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Patented Vs open source in SA
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| In March 2008, the Third Idlelo Conference on Free and Open Source Software
| and Digital Commons was held in Dakar, Senegal by the Free Software and Open
| Source Foundation for Africa (FOSSFA). South Africa's then Minister for
| Public Service and Administration, Geraldine Fraser Moleketi, stated: “The
| adoption of open standards by governments is a critical factor in building
| interoperable information systems which are open, accessible, and fair and
| which reinforce democratic culture and good governance practices”. The
| minister further said patents are “exclusive and anticompetitive in their
| nature” and there is no reason to believe society benefits from monopolies
| granted on computer program inventions.
|
| It seems clear there is some disunity within government and its agencies,
| when the Innovation Fund through its funding instruments is urging the filing
| of patent applications in the ICT sector to enhance economic growth and
| competitiveness, while on the other hand a government minister suggests that
| patenting of computer program inventions is undesirable.
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http://www.itweb.co.za/sections/industryinsight/software/devilliers090331.asp?S=Software&A=SFT&O=google
"I feel we are much too smug in dealing with Novell. Perhaps they didn’t hurt
us in DOS yet — but it’s not because of product or their trying. It’s because
we already had the OEMs wrapped up."
--Jim Allchin, Microsoft
Related:
SA minister slams software patents
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| In a taped address for the Idlelo 3 conference, Fraser-Moleketi said
| that “open standards are a critical factor in building interoperable systems
| that are important to governments … In South African we have a document - the
| minimum interoperability standards - which includes the use of open document
| format or ODF.”
|
| Fraser-Moleketi pointed out that ODF was adopted as an ISO standard in 2006.
| She said that it was “unfortunate that the leading vendor of proprietary
| office software, which enjoys considerable dominance in the market, chose not
| to participate and support ODF in its products but rather to develop its own
| competing document standard, which is now also awaiting judgement in the ISO
| process.
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http://www.tectonic.co.za/?p=2304
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