Trialing the open source franchise model
,----[ Quote ]
| It appears that a group of European suppliers are giving it a go, at
| least on a trial basis.
|
| The Open Forum Europe (TOF-e) has been set up to run until the end
| of May to "test the commercial viability of a framework that will
| allow for more confidence and commercial clarity of the whole
| Open Source process".
`----
http://www.businessreviewonline.com/os/archives/2007/02/trialing_the_op.html
Microsoft and its ilk are actively engaged in sabotaging Open Source and
Linux adoption in Europe (among other parts of the world, but that's another
story):
EU report on FLOSS: "FLOSS saves money"
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20070112025016466
European Commission denies favouring open source
,----[ Quote ]
| The Commission's statement comes just days after it was lobbied to
| clarify its position on open source. The Initiative for Software
| Choice (ISC) wrote to the Commission immediately after the
| release of the report urging it to contact the "international
| press" to "set the record straight" over its stance. The ISC's
| external affairs are handled by CompTIA, which is funded by
| several IT vendors including Microsoft.
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
`----
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/30012007/152/european-commission-denies-favouring-open-source.html
EU official joins consultancy serving Microsoft
http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?view=CN&storyID=2006-10-03T134311Z_01_L03693228_RTRIDST_0_TECH-MICROSOFT-OFFICIAL.XML&rpc=66&type=qcna
http://tinyurl.com/h47g3
US ambassador to the EU was former Microsoft lobbyist
,----[ Quote ]
| Before C. Boyden Gray was named as George Bush's number one person in
| Europe, he was a lawyer lobbying on behalf of Microsoft.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=34706
US politicians go to bat for Microsoft
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/26/microsoft_eu_political_lobbying/
EU's Kroes denies vendetta against Microsoft
,----[ Quote ]
| BRUSSELS (Reuters) - EU antitrust chief Neelie Kroes on Tuesday rejected
| an accusation she was pursuing a vendetta against U.S. software giant
| Microsoft Corp. and suspected a "coordinated campaign" to discredit
| her agency.
|
| [...]
|
| Kroes was responding to a letter published by the newspaper from a
| Microsoft business partner who accused the EU Commission of "playing
| games" with Microsoft by raising concerns over its Vista operating
| system that could delay its launch in Europe.
|
| "There appears to be a coordinated campaign to portray the Commission
| in a negative light," she said...
`----
http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/060919/microsoft_eu.html?.v=3
Microsoft Hard-Balling EU Over Vista
,----[ Quote ]
| "This is part of the negotiating strategy," a person familiar with the
| situation told internetnews.com. "They're in a public relations battle."
|
| Microsoft made the same threat to South Korean regulators, but did not
| follow through when they lost that battle.
`----
http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/3631041
IDC (Microsoft-funded study) pronounces Linux unimportant to European economy
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=34542
Open Source Foes In Bed With Abramoff
http://politics.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/10/12/2036223&from=rss
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
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
|
|
