. Seriously, relying on 
| ActiveX is so "1990's" that it's painful, and as luck would have it, the 
| Linux users who wish to use this BBC player made sure that the BBC knew that 
| they were making the sought after content inaccessible to those people using 
| Linux.      
| 
| No iPlayer for Linux Users, But There Will Be An Alternative. Based on what I 
| have been able to gather thus far, it looks like we will see an Adobe Flash 
| option coming out soon. Then again, who really cares? Seriously, if the BBC 
| is this foolish to ignore how much Linux growth is taking place both in the 
| UK as well as the surrounding countries, then maybe people ought to be 
| looking elsewhere? Is it because this is indeed, the BBC? So there is the 
| belief that this is the people's media? Up until now, I enjoyed much of what 
| the BBC had to offer, but this entire thing is enough to have pushed me away.       
`----

http://www.osweekly.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2731&Itemid=449

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