Open Enterprise

Why are Facebook, IBM, Microsoft and Oracle Backing the Fight Against the Blind?

Glyn Moody — Fri, 17 May 2013 13:24:00 GMT

One of the more disgraceful examples of the inherent selfishness of the copyright world is that it has consistently blocked a global treaty that would make it easier for the blind and visually impaired to read books in format like...

The Importance of Being Attributed

Glyn Moody — Fri, 17 May 2013 10:19:04 GMT

A few weeks ago, the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 received Royal Assent. Among its rag-bag of measures are some dealing with the vexed issue of orphan works (or hostage works as they should really be called.) To cut...

Happy 10th Anniversary, Groklaw

Glyn Moody — Thu, 16 May 2013 09:01:12 GMT

One of the amazing things about free software is how it has managed to succeed against all the odds - and against the combined might of some of the world's biggest and most wealthy companies. That shows two things, I...

FRAND Is Broken: Time To Bin It [Updated]

Glyn Moody — Wed, 15 May 2013 09:49:07 GMT

I've written many times about why FRAND licensing is not an option for open source projects, and should therefore be replaced by Royalty/Restriction-Free (RF) terms when it comes to defining open standards to create a level playing field. That's simply...

Open Data, Creative Destruction and Money

Glyn Moody — Mon, 13 May 2013 11:39:34 GMT

Nearly three years ago, I wrote an article exploring why at that time there were no billion-dollar companies (since then, Red Hat has finally broken through this barrier). Here's the key point: open source solutions save money for customers by...

Why the Idea of the Software Patent Does Not Fly

Glyn Moody — Wed, 08 May 2013 12:33:27 GMT

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a post about the growing threat of software patents in Europe (again). I was delighted to come across this reply from Martin Goetz, who wrote: On April 22nd I read Glyn Moody's Computerworlds.UK...

EU Consultations: A Modest Proposal

Glyn Moody — Tue, 07 May 2013 09:58:48 GMT

Last week I reported on the reply I received from Jean Bergevin of the European Commission on the subject of the IPRED consultation, and my own response to that. I wondered whether I would receive a reply, suspecting that I...

The Most Dangerous Windows Infection of All

Glyn Moody — Mon, 06 May 2013 14:07:41 GMT

Readers of this blog don't need to be told about Windows' awful security record, or how, when news outlets talk glibly of "viruses", they actually nearly always mean Windows malware. But sometimes there are stories from this weird world that...

Open Source (Seeds) Under Threat

Glyn Moody — Fri, 03 May 2013 09:11:21 GMT

Seeds might seem far from the world of high tech and free software, but they have much in common. Seeds contain DNA, which is a (quaternary) digital code much like a binary program. Just as there is free software that...

Benefit Claimants Must Use Ancient Microsoft Software

Glyn Moody — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 09:48:22 GMT

Remember the bad old days when the UK government forced people to use Microsoft software in order to interact with it online? Remember how we thought the UK government had finally moved on, recognising that it should use truly open...

The Free, Open Web: 20 Years of RF Licensing

Glyn Moody — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 09:05:46 GMT

As regular readers of this column know, there's still a battle going on over whether standards should be FRAND or restriction/royalty-free (RF). The folly of allowing standards to contain FRAND-licensed elements is shown most clearly by the current bickering between...

European Commission Replies to My IPRED Letter

Glyn Moody — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 14:03:15 GMT

Earlier this month I wrote a couple of posts about a letter I sent off to the European Commission concerning my appalling experience with the IPRED consultation. Well, I now have a reply, which I reproduce below: Dear Mr Moody,...

Please Write to MEPs Now about TAFTA/TTIP

Glyn Moody — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 18:49:26 GMT

Sorry to trouble you again this week, but there's an important vote in INTA today (25 April) on the transatlantic trade agreement (TAFTA/TTIP), and there are some crucial issues that you might like to convey to your MEP, especially if...

Please Write to Your MPs About Snooper's Charter

Glyn Moody — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 12:55:08 GMT

It seems that the UK government will be deciding what to do about the Snooper's Charter this week. It is already under huge pressure as more and more problems with the plans become evident. I urge you to write to...

Clinical Trials Must be Open Data: Please Contact MEPs

Glyn Moody — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 15:04:56 GMT

Back in February, I noted that the UK's investigation into making clinical trial data freely available was somewhat subsidiary to the EU's major initiative on the same subject. The battle there between those who wish to keep clinical trials data...

Software Patents Storming Up the Agenda Again

Glyn Moody — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 12:46:29 GMT

As regular readers of this column will know, software patents have never really gone away, even though the European Patent Convention forbids them, and the European Parliament explicitly rejected them again in 2005. Fans of intellectual monopolies just keep coming...

Why CISPA Shows We Need Strong EU Data Protection

Glyn Moody — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 09:22:57 GMT

It seems hard to believe that it was only a little over a year ago that the threat from the US SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) was averted (and that ACTA was still with us in the EU). But of...

The Future of Commercial Open Source: Foundations

Glyn Moody — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 09:10:54 GMT

Remember MySQL? Most famous for being part of the LAMP stack, and thus powering the bulk of the innovative work done in the field of ecommerce for a decade or more, it's rather fallen off the radar recently. It's not...

Gov.uk: Open by (Award-Winning) Design

Glyn Moody — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 14:26:00 GMT

A few weeks ago, I wrote of the continuing progress on the central Gov.uk site, which is a showcase of open technologies, as well as being the place to start when interacting with central government in the UK. Looks like...

Italy's Great Leap Forward for Openness?

Glyn Moody — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 10:50:51 GMT

Different countries are moving at different speeds in terms of governmental adoption of free software, open data and openness in general. I wrote a year ago about Iceland, which seemed to be making particularly rapid progress at the time. Now...

EU Proposal for (Nearly) Open Data [Update]

Glyn Moody — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 09:04:59 GMT

Update: Maël Brunet has pointed out that the press release I linked to below is from 2011; what was actually announced yesterday was that the EU Council's 'Coreper' committee (EU Committee of Member States' Permanent Representatives) has now endorsed the...

OpenDaylight and the Future of Enterprise Software

Glyn Moody — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 13:07:56 GMT

Earlier this week, the Linux Foundation made an announcement about the oddly-named OpenDaylight project: The Linux Foundation, the nonprofit organization dedicated to open source development and technologies, today announced the founding of the OpenDaylight Project, a community-led and industry-supported open...

I Re-send My IPRED Letter to the European Commission

Glyn Moody — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 10:07:44 GMT

Last week I wrote a letter to the European Commission about the extraordinary failure of the IPRED consultation process. I certainly didn't expect a reply immediately, but I did hope that its arrival might have been acknowledged by now. It...

Google Under Attack in the EU: Microsoft to the Rescue?

Glyn Moody — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 14:12:47 GMT

As I wrote last week, all the main browsers are jockeying for position in the world of mobile, which is generally recognised as the key future platform. One player that is struggling here is Microsoft: its mobile phone strategy has...

Mozilla and the Open Source Browser Bonanza

Glyn Moody — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 15:32:24 GMT

Even if you don't remember the birth of Mozilla 15 years ago, you are certainly benefitting from its consequences. For, back then, the company that invented the Web as a mass medium, Netscape, was in its death throes, and looked...