September 2006

Are you currently using Linux or other open source software in your company? Do you have a formal open standards policy to protect your investment? Do you want to send a message to your open source vendors to support open standards? If you’ve answered yes to any of these questions, The Free Standards Group would like to get your perspective — and support — for a new white paper detailing how end users can benefit from open standards.

This study will present policy recommendations on how end users can protect themselves from vendor lock and preserve choice. Most end users mistakingly believe they are protected from vendor lock in by using open source software. Unfortunately that’s not the case. The Free Standards Group is writing a white paper that will help guide your organization on formulating an open standards policy for your organization.

The FSG is currently soliciting end users to participate in this research study via email and/or phone interviews. Your perspective on open standards and open source will prove invaluable to this project. The policy paper will be published by the FSG and its member companies. Your information can remain confidential.

Sign up here to receive a free copy of the white paper before it’s published, with or without agreeing to be contacted by the FSG.

Also, by signing up you can give your support to free standards and send a message to vendors to support them. There’s no cost to you and it will enable open standards to continue to be adopted by vendors in your industry.

Here’s the form:

http://freestandards.org/php/white-paper-reg.php

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The fall edition of our newsletter has just arrived. Check it out. Lots o’ stuff happening at the FSG!

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More and more end users and governments are realizing how important open standards are to their technology policies. Denmark is the latest.

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ZDNet just published an interview with Gartner Group Vice President Dion Wiggins where he was praised the Linux Standard Base and the Linux industry’s efforts at standardization:

Wiggins lauded efforts by the Linux Standards Base (LSB) and Asianux to promote a set of standards in Linux software development, so Linux applications can be deployed across multiple Linux flavors.

It’s great to see Gartner, generally considered to be a slow-mover in recommending open source, grab onto the LSB message and how important it is to the industry.

Popularity: 6% [?]