Author Archives: Georg Greve

About Georg Greve

Georg Greve is a technologist and entrepreneur. Background as a software developer and physicist. Head of product development and Chairman at Vereign AG. Founding president of the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE). Previously president and CEO at Kolab Systems AG, a Swiss Open Source ISV. In 2009 Georg was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit on Ribbon by the Federal Republic of Germany for his contributions to Open Source and Open Standards.

Call for letters to ISO re: OpenXML

Posted on 25. January, 2007 by Georg Greve

Following up on the articles "Novells ‘Danaergeschenk’", "Is OpenXML now a standard?", "OpenXML wrap-up after D12K" and "Why criticise OpenXML now?" I would like to make sure that everyone has had a look at the Groklaw article "Deadline Looms to … Continue reading →

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Why criticise OpenXML now?

Posted on 13. December, 2006 by Georg Greve

Some people raised the question why I have chosen to become verbal about OpenXML and Novell’s activities to include support for it in OpenOffice.org, and whether this has to do with the MS/Novell deal and the related public outcry. The … Continue reading →

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Groklaw: The Way Forward (on Open Standards)

Posted on 12. December, 2006 by Georg Greve

As a pleasant surprise this morning, I received news from PJ of Groklaw who unexpectedly picked up on my OpenXML wrap-up after D12K, which is based on feedback to “Novell’s Danaergeschenk” and also “Is OpenXML now a standard?“. Thanks to … Continue reading →

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OpenXML wrap-up after D12K

Posted on 12. December, 2006 by Georg Greve

Publication of my article "Novells Danaergeschenk" on Groklaw.net has spurred quite some interesting reactions, like this interview with the Futurezone of the ORF, Austria’s national public-service broadcaster, titled "Streit ums Dateiformat der Zukunft" ("Controversy about the file format of the … Continue reading →

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Is OpenXML now a standard?

Posted on 8. December, 2006 by Georg Greve

Today we learned that ECMA International has accepted Microsofts OpenXML as an ECMA standard, and that it did so against the vote of IBM. This is bad news for Open Standards, Free Software, competition and consumers. As explained in my … Continue reading →

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Novells “Danaergeschenk”

Posted on 8. December, 2006 by Georg Greve

The following article has just gone up on Groklaw, one of my favorite news sources, and is mirrored here for convenience. Permanent URLs for this article are: http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20061208135621706 http://www.fsfe.org/fellows/greve/freedom_bits/novells_danaergeschenk   German is an interesting language, and many of its words … Continue reading →

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Media merchant media atrocities and their parody

Posted on 3. December, 2006 by Georg Greve

One of the most remarkable features of the German language is that it makes it very easy to create words that are generally understood and come with clear connotations to people who speak the language. One such word that has … Continue reading →

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International Free Software Contest: 3rd Trophées du Libre

Posted on 2. December, 2006 by Georg Greve

Thursday, 30. November 2006, I found myself in the beautiful city of Soissons, France, as a jury member of the 3rd Trophées du Libre. The contest is organised by the Centre Européen de Transfert et de Recherche en Informatique Libre, … Continue reading →

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Back from GPLv3 conference in Tokyo, Japan

Posted on 27. November, 2006 by Georg Greve

Today is my first day back in office after the GPLv3 conference in Tokyo, Japan. Great thanks and compliments go to the Free Software Initiative Japan (FSIJ) for organising such a professional and interesting conference in Akihabara, where dead geeks … Continue reading →

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Free Software ecosystem changes: SUN announcing Java under GPLv2 and FTF

Posted on 13. November, 2006 by Georg Greve

November 2006 might be remembered as a deciding month for Free Software: Novell and Microsoft agree that Novell should pay Microsoft for every single SuSE distribution they sell, a deal that is potentially in conflict with the GNU General Public … Continue reading →

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