Computerworld's Glyn Moody has been tipped off to a lobbying campaign by Microsoft to get free/open source and open standards excluded from the EU's digital "framework" — the policy that will determine Europe's IT strategy. Microsoft's been trying to pervert this for months now — last November, we caught them replacing the definition of "open" (as in "open standards") with a bunch of meaningless drivel that suggested that "closed" was just another kind of "open," only less so.
Glyn's sources tell him that a concerted letter-writing campaign to the European Commissioners responsible for the project would make a difference, and provides links to reach them.
The battleground is the imminent Digital Agenda for Europe, due to be unveiled by the European Commission in a month's time, and which defines the overall framework for Europe's digital policy. According to people with good contacts to the politicians and bureaucrats drawing up the Agenda, Microsoft is lobbying hard to ensure that open standards and open source are excluded from that policy – and is on the brink of succeeding in that aim.
Open Source and Open Standards under Threat in Europe
(Thanks, Glyn!)
