[Sheflug] UK Open Standards: Time to act

[Richard Ibbotson <richard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

HI

For those of you who have an interest in this....

http://fsfe.org/projects/os/uk-standards-consultation.html

"  The Cabinet Office is currently conducting an important consultation 
on Open Standards  The question is whether companies offering Free 
Software will in future have the opportunity to sell their services to 
the British government. Whether or not British money will continue to 
be spent on supporting proprietary standards which lock in public 
bodies, currently hangs in the balance.

The Government has already publicly backed away from a strong 
definition of what an Open Standard is, and current indications are not 
at all good. On 12 April 2012, the Cabinet Office published an article 
indicating that it might lean away from freedom and openness, and 
towards adopting a definition of Open Standards which would exclude 
Free Software.  FSFE is working with the Free Software Foundation, 
Open Rights Group, Open Source Consortium, Open Forum Europe, the Open 
Source Initiative and others, to ensure that strong responses are 
submitted in favour of freedom. However, without the help of 
individuals like you, our voices risk being drowned out by those 
corporate interests who want to keep public money tied up in their 
proprietary products.

What you can do.  Everyone Please help FSFE and our partners to open 
up opportunities for Free Software by taking part in this public 
consultation. To do this, please download the questionnaire and submit 
your own response to the consultation before the May 1st deadline. You 
can answer as few or as many of the 27 questions as you wish 
(questions are on pages 22 and 23 of the PDF). Some of the issues are 
complex. You may find the links at the end of this message useful when 
formulating your answers. Most important in your responses is to argue 
in favour of truly Open Standards - standards which anyone can 
implement, without asking permission or paying royalties, whether in 
Free Software or in proprietary programs. You will do it best in 
supporting restriction-free standards, which don't require those who 
implement them to pay patent licensing royalties.

Below, we have identified the questions which from FSFE's perspective 
matter most, and outlined how we are going to answer them in our own 
response to the consultation. You are welcome to use this as a guide 
for your own response. Please take some time to write personal answers 
in your own words - using the arguments given here.  "

See the above page for the rest.

-- 
Richard

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