2 Comments

    • ON: Sat May 17th 09:37 AM
      Commented on:
      Google, IBM, Red Hat, Sun and the Digistan Connection
      Hey there Dennis,

      I'd just like to correct you on a couple of things, which it seems you don't understand.

      Digistan is a syllabic abbreviation of Digital Standards. Just as for instance Microsoft is a syllabic abbreviation of Microcomputer Software. In other words the name has nothing to do with terrorism or Farsi. Producing such abbreviations is normal in various European languages.

      And as Digistan is presumably funded by European EUR (and other EU currencies) I can't possibly see how it could be using up your US taxpayer dollars. Also it seems to me that the cost of a single website and someone drafting a declaration shouldn't be too much. People participating pro-bono in workgroups and open source projects don't cost anything and I would rather say they bring unmeasurable value.

      You are right in saying that the website with its declaration should more precisely define what "free and open standards" are and I also on first reading their declaration felt a little "propaganda-fille... But on reflection it seems to me very simple, that a "free standard" means - without expensive patents attached. An "open standard" means one available to all interested parties (such as software developers) and not vendor-specific. For instance HTML or XML or CSS. These specifications are available for free online in many places and for me as a web developer it is easy to write HTML. Also I can be reasonably assured that people using different browsers, operating systems or even devices will be able to view and access this HTML. Conversely I would not call for instance MSOXML an open standard (yet - until OOXML is published and implemented) because it is extremely difficult for me to create or edit such a document (which I have tried to do many times with varying levels of success - with next to no reference material) and the document I produce is only openable using a single vendor's software. As for Digistan "having a problem defining" free and open standards I later found they hava definition on www.digistan.org/open-....

      Dennis, I would please like you to give us a explanation of why you think this declaration is wrong or bad (does it contain bad logic?) and who it will hurt.

      And also it would be good to apologize for your tone which seems to imply there is something inherently bad in either coutries ending in "stan", Europeans, left-wing ideology. This seems like deep predjudice which is something you yourself are criticising (anti-Microsoft predjudice). Also as a European I think it would be good to have more competition in the software market, for instance in the Czech Republic where I live there are only a handful of Microsoft emplyees/representativ... The majority of all profit spent by people here on MS Office and Windows etc etc goes to the US. "Free and open standards" are one of the things that will allow capable Czech programmers an equal chance on the global IT market.
      View article »
    • ON: Fri May 16th 11:28 AM
      Commented on:
      Google, IBM, Red Hat, Sun and the Digistan Connection
      Hey there Dennis,

      I'd just like to correct you on a couple of things, which it seems you don't understand.

      Digistan is a syllabic abbreviation of Digital Standards. Just as for instance Microsoft is a syllabic abbreviation of Microcomputer Software. In other words the name has nothing to do with terrorism or Farsi. Producing such abbreviations is normal in various European languages.

      And as Digistan is presumably funded by European EUR (and other EU currencies) I can't possibly see how it could be using up your US taxpayer dollars. Also it seems to me that the cost of a single website and someone drafting a declaration shouldn't be too much. People participating pro-bono in workgroups and open source projects don't cost anything and I would rather say they bring unmeasurable value.

      You are right in saying that the website with its declaration should more precisely define what "free and open standards" are and I also on first reading their declaration felt a little "propaganda-fille... But on reflection it seems to me very simple, that a "free standard" means - without expensive patents attached. An "open standard" means one available to all interested parties (such as software developers) and not vendor-specific. For instance HTML or XML or CSS. These specifications are available for free online in many places and for me as a web developer it is easy to write HTML. Also I can be reasonably assured that people using different browsers, operating systems or even devices will be able to view and access this HTML. Conversely I would not call for instance MSOXML an open standard (yet - until OOXML is published and implemented) because it is extremely difficult for me to create or edit such a document (which I have tried to do many times with varying levels of success - with next to no reference material) and the document I produce is only openable using a single vendor's software. As for Digistan "having a problem defining" free and open standards I later found they hava definition on www.digistan.org/open-....

      Dennis, I would please like you to give us a explanation of why you think this declaration is wrong or bad (does it contain bad logic?) and who it will hurt.

      And also it would be good to apologize for your tone which seems to imply there is something inherently bad in either coutries ending in "stan", Europeans, left-wing ideology. This seems like deep predjudice which is something you yourself are criticising (anti-Microsoft predjudice). Also as a European I think it would be good to have more competition in the software market, for instance in the Czech Republic where I live there are only a handful of Microsoft emplyees/representativ... The majority of all profit spent by people here on MS Office and Windows etc etc goes to the US. "Free and open standards" are one of the things that will allow capable Czech programmers an equal chance on the global IT market.
      View article »
Contribute an Article Become a Seeking Alpha Contributor