Since the end of last year, a heated public debate has been led on which operating system should be used in the German parliament for the coming years. The debate has been especially important for it's relevance in the general discussion about different concepts of software. Central to the debate are the open source operating system Linux and the currently market dominating system Windows, which - being proprietary - hides its source code from the public.
The signatories of this declaration have, due to the following
arguments, come to the opinion, that to ensure economic competition,
promote creative potential, secure the open market and generally
re-emphasize the democratic aspects of German society, the German
parliament would do well to support the introduction of free
software as a prominent move towards the shaping of a new open
society in the coming century. Other arguments for open source
systems such as improved security, cost efficency and flexibility
have not been taken into our considerations, since they have
already been stressed enough during the debate of the last year.
Economic competition and the open market
Our declaration does not wish to concentrate on the abstract question of whether open source or proprietary software is better, but wants to ask, quite concretely, whether German parliament should continue to use the onesided combination of the Microsoft operating system, its internet browser, email client and the Microsoft office suite, or whether alternatives are to be given a chance. Microsoft currently does not only control the usage of computers in the German parliament, but also has a market share of more than 90% - an absolutely dominating position in Germany. We believe that, in a free market economy, it is the state's duty to prevent the development of monopolies and to grant the possiblity of real competition. The public signal of introducing alternative software in such a prominent institution as parliament would be an easy and practicable step in the direction of a more open market. While although free software is not in itself a warrant for free competition, in today' situation there seems to be no other alternative to insure practicable and save information technology equipment for the legislative.
Democracy
The democratic political bodies of the Federal Republic of Germany need to be reminded to continue to stick to their democratic principles within the secondary field of politics. Civic supervision and improvement of software by the general public is only possible using free software, due to its openly accessible source code. Short term disclosure of source codes - as offered by Microsoft - can only remain patchwork. The extensive and decentralised work of many programmers using free software has been the secret for it's market competability today.
The democratic aspect cannot be reduced to its mere increased security and flexibility, but is much more the expression of an extended understanding of democracy, encompassing economic and scientific progress. It therefore seems to us the duty of a democratic state to support the use of open source systems.
The unhindered access of all citizens to public knowledge and the public domain can - rationally and cost efficiently - only be realized with free software. All interested parties, regardles of their financial capabilities, should be able to truly participate in all online procedures.
Local advantages of Free software
The usage of free software in the public domain has come to play an ever larger role worldwide. Just some examples from the press:
- South Korea just ordered 120.000 open source office solutions and is looking to save up to 80% of previous costs.
- Great Britain plans the mandatory introduction of open source software in the public sector.
- The development of secure software with openly accessible source codes plays a central role within the EU commision's IT initiative "e-europe".
Germany should not miss out on this development. We feel, that the further introduction and distribution of open source operating systems will play an important part in the economic development of Germany in the future.
With an eye on the situation, open source systems are the most attractive investment Germany can make. We therefore clearly state:
