On keeping a name relevant
“Moved by Freedom – Powered by Standards”. This blog has been going on under that title for quite some time; since September 2007 exactly. I ran an older blog without the same name and title.
These days, I’m still in the ODF development and promotion in various capacities, but I don’t “do” standardization the way I did back in 2007, 2008 or even in 2011. This blog has been at times a tribune for me, a soapbox, and more often a public venue for thinking and writing on digital matters in a deeper fashion. This is not changing, but as I was looking at its title and at its meaning the other day I wondered whether its name is still relevant. I went further and wondered whether it would stay relevant in the near or mid term.
My conclusion is that when it comes to Freedom (Software Freedom or otherwise) standards actually matter as much as rights. Standards, regardless of what they are about, industry specifications, public policies, conventions defining legal terms, even words and their meaning, are the fundamental building block on an open, inclusive and efficient system. While their use may be twisted -any tool can, for the hand that uses the tool is the one ultimately defining its intent- standards form the basis of innovation, be it technological or social, and even political. Standards are what we must agree on first in order to agree on principles, values, and on the way we live. Our world, our countries, our lives, the industries we are working in are thus powered by standards. But it would be a pale assertion to stand at that line; for the author of this blog does not just stick to standards. He believes in Freedom as the energy in everything good that’s been happening in his life and around him as far as he can witness; and if the truth about the “primum mobile” will forever remain a mystery to Man, at least part of its manifestation lies in our innate and universal potential and right to Freedom. Software is no different in that respect. This blog will thus continue to be not just powered by standards. It will always be moved by Freedom.
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