IT Giants Accused of Exploiting Open Source

An anonymous reader writes "A top European Commission official has accused major IT players such as IBM, HP and Sun of using the open source community as mere subcontractors rather than encouraging them to develop independent commercial products. Jesús Villasante, head of software technologies at the commission, said: 'The open source community today [is a] subcontractor of American multinationals. Open source communities need to take themselves seriously and realise they have contribution to themselves and society. From the moment they realise they are part of the evolution of society and try to influence it, we will be moving in the right direction.'"

meh

[metricmusic]

Don't believe him. He's trying to turn us against IBM. Look at what happened to Anakin.

Influencing society, eh?

[kfg]

Gee. If only Stallman had thought of it that way.

KFG

I believe the article 100%

[ian rogers]

What, you expect me to call Jesus a liar?

ps - funny, not troll.

Friends

[Anonymous Coward]

Kind of funny stance when you think of The Commission's push for software patents.

Re:Bah to your 'Hmph'

[Throtex]

Richard Stallman might disagree with you.

I'll take "How to know you're on the right track" for $1000, Alex.

Take it from a bureaucrat

[Anonymous Coward]

EU bureaucrats know it best. They know what the "right direction" is, so they certainly can tell who needs to do what so "we" move in the right direction. One more reason why the US leads in and the EU has 'authorities' talking about technology.

Re:Bah to your 'Hmph'

[stienman]

>>People who write code because they think they're going to change the world never do.

>Richard Stallman might disagree with you.

Might? Richard Stallman might think he's changed the world???

I think we can all agree that RMS believes he has changed the world.

-Adam

Re:Breaking the Code

[Anonymous Coward]

Or am attributing to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity?

Yes, your gross misinterpretation of what's been said could be chalked up to your stupidity.