Summary: The European Interoperability Framework (EIF) draws more complaints, the European Interoperability Strategy (EIS) is coming, and Microsoft allies in Europe are smearing Free software

AS we demonstrated before, the EIF had been subverted after lobbying from many parties that include Microsoft lobbyists (and close allies like SAP), namely CompTIA, BSA, and ACT [1, 2, 3]. See for example:

1. European Interoperability Framework (EIF) Corrupted by Microsoft et al, Its Lobbyists
2. Orwellian EIF, Fake Open Source, and Security Implications
3. No Sense of Shame Left at Microsoft
4. Lobbying Leads to Protest -- the FFII and the FSFE Rise in Opposition to Subverted EIF
5. IBM and Open Forum Europe Address European Interoperability Framework (EIF) Fiasco
6. EIF Scrutinised, ODF Evolves, and Microsoft's OOXML “Lies” Lead to Backlash from Danish Standards Committee

There are more new complaints about this, one of which comes from OW2.

This open letter is to inform European Commission, IDABC and all related European MPs about the risk that may occur in case of a vague definition of Open Standards for a consortium of Industry and Academic players as such as OW2.

The person who originally pointed out a subversion of the document was Glyn Moody, who now writes about the European Interoperability Strategy (EIS).

The European Interoperability Strategy (EIS) is an initiative of the IDABC programme that aims to provide direction and to prioritise the undertaking of actions to achieve improved interaction, information exchange and cooperation among public administrations across borders and sectors for the years 2010-2015.

That too is likely to be (or have been) subjected to lobbying, just like the ESS (European Software Strategy) which we wrote about in:

1. European Open Source Software Workgroup a Total Scam: Hijacked and Subverted by Microsoft et al
2. Microsoft's AstroTurfing, Twitter, Waggener Edstrom, and Jonathan Zuck
3. Does the European Commission Harbour a Destruction of Free/Open Source Software Workgroup?
4. The Illusion of Transparency at the European Parliament/Commission (on Microsoft)
5. 2 Months and No Disclosure from the European Parliament
6. After 3 Months, Europe Lets Microsoft-Influenced EU Panel be Seen
7. Formal Complaint Against European Commission for Harbouring Microsoft Lobbyists
8. 'European' Software Strategy Published, Written by Lobbyists and Multinationals
9. Microsoft Uses Inside Influence to Grab Control, Redefine “Open Source”
10. With Friends Like These, Who Needs Microsoft?

There are other interesting developments in Europe. Over the weekend we showed that a European Commission vice president who is close to Microsoft is now smearing Free software. The guy who covered this has accumulated similar smears from GE, whose FUD is weak because GE is internally a user of Free software and GNU/Linux (on the desktop, not just the server). Andrew Donoghue summarises these two reports and correctly adds:

Gyorgy's comments may surprise some other parts of the company, as GE has been reported to be a user of JBoss open source middleware and other open source applications. GE Healthcare has also been a user of the open source Linux operating system since as far back as 2007 for seemingly critical applications.

So GE does not follow its very own advice. Just like Microsoft, GE uses GNU/Linux internally [1, 2, 3] but to the outside world it pretends that Free software is not suitable for use. "Do as I say, not as I do." ⬆