The Honorable John Carona sponsored SB1579, the Texas Senate bill that encourages state agencies to consider Open Source software. Even after dilution, the bill was still drawing criticism from proprietary software interests. Here's a great snippet from Carona's exchange with Mario Correa of the Business Software Alliance:

Correa: That's no longer... that's correct. But the point that I'm trying to make is, essentially what you've done is to isolate one particular development of software for further investigation, assuming that there isn't something already being considered or the State has already undertaken. What makes our industry nervous is not that you study any particular type but rather that you select one under a presupposition of cost savings or not cost savings for that matter.

Carona: Well, if you'll read the language again, we have already presupposed that proprietary software will exist and will be what's purchased. This simply says shall we consider any other alternatives? That means specifically...

I don't... Again, I don't understand why you all are so threatened by this, but from a careful look at the lobbyists in this room that are representing Microsoft, and all of you here representing proprietary software companies which -- let's face it, that's where the big money is, it's not in Open Source it's in proprietary -- it's rather transparent as to why you all feel so threatened by this language. And I'll tell you, this [bill] is innocuous, but next session I'll be on a crusade.

[Link to full story at NewsForge]

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