Neelie Kroes is no lightweight when it comes to open v. closed software. She spent six years as Europe's head trust-buster, and in that time, collected billions from proprietary software makers who sought to corner the market with their closed-source wares. When she spoke, big software — and everybody else — listened. In February, Ms.

The EU Commission has just announced its 5-year plan for IT, which they call its Digital Agenda:The Agenda outlines seven priority areas for action...