Open Enterprise

ACTA Update IV

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 14:30:00 GMT

This is a continuation of my previous post examining the European Commission's attempt to dispel what it calls ten "myths" about ACTA [.pdf]. I'm commenting only on the most egregious attempts by the Commission to talk away the issues -...

ACTA Update III

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 13:48:02 GMT

It's a sign of the European Commission's increasing desperation over ACTA that it has been forced to send out a document entitled "10 Myths About ACTA" [.pdf] that purports to debunk misinformation that is being put around. Unsurprisingly, the EC's...

Official: The White House Loves Open Source

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 10:47:09 GMT

Recently, the White House has adopted a scheme that we Brits have been using for some time now: online petitions. The basic idea is the same: You may use this platform on the White House website to create and sign...

ACTA Update II

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 17:47:51 GMT

Although ACTA is billed as a global treaty, there are only two participants that really matter: the US and the European Union. If either of those dropped out, it would be completely ineffectual. I think the US is unlikely to...

GOV.UK: What Open Source Has Been Waiting For?

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:56:33 GMT

I've been writing for what seems decades about the UK government's failure to take advantage of open source. And I've been writing for what is certainly years about its promises to do better. It finally looks as if it is...

ACTA Update I

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:04:31 GMT

Anyone who follows me on Twitter or identi.ca, or on Google+ will have noticed something of a crescendo of posts about the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) recently. There are two reasons for this. The first is that the immediate threat...

Computing in Schools: The Great Ctrl-Alt-Del

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:13:25 GMT

After years of unforgivable inaction, the education world is finally addressing the continuing disgrace that is computer teaching in this country. A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the UK Education Secretary Michael Gove's comments on this area, and...

SOPA Stopped: So Back to ACTA

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 16:13:57 GMT

So the Tweedledum and Tweedledee of copyright maximalist legislation, SOPA and PIPA, have been halted in their passage through the US legislative process. Of course, they're not dead, but are sure to return, zombie-like, either as modified versions of the...

Apple's iBooks 2: an Attack on Educational Freedoms

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 10:23:56 GMT

Yesterday, Apple launched its iBooks 2 for iPad - or, as it modestly puts it in the press release, "Apple Reinvents Textbooks": Apple today announced iBooks 2 for iPad, featuring iBooks textbooks, an entirely new kind of textbook that’s dynamic,...

Orphan Works and the Digital Copyright Exchange

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 10:27:42 GMT

One of the boldest proposals of the Hargreaves Report was the creation of a Digital Copyright Exchange: In order to boost UK firms’ access to transparent, contestable and global digital markets, the UK should establish a cross sectoral Digital Copyright...

Two Fatal Flaws in the O'Dwyer Judgment

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 15:52:45 GMT

So the long-awaited verdict on the extradition of Richard O’Dwyer has finally arrived, and, as feared, it's ridiculous. There are many others better qualified than I am to comment on the detailed legal issues of the lop-sided extradition treaty that...

Is Microsoft Blocking Linux Booting on ARM Hardware?

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 11:20:07 GMT

Back in September last year, there was a bit of a to-do about Microsoft's UEFI Secure Boot technology in Windows 8, when a Red Hat engineer posted the following: Microsoft requires that machines conforming to the Windows 8 logo program...

"An Open-Source World"? Where's The Open Source?

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 14:35:45 GMT

If we are to believe the early signs, 2012 may well be the year that British schools finally start to address the continuing shame that is ICT teaching. As I and many others have noted, the current approach essentially consists...

How "Throwing One Away" Makes Open Source Better

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 11:38:15 GMT

There's a wonderful line in Fred Brooks' book "The Mythical Man-Month", where he says that when writing a program, plan to throw one way - you will anyway. But that's a bit of a problem for conventional software development, because...

UK Government Betrayal of Open Standards Confirmed

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 11:50:49 GMT

Just before Christmas I wrote a fairly strongly-worded condemnation of what I saw as the imminent betrayal of open standards by the UK Cabinet Office. This was based on reading between the lines of a new Procurement Policy Note, plus...

Submission to Consultation on Copyright: Orphan Works

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 15:23:54 GMT

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the publication of the UK government's Consultation on proposals to change the UK's copyright system in the wake of the Hargreaves report. As promised, I have included below part of my forthcoming submission....

Of Open Source and the European Commission

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 16:28:23 GMT

At the end of last year I reported on the worrying signs of vacillation from the UK government over its support for truly open standards. At least it's relatively straightforward to keep tabs on what's happening in Blighty; Europe is...

Interview with Jim Zemlin, Linux Foundation, Part II

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 09:06:49 GMT

Given Zemlin's unique perspective as someone at the heart of the open source community (see Part I of this interview), I was keen to hear his views on why he thought Linux was becoming so successful in the embedded sector....

Interview with Jim Zemlin, Linux Foundation

Wed, 28 Dec 2011 14:06:12 GMT

The Linux Foundation was set up in 2007, and initially occupied a rather marginal position in the open source ecosystem. That's changed more recently, and the Linux Foundation has become one of the most important forces defending and promoting Linux...

UK Government Open Standards: The Great Betrayal of 2012

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 15:27:39 GMT

Back in February of this year, I wrote about PPN 3/11, a Cabinet Office “Procurement Policy Note - Use of Open Standards when specifying ICT requirements” [.pdf], which contained the following excellent definition of open standards: result from and are...

BT Joins the Patent Hall of Shame

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 10:36:30 GMT

Those with good memories may recall the following amusing episode when BT wanted to sue people for daring to use its super-duper patented hyperlink invention: In June 2000, BT sent letters to Prodigy Communications Corporation ("Prodigy") and 16 other Internet...

People in Glasshouses (With Windows) Shouldn't Throw Stones

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 11:15:35 GMT

It's no secret that Windows Phone is struggling desperately in the battle against the smartphone leaders, iPhone and Android. And desperate times demand desperate measures; but even so, this move by Microsoft is pretty extraordinary: More malware on Android! bit.ly/rt7dpD...

Harkening to Hargreaves: UK Copyright Consultation

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 11:21:30 GMT

The road to copyright reform is a long one, full of false starts and diversions. Those with good memories may recall the Gowers Review from 2006, which made lots of sensible suggestions, all of which were promptly ignored by the...

Open Data: Europe Starts to Get It

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 15:17:53 GMT

As readers of this blog will have noticed, open data is particularly hot at the moment. Whether that will endure is another matter, but for the moment we should be grateful for all the politicians jumping on this particular bandwagon,...

From Open Source to Open Research: Horizon 2020

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 13:49:01 GMT

Last week I took part in a meeting at the European Parliament entitled “Horizon 2020: Investing in the common good”. Here's the background: Horizon 2020 is the EU´s framework programme for research and innovation. This conference will explore how EU...