The use of open source software varies widely between different countries, for example, while the UK government continues to strikes long-term multi-million pound deals with proprietary giant Microsoft, the French are enthusiastically adopting open source software in both national and local government agencies.
Outside the Western world, where cost becomes more of an issue, it might be expected that open source software would be more popular. While this is the case to some extent – it's not that clear cut. The Brazilian federal government is issuing policies strongly in favour of open source, but other countries have signed sweeping deals with Microsoft, such as the Eastern European state of Macedonia.
Deciding what lies at the heart of some countries almost zealous uptake of open source is not a simple as looking at the cold hard costs – politics, national security, anti-Americanism and innovation all have a part to play.
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