Could Feds Foil Microsoft With IT Spending?

Computerworld - WASHINGTON -- The government can influence private-sector IT far beyond smart cards. With a $50 billion annual IT budget that's still growing, the federal government is the largest IT purchaser in the world.
Consumer advocate Ralph Nader has suggested that this spending power should be used to crack Microsoft Corp.'s monopoly.
The government is a major user of products that compete with Microsoft on the desktop. The U.S. Department of Defense has about 15,000 users of StarOffice, Sun Microsystems Inc.'s personal productivity suite. The U.S. Department of Justice is a major user of Ottawa-based Corel Corp.'s WordPerfect, with about 55,000 seats.
Nader and his technology policy expert, James Love, say the government can do a lot to stimulate IT competition, and they have met with White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) officials to discuss the issue. Last week, they sent the OMB a letter suggesting the government take specific measures to force interoperability.
For instance, they wrote, the federal government could stipulate that it won't buy Microsoft's Office software unless Microsoft exposes its file formats to allow interoperability with other personal productivity suites. "Government procurement would make a difference," they wrote. OMB officials didn't respond to request for comment.
Microsoft took exception to the letter's claims. "We think that if Mr. Nader took a close look at the software industry, he would find that no one delivers more technology at affordable prices to empower consumers worldwide," said Jim Desler, a Microsoft spokesman.
J.D. Cox, IT manager at M-E-C Co., a maker of dehydration systems in Neodesha, Kan., has some idea of how government spends for IT. He's mayor of Neodesha (population 2,800) and also serves on the Kansas Information Technology Council.
At the state level, "it's amazing how much IT is being purchased," Cox said, adding that he can only imagine how large the federal government purchasing is. And if the federal government could encourage competition, "that would be very positive," he said.
Government spending "could tip the competitive balance a little bit," said Dwight Davis, an analyst at Boston-based Summit Strategies Inc. "[But] I don't think it has the means to take away Microsoft's overall advantage."

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