Leaked Letter — BSA Pressures Europe To Kill Open Standards 156
An anonymous reader writes "The Business Software Alliance is trying to kill open standards. Free Software Foundation Europe has gotten hold of a letter in which the BSA tries to bully the European Commission into removing the last traces of support for open standards from its IT recommendations to the public sector. FSFE published the BSA's letter (PDF), and picked apart its arguments one by one."
Seems pretty simple to me (Score:5, Insightful)
The documents the BSA is complaining about apparently give preference to "open specifications" that don't have the complication of software patents, that are freely implementable without licensing fees, etc. They aren't saying that software or standards with software patents and licensing fees are excluded from competition, only that the open ones are given preference over ones that aren't.
It's all about saving money and avoiding unpleasant surprises (patent trolls) after a standard is deployed. What the hell is wrong with that?
Repugnant (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm looking at you BSA and cell phone makers that use weird plugs.
Kick the patent trough and the hogs squeal (Score:5, Insightful)
That doesn't mean only open source can participate, it means if you're not willing to waive your patent protections your products can't be included in the specs. There's nothing in the rule that prevents closed source from participating except their own short-sighted greed.
Wow, talk about a sense of entitlement. Change the rules so we can play the way we want to or we're going to take our toys and go home.
Reasonable and non-Discriminatory isn't (Score:5, Insightful)
Any royalty above zero is inherently discriminatory against small companies and startups. The FSF correctly point out that the amount of capital needed to start a software company is very small, so having to pay a royalty on top of that significantly increases the amount of capital needed. This is just an attempt by large companies to maintain their monopolies and prevent competition from even entering the playing field.
Re:Some open standards lobbying in EU isn't credib (Score:2, Insightful)
Speaking of corporate stooges, I'm pretty sure you are paid by Microsoft. The amount of attacks you make on a company seem directly related to how much they contribute to the open source ecosystem.
As if there were any doubt (Score:5, Insightful)
The BSA, just as their brethren the RIAA and MPAA, lie and deceive to press their clients' agenda. Open standards are to the benefit of all and that should be clear and easy to see for even the uninitiated. Open standards are very similar to units of measure in this respect and we can all imagine what things would be like if we didn't operate from the same ones... even worse if a third party controlled the meaning and use of those standards of measure. (weak analogy, I know, but easy enough for the layman to understand)
Re:Kick the patent trough and the hogs squeal (Score:3, Insightful)
talk about a sense of entitlement
Should this surprise you? Think about the group of people you are talking about.
Follow the money AND beware (Score:4, Insightful)
Seldom do profit and "best for country" align.
The BSA is a sponsored organization - sponsored by payments from commercial software makers. It works on their behalf and in their interests. The BSA also allows the commercial software makers to avoid getting their company shown in a negative light as they fight against anything that would reduce profits for the sponsor companies.
Open formats reduce profits for commercial software companies because we (our governments) don't need to pay for expensive "consultants" to create integrations. Integrations are where the consulting cash rolls in. Special requests that can be sold over and over again are another way they make money. With free software and open file formats, customers can most easily switch between different softwares and use different vendors against each other. With closed formats, only 1 software can work with the data. That is want the commercial software vendor wants everyone to believe.
The main issue with open specifications is they don't mandate open file/data formats. That means the details of the implementation can be interpreted by different vendors in very different ways, while still complying with the spec. That basically makes each implementation proprietary and achieves what the commercial software makers want.
That is not a way for governments - and all of us - to get what we really want.
Re:Seems pretty simple to me (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Repugnant (Score:5, Insightful)
Well said. Open source software is one thing, but open standards, (especially when it comes to hardware) is so critical in saving billions of pounds from the scourge of UWS (Unnecessary Work Syndrome).
I feel that we're 'lucky' to have say, USB as a standard in connectors. It saves an untold amount of time, development and hassle. I think very long and hard before I buy a device these days which doesn't support charging through USB.
Re:As if there were any doubt (Score:1, Insightful)
I don't understand. If the BSA's member companies produce superior software, they should make their products read and write these standard formats. If a user really thinks Microsoft Office is the best office productivity suite, he will choose to buy it and use it to produce odf documents. What's the problem?
Enemies of open standards... (Score:3, Insightful)
... are basically enemies of society as a whole. I think it may be time to contain these evil scum permanently.
Re:Seems pretty simple to me (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Seems pretty simple to me (Score:3, Insightful)
We're not talking about dictatorships here, these governments are publicly elected and proclaimed to be representing and those they govern. So there is plenty wrong with preventing their ability to see that open standards get first shot since there are many benefits to the public for doing this. IMO
LoB
Re:Repugnant (Score:3, Insightful)
And as I've gotten older, my interest in and support for Free/Libre/Open Source has only grown, but my interest in and support for open standards has grown even faster. Thus, ultimately, we agree on the extreme importance of open standards (and the inherent wrongness of the BSA's position on this matter) despite the fact that our opinions on FLOSS are moving in different directions. :)
Eeeht eez ahn oowtrehge! (Score:5, Insightful)
Despite all the jokes about Belgian nonexistence and French cowardice the European Commission will never capitulate to bullying.
However flattery, bullshit, and bribery have all been proven to be very effective.
Re:Seems pretty simple to me (Score:1, Insightful)