

Hungarian government goes 50% open source, half the IT budget must go to open source - vaksel
http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/135835

======
csbartus
Being Hungarian I'm watching the story. It took years of civil movement to
inform the public about the Microsoft-Government monopoly.

In January a ~120 million USD Microsoft tender was canceled, from April we
have a free competition.

I think this could be a good example for other countries too.

------
phugoid
There are discussions on the same topic going on in many governments right
now, examining the rules to make sure that open source software can compete on
equal footing. That's fair. Let the best solution win.

I'm surprised that a member of the European Union could write such a non-
competitive policy.

~~~
electromagnetic
" _I'm surprised that a member of the European Union could write such a non-
competitive policy._ "

You're shitting me right? Over two years ago an EU commission actually stated
that switching to open source could offer considerable savings to
organizations with little effect on their business. They mentioned there might
be a short-term cost increase, but the savings would easily account for it in
the long run.

So you're surprised that two years after that announcement, the Hungarian
government is following the EU's backing of open source. Are you truly that
uninformed about Europe? Because that was huge news a couple years ago.

~~~
phugoid
This is not just about following EU recommendations about letting open source
solutions compete for procurement contracts. This is about introducing a quota
system that is anti-competitive and that may ultimately harm the open source
cause.

I want to see businesses (and governments) use open source software for a
given application when it's the better choice overall, not because of a quota.

Edit: my first version was too defensive.

------
dexen
First a GUI Desktop, then Network, then Open Source Software. What is the next
big thing in popular computing?

Because it may high time start learning the next big thing, now that OSS
became mainstream.

