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Europe Is Falling Behind On Open Source
Superentity writes "Computer
Business Review is reporting that an official at the European Commission has called on
Europe to take a more proactive approach to open source or risk missing out, and outlined
steps that European businesses and governments can take to help open source." From the article: "In the US most of the large companies have clear strategies to increase open source in their product lines...In Asia and Latin America, we see that there are many national and regional projects to develop and to work on open source."
I'm all for open source, but to me this sounds like whining. I mean: who hasn't argued with his parents that your buddy could go somewhere and you weren't allowed?
The really depressing thing is: this is the way politics works. Seldom with valid arguments, the people who whine the most get heard the most.
Sigh. Maybe I should whine more and work less...
the pun is mightier than the sword
don't create laws to allow patenting of software
It's not about moving to open platforms. It's about brandishing a stick they can show when negotiating with Microsoft. We're sure to see a silent nice fat contract pretty soon.
The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
What is this guy talking about? Europe needs to take a more proactive approach to open source or risk missing out. So what?? I get to use great open source software from somewhere else?
Whatever..
Sample this!
How about letting the market take care of something for once? As long as they aren't creating legal hurdles for OSS, business will come around.
Most of the larger corporations in Europe are ready to switch, having done extensive development work with FOSS tools internally. However, they never exposed their efforts since the vast majority of governments are completely tied with Microsoft and would never consider anything else.
Doesn't it strike anyone as unusual that it actually makes headlines if a town like Munich turns to linux? Shouldn't there be many more initiatives like that in a healthy market place ?
One reason for this complete lockin is that Europe still hasn't grown together (and might actually fall apart yet more after the failed elections about the new EU constitution in France and Netherlands), and individual governments don't seem to have the guts or the power anymore to stand up against an industy giant and monopolist.
I'm don't think I'm going to ascribe too much weight to the opinions of man who brands entire countries as being "dumb" and yet can't spell consensus.
I think Microsoft and SCO have very clear strategies about open source. So does Linksys and all others on the BusyBox Hall of Shame. A clear strategy to parasatise and cannibalize opensource is never good.
> In Asia and Latin America, we see that there are many national and regional projects to develop and to work on open source.
Have you been to either place ?. FSF India had organized a small conference about free software with people from latin america visiting. The whole idea is to avoid being robbed blind by the New World corporates when it comes to software - not only of money (which could be better spent training their own engineers to write OSS) , but also of their freedom (like lockins that MS Word has brought upon attachements).If Europe is lagging behind , it's very strange that an industrialized continent replete with welfare states fails to motivate it's youngsters to learn with OSS and maybe earn a bit as well. It's a comfort addict situation.
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur
If a guy named Jesus cannot convince people to open source route no one can.
Let's just say that a religiously grounded argument isn't the best possible way to bring northern Europeans onboard for any idea.
Trust the Computer. The Computer is your friend.
There are so many variations between countries that saying one is better than another is entirely subjective. Rather than trying to figure out which one is better, try focussing on how they differ and why.
IMO, Americans have a much better "just do it" approach to life/work and tend to value personal freedom. Europeans OTOH are more focussed on social values, society is more hierarchical and people tend to have a higher regard for style. Britain is halfway between the two.
When it comes to open source, Americans have the usual advantage of having more drive to get things done, whereas Europeans may be more likely to accept the concept due to its wider social implications.
Is that because of litigation costs, larger companies can effectively deter small companies from starting up simply by waving around a fear of legal action. Small businesses, even armed with patents, do not have millions of dollars to defend them. So all the patent system really does is enable large companies to crush small ones. This makes businesses less competitive, not more.
This is my sig.
How about getting rid of pure software patents and letting copyright (software licenses etc) do it's work? There's plenty of protection for software outside of patenting it.
Don't get me wrong, I've no problems with patents in general but being allowed to patent pure software is silly and unnessessary. If the software is a part of a bigger invention (perhaps an interface between the user and the actual machinary of the invention) then that's not so much of a problem; it's not just the software that's being protected in that case.
Silly rabbit
You are not paying attention then. :)
Google, Yahoo, IBM, Novell, Orbitz, The US Army, Tivo, Linksys, Apple, Intel and soon Palm are all using Linux/OSS developing OSS or selling OSS products or selling products that run on OSS.
There are a LOT of big US companies that are working on or with OSS.
Are there any big companies in the EU developing or using OSS software? It may be that I have just not heard of any. BT? Airbus? Phillips? Thompson? If so I would love to hear about them.
Now the EU does have two important Open Source companies even if they are not large. Troll Tech and while I am still not too pleased with how "open" they are they are important. the second is Mandrake/what ever strange name they are now.
Does Suse still count as an EU company
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
That sounds just like the Taliban, except for the ironic inclusion of the adjective "delicious", which gives away the real issue: temptation.
This sort of behavior is only possible in very civilized countries. In most other environments, such young women would soon encounter some unpleasant consequences of their behavior, in the form of predatory and violent males unrestricted by the threat of legal consequences.
The reason the behavior of these young women is so frowned on is that it breaks the mostly unwritten social compact which most nations follow. This compact has been taken to its extreme by the Taliban and other Islamic theocratic goverments: don't tempt us (men) and we'll protect you (women). Tempt us, and all bets are off.
The so-called morals referred to by the OP are in fact a reflection of a primitive culture that hasn't gotten too far beyond the caveman stage. The next time you see a semi-naked, drunk young thing staggering down the street, marvel at what a free and open society you live in, repress the urge to bonk her over the head and drag her back to your apartment, and pat yourself on the back for your own part in a real civilization.
I'm from the UK, and although I'm not following computing-based subjects academically (studying Physics instead), I have a great interest in computers and OSS, I use Linux on my desktop, and I am trying to teach myself to write software. What that means is, I end up hanging around CompSci students in University, and I used to hang around with the computer geeks at school, so I feel I have a pretty good idea of what's going on with the culture there.
OSS, Linux in particular but also BSD, is very much the big thing. Everybody's into it who's serious about computers, experienced young Windows users always say that they really want to learn it and give it a go, it just seems to be cool (believe it or not). I would go so far as to say that it is very rare that I meet a single serious computer enthusiast (i.e. somebody who I'd say is likely to end up in the industry) who is also a Windows fanboy.
So what are the implications of all this? Well basically, it means that there is going to be an abundance of IT professionals who prefer Linux, who advocate Linux, who are more experienced with Linux than with Windows. If this isn't going to be a really big incentive for the uptake of OSS by European businesses, then I don't know what will be. By choosing OSS, they'll open themselves up to a vast pool of enthusiastic, talented individuals, whereas if they stick with Windows, they'll have under-motivated people grudgingly working with what they have, with less experience on that platform.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot: the Computer Science course at my uni (University of Exeter) has mandatory lessons on using OSS-based systems (according to my flatmate who studies CS), so I can imagine that too would definitely contribute to the value of OSS within businesses.
Take away Bush and the NeoCons and the US is a pretty nice place.
The thing we europeans have hard to accept is US external affairs wich are frankly terrible, To manage to go from 9/11 where every european soul felt for the US to current state where US is seen upon as an evil empire is a pretty amazing feat.
We like the US, not just its überlords.
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