USTR Condemns open source software, DoD approves

[Bateluer]

http://arstechnica.com/open-source/...mns-foreign-governments-that-endorse-foss.ars

Interesting read. I'm a big fan of FOSS software and would like to see it used far more. Its biggest hurdle in many cases seems to be just user customs, ie, the end user is used to MS Word and won't take a few minutes to learn how to use OpenOffice, for example. I'd wager than 95% of corporate windows desktops could actually be replaced with Linux based OSs.

In accordance with US trade law, the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) is required to conduct an annual review of the status of foreign intellectual property laws. This review, which is referred to as Special 301, is typically used to denounce countries that have less restrictive copyright policies than the United States.

The review process is increasingly dominated by content industry lobbyists who want to subvert US trade policy and make it more favorable to their own interests. We have already noted the targeting of Canada for its supposedly lax copyright laws, but that is not the only nation drawing the ire of Big Content. One of the organizations that plays a key role in influencing the Special 301 review is the International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA), a powerful coalition that includes the RIAA, the MPAA, and the Business Software Alliance (BSA). The IIPA, which recently published its official recommendations to the USTR for the 2010 edition of the 301 review, has managed to achieve a whole new level of absurdity.

University of Edinburgh law lecturer Andres Guadamuz wrote a blog entry this week highlighting some particularly troubling aspects of the IIPA's 301 recommendations. The organization has condemned Indonesia and several other countries for encouraging government adoption of open source software. According to the IIPA, official government endorsements of open source software create "trade barriers" and restrict "equitable market access" for software companies.

The profound absurdity of this accusation is exacerbated by the fact that Indonesia's move towards open source software was almost entirely motivated by a desire to eliminate the use of pirated software within the government IT infrastructure. It's important to understand that Indonesia has not mandated the adoption of open source software or barred government agencies from purchasing proprietary commercial software.

The Indonesian government issued a statement in 2009 informing municipal governments that they had to stop using pirated software. The statement said that government agencies must either purchase legally licensed commercial software or switch to free and open source alternatives in order to comply with copyright law. This attempt by Indonesia to promote legal software procurement processes by endorsing the viability of open source software has apparently angered the IIPA.

In its 301 recommendations for Indonesia, the IIPA demands that the government rescind its 2009 statement. According to the IIPA, Indonesia's policy "weakens the software industry and undermines its long-term competitiveness" because open source software "encourages a mindset that does not give due consideration to the value to intellectual creations [and] fails to build respect for intellectual property rights."

The number of ways in which the IIPA's statements regarding open source software are egregiously misleading and dishonest are too numerous to count. The IIPA seems to have completely missed the fact that there is a very robust ecosystem of commercial software vendors in the open source software market and that open source software is at the heart of some of the most popular consumer electronics products that are sold in the United States. It has clearly become an important part of the US software economy and increasingly serves as an enabler of innovation and technological progress.

In light of the profitability of Red Hat and other open source leaders, it seems absurd to contend that open source software adoption will weaken the software industry or reduce its competitiveness. In fact, the emergence of open source software has contributed to creating a more competitive landscape in the software industry by offering alternative business models that enable smaller companies to gain traction against the dominant incumbent players.

The IIPA's position is profoundly hypocritical, because many parts of the US government, including the Department of Defense, have issued their own memos endorsing open source software adoption.

The IIPA's disingenuous move to equate open source software with piracy reeks of desperation. The BSA and other IIPA members are likely losing sleep over open source software because that development model and approach to licensing will empower developing countries to build their own domestic IT industries, eliminating the need for them to tithe to American software giants. It's another failing of the 301 review, which Big Content wants used to coerce other countries into adopting ever-more-stringent copyright laws.

 

[heyheybooboo]

The IIPA's disingenuous move to equate open source software with piracy reeks of desperation.

Yup.





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[theeedude]

I guess next step is we send gun boats to Indonesia to force them to buy Windows 7?

 

[sandorski]

Wow, crazy. If I write some Code, it's my IP. If I choose to give it away for Free, that's my Right to do so. If it undermines the Industry, too bad, sucks to be You.

 

[GroundedSailor]

Isn't it great what lobbying can achieve?

Does that mean that US govt organizations in this list are restricting "equitable market access"? If so they should be punished. Right?


http://www.linux.org/info/linux_govt.html

 

[spittledip]

Man. Where I work half of our business is run on open source stuff. I can't imagine that legislation could ever be passed supporting ideals like these...

 

[charrison]

Getting any software on the DoD network is a major pain.

 

[First]

I'd wager than 95% of corporate windows desktops could actually be replaced with Linux based OSs.

