"Public money, public code for every other government to grab without having to pay for it"
If we would do traffic like we do IT today every city would have their own graphic designer coming up with Stop and Yield signs.
To get from A to B, drivers would have to pass through $BigMac and wait 1 minute with the option to buy a 'meal' and continue on quicker.
I would argue that this is a side effect. The point is: code paid for with taxpayers money is not some proprietary bigco ip.
- less duplication of work (=spending of tax money) between structurally very similar communes
- less lock-in that keeps you bound to that one corp forever (=more incentives for them to deliver good work for the money)
- potential collaboration and improvements from outside actors (private persons, other communes, organizations, companies, ...)
The idea is basically: if we need to spend money for software anyway, why not develope it in a way that produces lasting value for society as a whole?
I agree with your general premise, though.
It's not only that others can grab your software for free, it's also the other way round - resulting in way fewer effort, cost, increased stability/quality etc for everyone.