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Leaked Letter — BSA Pressures Europe To Kill Open Standards

Posted by Soulskill on from the open-and-shut-investigation dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The Business Software Alliance is trying to kill open standards. Free Software Foundation Europe has gotten hold of a letter in which the BSA tries to bully the European Commission into removing the last traces of support for open standards from its IT recommendations to the public sector. FSFE published the BSA's letter (PDF), and picked apart its arguments one by one."

5 of 156 comments (clear)

  1. Seems pretty simple to me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The documents the BSA is complaining about apparently give preference to "open specifications" that don't have the complication of software patents, that are freely implementable without licensing fees, etc. They aren't saying that software or standards with software patents and licensing fees are excluded from competition, only that the open ones are given preference over ones that aren't.

    It's all about saving money and avoiding unpleasant surprises (patent trolls) after a standard is deployed. What the hell is wrong with that?

    1. Re:Seems pretty simple to me by betterunixthanunix · · Score: 5, Insightful

      However, the EU could easily solve the patent troll issue when it comes to software: they could simply not recognize software patents.

      --
      Palm trees and 8
  2. Repugnant by amanicdroid · · Score: 5, Insightful

    While it's easy to laugh at optimistic young people that want to "make the world a better place," I have nothing but total disdain and condemnation for those that want to make it worse.

    I'm looking at you BSA and cell phone makers that use weird plugs.

    1. Re:Repugnant by Twinbee · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Well said. Open source software is one thing, but open standards, (especially when it comes to hardware) is so critical in saving billions of pounds from the scourge of UWS (Unnecessary Work Syndrome).

      I feel that we're 'lucky' to have say, USB as a standard in connectors. It saves an untold amount of time, development and hassle. I think very long and hard before I buy a device these days which doesn't support charging through USB.

      --
      Why OpalCalc is the best Windows calc
  3. Reasonable and non-Discriminatory isn't by selven · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Any royalty above zero is inherently discriminatory against small companies and startups. The FSF correctly point out that the amount of capital needed to start a software company is very small, so having to pay a royalty on top of that significantly increases the amount of capital needed. This is just an attempt by large companies to maintain their monopolies and prevent competition from even entering the playing field.