[TheEngineer]

When writing criteria for desktops, they will, for example, find some useless feature that only exists in Excel and state that as a requirement. I've both written and responded to these things, I know how they work. You can effectively eliminate open competition by carefully wording the purchase order or RFP.

I've been both the beneficiary and non-beneficiary of, [ahem], "targeted" specifications... So I know what you're talking about. :-)

But the solution isn't to legislate a preference for open source software. That's no better than the very thing you're complaining about.

[antiRepublicrat]

But the solution isn't to legislate a preference for open source software. That's no better than the very thing you're complaining about.

From what I got about a posted article, the idea they have of saying "You must prefer Open Source over anything else" is pretty stupid. I just want the government to go for the best price/performance ratio, and I rarely see them do that when it comes to software. They are so Microsoft-centric it's unbelievable. I've asked before why we were buying a $1,000 Windows license for a static Web or file server (as opposed to free) and just got dull stares in return.