Consumer advocate Ralph Nader (news - web sites) asked the Bush administration on Tuesday to use its purchasing power to fight Microsoft Corp.'s dominance in computer operating systems and office-productivity software. By changing its spending habits, Nader told Reuters, the federal government could accomplish what it had failed to do in the long-running and costly antitrust case against the Redmond, Washington-based software giant.

"The only consumer in North America who can break up the Microsoft monopoly simply through purchasing strategies is the U.S. government," Nader told Reuters. In a letter to the head of the Office of Management and Budget, Nader asked the Bush Administration to disclose how much it spends on Microsoft products such as operating systems and word processors, and suggested a variety of remedies the federal government could take to encourage competition. Unlike big-ticket items such as jet fighters, office software purchases are commonly made on a decentralized basis and are not usually subject to a competitive bid process, Nader said. Representatives for Microsoft and OMB were not immediately available for comment.