Dutch language Open Source Yearbook

Just before the Christmas holiday, the second edition of the Dutch Language Open Source Yearbook 2007-2008 was published, looking back to the developments in 2007 and looking forward to opportunities of 2008. Two major happenings of 2007 were the Manifesto of Open Municipalities and the publication of the government document The Netherlands open in connection, instigated by the vice–state secretary of the Department of Economic Affairs. Compared to the first edition of the Open Source Yearbook, the second edition breathes more optimism, although not all doubts have disappeared; sweet and sour are included in the Yearbook.

In the first part of the Yearbook is a kind of survey and starts with the complete text of the government document The Netherlands open in connection is reproduced. It is the second political document regarding Open Source; as the first one the motion-Vendrik, a parliamentary motion by the parliamentarian Mr Vendrik, is considered. The text of the government document is followed by an article portraying the problems around the standardisation of OOXML and the developments around the developments of open source in the member states of the European Union. Part One is closed with an inventory of open source company applications.

In the second part of the Yearbook authors look behind the scenes. The ISO standardisation process is described with an analysis of what can go wrong and goes wrong. This is not just n academic problem, but also a political problem as is clear from software patents and copyright problems. There is information on The European Patent Litigation Agreement (EPLA) and about the political movement, which wants to reform copyright in Europe. The economist Marcel Creemers pleads for a new economical theory to explain certain developments in the digital era. The chapter closes with an analysis of three new open licenses, among which GPL version 3.0 and the first version of the European Union Patent License (EUPL).

The third part offers a perspective on open standard and open source software. There is a description of the successful open source software transformation in the Spanish region Extremadura. This story is contrasted with a story about open source software for education. Ten experts offer their view on open source software in 2015 (I will make a posting of it tomorrow).

The last part is an overview of organisation, communities and user groups in The Netherlands, Belgium and further abroad.

For those who read Dutch and would like to order the Yearbook, here are the bibliographic details: Hans Sleurink (editor): Open Source Jaarboek 2007-2008. Media Update Vakjpublicaties, Gorredijk; ISBN: 978 90 78730 02 6. Order from online bookshops such as Gopher and Bol.com.

Blog Posting Number 967

Tags: open standards, open source software