The European Commission is soon to publish a strategy paper recommending the use of Open Source software, says a spokeswoman for Siim Kallas, the European commissioner who is responsible for administrative affairs.
The spokeswoman is quoted in an article Bloomberg News published on Wednesday. The paper will say that Open Source software should be pursued provided it does not cost more and is in the best interest of European citizens, she told Bloomberg.
Spokeswoman Valerie Rampi on Thursday added: "It is not a new strategy. The Commission has had an Open Source strategy since 2000, which it regularly updates as the software matures and our internal experience and expertise increases." It is however the first time the EC publishes its plans regarding the use of Open Source software within the European Commission.
The financial news agency wrote on Wednesday that the move is a potential setback for Microsoft, the world's largest software maker. "The company is trying to prevent an increasing number of defections by governments from its proprietary software toward software from Open Source developers, who are allowed to modify the software source code, or underlying instructions."
Bloomberg adds that the report comes as the EU's antitrust authority is pursuing two new antitrust cases against Microsoft. The EU in January opened an investigation to determine whether the company is abusing its dominance in text processing and spreadsheets. Last December, the Norwegian web browser company Opera filed a complaint at the European Commission, saying Microsoft is abusing its dominant position by tying its browser, Internet Explorer, to the Windows operating system and by hindering interoperability by not following accepted Web standards.
Microsoft in February promised to share more information regarding some of it flag-ship applications, including some versions of its operating systems and office software. The EU has fined Microsoft 1.68 billion euro for abusing its market dominance.
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Opera files antitrust complaint with the EU (press release, English)