I hope you're kidding. The learning curve for Linux is still extremely steep despite some GUI enhancements in both Fedora and Ubuntu. And bottomline is that Linux still has piss poor driver support for many basic components, even basic WiFi drivers for laptops are a pain to install and a total waste of time when Windows' install base is just vastly superior (not based on merit, but that's the reality like it or not). In the end, Linux is starting (has been for a while) a major player in high-end servers and that's a wonderful development. But it shouldn't sniff the desktop until driver support and further GUI usability enhancements are made.

 

[First]

^ And when I say pain to install, I mean they either don't work or don't exist in the first place.

 

[bobsmith1492]

Bah, OpenOffice sucks. Calc can't make a graph to save your life. By that I mean sure it can make a graph as long as you don't try to move the dang thing.

 

[JohnOfSheffield]

I hope you're kidding. The learning curve for Linux is still extremely steep despite some GUI enhancements in both Fedora and Ubuntu. And bottomline is that Linux still has piss poor driver support for many basic components, even basic WiFi drivers for laptops are a pain to install and a total waste of time when Windows' install base is just vastly superior (not based on merit, but that's the reality like it or not). In the end, Linux is starting (has been for a while) a major player in high-end servers and that's a wonderful development. But it shouldn't sniff the desktop until driver support and further GUI usability enhancements are made.

True, clicking a different looking button and clicking write instead of word is horrendously complicated.

The rest of the FUD isn't worth responding to since they wouldn't buy sheit that isn't standard in the first place and if it is, nema probleme.

Regarding servers, Linux IS the most common server PERIOD, has been for a long time.

GUI usability? You have got to be shitting me? Things like tabbed desktops have been mainstream for Linux for almost ten years and Windows are not even close yet.

That said, I find W7 to be a great desktop OS in all regards except one, NT has had multiple desktops per monitor available since the 3.1 days, would it really kill MS to implement it now that we have several cores and GPU's that could run not only per thread but also per desktop?

Well, i suppose that kind of usability is still Linux's domain, along with a logical layout.

 

[Fox5]

^ And when I say pain to install, I mean they either don't work or don't exist in the first place.

It's much better than it used to be, I rarely encounter hardware anymore that Linux won't support. By and large the majority of it is supported by linux, at least for common things like wifi cards. (I remember reading something like 85% of currently available hardware is supported, probably in total sales, since most laptops will use the intel wifi card which has open source drivers, and I think every major manufacturer except via has linux drivers at this point)
And when it does exist, I find it works easier. There's no driver installing on Ubuntu for most people, just install it and it works. Linux just needs to start coming preinstalled on computers, most people don't install Windows themselves either, but it's a hell of a lot more painful to get setup. Any software you want has to come from a dozen different sources, many of which include spyware because there's no trusted source, you have to manually find the latest drivers (or perhaps even any drivers) and install them. Software install on Windows is much more painful than the app store models that linux have already moved onto. And forget about uninstalling software, most windows users have no idea how to do that.

Linux's primary challenge at this point is the lack of a major hardware vendor pushing it/supporting it, and that it's not Windows, it's different. I fully think it's advanced to the point where it could be the more generic Mac type OS, it just needs someone like Google or Dell to give it a major push. (which it may get, with android and chrome OS)

Windows is horrendously overcomplicated, and computer OS's are going to move to be more like the cell phone model pioneered by the iphone. And Linux is in a far better position to adapt to that than Microsoft is, mostly because Microsoft does need to cater to its established user base and power users, and because I can't see Microsoft any offering a fair app store on Windows (gives equal ability to grab free competing software, as well as competing paid software), whereas Ubuntu is getting close to including that already, and Android already does.

 

[bobsmith1492]

True, clicking a different looking button and clicking write instead of word is horrendously complicated.

The rest of the FUD isn't worth responding to since they wouldn't buy sheit that isn't standard in the first place and if it is, nema probleme.

Regarding servers, Linux IS the most common server PERIOD, has been for a long time.

GUI usability? You have got to be shitting me? Things like tabbed desktops have been mainstream for Linux for almost ten years and Windows are not even close yet.

That said, I find W7 to be a great desktop OS in all regards except one, NT has had multiple desktops per monitor available since the 3.1 days, would it really kill MS to implement it now that we have several cores and GPU's that could run not only per thread but also per desktop?

Well, i suppose that kind of usability is still Linux's domain, along with a logical layout.

Multiple desktops are available with a nice little powertoy if you must, but their days became numbered when LCDs got so cheap. You can't beat two screens or high-resolution large screens for getting work done. I used MSVDM for a while but finally just got a new monitor. That covers people trying to work on a PC.

Most people who use a PC for personal use can't handle having extra tabs or desktops and just use one window at a time. Multiple desktops just get confusing and most people don't need more than one anyway.

