begin oe_protect.scr
Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> espoused:
> Study: open source needs official support; Lobbyist
> disagrees with "flawed" conclusions
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
>| The study, commissioned by the European Commission, Directorate
>| General Enterprise and Industry, is but a small part of the larger
>| FLOSSPOLS project that aims to keep the EU a leader in global
>| development of open source software.
>|
>| [...]
>|
>| Now, the ISC is widely regarded as a shill for Microsoft, although
>| the member list also includes companies like Intel, Autodesk, and
>| RSA Security (now an EMC subsidiary). The 300-strong member list is
>| mostly padded with lesser lights such as Yapi ve Kredi Bankasi(
>| Turkey), ThreeSixtyDegreez (Pakistan), and Datoprogrammu Apgads
>| (Latvia). The institute pushes hard for the right to patent
>| software, alongside regular bashings of open source businesses.
> `----
>
> http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20061017-8011.html
>
> Also see the very recent proof of Microsoft lobbying in Europe:
>
> Leaked letter warns of open source 'threat to eco-system'
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
>| leaked letter to the European Commission has revealed the extent of
>| lobbying by proprietary software groups to prevent the widespread
>| adoption of open-source software.
>|
>| Sent in response to a recent report on the role of open-source
>| software in the European economy, Microsoft-funded pressure
>| group, the Initiative for Software Choice (ISC) warned of
>| potentially dire effects if too much encouragement was given
>| to open source software development.
> `----
>
> http://www.techworld.com/news/index.cfm?RSS&NewsID=7109
>
> Such reports clearly illustrate why news on the competition that
> Linux is facing is highly relevant. The other side concentrates
> on bashing Open Source and Linux rather than boast own merits.
>
The /only/ way which Microsoft can compete with FLOSS is by doing the
above, underhand, tactics. By propagating the news as you are doing,
Roy, you're actually addressing the above problem. The method being
that those intended to be swayed or bribed by the above activities into
making inappropriate decisions will instead have a fuller set of
information available. Amongst other things, this is one reason why
groklaw, eff, gnu and similar organisations have been so important.
--
| Mark Kent -- mark at ellandroad dot demon dot co dot uk |
consultant, n.:
Someone who knowns 101 ways to make love, but can't get a date.
|
|
