In February, I asked whether Free Software is a reason for trade war. A US lobby group, the IIPA, was pressing the US government to punish countries that make use of Free Software by giving them tougher trade deals. Now the US Trade Representative has just published the 2010 Special 301 report [pdf] (USTR). It Read more »
Right ahead of Document Freedom Day, the European Commission has further watered down the European Interoperability Framework, a key document on interoperability and Open Standards. In its present form, it will only cement the current dominant position of proprietary software vendors. Should EIFv2 be adopted in its current form, most citizens will continue to be forced to use proprietary file formats to communicate with their authorities. It will also mean the loss of countless contracts for European small and medium enterprises, with less jobs in Europe as a result.
FSFE is tracking the changes on a comparison page. The analysis clearly shows how the EC’s Directorate General for Informatics has bowed to pressure from proprietary lobbyists. Contact your national government’s CIO, and let her or him know that you’re concerned.
The Business Software Alliance (BSA) has published the latest edition of its "Global Piracy Study". Here it claims that proprietary software makers have lost US$ 1.8 bn due to piracy in the UK alone last year. This is bunk, and they know it, as The Register notes: It’s hard to say how many instances of Read more »