<nettime> Opposition to open source acceptance

[ernie yacub <yacinfo@mars.ark.com>]

 http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/08/14/1029113946534.html

Coalition formed to fight growing Open Source acceptance
August 14 2002

A coalition calling itself The Initiative for Software Choice has been set
up by companies which develop proprietary software, to counter the move by
various governments to explore the use of Open Source software in the
public sector.

The chair of the coalition is the Computer Technology Industry Association
but reports indicate that Microsoft is leading the charge. Other members
include CompTIA (USA), Adonix (France), Intel (USA), IXOS (Germany), Open
Solutions (Argentina), Paradigma (Brazil), Peru Software Association -
APESOFT (Peru), Procwork (Brazil), Software Innovation (Norway),
Update.com (Austria) and VSI (Germany)

France, Germany, Peru and a number of Asian countries have passed, or are
thinking of passing bills that would encourage use of open source software
in the public sector. On Monday, India's Centre for Development of
Advanced Computing, which makes supercomputers used for heavy-duty data
processing, said it had decided to use Linux in a high-performance
computing lab.

The coalition says in its mission statement that "Software innovation is a
driving force for economic, social, and technological progress. Allowing
multiple software development, business, and licensing models compete on
their merits is the best way to promote software innovation, and ensure
that customers - both private and public - have a range of choices in
their software procurement decisions.

"Lately, concerns have emerged that policy makers, through government
procurement policies, research funding or standards policies, may seek to
favor one software development model over another. We encourage
governments to consider four neutral principles supported by CompTIA's
member companies as well as other companies and industry associations that
have joined our Initiative for Software Choice."

The principles outlined by the coalition make it clear that Open Source
software, more particularly that created under the General Public License,
which makes it impossible for developers to appropriate code and use it in
commercial products without disclosing the source, is being targeted




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