This week I was reading an article in a Dutch newspaper. Once in a while stories like this will pop up in newspapers, I am sure this is not only happening in this little country where I am writing from. I am not sure however how many people at Microsoft will have sleepless nights because of this story. Let me tell you a little bit about it. The newspaper article I am talking about writes about twelve (!) Dutch cities that want to “break Microsoft’s power”. From now on they only want to purchase software that can run on multiple operating systems. Their complaint is that they are forced to use software that can only run on in combination with Microsoft operating systems and databases like Oracle. They are whining that they can’t change to cheaper alternatives because the software they are running today needs Windows as an operating system. They don’t like it that they have to purchase licenses for the operating system on each machine they are using. They blame Microsoft for this, but in the same sentence they are saying that large software houses force them to use Microsoft Windows, because there software is not running on alternative operating systems. So this is the first ridiculous statement in this article. Why blame Microsoft for the fact that 3^rd parties create Windows applications? I am pretty sure those 3^rd parties know what they are doing and that they want to make some money with their specific solution. Hey, if you don’t want to use those solutions because you don’t want to use Windows there is a simple remedy. Stop using those solutions, develop or search for alternatives but don’t start whining like a 4 year old that doesn’t get a piece of candy he or she wants. The twelve cities want to purchase operating system agnostic software. I am sure this can be done, but I doubt if the end result will cost less than products they are currently using. Typically, complete portability means you pay a performance price, no problem, but there might be a need to purchase new, more powerful hardware to meet their goals. Of course, what they are really saying is that they are not interested in complete portability of their products; the true motive is they want to run their software on Linux. I truly and honestly believe there is nothing wrong with that, but why complain in an article about this. Simply start looking around for good alternatives of your current applications and start using them. One sentence in the article really struck me the wrong way: “It is more honest and cheaper to use open standard software”. I guess time will tell if it is indeed cheaper to use that kind of software. But why is it more honest? Again, this sounds like whining. Microsoft is the big bad multinational who forces us to use their products. Well really, start growing up. Be an adult about this. This is a free country. Nobody is forcing anybody to use software of a particular vendor. Stop being childish about it. Go ahead and develop or purchase those products you always wanted to use but you never could because big bad Microsoft forced you not to do so. This simply is a joke. Of course Microsoft wants to sell their products, just like any other commercial company. What is wrong with that? In the mean-time, I wonder how many people in Redmond will have sleepless nights. Twelve cities in The Netherlands signed a manifest to force using open standard software. Oh, let me explain where you can find The Netherlands. It is this tiny dot on the globe, right from the UK and left from Germany. Be careful you don’t accidently point to Holland, Belgium and Luxemburg combined. It is only the northern part of this little area. You might want to use your magnifying glasses to find it. But hey, we make a fist, we will teach them a touch lesson! Microsoft be warned! In the meantime I can already predict what will happen. Increase in local taxes because these great standard solutions are a little more expensive than originally expected. Gosh, I do live in a great country … although, it feels like expanding my horizon might be something to seriously consider.

Maarten Struys