 

[frostedflakes]

Yeah, read about this on another site. Pretty ridiculous, some of these lobbying and trade groups have absolutely no shame.

 

[JohnOfSheffield]

Multiple desktops are available with a nice little powertoy if you must, but their days became numbered when LCDs got so cheap. You can't beat two screens or high-resolution large screens for getting work done. I used MSVDM for a while but finally just got a new monitor. That covers people trying to work on a PC.

Most people who use a PC for personal use can't handle having extra tabs or desktops and just use one window at a time. Multiple desktops just get confusing and most people don't need more than one anyway.

Yes, but we're talking mainstream here and without a hack it's not available (i said it has been available for a long time, read, comprehend, understand).

You can do multiscreen with videomem or use different cores with different GPU's in a multiple desktop setup, that is my point.

I think that your belief of what people can "handle" is a problem for those users who are unfortunate to have you as an administrator.

Look, who needs to be able to run two tasks at one time, right? Multitasking is just a fancy word, right?

The truth is that if you give a user an opportunity to use something then either he will or won't and if he won't, nothings lost but if he will, somethings gained.

Personally, i'd hate to HAVE to use anything but X on Free.

 

[bobsmith1492]

Powertoys aren't a hack, you just download and install and they work. Anyway, I'm no administrator, just an engineer, so I'm just going by my own observations. I love multitasking too. I really should try Linux again; it's been awhile since Slackware and KDE... I would too except nothing I run is made for Linux, unfortunately.

 

[First]

True, clicking a different looking button and clicking write instead of word is horrendously complicated.

The rest of the FUD isn't worth responding to since they wouldn't buy sheit that isn't standard in the first place and if it is, nema probleme.

It's that you can't respond, not that you won't. Linux is utter crap when it comes to driver support, it doesn't have support for something as ubiquitous as Broadcom WiFi drivers. It doesn't have ubiquitous support for multi-function Canon or HP printers. It doesn't have support for some Acrobat plug-ins. And forget about specialized apps (science, legal, etc.), it's utterly worthless there. Oh look, that's 80% of all corporate usage patterns.

Regarding servers, Linux IS the most common server PERIOD, has been for a long time.

Please stop posting. Linux has absolutely zero traction in small businesses (which make up 90% of all U.S. businesses), it's dwarfed by Active Directory.

GUI usability? You have got to be shitting me? Things like tabbed desktops have been mainstream for Linux for almost ten years and Windows are not even close yet.

I'm not sure why you're bringing up useless shit about tabbed desktops. Fact is you're still forced to use a command line to do a lot of things.

 

[JohnOfSheffield]

It's that you can't respond, not that you won't. Linux is utter crap when it comes to driver support, it doesn't have support for something as ubiquitous as Broadcom WiFi drivers. It doesn't have ubiquitous support for multi-function Canon or HP printers. It doesn't have support for some Acrobat plug-ins. And forget about specialized apps (science, legal, etc.), it's utterly worthless there. Oh look, that's 80% of all corporate usage patterns.

In the cases it was supposed to be used it would not matter, you don't buy crap hardware using shitty software drivers to sometimes make it work as it does in windows in a professional setting.

Please stop posting. Linux has absolutely zero traction in small businesses (which make up 90% of all U.S. businesses), it's dwarfed by Active Directory.

The most common server is a RedHat server PERIOD and desktops are mainsteam in all of Asia and growing in numbers in both the US and the EU. AD is a joke.

I'm not sure why you're bringing up useless shit about tabbed desktops. Fact is you're still forced to use a command line to do a lot of things.

You brought up usability, not me and as a user you'll never have to use the command line if you don't want to but if you want to, at least it's actually fully functioning with all access when you need it and you can use it as you please.

Ever wonder why MS included extra functionality into the Win7 CL? whaddaythink? Because they thought it would be fun for people to spend time doing something useless?

THINK MCFLY, THINK *whack over the head* (ask your parents about this reference since you're clearly too young to understand what the hell i'm talking about).

 

[First]

It's much better than it used to be, I rarely encounter hardware anymore that Linux won't support. By and large the majority of it is supported by linux, at least for common things like wifi cards. (I remember reading something like 85% of currently available hardware is supported, probably in total sales, since most laptops will use the intel wifi card which has open source drivers, and I think every major manufacturer except via has linux drivers at this point)
And when it does exist, I find it works easier. There's no driver installing on Ubuntu for most people, just install it and it works. Linux just needs to start coming preinstalled on computers, most people don't install Windows themselves either, but it's a hell of a lot more painful to get setup. Any software you want has to come from a dozen different sources, many of which include spyware because there's no trusted source, you have to manually find the latest drivers (or perhaps even any drivers) and install them. Software install on Windows is much more painful than the app store models that linux have already moved onto. And forget about uninstalling software, most windows users have no idea how to do that.

