IT giants accused of exploiting open source

http://news.com.com/IT+giants+accused+of+exploiting+open+source/2100-7344_3-5726714.html

IT giants accused of exploiting open source
Published: May 31, 2005, 3:13 PM PDT
By Ingrid Marson
Special to CNET News.com
TrackBack Print E-mail TalkBack

A senior figure at the European Commission launched an outspoken attack on several major American IT
firms on Monday, accusing them of exerting too much influence on the progress of the open-source
community.

Jesus Villasante, the head of software technologies at the EC's Information Society and Media
Directorate General, said that big companies such as IBM, HP and Sun are just using the open-source
community as subcontractors rather than encouraging the community to develop independent commercial
products.

"IBM says to a customer, 'Do you want proprietary or open software?' Then (if they want open source)
they say, 'OK, you want IBM open source.' It is (always) IBM or Sun or HP open source," asserted
Villasante, speaking at a debate on open-source innovation at the Holland Open Software Conference
in Amsterdam.

"Companies are using the potential of communities as subcontractors--the open-source community today
(is a) subcontractor of American multinationals," added Villasante, who called on the open-source
community to develop more independence from these large companies.

"Open-source communities need to take themselves seriously and realize they have made a contribution
to themselves and society. From the moment they realize they are part of the evolution of society
and try to influence it, we will be moving in the right direction," Villasante said.

Villasante's comments appeared to startle his fellow panelists, including James Baty, chief
architect of Sun ONE Consulting. Experts have previously argued that major corporations such as IBM
have made a valuable contribution by supporting open-source software, as they have helped to
persuade businesses and IT professionals that open-source software is a credible alternative to
proprietary options.

Baty did not respond directly to Villasante's comments, but said that companies such as his have a
responsibility to contribute to the open-source community. Sun contributes to a number of
open-source projects, including the open-source productivity application OpenOffice.org.

"There are companies that are takers from the open-source community, other companies are taking the
attitude that they have to contribute," Baty said. "(Open source) should be seen as an opportunity,
not as something to capture and abuse."

Villasante used his keynote speech earlier in the day to express concerns about the European
software industry.

"What I think is that Europe doesn't have a software industry today--the only one we have today is
in America. In the future we may have China or India. We should decide if we will have a European
software industry in the future," he said.
A century of relativity

Villasante argued that open source is vital to the development of the European software industry,
but that its progress has been inhibited by pressure from intellectual-property lobbyists and the
traditional software industry, and by the fragmentation of the open-source community.

"Open source is a complete mess--many people do lots of different things. There's total confusion
today," Villasante said.

A member of the audience pointed out that the European Commission was partly responsible for pushing
through the software patent directive, which many believe will damage open source. Villasante
responded that not everyone at the EC automatically supports this directive.

"Firstly, I'm not responsible for software patents--the software-patent directive is managed by the
director general of Internal (Market). The opinion of the director general of Information Society
(the division where Villasante works) is not necessarily the same as the director general of Internal."

Ingrid Marson of ZDNet UK reported from Amsterdam.

To facilitate co-ordination regarding the introduction of OSS SW in Vietnam

Subscribe to OSS:

Subscribe | Unsubscribe