Advocacy groups on open standards and open source software cautiously welcome the European Commission's five year ICT plan.
The Digital Agenda was presented this Wednesday by Neelie Kroes, Vice-President of the European Commission and Commissioner for Digital agenda.
The plan rightly focuses on fostering interoperability and openness, and on the development of the standardisation process, said Open Forum Europe (OFE), an open source advocacy organisation.
IT cautioned: "Some elements within the Commission remain wedded to the traditional lock-in approach to technology and seem to be resisting efforts championed by Commissioner Kroes to make the ICT market more open and interoperable."
Similarly reserved is the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE). In its response, the organisation appreciates that the plan will give standards a greater role in the public procurement of software. "However, the Digital Agenda falls short of systematically promoting free software and open standards, missing the goals that the Member States have set for the Commission."
The plans are seen as quite encouraging by citizen-advocacy group La Quadrature du Net. The organisation added that the plans in parts are somewhat disappointing for open standards and for users of free software.
April, a French free and open source software advocacy group, objects that open standards are expunged from the document. "Like we feared, open standards, guarantees for true interoperability, were excluded from the digital landscape and politics of Europe."
Benefits
According the European Commission's Digital Agenda, Europe does not yet reap the maximum benefit from interoperability: "Weaknesses in standard-setting, public procurement and coordination between public authorities prevent digital services and devices used by Europeans from working together as well as they should. The Digital Agenda can only take off if its different parts and applications are interoperable and based on standards and open platforms."
The agenda outlines six other priority areas for action, including the creation of a Digital Single Market and increasing trust in the use of Internet and on-line services.
More information:
European Commission's Digital Agenda
Statement by La Quadrature du Net
Statement by April (in French)