Forgot your password?

Close
typodupeerror

EC Takes One Step Forward, Two Steps Back in Openn->

Submitted by Andy Updegrove
Andy Updegrove writes "Last Thursday the European Commission took a major step forward on the â½Â½Â½Â½ÂŽÂ"opennessâ½Â½Â½Â½Â½ scale. The occasion was the release of a new version of the European Interoperability Framework (EIF) which definitively endorsed the use of open source friendly standards when providing â½Â½Â½Â½ÂŽÂ"public servicesâ½Â½Â½Â½Â½ within the EU.This result was rightly hailed by open source advocates like Open Forum Europe. But the EC took two steps backward in every other way as it revised its definition of "open standards,"presumably reflecting IT industry efforts to preserve the value of software patents. For whatever reason, it appears that the EC has abandoned the leadership position it previously maintained for setting the bar on standards suitable for government adoption. Those that believe that open standards, liberally defined, are vital to open government will now have to look for innovation and leadership elsewhere."
Link to Original Source
Microsoft

Oracle's ODF Plug-in Pricing: What's up with That?

Submitted by Andy Updegrove
Andy Updegrove writes "In 2005, Massachusetts CIO Peter Quinn set off the biggest standards war of the last decade when he decided that ODF did, and OOXML didn't, meet the Commonwealth's definition of an open standard. Implementing that decision proved to be much harder, but into the breach rode Sun Microsystems, which created the first and still most populart plug-in to provide reasonable interoperability between ODF-compliant software and Microsoft’s Office. Without it, ODF would doubtless never have made the advances that it has. So what will be the impact on ODF now that Oracle wants to charge the same fee for the plug-in that it does for a new, supported copy of Sun's former StarOffice productivity suite? The impacts will be both good and bad, but the best news is that while Massachusetts and Sun were essential to launching ODFon its way, neither the Commonwealth's procurement policies nor Oracle's plug-in pricing matter that much for ODF today."
Microsoft

Alex Brown: "the entire OOXML project is now surel

Submitted by Andy Updegrove
Andy Updegrove writes "Those who followed the ODF-OOXML Standards War will remember that Alex Brown, the Convener of the Geneva Ballot Resolution Meeting, helped broker the final approval of OOXML as a formal, global standard. He's defended his actions and OOXML ever since — until now. Yesterday, Alex wrote a blog entry stating that "without a change of direction the entire OOXML project is now surely heading for failure," and even recommending that antitrust regulators take note. If he's right, then the whole ODF-OOXML saga will prove to have been less a gripping drama than a rather pathetic farce.

[Alex's blog post is here: http://www.adjb.net/post/Microsoft-Fails-the-Standards-Test.aspx%5D"
Novell

Elliott Associates and Novell: Here's What Happen->

Submitted by Andy Updegrove
Andy Updegrove writes "Hostile tender offers are understandably rare in the technology industry, primarily due to the difficulty of retaining key talent. However, IBM's successful integration of Lotus Development in 1995 proved that it could be done. But can a hedge fund pull off such a result? Probably not, at least in the face of a determined White Knight. That's because the value of a Novell merged with a welcome partner will be higher than the break up value of a Novell bleeding talent like a sieve. The result? The White Knight will be able to outbid the corporate raider. Moreover, the value of a second trusted source for a well-supported commercial distribution of Linux will lead potential partners to consider stepping in that otherwise would be content to stand by the sidelines. Paradoxically, Microsoft has a powerful interest in the survival of a vibrant Suse Linux distribution as well. If it loses that bridge to its enterprise customers with heterogeneous environments, it will need to begin all over again — and with who? If a bidder other than Elliot ultimately takes home the prize, it will provide an interesting indication of how important Linux is to the major IT vendors today, as well as some serious insight into who cares about Linux the most."
Link to Original Source

Comment: Yes, it does stand as a precedent (Score 4, Informative) 36

by Andy Updegrove (#31201876) Attached to: Jacobsen v Katzer Settled — Victory For F/OSS
Yes - the rulings made by the court do stand as precedents, notwithstanding the fact that the case settled. What the settlement means is that those rulings can no longer be appealed. If it had settled before going to court, then the settlement would have been irrelevant, but that's not the case here. - Andy
Software

A Big Victory for F/OSS: Jacobsen v. Katzer is Set-> 2

Submitted by Andy Updegrove
Andy Updegrove writes "A short while ago the parties to one of the most closely watched FOSS cases filed a settlement agreement with the U.S. Federal District Court for the Northern District of California ending one of the most important FOSS legal cases to date. That case is Jacobsen vs. Katzer, and the settlement marks a complete victory for Jacobsen, a member of the Java Model Railroad Interface (JMRI) Project. Jacobsen's victory establishes several important rights for the first time in the U.S.: the right to prevent their copyright and authorship acknowledgments from being removed from their code, and the right to collect damages if the terms of the licenses they choose are violated. Until now, those rights had never been tested in court. Read on for the details of the case, the litigation, and the settlement."
Link to Original Source
Movies

Here We Go Again: Video Standards War 2010->

Submitted by Andy Updegrove
Andy Updegrove writes "Think of the words "standards war," and if you're of a certain age you're likely to think of the battle between the Betamax and VHS video tape formats. Fast forward, and you'll recall we just finished another video standards war between most of the same companies, this time between HD DVD and Blu-ray. Well, here we go again, except this time its the movie studios that are duking it out, and DRM issues is a big part of it. On the one side are five of the six major studios, dozens of cable, hardware, software, distribution and device vendors, and on the other side there's just Disney — and maybe Apple as well, and that's enough to have the other side worried."
Link to Original Source
Microsoft

All Quiet on the CodePlex Front: 100 Days No Board->

Submitted by Andy Updegrove
Andy Updegrove writes "As you may recall, Microsoft announced back on September 10 that it had launched a new, open source organization called the CodePlex Foundation. Since then, it has announced Project Acceptance and Operation Guidelines, its first "Gallery" (a project area), supporting Microsoft's ASP.NET, and two projects in that gallery. But it had also launched in a "less than open" state with an interim Board of Directors, and a promise to elect a permanent one in 100 days. Problem is, December 19 — the 100 day mark — passed quietly, with no announcement of a new Board or a status update on the other goals it had set for the launch period. So what's up with the CodePlex Foundation, and its pledge to promptly transition into a more independent organization?"
Link to Original Source

Further Reflections on the CodePlex Foundation: Th->

Submitted by
Andy Updegrove
Andy Updegrove writes "An analysis of the flawed structure of Microsoft's new CodePlex Foundation that I wrote resulted in quite a long discussion here. But let's assume that Microsoft actually surrendered control. Would there be a useful role for the CodePlex Foundation to play, and if so, what role would that be? The answer to the first question is yes, and if Microsoft were to accept my second set of recommendations, the community might even want to join in."
Link to Original Source

It is sweet to let the mind unbend on occasion. -- Quintus Horatius Flaccus (Horace)