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EU/EC and national policy ------------------------------------- In several areas the European Commission has promoted the use of Open Source software, and the development by Open SOurce methodologies, most notably in the field of healthcare. This accords well with several nations' policies of preferring an Open Source solution to one which is encumbered, at present by proprietary rights and non-publication of the source code, but potentially by the inclusion of patented elements used to lock public services into a particualar company's product. To the extent which extension or continuance of patentability of software components impeded this, such an extension would be contrary to that public policy and to the public interest which the policies serve. References EC OSS in health SPIRIT http://www.euspirit.org/zope/en/linkxchg/index_html Munich city government IT procurement http://www.forbes.com/home_europe/newswire/2003/05/28/rtr984204.html <section ends> > >And possibly the public sector as distinct from corporate > >industry (whose needs or wishes may include selling the same > >thing every three years to teh public secotr <g>) > > Unsure how this fits in. I mean to distinguish a public sector such as healthcare or local government from industry and commercial services. The snide comment could best be left out, but ... Part of Microsoft's success comes from their providing the channel, their partners and resellers, with a steady churn. THis keeps the training firms for instance in work on a 3 year cycle, paying upstream to be trained themselves, and then charging downstream to teach how to do all the same things with the new version of MS' office suite or GUI. (You have to move things around a bit, in ways that might otherwise appear not to have any clear reason, to convince people there is stuff to teach) But it is not necessarily so much in the interest of the end-user, or the company that employs the end-user. > >^^^^^^ exploited, seized entered grasped serviced rather than > >capitalised (my preference rather than any rule) > > Mmm Usure this doc must not ever appear to attack! serviced then, or served. The technologies underlying the Internet have arisen and been developed in an Open Source fashion. The internet has become an everyday part of our lives and is now an important aspect of business and public life {around the globe| throughout the EU and its major trading partners.} > >^^^ it is a grassroots movement and activity > > Unclear as to your meaning here. Politicians like, or pay attention to, grass-roots movements. They are different from organised commercial or political lobbies, not least in the quality of lunches. -- From the Linux desktops of Dr Adrian Midgley http://www.defoam.net/ -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG Mail majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxx with "unsubscribe list" in the message body to unsubscribe.