On Saturday 27. August 2016 06.00.24 Muhammed Adel Afzal wrote:
> Is "libre" better defined, and a better match, for EOMA-68? Better than
> "open" standard, I mean. Genuine question .. I have no idea.
>
> Wiki says "open" right now.
Back in the thread about OSHWA ("need help! getting a bit overwhelmed on
lists.oshwa.org"), I wrote that "terms like "open standards" have tried to
retain their credibility, but there are still controversies about "RAND",
"FRAND" and other nasty traps that give claims of openness little face value".
"RAND" means "reasonable and non-discriminatory"; "FRAND" means "fair,
reasonable and non-discriminatory":
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reasonable_and_non-discriminatory_licensing
Both terms are often used by organisations wishing to portray standards they
support (or have proposed) as being inclusive, with the "non-discriminatory"
aspect supposedly prohibiting the kind of shady practice of charging one
licencee one fee and another a higher fee, often to coerce licencees into a
pattern of desired behaviour (which is what Microsoft was apparently doing
with its product licencees, making hardware manufacturers drop competing
software products or pay higher licensing fees).
And the "reasonable" aspect may actually exclude Free Software projects and
organisations because any licensing of the standard may involve a fee that
then prevents the normal distribution of Free Software. By insisting on any
fee, even a small one and even a one-off fee, smaller organisations and
individuals may not be able to carry the burden, particularly if there are
other "FRAND" standards that they also have to licence. And of course, any
licensing fees payable upon distribution are just incompatible with Free
Software, anyway: people can share Free Software after having received it; are
they supposed to collect patent licensing fees from their friends to send to
the standards cartel?
Still, I don't know of any terms that are currently better than "open
standard", although I don't follow discussions about that kind of thing,
either.
Paul
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