Mr. Lasser neglects to mention that politicians respond to
their constituents, and then to their donors. The open source community has neither the numbers or the money to affect political change through lobbying in any traditional
sense.

OSS has always been a grassroots effort, and to succeed, it
will have to persist in being one. IBM may be able to offer some of its clout, but spreading free software isn't at the top of its political priorities.

Before SELinux, the NSA and other govenrnment agencies have
provided ample material to increase IT security. The TCSEC
and Common Criteria spring to mind, along with the Bell Lapadula model, and others.

It would be a lost cause to seek the political clout that M$ has. Rather, if people keep churing out better code, and proving that M$ cannot write software worth paying for, then institutions will have to recognize the importance of
OSS, no matter who is sponsoring their campaigns.

OSS doesn't need money or lobbyists, it needs constituents.


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