The hidden exit costs imposed by a previous software acquisition are a major reason for public administrations to tender software by naming brand names or specific products, which may be illegal, says a draft report by the European Commission's Open Source Observatory and Repository project (OSOR).

Should European governments favor open-source software when they hold tenders for public contracts? Economists and policy-makers appear to think so, but industry giants, including Microsoft Corp., argue that this would be discriminatory and are considering legal action to prevent this from happening.

"Will recording or filming of events which are considered illegal in law now itself be considered illegal? This is what the Home Affairs Ministry seems to propose to amendments of the Films Act..."

ZDNet or eWeek (Ziff Davis) spins Microsoft's illegal contracts as Red Hat whining

Shameless tactics from Microsoft describe Free software as "piracy" and now an "endemic problem"

European public administrations that want to use software that is offered for free, such as Open Source software, do not need to organise a call for tender.

In both Europe and in India, Microsoft is trying to exclude Free software with patent tax inside basic interoperability information

Russian Linux software developers have created an alliance to jointly participate in tenders to supply schools with open source software. The total number of specialist entering the alliance has exceeded the given number in Mandriva and Ubuntu Canonical producer, all in all.

Even the unadventurous Israeli education system may soon discover that there is (computerized) life after Microsoft. The country's schools will forgo Word and Windows in favor of parallel programs from Sun Microsystems. For the first time, the education system's tenders committee has authorized cooperation in principle with Sun, in a move that could undermine Microsoft's sovereignty in Israeli classrooms.