In a well done video, released in mid-December, Neelie Kroes, the European Commission’s Vice President for the Digital Agenda, articulates the benefits of open source software and open standards.

Her remarks are especially potent, given not only her leadership in her current role, but having also served as Commissioner in charge of EU competition/antitrust policy where she oversaw the European Union Microsoft competition case.

In her remarks, she identifies the downside of relying on proprietary standards, which cost the European economy "several hundred million Euros per year" and damages competition.

In recognizing that "collaborative software is delivering software that is best in class," Commissioner Kroes says that the Commission is increasingly relying on open source through its research program, preparing guidelines to help public bodies better use open standards when procuring their ICT, and building a portal for open data based entirely on open source solutions.

Well worth taking the time to listen to Commissioner Kroes and commending her leadership on this front.