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MS Has Free Software Removed From U.N. Paper

Posted by Zonk on from the dirty-pool dept.

linumax writes "Microsoft asked for references to free software to be removed from a document presented at last week's UN World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) conference, the software giant admitted on Friday. The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) is unhappy that the document was changed and claims that even though it was on the panel discussing the document, it was not made aware of Microsoft's changes. The document (2.8MB PDF), known as the Vienna Conclusions, discusses issues around IT and creativity. The original draft of the document discussed how the free software model is changing the way people do business."

3 of 303 comments (clear)

  1. Interesting... by LWATCDR · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This is the same UN that should run the DNS root servers since they would be more independent than ICANN?

    --
    See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
  2. What about this? by LaughingCoder · · Score: 4, Interesting

    However, living in a world of new digital economy does not mean that one can break all business rules. ... The rights of creators and the protection of their intellectual property require permission and compensations ... Quality contents should pay back their creators; and not just the intermediaries. They ought not to be nor should they be seen as being available for free. Such appearances are demeaning to creators and producers, authors and developers, and they deny them the fruits of their efforts and work.

    This was extracted from the document under discussion. I would have expected this forum to be much more upset about this transparent advocacy of DRM than it would be about some trifling changes regarding free software. If I didn't know better I might think the disclosure that Microsoft had the "free software" language stricken from the document was done deliberately to draw attention away from it's other content. But we in /. too smart to fall for that little diversion, aren't we?

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    The more you regulate a company, the worse its products become.
  3. So where is the original draft? by Nom+du+Keyboard · · Score: 4, Interesting

    So where is the original draft? Why doesn't some unhappy person release it on the web with a side-by-side comparison to the final draft? Done this way it should truly embarass someone.

    --
    "It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."