Avautuma

EU:n kilpailukomissaari Neelie Kroes painotti eilisessä puheessaan Open Forum Europen aamiaisseminaarissa standardien avoimuuden merkitystä. Hän sanoo standardien olevan yhteentoimivuuden perusta ja julkishallinnon olevan tärkeässä asemassa esimerkin näyttämisessä ja demokratian vaalimisessa myös teknologisissa kysymyksissä.

[...] I fail to see the interest of customers in including proprietary technology in standards when there are no clear and demonstrable benefits over non-proprietary alternatives.

When open alternatives are available, no citizen or company should be forced or encouraged to use a particular company’s technology to access government information.

No citizen or company should be forced or encouraged to choose a closed technology over an open one, through a government having made that choice first.

Better, much better, than trying to sort out these problems, is preventing them from arising. And we all have a responsibility to ensure that this type of perpetual lock-in does not happen, and, where it does happen, we have a responsibility to minimise the damage.

Katso lisää Digitodayn ja Tietokoneen uutisista.