Re: [free-software-melb] [Australia-public-discuss] Video/audio from patents talk and committee hearing

I believe that software which is used by the government, which the government compells citizens to use (EG for communicating with government agencies), or which is needed to interpret data published by the government (IE for reading anything from abs.gov.au) should at the minimum have the source available via escrow.  If in 30 years time someone wants to view old government data that is published in MS-Excel format (as happens a lot on abs.gov.au) then we shouldn't be denied access if MS stop selling the software.

Yes, I absolutely agree with all of that. I was talking about individuals' right to choose proprietary software, and companies' right to produce it, not about governments which serve people.