It would be easy to say that the system saddled with corruption. I could write countless stories. Interestingly most corruption is not at the higher levels, but at the middle and low levels: the consultant that can only influence but clearly has an hidden agenda. The secretary that is responsible to send out request for budgets for material which sends it in a way that only a certain one can respond, and so forth... Mostly impossible to prove, of course. And even if it was possible to prove, the justice system would takes many years, anyway.

It was impressive how many deals would pan out as the worse possible for the purchasing institution. Indeed, I left IT in Portugal mostly because I could not stand this anymore. Probably the most important (and best) decision in my life (going to science).

That being said there is also this firm belief that free software is no good. And it makes sense: for people that never give anything, for people that have little pride and professionalism in their work it is difficult to envision a world where giving and ethics can work.

Furthermore some people are dumb: they fail to see that business models can be developed around giving away the product and selling services. Indeed they are uber dumb: most closed source companies make much money from the services that they sell later (thus, this is even a model used by closed source - just ask Oracle...).

Yes, there is corruption. But do not forget stupidity.