Summary: Truths one should know about the European Commission's Software Strategy document

André Rebentisch has just heralded the formal release of documents which we covered and scrutinised here before. To use his own words:

The Commission of the European Union has published the final report on the European Software Strategy. It is a document drafted by several industry stakeholders, ironically most of them do not represent European companies. The preparatory documents are also published. The leakage of draft documents by an American SME representative causes great confusion. The editing policy did follow the same practice as the ICT Taskforce paper.

In chronological order, we covered this in:

• European Open Source Software Workgroup a Total Scam: Hijacked and Subverted by Microsoft et al
• Microsoft's AstroTurfing, Twitter, Waggener Edstrom, and Jonathan Zuck
• Does the European Commission Harbour a Destruction of Free/Open Source Software Workgroup?
• The Illusion of Transparency at the European Parliament/Commission (on Microsoft)
• 2 Months and No Disclosure from the European Parliament
• After 3 Months, Europe Lets Microsoft-Influenced EU Panel be Seen
• Formal Complaint Against European Commission for Harbouring Microsoft Lobbyists

The process has been somewhat of a farce; the outcome, likewise, would be hard to trust because it was impacted by American lobbyists and companies that injected misinformation. In that sense, it is not exactly a European software strategy, as the name might misleadingly suggest. And as Glyn Moody reminds us this week, governments do have a political agenda. In reply to this obvious fact he adds:

I see, so what they're saying is that the EU has a political agenda, and is trying to protect companies in Europe. And this would be different from what the US does, or Japan, or China, exactly *how*....?

Bottom line: watch carefully who wrote this 'European' Software Strategy document. For instance, it included a Microsoft lobbyist from Association for Competitive Technology. ⬆

"Television to brainwash us all and Internet to eliminate any last resistance."

--Paul Carvel