The European Commission has resisted efforts by Microsoft to make it abandon its report into open-source software, it was revealed this week. But the Commission was swayed into allowing a 10-day period for feedback before completing the report.
Harnessing the opportunity to provide feedback, Microsoft produced 25 pages of arguments as to why the report — which quantified the benefits of open source to European organisations — should be shelved. The software giant also commissioned a respected university academic to back its case and enlisted the help of a trade association, CompTIA. The academic produced 45 pages of evidence supporting Microsoft's case, while CompTIA wrote a 40-page submission.
Worth reading are both Rishab Ghosh's comments on the whole shenigans, and the letter to the European Commission from the Initiative for Software Choice. And yes, those tell-tale weasel-words "software choice" do indeed mean that this is an organisation partly funded by Microsoft to do down free software at every opportunity under the guise of "balance", "choice" and - supreme irony - "freedom".
This is American realpolitik all the way.
ReplyDeletePhrases like "detriment to our members' interests", "lacks necessary gravitas", "publicly disabuse press reports", etc. are all too familiar to us Yanks. It's a way for the powerful to justify oppressing the weaker.
I believe your word-of-the-day from a few days ago, Ganking, applies here.
Nice connection.
ReplyDeleteSomeone should send the EU a nicely bound copy of The Ectasy of Influence to highlight the importance of sharing, collaboration and open-source to our culture...
ReplyDeleteGood idea - thanks for the link, I had been meaning to add it myself, you've saved me the trouble.
ReplyDelete