IP: OSS in Europe

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

Date: Fri, 19 Feb 1999 18:33:33 -0600
To: farber () cis upenn edu
From: Randy Sparkman <rsparkman () att net>
Subject: OSS in Europe

Dave,

Slashdot.org had a link to the following article about the open source
software movement in Europe. The writer contends that OSS is on a faster
track in Europe because of a greater comfort with technology that derives
from academia and its relative discomfort with dependence on Microsoft. He
further says that "American's fevered enthusiasm for the marketplace has
created a cultural blind spot for the possibilities of Open Source".

It's a stretch for the author to say that open source is a challenge to the
American technology hegemony, but it reminds us, as you and your colleagues
have proven, significant technology watersheds are indeed somtimes
incubated outside of the bottom line. Either way, the economics of a
largely unpaid, globally distributed, collaborative development environment
gives a whole new meaning to "thinking outside the box".

The article's available at:

http://www.intraware.com/ms/mktg/indaa/itkc/osseurope.html

best,


-- Randy Sparkman

http://home.att.net/~rsparkman