The European Commission insists it's, "technology neutral" and therefore isn't unreservedly behind open-source software.

A team of academics from the United Nations University in Maastricht in The Netherlands completed a report funded by the Commission and which endorsed the use of open-source software, says ZDNet UK, going on:

"The report was published on the Commission's website earlier this month, and detailed the financial contribution that open-source software is expected to make to European economies. The report said that in 'almost all cases', the long-term total cost of ownership is lower with open-source software than proprietary software."

But the EC contacted ZDNet to put space between itself and the report, says ZDNet.

In an earlier story, ZDNet had stated, "The European Commission has issued a ringing endorsement of open source software, producing a confidence-boost for businesses considering the deployment of Linux and other free software."

But, "We would like to stress that we are absolutely neutral in our assessment: we are neither against nor in favour [of open source]," said a spokesman in reference. "The Commission's policy favours open competition, interoperability, standards and vendor independence. That's what we would like to stress. We are not against it [open source], but we are not supporting either side of the field. We are not judging on what the academics said, or what other people say."

The Commission told ZDNet UK, "it did not rule out commissioning further open-source reports in the future," says the story.

. Slashdot it!

Also See:
ZDNet UK - European Commission denies favouring open source, January 30, 2007
stated - European Commission report endorses open source, January 15, 2007