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<TITLE>FW: RUSSELL PAVLICEK: "The Open Source" from InfoWorld.com, Wednesday, October 17, 2001</TITLE>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>Here is an interesting article:</FONT>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>Stephen Dawes B.A. B.Sc.</FONT>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>-----Original Message-----</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>From: OpenSource@bdcimail.com [<A HREF="mailto:OpenSource@bdcimail.com">mailto:OpenSource@bdcimail.com</A>] </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>Sent: 2001 October 17 10:16 AM</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>To: sdawes@gov.calgary.ab.ca</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>Subject: RUSSELL PAVLICEK: "The Open Source" from InfoWorld.com,</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>Wednesday, October 17, 2001</FONT>
</P>
<BR>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>========================================================</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>RUSSELL PAVLICEK: "The Open Source" InfoWorld.com</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>========================================================</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>Wednesday, October 17, 2001</FONT>
</P>
<BR>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - </FONT>
</P>
<BR>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>TROUBLESOME HORIZON</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>Posted October 12, 2001 01:01 PM Pacific Time</FONT>
</P>
<BR>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>RECENTLY, TWO major initiatives on the horizon have</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>troubled many open-source users and creators,</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>especially in the United States.</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>The first item of concern for much of the open-source</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>community is the proposal by the World Wide Web</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>Consortium (W3C) to explore the use of royalty patents</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>on Web standards. The proposed use of these RAND</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>(Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory) patents may</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>provide some protection for the standards, but they</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>will have at least one serious side effect: They will</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>make open-source implementations of these standards impossible.</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>Why? The very definition of open-source software</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>licensing states "the license may not require a</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>royalty or other fee" to use the software. The very</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>existence of these RAND royalty payments will directly</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>discriminate against open-source software.</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>Why does this matter? Simple: Open source powers a</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>significant portion of the Web. According to the</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>September 2001 Netcraft survey, approximately 60</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>percent of the Web -- more than 19 million servers --</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>are powered by the open-source Apache Web server.</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>About 30 percent of all computers hosting Web sites</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>run the Linux operating system, another key</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>open-source offering. Any change that threatens the</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>stability of so much of the Web better have a</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>tremendous upside. So far, I have yet to hear of</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>anything quite so momentous.</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>The second matter causing grief to many is the United</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>States' proposed SSSCA (Security Systems Standards and</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>Certification Act). On the surface, this bill appears</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>to simply guard the rights of copyright holders by</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>denying pirates the ability to make illegal copies of</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>electronic information. Unfortunately, it is much more</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>than that.</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>The SSSCA will insist that all digital devices --</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>computers, handhelds, and more -- be equipped with</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>federally specified "digital rights management"</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>technology. This technology will enable data providers</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>to decide how you may use the CDs, DVDs, and other</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>media you purchase.</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>But most critical to the open-source community is the</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>demand that all devices must use this technology. That</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>means that open-source systems must also implement</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>this feature or become illegal in the United States.</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>Yes, in the land of the free, free software may</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>be forbidden.</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>But why not just implement the controls under open</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>source? How? Even if the government were to publish</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>the code to do so, with open-source software someone</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>could always edit the operating system source code so</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>it does not call the controlling routines. This will</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>obviously be illegal under the provisions of the new law.</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>So when you hear about open-source people objecting to</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>the proposed W3C rules or ranting about the SSSCA</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>legislation, do not assume they are merely leftist</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>nutcases trying to subvert the rights of copyright</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>owners. They are not. They are, however, fighting</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>against proposals that may damage the structure of the</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>Internet by crippling or destroying open-source</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>software use.</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>It is one thing to protect the rights of copyright</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>owners, but it is something else to make freedom</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>illegal while doing so. There must be a better way.</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>Russell Pavlicek is an independent open-source</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>consultant and author of Embracing Insanity: Open</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>Source Software Development. Contact him at </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>pavlicek@linuxprofessionalsolutions.com.</FONT>
</P>
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>THE LATEST IN LINUX FROM INFOWORLD: </FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>* Pocket-size open source</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2><A HREF="http://www.infoworld.com/articles/op/xml/01/10/08/011008opwireless.xml?1017weli">http://www.infoworld.com/articles/op/xml/01/10/08/011008opwireless.xml?1017weli</A></FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>* NSA offers supersecure Linux</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2><A HREF="http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/01/10/04/011004hnnsa.xml?1017weli">http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/01/10/04/011004hnnsa.xml?1017weli</A></FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>* IBM ships 1,000th Linux-based eServer z900 mainframe</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2><A HREF="http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/01/09/24/010924hnmainlin.xml?1017weli">http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/01/09/24/010924hnmainlin.xml?1017weli</A></FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>* To the editor</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2><A HREF="http://www.infoworld.com/articles/op/xml/01/09/24/010924opletters.xml?1017weli">http://www.infoworld.com/articles/op/xml/01/09/24/010924opletters.xml?1017weli</A></FONT>
</P>
<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=2>- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - </FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>QUOTE OF THE DAY:</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>"In the wake of recent events, however, the conventional</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>wisdom about what constitutes an expense will change.</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>Centralized operations in today's global environment is</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>a liability."</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>--InfoWorld Editor In Chief Michael Vizard, predicting a</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2>new trend toward distributed computing.</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2><A HREF="http://www.infoworld.com/articles/op/xml/01/10/15/011015opnoise.xml?1017weli">http://www.infoworld.com/articles/op/xml/01/10/15/011015opnoise.xml?1017weli</A></FONT>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>Copyright 2001 InfoWorld Media Group Inc.</FONT>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>This message was sent to: sdawes@gov.calgary.ab.ca</FONT>
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