Red Hat throws down gauntlet

Will DOJ and Microsoft have the guts to pick it up?

by , 6 December, 2001

You know, sometimes things just make sense, even in legal circles. When Red Hat challenged Microsoft to provide more hardware to the 14,000 poorest school districts in the United States, and allow Red Hat to provide Open Source software solutions, at much lower cost, the net results were immediate and obvious.

Each school would get 70 computers instead of 14.

Each would be fully loaded with Red Hat Linux, office applications, online support, everything you could possibly need in terms of software.

In addition each school gets the knowledge that they are not participating in the furthering of the monopoly that Microsoft was proved guilty of, over two years ago.

The government gets a simple, straight-forward way to punish Microsoft for their monopolistic business practices in the only way that matters. Taking away a chunk of their market in one fell swoop.

The computing public, in general terms, reaps an untold future long-term benefit by being exposed to Open Source in public schools.

For those who say that Linux would be too hard for the schools to install and support I say, "Get real."

School districts are like any other business in America. They have access to trained IT professionals. Whether that be at the local level, regional level, or state level, there is going to be someone that is able to maintain and support Linux in the schools.

Computers that come with Linux pre-installed are just like computers that come with any other operating system installed. In an environment like schools there will be, of necessity, a standard suite of approved software packages. The only difference is that the underlying operating system will be Linux, not something from Microsoft, and that is not something that the end user is going to care about one way or the other.

I fully expect Microsoft to scream bloody murder at the unfairness of the proposal made by Red Hat. I suggest that the U.S. Government accept it, at face value, and punish Microsoft for their unsavory business practices of the last decade in such a way that no one will doubt that there is in fact, punishment being meted out.

I say that if Linux is good enough for the Mexican school system, then it is surely good enough for the United States school system as well.

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