Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron - First impressions
,----[ Quote ]
| Wow.
|
| What just happened there isn’t possible with any other operating system on my
| notebook. Not Windows XP, Vista or any other flavour of Linux that I’ve
| tested. The key hardware was detected automatically and I didn’t have to
| install any additional drivers or software to get up and running. That’s
| impressive - and all that without needing to repartition or reformat my
| disks.
`----
http://stuart.blogtown.co.nz/2008/04/25/ubuntu-804-hardy-heron-first-impressions/
The Europarlement might soon join in.
Recent:
EU: Europarlement testing Ubuntu, OpenOffice and Firefox
,----[ Quote ]
| The European Parliament's IT department is testing the use of GNU/Linux
| distribution Ubuntu, OpenOffice, Firefox and other Open Source applications,
| the British MEP James Nicholson explained last week in a letter to Italian
| MEP Marco Cappato.
`----
http://ec.europa.eu/idabc/en/document/7565
MEPs Question Microsoft's Eligibility for Gov't Projects
,----[ Quote ]
| The Commission, which has not responded yet, is allowed a few weeks to reply.
`----
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/144591/meps_question_microsofts_eligibility_for_govt_projects.html
Is Microsoft Now Banned from EU Contracts?
http://www.computerworlduk.com/toolbox/open-source/blogs/index.cfm?entryid=697&blogid=14
Euro MP thinks Microsoft should be banned from government contracts
http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/04/10/member-eu-parliament-asks
Green MEP says Microsoft should be excluded from EU contract awarding procedure
http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/106338/from/rss09
Eurocrats study Microsoft OOXML under procurement rules
,----[ Quote ]
| THE EUROPEAN Commission has started investigating Microsoft's OOXML standard
| under procurement rules instead of the old competition statute with which
| they usually bash the software giant.
|
| The Danish Unix User Group (DKUUG) complained to the EC's competition
| regulators in February about a Danish government mandate on the use of
| software standards. But the Competition lot didn't want to know about it.
|
| The European Commission confirmed today that its Internal Market people had
| taken up the complaint. They were examining it to see if it constituted an
| infringement of procurement rules.
|
| [...]
|
| It was based, as originally, on the idea that Ecma International, the
| standards body that backed OOXML, had specified that the standard was to be
| implemented "in a way that is fully compatible with the large existing
| investments in Microsoft Office documents."
|
| This meant that it was designed to give Microsoft documents an advantage,
| said, Simonsen, in the same way a television manufacturer might have an
| advantage over its rivals if had designed a signal that was tuned to operate
| special features on its own sets.
|
| The EC's procurement police are now considering whether this puts the Danish
| government in breach of procurement rules, despite the moves Microsoft has
| made to make its standard acceptable.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/04/24/eurocrats-study-microsoft-ooxml
EC probes OOXML standards-setting process
,----[ Quote ]
| A spokesman for the European Commissioner for Competition, Neelie Kroes, told
| The Register that regulators were continuing to scrutinise interoperability
| issues related to Microsoft’s products following complaints from the
| Committee for Interoperable Systems (ECIS) group.
|
| As part of that process, the EC formally contacted a number of national
| standards bodies, including the Norwegian Standards Institute (NSI),
| requesting more details about possible irregularities in the OOXML
| standardisation process.
|
| [...]
|
| “It must be stressed that it is not the Commission's intention to influence
| the outcome of this process, but the Commission considers it essential to
| ensure that European competition law is not violated in the course of the
| standard setting process,” he said in an email to El Reg.
|
| In January the EC began formal anti-trust probes against Microsoft in two
| cases where it was alleged that the multinational firm had abused its strong
| market position. As part of the investigation into the first case, the
| Commission said that it would scrutinise OOXML on the grounds that the
| specification doesn't work with those of competitors.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/04/04/ooxml_ec_investigation_iso/
BE, NL: governments will not use ISO OOXML
,----[ Quote ]
| Asked to comment on last week's ISO approval for OOXML, Fedict's chief IT
| architect, Peter Strickx, said: "There will have to be multiple
| implementations, in order for us not to become dependent on a single vendor.
| It will also have to be compatible with open standards that we already use,
| in this case Open Document Format ODF."
`----
http://ec.europa.eu/idabc/en/document/7562
DE: German Foreign Ministry will not use ISO OOXML
,----[ Quote ]
| In the weeks prior to the second round of votes last September,
| irregularities were reported in the standard committees in many participating
| countries. These claims continued until after the final discussion, in
| February and March this year.
|
| The European Commission has started an investigation into the allegations.
| The Commission sent a letter to all EU national standards committees in
| Europe, requesting information about the process. Sources at the Commission
| declined to comment, as the investigation is on-going and no official
| position has yet been adopted.
`----
http://ec.europa.eu/idabc/en/document/7561
Software wars
,----[ Quote ]
| Allegations of committee-stuffing, the outcome of votes overridden by
| political appointees, a final decision that many involved consider tainted:
| this may sound like a discredited election in some third world country. But
| it is actually a description of an ugly fight over international technical
| standards that wrapped up this week. Microsoft came out on top, but at the
| cost of tarnishing its reputation and the credibility of an important
| back-room process that oils the wheels of many global industries.
`----
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/c9743360-01a8-11dd-a323-000077b07658,Authorised=false.html?_i_location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcms%2Fs%2F0%2Fc9743360-01a8-11dd-a323-000077b07658.html%3Fnclick_check%3D1&_i_referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.computerworlduk.com%2Ftool
Related:
EU Commission Investigating Microsoft's MSOOXML Push
,----[ Quote ]
| I hope they think to investigate the smear campaigns that seem to always
| happen to anyone on the other side from Microsoft. What happened to Peter
| Quinn was by no means unique.
`----
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20080208151410252
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