[Asolif] DEFENSA ESTANDARES ABIERTOS

Hola, por si os puede resultar de interés leo que "Microsoft is getting its hooks into the EU with an effort to get rid of open source standards" en http://www.computerworlduk.com/community/blogs/index.cfm?entryid=2878&b… Se proponen participar en la consulta que la EU está haciendo sobre "European Interoperability Strategy for European Public Services" para contrarrestar el poder del lobby MS. Podeis hacerlo en, antes del 6 de abril, en: http://ec.europa.eu/yourvoice/ipm/forms/dispatch?form=EIS2a Una sugerencia es utilizar el siguiente texto en el apartado de "General remarks on the EIS or on specific topics that are not adressed by the previous questions" ------------------------ I am writing to you in connection with the European Interoperability Strategy for European Public Services. In my view the central issue for interoperability is the use of open standards that allow open source solutions to be deployed. The Internet established itself as the global network of networks because it was based on open and free standards. Anyone could connect anything to it provided they followed those rules. Open standards were mainly implemented in open source software because existing software companies were at first uninterested in supporting those open standards, which they saw as a threat to their businesses based on lock-in to proprietary standards. It was only later, when those open standards had prevailed, and the Internet had become more widely used, that companies started implementing them and found that they did not, in fact, undermine their business models, but offered an even bigger market for them to serve. This hints at the key role open standards play in computer technology: they create a huge and level playing field for everyone – one that might otherwise be tilted by commercial interests intent on securing a monopolistic advantage through their proprietary technology. What worked on the Internet also applies to government ICT. If completely open and free standards are mandated, any company can adopt them for its products and sell into the market based on them; this ensures there can be no lock-in to a given vendor's technology. If they are completely open, and not patent encumbered, open source solutions can also be deployed; these exert a powerful downward pressure on pricing and effectively serve to keep the traditional software companies “honest” in terms of implementing open standards by offering alternatives. Ensuring that European ICT standardisation is open and free has several other major benefits. First, it means that European software houses can compete on an equal footing with large overseas software companies, which is likely to increase their turnover and employment, particularly among SMEs. Second, deploying open and free standards means that there is no huge outflow of software licensing funds, resulting in more money being retained within the European economy. Open and free standards are also vital for industry; indeed, they are already widely deployed there. For example, both the consumer electronics and automotive industries are using solutions based on Linux to increase standardisation, speed up development and to drive down costs. The rapid uptake of the Android operating system for mobile phones is another instance of where open standards have created a rich and vibrant software ecosystem in a very short time, with enormous benefits to industry and end-users. The European Commission already has an exemplary definition of open standards, which was laid down in the European Interoperability Framework released in 2004: “To attain interoperability in the context of pan-European eGovernment services, guidance needs to focus on open standards. The following are the minimal characteristics that a specification and its attendant documents must have in order to be considered an open standard: The standard is adopted and will be maintained by a not-for-profit organisation, and its ongoing development occurs on the basis of an open decision-making procedure available to all interested parties (consensus or majority decision etc.). The standard has been published and the standard specification document is available either freely or at a nominal charge. It must be permissible to all to copy, distribute and use it for no fee or at a nominal fee. The intellectual property - i.e. patents possibly present - of (parts of) the standard is made irrevocably available on a royalty-free basis. There are no constraints on the re-use of the standard.” I would therefore like to urge the European Commission to retain this excellent definition of open standards in the European Interoperability Strategy for European Public Services. I would also strongly urge an explicit recognition of the value of open source as a way of implementing open standards and hence of bringing the Digital Agenda to fruition. The opening up of borders and the removal of barriers lie at the heart of the European Union project: it is only appropriate that the same grand vision of openness should inform the European Interoperability Strategy. ---------------------------------------------- Un saludo a todos, Ramon Sole