The first part of the hearing in the appeal procedure by Microsoft Vs the EC has finished yesterday at 12.30pm. The Court heard from Jeremy Allison, introduced by Carlo Piana from the Milan-based Tamos & Piana law firm, on behalf of the Free Software Foundation Europe.
Allison's intervention has been very clear: Microsoft has worked closely with the Samba Team in the past to achieve interoperability between Windows systems and other operating system (including GNU/Linux). "The SAMBA team and the FSFE are simply asking for the EC to protect European consumers and to re-establish collaboration towards a free and competitive market", says Stefano Maffulli, Chancellor of the Italian Chapter of the FSFE. Moreover: "Neither the SAMBA Team, nor the FSFE (which is representing SAMBA interests in the hearing), have ever asked to see any part of Microsoft's source code. All that European consumers need is to know the communication standards (protocols) used by Microsoft Windows systems to implement their network services. This is in order to allow non-Windows computer systems to interoperate with Microsoft Windows systems."
The full text of the intervention is available by request; just write to:
press-it@fsfeurope.org
The text will be soon made available on the FSFE website:
FSFE members are available for interviews and further details.
Contacts:
Stefano Maffulli <maffulli at fsfeurope.org> Tel: +39 02 34 537 127 Fax: +39 02 34 531 282 Cel: +39 347 14 93 733
About the Free Software Foundation Europe:
The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) is a charitable non-governmental organisation dedicated to all aspects of Free Software in Europe. Access to software determines who may participate in a digital society. Therefore the Freedoms to use, copy, modify and redistribute software - as described in the Free Software definition- allow equal participation in the information age. Creating awareness for these issues, securing Free Software politically and legally, and giving people Freedom by supporting development of Free Software are central issues of the FSFE. The FSFE was founded in 2001 as the European sister organisation of the Free Software Foundation in the United States.
Further information: http://www.fsfeurope.org