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 NEWSItalians revolt against Microsoft supremacy By Philip Willan October 30, 2000 4:01 pm PT ROME -- THE Italian state administration is excessively dependent on Microsoft's software, and the country could achieve significant budget savings if it switched to open-source software, according to an open letter that a group of information technology professionals is preparing to deliver to Public Administration Minister Franco Bassanini.
"It has had a far greater success than I expected," Cammarata said in an interview on Monday. "IT professionals feel very strongly about the issue, since they know the limits of Microsoft's products and the advantages of open-source software, especially in a public administration environment," he said. "We will present the letter to the minister in a few days, but it will take awhile to get a response. We're not in the United States here." Leading signatories to the letter, dated Oct. 19, 2000, and addressed to the public administration, treasury ministers, and the Authority for Information Technology in Public Administration (AIPA), include Giancarlo Fornari, director of the finance ministry's department for relations with the public, Salvatore Tutino, director of the Secit tax investigators' unit, and Carlo Rienzi, chairman of the Codacons consumer group. Titled "Information Technology Dependency of the Italian State on Microsoft," the letter points out that Italy spends just 1.3 percent of GDP (Gross Domestic Product) on IT for the state administration, as compared to a European average of 2.3 percent, and calls on the government to verify the existence of unnecessary investments, excessive costs, and waste. The letter criticizes the fact that the public administration is obliged to update its Microsoft software approximately every two years to obtain products that are only marginally different from earlier versions and in aspects that are almost never required for ordinary office use, but which renders the old versions incompatible with the new. It also highlights the vulnerability of Microsoft products to virus attacks, citing the successful incursions of Brazilian hackers against ministerial Web sites here last May. "This situation, which has existed for years, shows that we face an authentic, inexplicable 'IT dependency' of the Italian state on the overwhelming might of Microsoft," the letter says, criticizing the government's lack of interest in open-source software that can be acquired free of charge. It also notes that while Microsoft Office costs $520 million per package, Sun Microsystems' open-source StarOffice suite of productivity software is free. The letter concludes by calling on the government to investigate the availability of free software packages, to ensure public administrations buy adequate software packages at the lowest available price, to investigate the prices paid and the frequency of purchase of Microsoft products, and to discover whether the purchases were made through a public tender. The Italian government's dependency on Microsoft was underscored in an article posted on the InterLex Web site. Ten out of 15 ministries have entrusted their Web sites to Bill Gates' multinational company, along with the two houses of parliament, the prime minister's office, and AIPA, the article said. Only the foreign and justice ministries made use of free software, it said. Italians are not alone in wanting to rebel against Microsoft's market dominance, supporters of the letter said. The Chinese government has announced its intention to adopt open-source Linux software as the platform for its national e-commerce network, and the French government has recommended the adoption of Linux in schools, while parties representing a majority of the Danish parliament last spring endorsed a document recommending that the state use only open-source software, they said. "There have been initiatives on this front in other countries, but this is perhaps the first time that a public appeal has been signed by 1,000 representatives of the IT and academic worlds," said the finance ministry's Fornari. Italy could save up to half the country's $1.3 billion annual software budget if it adopted open-source software as an alternative to Microsoft products, he said in a telephone interview. "The government has not paid adequate attention to this issue. It could make significant savings and it could activate a national software industry. Instead, today we are simply importers," Fornari said. He cited Israel, the world's third largest software producer after the United States and Canada, which has ordered its public administration to use only open-source software. "Israel is making great progress in software, while Italy is entirely dependent on American multinationals," he said. "We have started something that will be very difficult to stop," Cammarata said. "They will not be able to ignore this appeal. I already have confidential responses assuring me the government will take it seriously." The push for open-source software is likely to reduce Microsoft's market dominance, although its effects will be seen only gradually, Cammarata said. "It's a mistake not to release the source code, and sooner or later they will pay for it," the InterLex editor said. "The defects of Microsoft's programs are astonishing. There are an enormous number of bugs and security problems. When the source codes are public you have hundreds of thousands of IT professionals working on them in complete openness. There aren't viruses for Unix and open-source software because they would be unmasked in five minutes. It's evident that open-source software is now spreading like wildfire." Philip Willan is a correspondent in Rome for the IDG News Service, an InfoWorld affiliate. SPONSORED WHITE PAPERS 
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