The European Commission recently published a public draft of the standards request associated with the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA). Anyone who wants to comment on it has until May 16, after which comments will be considered and a final request to the European Standards Organisations (ESOs) will be issued. This process is all governed by regulation 2012/1025, of which more in a future post.
This development is important for every entity that will have duties under the CRA (“manufacturers” and “software stewards”). Conformance with the harmonised standards that emerge from this process will allow manufacturers to CE-mark their software on the presumption it complies with the requirements of the CRA, without taking further steps.
For those who depend on incorporating or creating open source software, there is an encouraging new development found here. For the first time in a European standards request, there is an express requirement to respect the needs of open source developers and users. Recital 10 tells each standards organisation that
“where relevant, particular account should be given to the needs of the free and open source software community”
and that is made concrete in Article 2 which specifies:
The work programme shall also include the actions to be undertaken to ensure effective participation of relevant stakeholders, such as small and medium enterprises and civil society organisations, including specifically the open source community where relevant
and that requirement is made concrete in article 3 which requires proof that effective participation has been facilitated. The community is going to have to step up to help the ESOs satisfy these requirements – or have corporates masquerading as community do it instead.
Me presento de nuevo a la reelección para la junta de The Document Foundation (TDF) como candidato independiente. Lo más importante que necesita TDF es una visión unificadora para el futuro de #LibreOffice, la principal herramienta de preparación de documentos #OpenSource. He aquí el esbozo de una visión que propondría a los Administradores y a la Junta Directiva en caso de ser elegido, obviamente evolucionada en colaboración con ellos.
I am standing for re-election to the board of The Document Foundation (TDF) as an independent candidate again. The most important thing TDF needs is a uniting vision for the future of #LibreOffice, the leading #OpenSource document preparation tool. Here is the outline of a vision I would propose to the Trustees and Board if elected, obviously evolved collaboratively with them.
If you are using an Intel-powered Chromebook, did you know you can install LibreOffice on it, as a local app? It's extremely easy!
Enable the Linux subsystem and AppImage support
In the Linux folder, create a folder called Applications
Download the AppImage build of LibreOffice into the folder
That's it! ChromeOS will (probably) do the rest. Go to the applications menu (press the search button on the keyboard) and look in the “Linux Applications” group to launch LibreOffice. It's as easy as a Mac!
A clause in a software license that says something that sounds as simple as “you must follow the law” is problematic in practice and likely to render the license unapprovable as open source. Here's why.
Of the many attributes of software freedom that could move to front-of-mind, it strikes me that the minimal license compliance burdens for open source software users are actually a comparative strength. Having them presented as a dangerous weakness by commercial interests in various contexts (what has been called “the compliance-industrial complex”) applies a “frame” that serves only the detractors of software freedom. No wonder proprietary vendors want to divert our attention! Open source is so much easier!
During the discussions around European digital agenda legislation, I have frequently heard people proposing to define “open source” within a draft instrument. But that's a surprisingly difficult thing to do – it turns out that despite being a globally-understood term-of-art, capturing the whole thing in a phrase simple enough to use in a recital requires a great deal of thought and experience.
So people mostly defer to the OSI Open Source Definition, which is not designed for that purpose. This post considers three different ways to consider open source — knowing it when you see it, knowing it by its goals and knowing it by summarising its mechanism — and includes a recital-ready definition of open source for use in legislation that embodies the global consensus of its meaning.
Ultimately software freedom is a matter of personal liberty, however it is framed. Whether you describe it as “open source” or “free software”, the goal is for each individual user of software to be self-sovereign in their software and data. Where the privilege of choice is available, this is a matter of consciously choosing liberty, and it is strictly a matter for each individual to make a set of choices — which will necessarily be inter-related.
