The Computer & Communications Industry Association's President, Ed Black, has sent a letter (read it here in .pdf) to the Department of Homeland Security urging them to reconsider using Microsoft products. This is huge.

For years the open source community has been telling our government to watch out for off-the-shelf products, and now the lobby-face of every company wanting a share of Microsoft's empire (MS is not a member of the CCIA) is represented in this assertive action.

It's something anyone running an MS operating system could have told them. I get a "security update" about once a week for XP pro. Well. I just hope Tom Ridge backs up his, I mean, our, files.

CCIA Mission Statement:

CCIA's mission is to further our members' business interests by being the leading industry advocate in promoting open, barrier-free competition [emphasis added, ed.] in the offering of computer and communications products and services worldwide.