FSFE: "Microsoft offers poisoned apple" - "Praises premature in hindsight"
The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) critically reviews
Microsoft's offer to publish source code instead of protocols.
Georg Greve, President of FSFE explains: "The European Commission
asked Microsoft to publish their protocols to allow others to write
interoperable software and to re-establish competition. That does not
appear to have happened, at least the terms under which the protocols
are supposedly available are not clear. What they have done instead is
publish source code, which they weren't asked to do."
In a press release [1] Microsoft announced yesterday "to license all
the Windows Server source code". This would underscore Microsoft's
"commitment to resolve compliance issues".
According to FSFE this would not be of any help, but would cause
additional troubles. Carlo Piana, FSFE's lawyer explains: "This
'commitment' is poisoned - they do it in a way that worsens the
situation for Free Software: Because that source code is under
Microsoft copyright, developers who have seen the source code cannot
reimplement it in Free Software for fear of copyright violation."
Even worse, "Microsoft might try to shut down competition by making
claims of copyright infringement based on the argument that the
developer 'could' have looked at the source code", Piana forecasts.
Georg Greve adds: "Indeed. How exactly are developers supposed to
write interoperable software without looking at the source code if the
specifications are not available? If you eat from that apple, you find
yourself poisoned by their copyright."
After their welcoming of Microsoft's new 'Shared Source' Licences [2]
which were substantially improved over their previous licensing
proposals, FSFE was willing to give Microsoft the benefit of the
doubt.
"It now seems clear this was just another marketing ploy: Yesterday
Microsoft acted like a robber that, when asked to please put away the
gun, tosses you a grenade. Our praise seemed premature in hindsight",
Greve finishes.
[1]
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2006/jan06/01-25EUSourceCodePR.mspx
[2] http://mail.fsfeurope.org/pipermail/press-release/2005q4/000120.html
About the Free Software Foundation Europe:
The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE), founded 2001, is a
charitable non-governmental organisation dedicated to all aspects of
Free Software in Europe. Access to software determines who may
participate in a digital society. The the Freedoms to use, copy,
modify and redistribute software - as described in the Free Software
definition - allow equal participation in the information
age. Creating awareness for these issues, securing Free Software
politically and legally, and giving people Freedom by supporting
development of Free Software are central issues of the FSFE. Further
information about FSFE's work can be found at http://fsfeurope.org,
--
Joachim Jakobs <jj(a)office.fsfeurope.org>
Media Relations - FSF Europe (http://fsfeurope.org)
mobile: +49-179-6919565
Join the Fellowship and protect your freedom! (http://www.fsfe.org)
1. Celebrating the 20th newsletter
2. Georg Greve at LACFREE in Recife in Brazil
3. Henrik Sandklef at Chalmers University in Gothenburg
4. Karsten Gerloff at the 22nd CCC in Berlin
5. Voicing security concerns against personal pressure
6. Free Software energy in Northern Ireland
1. Celebrating the 20th newsletter
This is the 20th edition of the Free Software Foundation Europe's
monthly newsletter. Written by the FSFE team for the community, the
newsletter has become an important means to inform interested people
about FSFE's activities. Thanks to the excellent work of the FSFE
translators team, the newsletter is available in at least 4 languages
every month, most of the time even 5 or 6 languages.
2. Georg Greve at LACFREE in Recife, Brazil
While Brazil generally has a reputation as one of the leading Free
Software nations, the Brazilian Northeast has had very little activity
in this area. That is why UNESCO supported the Latin American and
Caribbean Conference on Free Software Development and Usage (LACFREE)
in Recife, the capital of Pernambuco, a city with social inequality
statistics comparable to Namibia. FSFE's president Georg Greve
participated in no less than four workshops: one about the Free
Software Foundations and our international network, one about Free
Software in Education and Culture, one about Legal issues of Free
Software and one about Free Software and eGovernance, totalling in no
less than four speeches and 12 hours of panel time in just three
days. Additionally, he gave interviews for a state newspaper and a
community radio.
http://www.fsfe.org/fellows/greve/freedom_bits/lacfree_2005
3. Henrik Sandklef at Chalmers University in Gothenburg
Henrik Sandklef held a presentation at the Chalmers University of
Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden. The topic he talked about included
the concept of Free Software, the Free Software Foundations, the GNU
project, and current threats to software freedom like IPRED or DRM.
4. Karsten Gerloff at the 22nd CCC in Berlin
At the Chaos Computer Club's 22nd Chaos Communication Congress in
Berlin, Germany, Karsten Gerloff gave a talk on Free Software, Access to
Knowledge and the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). At
the center of the talk was the importance of Access to Knowledge for
culture and development.
5. Voicing security concerns against personal pressure
Thomas Maus, a German IT security consultant, gave a talk at the Chaos
Communication Congress in which he raised concerns about electronic
health file systems as planned in Germany and possibly other countries.
Last year he did a talk about examining one test system finding major
security problems. Subsequently there have been various attempts to
suppress his questions. The 2005 talk included some details how this was
done. While the problems of the planned health system are a scandal in
itself, this is also a major example that legislation forbidding reverse
engineering or examining digital restriction systems can be and will be
used to make it practially impossible for a public to inspect and
criticise large and vital computer systems. Single experts like Mr. Maus
can be pressured too easily. This is why the FSFE supported him and made
it possible that this information is public now.
One of our press release is available in German:
http://mail.fsfeurope.org/pipermail/press-release-de/2005q4/000081.html
You will find the two talks online at (in German):
http://events.ccc.de/congress/2005/fahrplan/events/546.en.html
The one from 2004 had not been available for almost a year.
6. Free Software energy in Northern Ireland
There has been a recent flurry of interest in Free Software in Northern
Ireland, both within industry associations and GNU/Linux users. During
December, Ciaran O'Riordan was in contact with many individuals and
organisations, and took part in a Free Software workshop in Newry. Lack
of central communication points was highlighted as a core problem, so,
to assist coordination of Free Software activities, FSFE is pleased to
announce the launch of the fsfe-ni mailing list:
http://mail.fsfeurope.org/mailman/listinfo/fsfe-ni
You can find a list of all FSF Europe newsletters on
http://www.fsfeurope.org/news/newsletter.en.html