South Tyrol makes U-turn, drops LibreOffice project

[henke54]

The government of Italy's South Tyrol province will end its LibreOffice migration project, and instead intends to switch to a proprietary cloud-based office service. A decision was published on 12 April.

[lalithr312]

There's a bright side to this-- at least the EU has an Open Source Observatory.
Compare that with US attitudes towards open source software:

Why do I think Linux won't kill Windows? Two reasons. The Open Source Movement's ideology is utopian balderdash. And Linux is 30-year-old technology.

...

How about the Back-to-the-Earth Movement? How about Linux as organic software grown in utopia by spiritualists?

If North America actually went back to the earth, close to 250 million people would die of starvation before you could say agribusiness. When they bring organic fruit to market, you pay extra for small apples with open sores -- the Open Sores Movement.

The quote, by the way, is from Robert Metcalfe, the inventor of Ethernet.

[henke54]

There's a bright side to this-- at least the EU has an Open Source Observatory.
Compare that with US attitudes towards open source software:

Why do I think Linux won't kill Windows? Two reasons. The Open Source Movement's ideology is utopian balderdash. And Linux is 30-year-old technology.

...

How about the Back-to-the-Earth Movement? How about Linux as organic software grown in utopia by spiritualists?

If North America actually went back to the earth, close to 250 million people would die of starvation before you could say agribusiness. When they bring organic fruit to market, you pay extra for small apples with open sores -- the Open Sores Movement.

The quote, by the way, is from Robert Metcalfe, the inventor of Ethernet.

That quote from Bob Metcalfe is from 1999 , and Balmer that time, called linux "a cancer", but made also a 'U-turn'.

[keme]

There's a bright side to this-- at least the EU has an Open Source Observatory.
Compare that with US attitudes towards open source software:

Why do I think Linux won't kill Windows? Two reasons....

The quote, by the way, is from Robert Metcalfe, the inventor of Ethernet.

That quote from Bob Metcalfe is from 1999 ,...

Yes, Metcalfe has probably gained more publicity from his statements about the future of technology, business models and development strategies (made in the late 90's) than he has for his real achievement - as a prominent force behind the creation and continued development of the Ethernet technology.

Then again, talking about rapidly developing conditions those statements must be considered old and outdated (two decades), and coming from a technology expert who is - AFAIK - a layman when it comes to social, economical and political subjects. As such, they should perhaps not be taken as the general attitude towards FOSS in the US in this day and age.

However, the US now has an open-source analysis initiative. The irony of it all is that it is not "open" (registration available only to US administration employees and contractors). (http://www.opensource.gov). Not quite the welcoming front end we have enjoyed from IDABC, ISA and now ISA2.