http://www.eweekeurope.co.uk/news/red-hat-sues-switzerland-over-microsoft-monopoly-965
"£8 million a year to Microsoft, with no public bidding. And that's just the tip of the iceberg, say open source activists
Linux vendor Red Hat, and 17 other vendors, have protested a Swiss government contract given to Microsoft without any public bidding.
...
The Red Hat group has asked a Swiss federal court to overturn a three-year contract issued to Microsoft by the Swiss Federal Bureau for Building and Logistics, to provide Windows desktops and applications, with support and maintenance, for 14 million Swiss Franc (£8 million) each year. The contract, for "standardised workstations", was issued with no public bidding process, Red Hat's legal team reports in a blog - because the Swiss agency asserted there was no sufficient alternative to Microsoft products.
Red Hat and others have made the obvious response that there are plenty of alternatives to Microsoft, and the current situation makes them more attractive than ever, according to a report issued this week by Freeform Dynamics."
EDIT: Title should say 18 companies.
My take:
This is why Microsoft continues to have a monopoly in the home OS market. Unlike any other product or contract, governments and businesses don't even look at alternatives when making software purchases. The report concerns Switzerland, but this sort of favoured contracting goes on in most countries, unopposed. My own country (UK) has an exclusive contract with MS to provide OSs for all government IT. The 'bidding process' for this only consisted of choosing which vendor supplies the computers with it preloaded.
How can alternatives compete if there is no outlet to do so, and even, like Red Hat, giving it away for FREE isn't good enough to be selected?
