Belgium’s New Deal to boost IT literacy
For many decades, French-speaking Belgians have been the laughing stock in France and French-speaking Switzerland. To make matters worst, an arguments over trivial territory matters prevented the formation of the Belgian government for a period of 10 months. Now the new government has announced three reform plans aimed at raising the country’s information technology literacy at par with that of Europe. The problem is that those plan seem more like a subsidy to monopolistic corporations than a real benefit to taxpayers.
Minister of Economic Affairs Vincent Van Quickenborne announced on Tuesday three plans aimed at empowering some 100,000 new low-income citizens every year:
- From March 2009, a 2003 revized boost plan will entitle citizens to a full VAT refund on their computer and software purchase of 850.00 EUR per desktop and 990.00 EUR per laptop.
- Drawing inspiration from a Dutch reform plan, starting from May 2009 employers will be allowed to give tax-exempt computers and Internet access contracts to workers making less than 30,000.00 EUR per annum.
- A third plan, targeted at non-profits, low-incomes or unemployed, aims at partially or fully subsidising the purchase of a recycled and refurbished computer costing between 50.00 and 100.00 EUR.
My take: considering that a basic Windows operating system retails for 300.00 EUR in Belgium, these three plans will directly be subsidizing Microsoft, unless Open Source is used. Oddly, the Belgian government was quite avant-guarde in 2006, when it decided to adopt the Open Document standard for all government correspondance and paperwork.
Linux Netbooks from Asus and Acer do handle the appointed government document format. Given the bloated characteristic of Windows, most refurbished computers discussed in plan 3 won’t likely be able to run on anything else than Linux, but sending employers and workers to purchase 900.00 EUR laptops in retail stores really seems like a waste of taxpayers money, especially when Netbooks can do the same tasks for 1/3 of the price.
Detractors also argue that the government should impose caps on Internet access costs, which at the moment are conveniently set by Belgacom, a privatized public company still in a position of monopoly, and put Belgium at shame compared to neighboring France.
