County, Allsing, Bandersnatch

[Robert Bushman]

Following is the conversation I fear, and
two potential alternatives. This is meant
to be humorous, please don't take it too
seriously, even if it isn't funny, haha.

County: Welcome, thanks for coming.
PLUG: Thank you for having us.
County: What can we do for you?
PLUG: Debar Microsoft, they're guilty of antitrust violations.
County: But we like Microsoft. EBC is saving us lots of
        time and money.
PLUG: But the procurement code requires that you debar
      contractors that are guilty of antitrust violations.
County: Actually, it just gives us the option of debarring
        contractors that are found in violation (MC1-902.A.).
        It means we have the option of preventing them from
        even bidding on a contract - typically our
        procurement requires allowing any qualified
        Person to bid.
PLUG: And we're asking you to invoke that option. Microsoft
      is preventing competition and innovation in the IT
      sector of the economy.
County: Supposing we agree with that, even so, the process
        can only be started on the recommendation of staff.
        (MC1-902.A.)
PLUG: So can't you be the one to make the recommendation?
County: Well, it can only be done for cause (MC1-902.A.).
        Like we mentioned earlier, EBC, which is built on
        Microsoft software, is saving us lots of money.
        They've not harmed us; we don't have cause.
PLUG: Hmm, so we can't start it?
County: No.
PLUG: And you won't start it?
County: We can't, no cause.
PLUG: But suppose it did get started?
County: Wouldn't be invoked. We like Microsoft.
PLUG: Hmm, OK.
County: Was there anything else?
PLUG: Umm, I guess not.

My thought would be that there are two options:

Adversarial:
County: Was there anything else?
PLUG: We'll get lawyers.
County: <sigh> OK, if you must.
... 5 years fighting, with MS lawyers on the opposite side ...
County: So it's agreed. We'll roll out at least 10% of
        our computer systems on alternative operating
        systems within 5 years.
PLUG: We're tired, can we borrow some aspirin? We spent
      all our money on lawyers.

Collaborative:
County: Was there anything else?
PLUG: Yeah, would you like to start deploying some
      alternative OS's, just in case Microsoft's abuse
      of their monopoly power does hurt you someday?
County: Well, sure, but won't it be hard? We don't have
        much of a budget for experimental projects. We
        can't really afford retraining or downtime.
PLUG: Actually, Linux is getting to the point where it's
      quite similar to Windows in terms of usability
      and features.
County: Features? But it doesn't have Office.
PLUG: OpenOffice 1.0 was just released. It's great!
County: But what about the GPL? If I plug a Linux
        machine into my network, don't I have to join
        the Communist Party and publish my bank records
        for the past 5 years?
PLUG: Nahh. The GPL only affects software that is under
      the GPL or links to a GPL library. All the libraries
      you need have non-GPL equivalents. Of course, you
      could also just publish your source code.
County: Publish the source code? Bill says that will make
        my hair fall out.
PLUG: It won't.
County: I'm scared.
PLUG: In the mid 90's Maricopa decided to publish all public
      records on the web. That was probably scary, but it
      turned out to be a landmark success that is now held
      up as an example nation wide.
County: Yeah, we rock.
PLUG: So let's start converting some of the machines,
      (and it won't do your MS sales rep any harm to see
      a competing OS in the office).
County: I like the way you think.

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 "We need commonsense judges who understand that our rights were
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 the bench." President George W. Bush, 27 June 2002
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