Things work differently in Romania, so no one really knows how Microsoft cut their Strategic Partnership deal with the Romanian government, but one indicator might be the fact that there is nothing in English on Google announcing the accord. This comes at a time when Microsoft is losing ground with many other governments the world over, so they should be needing the publicity. And unlike the rest of the world, which is adopting FLOSS because of its many attributes, decision-makers in the Romanian government may not be considering important issues like security and encouragement of local enterprise. Hopefully, with more media attention, in the future they'll be required to justify these expenses and take into consideration FLOSS solutions. The current deal is for a three year term and has many facets.

The good news is that Linux/FLOSS is making headlines in Romania in the private sector. The first edition of The Linux Hardware & Software Solutions Expo (Romanian, English) in Romania will be held at The World Trade Center in Bucharest on the 30th and 31st of October. Besides IBM, local companies will exhibit their Linux-based solutions. The number of these companies is increasing steadily as the cost of Microsoft licenses is pretty high for an average Romanian income, which is a serious obstacle for many young entrepreneurs wishing to start their own IT company.

"Linux lowers the entry cost in software market for students, limiting it only to necesary legal procedures for starting a company,", says Marius Andreiana, founder of Romanian company Galuna SRL (Romanian) , which provides Linux-based IT solutions. "There are several well-established Romanian providers of custom software, but newcomers are starting to grab their low-end market. We have lower prices not only because we aren't required to pay licensing fees, but also because we can adapt existing open source software and don't have to write a proprietary solution from scratch."

Willy Smith, reporting from Costa Rica