A group of free software advocates plan to protest at a conference designed to promote open source and free software to governments because a representative from Microsoft  is scheduled to speak there.

The conference, "Open Source for National and Local eGovernment Programs in the U.S. and EU," will take place March 17 to 19 in Washington, D.C. A Microsoft representative is scheduled to talk about the company's "shared source" initiative, in which Microsoft shares parts of its source code with some customers.

Many free software advocates hold Microsoft up as the champion of anticompetitive marketing and proprietary licensing, in which customers aren't allowed access to the source code for a piece of software. The free software movement believes users of software should have the right to see the source code and the freedom to make changes to it and share it, and that Microsoft's shared source initiative is a pale imitation for few privileged customers.

Microsoft didn't immediately return calls seeking comment on the controversy.

Almost all of the other 124 sessions are focused on open source and free software with representatives of Linux company Red Hat, the open source KDE desktop project and the Free Software Foundation itself on the agenda, but some members of the free software community are organizing a protest and are considering a boycott of the conference. Microsoft's presence at IDG's LinuxWorld Conference and Expo last August also drew some complaints from the free software crowd.

The controversy has generated a sometimes heated discussion across a handful of free software-related discussion lists during the past week, with more than 150 e-mails exchanged since Feb. 6. Ruben Safir, president of New York Linux group NYLXS, said in the past few days, about 400 people have contacted him and offered to take part in a protest at the event, but others in the free software community have urged restraint. Even leaders of the Free Software Foundation disagree over what to do about the conference.

At one point Safir accused conference organizer Tony Stanco, associate director of the Cyber Security Policy & Research Institute at George Washington University, of bowing to pressure to include Microsoft in the conference. "Tony's got to make a decision here -- is he representing George Washington University, or does he want to present the views of free software?" Safir asked. "If Microsoft is using its power and influence to get in the conference, then that's worth investigating."

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.