[ILUG] Mary Harney again

[Feargal Reilly]

On Wed, 12 May 2004 15:21:22 +0100
"Eamon O'Tuathail" <eamon.otuathail at clipcode.com> wrote:

> Brendan,
> 
> Thanks for the draft of the letter. I have one comment:
> >> Mary Hannafin's, recent endorsement of the importance of open standards 
> The problem is she also said silly things about open source. Your letter
> approves of what she said on open standards could be construed to assume
> approval of her open source comments also. You should either remove Mary
> Hannifin's name (eg. Replace it with "Irish Government"), or add an extra
> line disagreeing with her open source comments.

It's probably best not to mix issues; attack a single point at a time.
One is being dealt with by the European commission, the other by the Department of State.

Mary Hanafin's comments on using open standards allows us to argue against software patents on the basis that they could interfere with that policy. Her comments on open source software add no strength to the argument.

However it is worthwhile to point out the potential problems software patents could cause for open-source developers, and to stress the importance of open-source software in todays society and marketplace. As I mentioned in an earlier post, both open-source and closed-source may equally infringe on a software patent. Open source merely makes it easier to spot.

The more you drift from your message, the more likely your letter will be consigned to the 'loony' bin. Write a second letter dealing with the open-source issue.

-fr.
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