Mac users allege government hypocrisy

On one hand, you had the U.S. Justice Department suing Microsoft for anti-trust violations; Just today a federal judge criticized the software giant for "foot-dragging" in regard to compliance with the related settlement agreement.

On the other hand, the federal government is perpetuating the notion of a world ruled by Microsoft by creating a grant site--Grants.gov--that , according to a Washington Post story. That notion was quickly confirmed by Mac users in the blogosphere, who also pointed out the apparent hypocrisy.

The grants portal is part of the government's broader push to digitize many of its operations under the E-Government Act of 2002. According to the Post, all federal agencies must have their grant applications fully online by 2007.

Blog community response:

"So the only way to submit an application to grants.gov for a government grant is purchase software from a government convicted monopoly? Talk about getting it coming and going."
--Joseph Scott's Blog

"Unfortunate, because at least one-third of the scientific community makes use of MacÂ’s and therefore are now ineligible to receive this grant money."
--Jarkolicious

"If you think about it, our elected officials don't know jack about computers. Most of them are technical neophytes. It's our job to let them know that we do not approve of grants.gov website and how it requires Windows. If they don't listen then we oust them and elect officials who will."
--Matthew Good on CNET News.com's Talkback