another example of resisting vendors

[Samuel Trosow <strosow@uwo.ca>]

On a related note to the posting about the Elsivier boycott, here's an
interesting entry from EduCause.  Do we see the germs of a new trend
emerging in terms of what is indeed plausible?

Sam Trosow
University of Western Ontario

MASSACHUSETTS GOES OPEN SOURCE

Eric Kriss, administration and finance secretary for the State of
Massachusetts, has directed the state's chief technology officer to choose
open-source and open-standards technologies whenever possible.
Applications for which a cost-effective, open-source alternative is not
available can still be bought from vendors such as Microsoft that do not
allow access to their source code. Although Massachusetts's IT budget is
relatively small compared to other software buyers, some analysts noted
that the state's official policy against proprietary software could spell
trouble for companies like Microsoft down the road. Laura DiDio of Yankee
Group said, "[T]oday's trickle could be a flood in 2005 or 2006." Critics
of the policy, including Mike Wendy of the Computing Technology Industry
Association (COMPTIA), said it would limit the state's choices and is
ultimately bad for taxpayers. (Microsoft is a leading member of the
COMPTIA trade group.) NewsFactor Network, 20 October 2003
http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/22516.html