summary of Re: Beyond 'open standard'

Patrick Ohnewein patrick.ohnewein at lugbz.org
Fri Jul 21 18:18:08 UTC 2006


Am Freitag, den 21.07.2006, 20:27 +0300 schrieb Yavor Doganov:
> I don't think that this is a valid argument.  It is fairly difficult
> to propagate the term "Free Software" as well.  Everything is plagued
> by "Open Source", including the companies you refer to.  It doesn't
> mean that we should give up because PR departments, large/small
> companies, journalists, and unfortunately, Free Software developers,
> use the wrong term.

You are surely right about the terms "Open Source" and "Free Software".

I am asking myself if the term "Open Standard" would be fine for us. I
followed long discussions trying to create some definition of Open
Standard or Free Standard. Today we have no definition and just an
undefined term "Open Standard" to which people gets more and more
familiar.

It's very difficult to propagate a term, when another is already known
for a sort of concept. It is much easier to introduce a term with the
concept than renaming the already familiar term of a concept.

> So, even if it would be difficult to propagate a new term, I think
> it's worth the effort.

You are right: If the the term "Open Standard" is not acceptable for the
Free Software community, it will be worth to fight for the introduction
of a new term.

My question is: Is "Open Standard" an acceptable term for the Free
Software community and can we create our definition under the label
"Open Standard"?

Happy hacking!
Patrick





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