Whatever the BSA Says, FRAND is no Friend of Europe
I see that my old mates the Business Software Alliance are a tad concerned that the European Commission might do something sensible with the imminent European Interoperability Framework (EIF):
A better acronym for royalty-free, reasonable-and-non-discriminatory licensing would be ZRAND. "FRAND" tends to provide an undeserved positive connotation due to the ambiguity between free-of-cost and freedom (whereas "zero" RAND suggests a more appropriate association with the licenses' somewhat nugatory value).
A better acronym for royalty-free, reasonable-and-non-discriminatory licensing would be ZRAND. "FRAND" tends to provide an undeserved positive connotation due to the ambiguity between free-of-cost and freedom (whereas "zero" RAND suggests a more appropriate association with the licenses' somewhat nugatory value).
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@saulgoode: well, usually the F stands for "Fair", rather than "free", but you're right that there's a fatal attraction to the word "free".
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