[OSGeo-Discuss] Examples of Opposition to Open Source/Open File Formats in the United States

[Arnulf Christl (OSGeo)]

Landon Blake schrieb:
> It looks like I might have ruffled a few feathers with my earlier post

Landon,
please keep it up, it is advocacy at its best. As you said before, this
is the OSGeo mailing list.

Would you care to also add some of your thoughts and ideas backed up
with reference links (just link from the mailing list archives) to the
OSGeo Wiki? It provides an easy way to reference and disseminate our
activities wrt advocating Open Source Geospatial and is easily indexed
by search engines.

There is also a dedicated category in the Wiki to tag and organize pages
with explicit advocacy content. Most of the pages there are currently
focused on Open Source, Free Software and some on Business Models. Pages
related to Open Standards and Formats are still missing and would round
of the topic really well.

http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Advocacy
and
http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Category:Advocacy

Thanks, Arnulf.

> about the lack of support for open source software in the United States.
> I was making a generalization, and didn't mean to criticize or downplay
> the efforts of advocates and government employees that are promoting
> open source software. I hope their advocacy continues, and I will do
> what I can to support it.
> 
>  
> 
> I thought I would take a minute to post one or two articles that
> highlight the type of opposition/attitude that I was talking about.
> 
>  
> 
> The first one isn't directly related to geospatial software, but it is
> related to the use of open source software and open file formats by
> government agencies in the United States. It has to do with the adoption
> of ODF (the file format used by Open Office).
> 
>  
> 
> See the section on Massachusetts in this wikipedia article:
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenDocument_adoption
> 
> Here is an article about legislation proposed in 2006 to do the same
> thing in Minnesota:
> http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/open_source/showArticle.jht
> ml?articleID=184429732
> 
>  
> 
> These articles are old, and there may have been updates and new legal
> decisions that I am not aware of. You could check to ODF Alliance site
> for updates:
> 
>  
> 
> http://www.odfalliance.org/mail_list.php
> 
>  
> 
> There is no question in my mind that Microsoft opposed the adoption of
> ODF by state governments in the United States. If you don't think this
> is true, I've got a bridge I want to sell you. :]
> 
>  
> 
> My second example involves the Autodesk suit against the Open Design
> Alliance. You can read an article about that here:
> 
> http://www.stress-free.co.nz/autodesk_sues_the_open_design_alliance
> 
>  
> 
> Autodesk may have legitimate concerns about trademark violation, but
> I'll bet they would love to sink the Open Design Alliance ship. The
> majority of CAD data produced in the surveying/engineering arena is
> stored in the DWG format, and Autodesk knows this. Controlling that
> format and programmer's access to it is a key component of Autodesk's
> business model.
> 
>  
> 
> It looks like the legal battle was still on as recently as July 7, 2009:
> 
> http://www.opendesign.com/node/398
> 
>  
> 
> Autodesk is certainly entitled to protect is intellectual property, but
> in my mind this is a big obstacle to data sharing among the geospatial
> communities in the US, especially as you move to the engineering/survey
> side of things.
> 
>  
> 
> Let's not kid ourselves. There is a lot of money to be made selling
> software in the United States, and people will do their best to
> influence our legal and commercial systems to serve their own needs. One
> thing I love about open source software development is the sense of
> sharing and community. This is a definite contrast.
> 
>  
> 
> I think OSGeo (and all of us as individual software developers) should
> be aware of this opposition to open source and open technology
> standards, and should do our best to counteract it. A lot of the general
> public doesn't understand the issues involved, or understand how
> governments funded by their tax dollars might benefit from open source
> software. We need to be the voice the people aren't going to hear from
> Autodesk or ESRI.
> 
>  
> 
> Landon
> 
>  
> 
> 
> 
> Warning:
> Information provided via electronic media is not guaranteed against defects including translation and transmission errors. If the reader is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this information in error, please notify the sender immediately.
> 
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Discuss mailing list
> Discuss at lists.osgeo.org
> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss


-- 
Arnulf Christl
OSGeo President
http://www.osgeo.org