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Running for the board of the Open Source Initiative – a few words

Well, it has been a while I have posted anything on this blog, a little bit over a hear to be precise. I intend to post more in 2018 but I will likely not keep a regular schedule. Today I would like to explain my reasons for my candidacy at …

Calendar sharing in the XXIst century

This post is a bit of a rant, and I think it will resonate with people who have chosen to use online and shared calendars that are not provided by either Google or Microsoft. I will write it from the beginning: I still cannot believe we cannot achieve proper calendar …

Not so fast, open standards!

My friend Andrew Updegrove wrote a surprising essay in his latest blog post about the irrelevance of open standards. More exactly his point, if I understood correctly, was that open standards were becoming irrelevant as a topic as everyone is using and relying on them, and the software industry can …

Software Commons

An attentive reader of this blog made this private comment about software commons to me a few days ago: There are no real software commons, because you cannot compare these with actual, material commons such as air or water. One should treat software proprietary or free as in freedom, as …

One interface, many truths

Today I’d like to discuss a topic that is constantly recurring about LibreOffice: the overhaul of its interface. I am aware the matter has some real trolling potential, but at least if one wants to troll it is important to get some things straight first. Is LibreOffice’s interface outdated? It …

What the UK Government’s adoption of ODF really means

On Tuesday the news that the UK Government had decided to use ODF as its official and default file format started to spread. The full announcement with technical details may be found here; the Document Foundation published its press release on Thursday morning there. This decision is a landmark for …

What’s up with Open Standards?

It has been a while since I have discussed open standards here, even though I have alluded to them in passing. There are currently a number of initiatives and policies ongoing at the European level that are bringing this topic back on the table, especially with regard to public procurement …

Linux email clients – the road less traveled

One area on the Linux desktop that remains surprisingly conservative is email – email clients and webmail alike. While most if not all of the formats and protocols used are true open standards, you would think there could be a broad range of clients and webmails for Linux out there. …

Mozilla, a tale of gentrification

This post has a high trolling potential, I am aware of it. So let’s start with a few points meant as a caveat emptor. The views expressed here are mine , solely mine and do not represent the views of the Document Foundation nor my current employer. As a consequence …

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