I wonder if open standards and "tool categories" will be an issue in the next US election? Vive la France. Except for Sarkozy, the candidates also agreed that consumers should have the right to buy a computer without any preloaded software, and that students should learn, as the questionnaire put it, not "a product line" such as Microsoft Office, but rather "tool categories," such as word processors or spreadshe I wonder if open standards and “tool categories” will be an issue in the next US election? Vive la France. Except for Sarkozy, the candidates also agreed that consumers should have the right to buy a computer without any preloaded software, and that students should learn, as the questionnaire put it, not “a product line” such as Microsoft Office, but rather “tool categories,” such as word processors or spreadsheets. In both cases, candidates took positions common in the free software community, suggesting that paying for preloaded software went against consumers’ rights, and expressing concerns that children were a vulnerable market for software vendors. The only question on which most candidates differed sharply was whether they were in favor of governments promoting open standards and free software. Yet, even here, the difference was mostly a matter of emphasis. Besancenot, Bové, Buffet, Le Pen, and Voynet all declared that they would encourage both open standards and free software, differing only on whether they would simply “encourage” them, as Le Pen promised, implement a policy favoring them, as Voynet suggested, or develop an agency to promote them, as Buffet suggested. By contrast, Bayrou and Royal, the two major candidates who responded, were more cautious, suggesting that such advocacy had to be tempered by the standards of responsible government. Bayrou in particular suggested that such principles as “good use of public funds,” “freedom of access,” and “equal treatment” were more important than promoting open standards and free software. Link:French presidential candidates on free software, related issues Link: Candidates.fr Open Source