Tuesday saw has been involved for ten years now, after Microsoft had finally released interoperability information after years of dragging its feet, and the Commission had fined the company the record amount of EUR 899 million. But yesterday saw the parties back in Luxembourg, in a hearing room on the eight floor of the European 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 Samba team’s excellent Jeremy Allison writes about the problem that Mono poses for Free Software. The core problem is that Mono implements technology that is very likely patented by Microsoft. Microsoft, in its turn, has now started to aggressively enforce its software patents, as shown by its lawsuit against TomTom earlier this year. Jeremy Read more »
Marcus Dapp has managed to return the Microsoft Windows and Works licences for his new Dell laptop, and to get the money refunded. Apparently, it was quite simple, with only a couple of emails back and forth. Congratulations! Read the story in English or German, and feel free to use his mails to get your Read more »
Samba developer Jeremy Allison has resigned from his position at Novell, as Groklaw reports. He states that he is taking this step to protest against that company’s infamous patent agreement with Microsoft: "Whilst the Microsoft patent agreement is in place there is *nothing* we can do to fix community relations. And I really mean nothing," Read more »