Re: [Fsfe-uk] Free software forces Microsoft to support Welsh

[Alex Hudson]

On Fri, 2004-01-23 at 14:10, Kevin Donnelly wrote:
> This implies (although we cannot be sure) that the Welsh version will
> only apply to the more expensive WinXP Professional (used in offices),
> and not to the consumer WinXP Home.  (This would be similar to the
> situation in Catalan, as noted in my press release.) 

That doesn't surprise me, XP Home sucks quite hard in my experience for
all sorts of reasons. 

> So it looks as though this is very much a cynical attempt by MS to do the 
> bare 
> minimum necessary to head off the advance of free software in businesses and 
> the public sector by painting a very thin veneer of Welsh onto some of its 
> products.
> 
> Hmm - looks as though they *are* getting worried.

With good reason. This is a similar discussion to what we're talking
about re: Newham; whether or not Government should specify free
software, whether or not it should seek to procure it, and whether or
not there is a role there for it to help break down a monopoly.

I would imagine in Wales, you could set out an extremely good case not
just for the "use" of free software, but actually mandating it. The
public use of the Welsh language is already protected in a number of
ways; building that into your IT requirements isn't that big a leap. But
this opens a horrible backdoor, because although something is being
procured on the basis of it's support for a niche language, it's also
showing that it's possible to use the software for local Government
generally. My guess is that it's that scenario that MS would seek to
avoid: Welsh language speakers are, I would think, quite a powerful
group in Wales, and if they were campaigning for local Government to use
fully bilingual IT, they're basically campaigning for free software.

MS' worst nightmare would probably be various groups getting together,
campaigning for the use of a fully English/Welsh desktop, and getting
that mandated for procurement. MS could probably never sink the money in
to do a fully Welsh OS + Office suite (I was also of the understanding
that various fundamental problems in their stuff meant it would require
a lot of re-writing, although Welsh may not be a complex enough language
to cause that kind of trouble), but they could also never let a big user
like (say) the Welsh Assembly to use and mandate the use of free
software.

I would imagine they're petrified.

Cheers,

Alex.