[Fsfe-ie] EU talks with Sun and MS about standards for "interchange of data between administrations"

[James Heald]

Anyone else feel that there is (at least) one other set of voices which 
could/should have been invited to be in on this discussion ?


http://europa.eu.int/ISPO/ida/jsps/index.jsp?fuseAction=showDocument&parent=news&documentID=2387

"Around 25 representatives from Member States and Accession Countries
joined together with Commission Officials to listen to and to discuss
the need for open document formats with representatives of Sun and
Microsoft. The basis for the discussions was a recent report
commissioned by the IDA Programme that will be issued shortly. This
report looks at issues related to document formats and interoperability
in the context of the particular requirements put forward by Public
Administrations in Europe. The purpose of the meeting was to give SUN
and Microsoft, which the report had identified as the major providers of
document formats used in public administrations, an opportunity to
comment and clarify issues raised in the report and to discuss options
for policy recommendations with national participants. Issues that were
touched upon during the presentation were differences in the use of XML
technology by the two companies, the openness of the formats, legal
terms and questions related to standardisation".