Linux's primary challenge at this point is the lack of a major hardware vendor pushing it/supporting it, and that it's not Windows, it's different. I fully think it's advanced to the point where it could be the more generic Mac type OS, it just needs someone like Google or Dell to give it a major push. (which it may get, with android and chrome OS)

Windows is horrendously overcomplicated, and computer OS's are going to move to be more like the cell phone model pioneered by the iphone. And Linux is in a far better position to adapt to that than Microsoft is, mostly because Microsoft does need to cater to its established user base and power users, and because I can't see Microsoft any offering a fair app store on Windows (gives equal ability to grab free competing software, as well as competing paid software), whereas Ubuntu is getting close to including that already, and Android already does.

The issue of ubiquity is a major one though, and I agree that it could change if someone like Dell decided to really push it, but it hasn't happened. There's also the real killer issue of total lack of legacy support for any specialized apps whatsoever, which is a massive chunk of the small business market; from small manufacturing to small finance to small law firms, there's simply no Linux app support. The driver support issue still exists and everytime I hear someone tell me it's not that big of a deal anymore (not referring to you, but Linux fanboys) I can tell immediately they don't have any experience with anything but a limited set of peripherals and components. Web hosting and high-end Linux servers have always been quite superior to Windows and will continue to do well, but small businesses continue to use Windows 03/08 for good reason. Linux's stronghold is great right where it is.

 

[First]

In the cases it was supposed to be used it would not matter, you don't buy crap hardware using shitty software drivers to sometimes make it work as it does in windows in a professional setting.

This isn't a coherent English sentence, so I'm not sure what you're getting at.

The most common server is a RedHat server PERIOD and desktops are mainsteam in all of Asia and growing in numbers in both the US and the EU. AD is a joke.

Linux has AMD-type market share, it's not even a quarter of all servers. RedHat has server support where exactly? Think about what a server is; it's not just a web server or a high-end server. Think long and hard about the variety of servers that exist. Here, I'll google it for you: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=linux+server+market+share

You brought up usability, not me and as a user you'll never have to use the command line if you don't want to but if you want to, at least it's actually fully functioning with all access when you need it and you can use it as you please.

You are forced to use the command line in some settings and fact is that it's just not as intuitive if you've never used Linux, which is the case fro 90% off all users and is why corporations don't deploy Linux desktops.

Ever wonder why MS included extra functionality into the Win7 CL? whaddaythink? Because they thought it would be fun for people to spend time doing something useless?

What? You do realize Server 08 R2 is just Windows7, don't you? Lord, your tech posts are as bad as your P&N ones.

THINK MCFLY, THINK *whack over the head* (ask your parents about this reference since you're clearly too young to understand what the hell i'm talking about).

You're like that guy that eats his feces and swears his shit don't stink.

 

[JohnOfSheffield]

This isn't a coherent English sentence, so I'm not sure what you're getting at.



Linux has AMD-type market share, it's not even a quarter of all servers. RedHat has server support where exactly? Think about what a server is; it's not just a web server or a high-end server. Think long and hard about the variety of servers that exist. Here, I'll google it for you: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=linux+server+market+share



You are forced to use the command line in some settings and fact is that it's just not as intuitive if you've never used Linux, which is the case fro 90% off all users and is why corporations don't deploy Linux desktops.



What? You do realize Server 08 R2 is just Windows7, don't you? Lord, your tech posts are as bad as your P&N ones.



You're like that guy that eats his feces and swears his shit don't stink.

Half of what you just wrote didn't even correlate with what you replied to, are you high or just fucked in the head?

This discussion is over.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

Linux has AMD-type market share, it's not even a quarter of all servers. RedHat has server support where exactly? Think about what a server is; it's not just a web server or a high-end server. Think long and hard about the variety of servers that exist. Here, I'll google it for you: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=linux+server+market+share

“Forty percent of servers run Windows, 60 percent run Linux…”

–Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO (September 2008)

Text

 

[JohnOfSheffield]

Lets not forget mobiles and other appliances that also run Linux.

Last time i looked (and it's increased since then by a multitude) linux was king there.

 

[venkman]

Gotta love it. Pirate software and the content providers are pissed. A major government takes a hard stand against piracy forcing it off all state computers and the content providers are even MORE pissed.

Indonesia should just go back to using stolen copies of Windows 7 and say FU to these guys.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

Gotta love it. Pirate software and the content providers are pissed. A major government takes a hard stand against piracy forcing it off all state computers and the content providers are even MORE pissed.

Indonesia should just go back to using stolen copies of Windows 7 and say FU to these guys.

Microsoft would prefer they use pirated Windows than Linux.