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Complaint Lodged Over EU Parliament?s Exclusive Use Of Microsoft Systems (IP-Watch)

By Robin Gross

A formal complaint has been lodged with the European Parliament over how its information technology systems rely almost exclusively on software manufactured by Microsoft. Advocates of open standard software, which is developed on a not-for-profit basis, allege that the Seattle-based giant enjoys an effective monopoly or ?lock-in? within the European Union institutions. Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and EU officials are unable to read attachments sent with emails if these are in an open document format that is incompatible with Microsoft?s Windows, the operating system found in most of the world?s personal computers. Three organisations have jointly filed a complaint, claiming that the current situation limits the possibilities that EU citizens have to communicate with their elected representatives....

Full post as published by IP Justice on March 06, 2008 (boomark / email).