Just got off the phone to NSAI. Ireland's vote was for approval. Worse, it
now looks certain that MS's OOXML will get overall approval.
A running tally of votes is being kept on Andy Updegrove's blog:
http://www.consortiuminfo.org/standardsblog/article.php?story=2008032907145…
The NSAI's vote in September was for disapproval, and their press release
said that they would only change their vote:
"If the Technical Comments are satisfactorily resolved and incorporated
into a new draft".
IFSO wrote to NSAI reminding them of this earlier this month:
http://www.ifso.ie/documents/correspondence/20080311iso-ooxml2.pdf
(Thanks to Ben North for getting that letter written and sent)
Given the mess that was the Ballot Resolution Meeting (BRM) in Geneva (where
it was decided there was just no time to discuss the problems, so ISO just
had a bulk vote and approved everything without review), I'm very surprised
that anyone could conclude that Ireland's Technical Comments were resolved.
I put links to reports of the BRM in a blog entry:
http://www.fsfe.org/de/fellows/ciaran/ciaran_s_free_software_notes/reading_…
More news is appearing on:
http://groklaw.net/http://www.noooxml.org/
Allegations of vote irregularities among European national standards bodies
are rife.
--
Ciarán O'Riordan (+32 477 36 44 19) \ Support Free Software and GNU/Linux
http://ciaran.compsoc.com/ _________ \ Join FSFE's Fellowship:
http://fsfe.org/fellows/ciaran/weblog \ http://www.fsfe.org
-------- Original Message --------
This is the KEI Statement on the expected ISO approval of the OOXML
standard. Jamie
"It appears as if OOXML will be approved by the ISO. If so, we are
disappointed. Microsoft's control over document formats has destroyed
competition on the desktop, and the fight over OOXML is really a fight
over the future of competition and innovation.
At this point, few software programs can implement the OOXML standard,
and it is likely that Microsoft will use this standard as a weapon
against its competitors, by introducing various obscure elements of the
standard into MS Word and PowerPoint documents, so that only their
products can be trusted. They have been doing for this decades already.
The TransAtlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD) will meet with European and
US trade officials next week and likely recommend procurement policies
that would look at the practical implementation of document formats.
Specifically, they will ask that procurement be limited to software
programs that support multiple effective implementations for word
processing on at least each of the three leading operating systems
for consumers. This is a test that OOXML does not meet."
Jamie
--
_____________________________
James Love, Knowledge Ecology International (KEI)
http://www.keionline.org, mailto:james.love@keionline.org
voice +1.202.332.2670, fax +1.202.332.2673, US mobile +1.202.361.3040,
Geneva mobile +41.76.413.6584
When everyone thinks the same, no one thinks. Bill Walton remix of
Walter Lippmann
_______________________________________________
A2k mailing list
A2k(a)lists.essential.org
http://lists.essential.org/mailman/listinfo/a2k
Hi Folks,
This is a bit off-topic for the fsfe-ie list, but I thought that this
might be a good place to find people who know what I'm looking for.
I have been asked to give a talk next week to the legal advice center
in TCD about "file sharing". As part of this I want to work in some
mention of creative commons, and I'd like to have some specific
resources to send people to.
CC licensed music is of particular interest, but movies books, photos,
etc. are also useful. Of course I could just tell them to use Yahoo!'s
CC search, but I would like to direct them to a few quality
resources. The music and film sections at archive.org, for example.
Any suggestions?
--
Glenn Strong
<URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/03/19/patents_software_online/ >
"Symbian has won a High Court judgement against the UK Intellectual Property Office (UK IPO) which refused to grant it a software patent.
The company applied to protect how a computer indexes functions which can then be used by different applications on the device.
Mr Justice Patten said the case showed the difference between UK and European patent law. In Europe it is possible to patent software inventions while in the UK it is very difficult - the European Patent Office has granted Symbian a patent for its invention, but the UK turned it down.
The UK Intellectual Property Office (the civil servants previously known as the Patent Office) believes the judgement failed to properly apply the "Aerotel/Macrossan" test - a 2006 case which led to a new, four step test to check applications.
UK IPO said it would therefore appeal the decision in order to get clarification from the Court of Appeal.
Before the Court of Appeal's ruling, the UK IPO will continue to use the Aerotel/Macrossan test but will "take account" of the Symbian decision.
The Government press release is here."
It has been an exceptional month. The European Commission has fined
Microsoft an additional 899 million Euro for continuing to restrict
access to interoperability information prior to October 2007 and the
ISO Ballot Resolution Meeting in Geneva failed to address most of the
serious issues and ultimately ended up waving through the bulk of ECMA
responses without review. Public awareness of issues relating to
software freedom have been raised dramatically.
Perhaps the key word for this month is precedent. The EC anti-trust
fine is the first of its kind in Europe and draws a line regarding
fair access and good corporate behaviour in Europe. The MS-OOXML
process has clearly demonstrated how international standardisation is
struggling to meet current needs. Fairness, access and lack of
restrictions have become central to debates around the evolution of
the digital sphere. New precedents are being set which enshrine these
values, and where such precedents do not exist it is becoming clear
that they need to be created. This is good news for Free Software and
it's good news for society at large.
