heise reports (in German) that the Netherlands require public agencies to deploy open source software. From December 2008 on, all public institutions that want to use proprietary operating systems and office solutions will have to justify specifically why they need it. Great.

They also note (German) that New Zealand has published the Information Systems Strategic Plan 2006-2010 (ISSP) which promotes the usage of open standards and software. They counter some of the popular arguments against the usage of open source: It’s not true anymore that there is no commercial support for open source software. Many open source programs also don’t require professional know-how anymore in order to be able to use it. And OSS in general is not just idelogical and part of an anti-capitalstic movement.