Glad that ZDNet has run an update to the original story. While I am quoted in it as well as a note about RMS applauding the move by the Taiwanese government, I think the way the Microsoft is approaching this is very telling. There never was a level playing field and governments who state the they have to be seen to be neutral in their procurement are actually falling into the MS-trap. It is the case that almost all devices get drivers that can be used in Windows and not all of them get Linux drivers on day 1. Given that, how can when procurement tenders are opened, that the submissions can in any way be fair? To tilt this imbalance to the level, governments have to take the track as the Taiwanese have. I am just as much a capitalist as the next person, but in situations where a monopoly has forced as certain market behaviour, we have to look to government procurement policies to correct this. It has to be, necessarily, a temporary correction that should eventually be driven and accepted by free market forces, but the tilt has to be maintained for just the right length of time.