Oregon bill opens doors to open source | CNET News.com

The Open Source Software for Oregon Act would mandate that any state government agency consider open-source software for all new software acquisitions and make purchasing decisions based on a "value-for-money basis."

When I read this, I couldn't think of a dumber piece of legislation to introduce in the technology arena. Mr. Barnhart wants to save money but there are studies which demonstrate that open source actually costs more money...not for the software but for the support, re-training, ease-of-use, etc. It's typical political stupidity for a non-technology person/group to dictate technology policy. Let us do our job, Mr. Barnhart. Oh, and I hope you used Open Office running on your Linux desktop to type up the proposed legislation. Otherwise, your PC is exhibit A!