Shane, FSFE Zurich Office
1. Microsoft's so-called 'interoperability' pledge excludes primary competitors
2. FSFE calls on Microsoft to release interoperability information without restrictions
3. FSFE at FOSDEM in Brussels, Belgium
4. SELF conference in Sofia, Bulgaria
5. FSFE participates in a global day for document liberation
6. FSFE announces the first European Licensing and Legal Workshop
7. Jonas Öberg in Sofia, Bulgaria
8. FSFE Context Briefing on DIS-29500: Deprecated before use?
9. "Fairware" for the Protestant Church in Gemany
10. Late breakfast for Rhineland Fellows
11. RMS in Berlin
FORTHCOMING EVENTS:
12. Free Software in the public sector' training course in Zurich, Switzerland
13. Speech on Free Software licensing and the GPLv3 at OSiM USA
14. FSFE booth at OpenCamp in Rome, Italy
15. Introduction to Free Software licensing' training course in Zurich, Switzerland
16. Strategic implementation of Free Software
1. Microsoft's so-called 'interoperability' pledge excludes primary competitors
The Microsoft pledge to release interoperability information for
flagship products contained little actual news. The announcement
confirmed that Microsoft was planning to use its software patent
portfolio against interoperating products by requiring a patent
license for all commercial activity. This is consistent with its
previous attempts at allowing competition only where it provides no
actual challenge to its monopolies.
http://fsfeurope.org/news/2008/news-20080222-01
2. FSFE calls on Microsoft to release interoperability information without restrictions
The European Commission has fined Microsoft 899 million Euro for
anti-competitive behaviour by continuing to restrict access to
interoperability information. "Microsoft is the last company that
actively promotes the use of software patents to restrict
interoperability. This kind of behaviour has no place in an Internet
society where all components should connect seamlessly regardless of
their origin," says Georg Greve, president of the Free Software
Foundation Europe.
http://fsfeurope.org/news/2008/news-20080228-01
3. FSFE at FOSDEM in Brussels, Belgium
Like the years before, Free Software Foundation Europe had a booth at FOSDEM,
one of the biggest Free Software conferences in Europe. This year FSFE shared
its booth with the Free Knowledge Foundation, a Spanish associate organisation
[1]. About fifteen team members and volunteers from FSFE helped out at the
booth by answering questions and talked to interested people. One of the big
topics was Document Freedom Day, and everyone at the booth helped explain its
importance [2].
[1] http://www.libre.org/
[2] http://www.fsfe.org/en/fellows/michael_kallas/images/fosdem_2008/document_f…
4. SELF conference in Sofia, Bulgaria
Jonas Öberg, vice president of the FSFE, participated in a SELF
conference in Sofia, Bulgaria the 10th of February, where he gave a
talk about e-learning and Free Software. The talk was part of an event
that took place during a SELF board meeting in Sofia, and gathered
teachers and activists from the area.
5. FSFE participates in a global day for document liberation
The Document Freedom Day (DFD) is a global day for Document Liberation
with grassroots action for promotion of Free Document Formats and Open
Standards in general. The DFD was initiated and is supported by a
group of organisations and companies, including, but not limited to,
the Free Software Foundation Europe, ODF Alliance, OpenForum Europe,
IBM, Red Hat and Sun Microsystems, Inc. On 26 March 2008, the Document
Freedom Day will provide a global rallying point for Document
Liberation and Open Standards.
http://fsfeurope.org/news/2008/news-20080220-01http://documentfreedom.org/
6. FSFE announces the first European Licensing and Legal Workshop
FSFE's Freedom Task Force announced the first European Licensing and
Legal Workshop for Free Software will be held on Friday the 11th of
April in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The event is targeted towards
large projects and medium to large enterprises wishing to discuss
their existing licence compliance processes. Parties attending are
expected to contribute to issues ranging from process development
through to optimising purchasing contract language for the benefit of
the European Free Software community.
http://fsfeurope.org/news/2008/news-20080214-01
7. Jonas Öberg in Sofia, Bulgaria
Jonas Öberg, vice president of the FSFE, gave a talk on the 7th of
February in an event about ICT use in public administrations. His talk
was about how to do procurement of Free Software, using knowledge
gained from Sweden, and took place in Sofia, Bulgaria.
8. FSFE Context Briefing on DIS-29500: Deprecated before use?
When ECMA submitted MS-OOXML as ECMA-376 to ISO for fast-track
approval, several countries criticised overlap with the existing ISO
standard ISO/IEC 26300:2006, the Open Document Format (ODF). [...]
Considering that alleged preservation of idiosyncrasies is the stated
reason for the entire DIS-29500 ISO process, FSFE considers it
worthwhile to investigate this claim in greater depth. The result of
this investigation is a compact context briefing.
http://fsfeurope.org/documents/msooxml-idiosyncrasies
9. "Fairware" for the Protestant Church in Gemany
For many years now the churches have supported fair trade. Because of this the
ethical principles of Free Software are a real match with the IT needs of
churches.
