A collection of people from Linux and open source vendors met with open source advocates last night to discuss their potential support of the Open Source And Industry Alliance [OSAIA].Bruce Perens, an open source evangelist, told a press gathering at LinuxWorld that while the group is not yet officially launched, it’s looking for paying members. He wouldn’t name the individuals or companies involved except to say the largest and smallest companies were represented.Here’s what the industry group says about its mission on its web site: Business, government and private individuals must be free to choose software and technologies that best suit their needs, independent of the methodologies or licenses used in their development. The marketplace must be free of prejudice against open source software, whether through law, regulation, defamation or other means. OSAIA will act to achieve this goal.The OSAIA is a dedicated open source group run by the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA). Jason Mahler, vice president and general counsel at CCIA said the group already has 12 staff lobbying in Washington D.C. on behalf of the open source community. Given the D.C. lobbying efforts by Microsoft, and organizations like Institute for Software Choice (discussion by Tim O’Reilly ), the Association for Competitive Technology and the Business Software Alliance , the organization faces stiff challenges. The least of which is money. Mahler claimed Microsoft spends around $8 million a year on government lobbying. Technology Industry