http://www.opensource.org/node/511
In case you've been out of the loop, a coalition of "intellectual property" proponents has recommended putting countries on the IPR watchlist for promoting open source -- in particular, Indonesia. The OSI has put out a paper, rather belatedly IMHO. In any event, here's a choice quote: <excerpt> Open source software is today a part of every commercial software solution. IIPA's assertion that expecting use of open source software "denies many legitimate companies access to the government market" is a desperate distortion of the truth. It requires a suspension of belief in core suppliers like IBM, Oracle, Red Hat, Microsoft, HP - and most others - all of whom have already integrated open source into their business in one of the ways Gartner describes. To say it "undermines [the software market's] long-term competitiveness" beggars belief, given the enormous competitive impetus the industry has received from the relaxation of lock-in and the introduction of new competitive innovation from open source. </excerpt> Death to the IIPA! -- Daniel O. Escasa independent IT consultant and writer contributor, Free Software Magazine (http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com) personal blog at http://descasa.i.ph Twitter page at http://www.twitter.com/silverlokk If we choose being kind over being right, we will be right every time. _________________________________________________ Philippine Linux Users' Group (PLUG) Mailing List http://lists.linux.org.ph/mailman/listinfo/plug Searchable Archives: http://archives.free.net.ph
