Red Hat sues Switzerland

 

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Posted on 26 May 2009 at 11:43

Red Hat has sued the Swiss Government for adopting Microsoft products without any public bidding process.

In a post on the Red Hat blog, the company outlines its appeal, together with 17 other companies, to a Swiss federal court to overturn a three-year contract issued to Microsoft by the Swiss Federal Bureau for Building and Logistics.

Red Hat claims the contract is worth £8 million a year, but was given to Microsoft without any public bidding process. The Swiss bureau reportedly argued when challenged that there was no alternative to Microsoft products.

However, the open-source company has countered this argument by pointing out that it already supplies technology to other Swiss organisations.

According to the blog, the case "raises important issues of openness in government and of a level playing field for open source and other competitors of Microsoft. Red Hat is seeking a public bidding process that allows for consideration of the technical and commercial advantages of open source software products."

Microsoft has yet to offer a statement on the case.

Author: Stuart Turton