A practical start to introducing Free Software was undertaken on the 23th of
February. In an event of the Protestant Church in Verden (near Bremen, Germany),
the use of "Fairware", as they called Free Software, was discussed. Bernhard
Reiter gave a lecture on Free Software and answered several questions of the
interested audience. The event was very successful. Thanks to Andreas Bergmann
and Detlev Rakebrand who have organized the event and are promoting Free
Software within their communities.
10. Late breakfast for Rhineland Fellows
At 2008-03-02 the second "late breakfast" of the Fellows at Rhineland took
place in the Duesseldorf Office of FSFE. There were twice as many people as
at the first "late breakfast". Upgrade problems, free geo data and IT
security in enterprises were the topics discussed while enjoying coffee
and breakfast . There are now plans to make this a regular event.
11. RMS in Berlin
On his visit to Europe, Richard Stallman gave a speech on the history
and philosophy of Free Software in Berlin. The local Fellowship group
together with the newthinking-store put up a booth to inform the
visitors about ways to participate in the Free Software movement.
Around 200 people listened to Richard Stallman's speech, which was
concluded with a round of questions and the recitation of "The Free
Software Song"[1]. The Fellowship group really enjoyed the speech and
the fruitful discussions with the participants afterwards.
http://www.gnu.org/music/free-software-song.html
FORTHCOMING EVENTS:
12. Free Software in the public sector' training course in Zurich, Switzerland
Shane Coughlan, FTF coordinator, will deliver a training course
examining how Free Software can be used in the public sector on Friday
the 7th of March. The course will be delivered between 13:00-16:00 at
the FSFE Zurich office. There is no cost to attend this course, but
due to limited space all those wishing to come should register their
interest beforehand through the FTF contact form.
http://fsfeurope.org/projects/ftf/form.html
13. Speech on Free Software licensing and the GPLv3 at OSiM USA
Shane Coughlan, FTF coordinator, will deliver a speech entitled
'Analysing Whether GPLv3 Has Improved Free Software Licensing' at OSiM
USA on Tuesday the 11th of March in San Francisco. The speech will
cover topics ranging from the creation of GPLv3 and its place in
licensing through to examining the place of GPLv3 in tomorrow's
market.
14. FSFE booth at OpenCamp in Rome, Italy
The FSFE will be present with a booth at the OpenCamp event
organized by the Sapienza Linux User Group in Rome on 15th March
(http://barcamp.org/OpenCamp). The booth will offer FSFE
merchandising, information about current activities and a meeting
point for all interested people and Fellows.
15. Introduction to Free Software licensing' training course in Zurich, Switzerland
Shane Coughlan, FTF coordinator, will deliver a training course to
introduce people to Free Software licensing concepts on Friday the
21st of March. The course will be delivered between 13:00-16:00 at the
FSFE Zurich office. There is no cost to attend this course, but due to
limited space all those wishing to come should register their interest
beforehand through the FTF contact form.
http://fsfeurope.org/projects/ftf/form.html
16. Strategic implementation of Free Software
On the 2nd of April FSFE and its Freedom Task Force (FTF) will give a
course on the Strategic implementation of Free Software in Business in
collaboration with the Internet Academy. The course will take place in
Stockholm, Sweden. Those wishing to come should register their
interest beforehand through the FTF contact form.
http://fsfeurope.org/projects/ftf/form.html
You can find a list of all FSFE newsletters on
http://www.fsfeurope.org/news/newsletter.en.html
Copyright (C) FSFE. Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire
article is permitted in any medium, provided this notice is preserved.
Here - http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/news.nv?storyid=single10510
there is an article -
Dublin firm dispels European patent myth
12.03.2008 - Trademark and patent attorneys Cruickshank have told executives from Yahoo!, Microsoft, MIT, Berkeley and Stanford that contrary to popular belief, software is patentable in Europe......
“It’s a myth that software is not patentable in Europe. In fact, the European Patent Office (EPO) issues software patents regularly.
“Confusion arises because of differences in the European requirements for software patent applications compared to those in the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)......
Bye, Barry
The result, by Andy Updegrove:
http://www.consortiuminfo.org/standardsblog/article.php?story=2008022905531…
Sean Daly interviews Andy Updegrove
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20080229171250199
I'm no ISO procedure expert, but my understanding is: after 5 days of
discussion, the voting members at ISO's Ballot Resolution Meeting decided
not to approve the OOXML specification. There simply wasn't enough time to
discuss the numerous problems and the numerous proposed solutions. The
final decision will be in 30 days time, but since the issues raised last
September are officially unresolved, rejection by ISO is almost certain.
In the interview, Andy explains the importance of standards in society
(access to government), why the ISO process was creaking under the strain of
this application, and some comments on anti-trust law.
And if this puts you in the celebrating spirit, get involved in Document
Freedom Day this March 26th: http://documentfreedom.org/
--
Ciarán O'Riordan (+32 477 36 44 19) \ Support Free Software and GNU/Linux
http://ciaran.compsoc.com/ _________ \ Join FSFE's Fellowship:
http://fsfe.org/fellows/ciaran/weblog \ http://www.fsfe.org