91 rinda
4.1 KiB
HTML
91 rinda
4.1 KiB
HTML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
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<html newsdate="2014-07-08">
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<version>1</version>
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<head>
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<title>EC distorts market by refusing to break free from lock-in</title>
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</head>
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<body>
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<h1>EC distorts market by refusing to break free from lock-in</h1>
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<p>
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The European Commission has recently renewed its commitment to a
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proprietary desktop and secret file formats.The Commission is refusing
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to get serious about breaking free from vendor lock-in, and is
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ignoring all available alternatives. In doing so, the EU's civil
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service fails to practice what it preaches.
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</p>
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<p>
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In April, the Commission signed two contracts with Microsoft: An
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<a href="http://ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TED:NOTICE:140675-2014:TEXT:EN:HTML">agreement for "high-level services"</a> worth 44 million Euro,
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and a <a href="http://ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TED:NOTICE:140672-2014:TEXT:EN:HTML">framework agreement on software licensing conditions</a>. The
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actual licenses are provided by Hewlett-Packard under <a href="http://ted.europa.eu/udl?uri=TED:NOTICE:105131-2012:TEXT:EN:HTML">a separate
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contract from 2012</a>, worth 50 million euro. The contracts cover
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the Commission itself, and 54 other EU organisations.
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</p>
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<blockquote><p>
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"We are extremely disappointed about the lack of progress here," says
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FSFE president Karsten Gerloff. "The Commission has not even looked
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for viable alternatives. Its lazy approach to software procurement
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leaves the Commission open to allegations of inertia, and worse."
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</p></blockquote>
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<p>
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The Commission
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recently <a href="https://download.fsfe.org/policy/procurement/201401.EC_Future_Office_Automation.pdf">admitted
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publicly for the first time</a> that it is in "effective captivity" to
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Microsoft. But <a href="https://download.fsfe.org/policy/procurement/">documents obtained by FSFE</a> show that the
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Commission has made no serious effort to find solutions based on Open
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Standards. In consequence, a large part of Europe's IT industry is
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essentially locked out of doing business with the Commission.
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</p>
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<p>
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In a <a href="https://download.fsfe.org/policy/procurement/201401.EC_Future_Office_Automation.pdf">strategy paper which the Commission released</a> in response to official questions from MEP Andersdotter,
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the EC lays out a three-track approach for its office automation
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platform for the coming years. This strategy will only deepen the
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Commission's reliance on secret, proprietary file formats and
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programs.
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</p>
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<blockquote><p>
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"The Commission should be setting a positive example for public
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administrations across Europe," comments Gerloff. "Instead, it shirks
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its responsibility as a public administrations, and simply claims that
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such alternatives don't exist. Even the most basic market analysis
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would have told the Commission that there's a vibrant Free Software
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industry in Europe that it could have relied on."
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</p></blockquote>
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<p>
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Many public organisations in Europe are successfully using Free
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Software solutions that implement Open Standards. Examples are the
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German city of Munich with its internationally recognised Limux
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project, and the UK government, which has made great strides in using
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Free Software and Open Standards to obtain value for money in IT
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procurement. Over the years, many of these progressive organisations
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<a href="https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/news/mayor-munich-eu-laptops-should-have-libreoffice-or-openoffice">
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have asked the Commission for practical and moral support</a> for
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their course. This latest move by the Commission will seem a cruel
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joke to them.
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</p>
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<p>
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Despite this setback, FSFE will continue to work with the Commission,
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and help it improve the way it buys software. It could do so by
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relying on specifications and standards rather than brand names, by
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using an open call for tender instead of talking to a single vendor,
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and by figuring future exit costs into the price of any new
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solution. These practices are fast becoming the norm across Europe's
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public sector. The EC should practice what it preaches, and adopt
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these practices for its own procurement.
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</p>
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</body>
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<sidebar>
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</sidebar>
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<tags>
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<tag key="front-page"/>
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<tag key="european-union"/>
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<tag key="procurement"/>
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</tags>
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</html>
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