Quebec goverment sued for ignoring free software

Quebec’s open-source software association is suing the provincial government, saying it is giving preferential treatment to Microsoft Corp. by buying the company’s products rather than using free alternatives.

The lawsuit by Facil was lodged with the Quebec Superior Court on July 15 and made public on Wednesday. In it, the group says the provincial government has refused to entertain competing bids from all software providers, opting instead to supply public-sector departments with products bought from proprietary vendors such as Microsoft and Oracle Corp.

Government buyers are using an exception in provincial law that allows them to buy directly from a proprietary vendor when there are no options available, but Facil said that loophole is being abused and goes against other legal requirements to buy locally.

Between the months of February and June, the Quebec government spent $25 (€16.08) million on software from Microsoft, Facil said. The group estimates the government is spending more than $80 (€51.47) million a year on licences for Microsoft’s Windows Vista operating system alone.

Source: FACIL contests government practices in the Superior Court | FACIL.

All I say is I hope FACIL win. The Quebec government should be putting that €51.47 million into schools and health. Well, that is if the cost of training staff in open source software is lower then €51.47 million. The advantage about open source is local support, since local vendors have access to the source code and come up with custom solutions. The question I would like answered is who bids on behalf of open source?