MEPs vote for more Free Software in public sector
On 19 January, the European Parliament adopted its own-initiative report "Towards a Digital Single Market" in response to the European Commission's Digital Single Market strategy. FSFE is glad to see that the Parliament took an affirmative attitude and a bolder stance towards the increased use of Free Software and its importance to digital single market.
In particular:
Paragraph 89 considers that software providers "should better promote the security advantages of open source software".
Paragraph 110 urges the European Commission and the Council to "increase the share of free and open source software and its reuse in and between public administrations as a solution to increase interoperability".
Paragraph 125 calls for "the increased use of free and open source software, particularly in educational establishments and public administrations".
On not so positive side, the report stresses that the ability to license standard-essntial patents under FRAND licensing terms fosters innovation and preserves research, development and standardisation incentives despite the well-established fact that FRAND licensing practices are harmful to Free Software.
FSFE nevertheless welcomes the adoption of the report and calls on the Commission to follow the Parliament's recommendations to increase the share and reuse of Free Software when pursuing the Digital Single Market initiatives.