Open source software and proprietary software: antagonistic models? Time for a reality check

Conférence-débat entre Maître Carlo PIANA, avocat au barreau de Milan et conseil de la Free Software Foundation Europe et Mark LANGE, Senior Policy Counsel, service juridique de Microsoft Europe

Présidence : Professeur Michel VIVANT, Ecole de Droit de Sciences Po

 

Today, Free and Open Source software is widespread and dominates major IT markets, web servers and mobile operating systems. A majority of firms, like Google, Apple or Microsoft, combine open and proprietary licenses.

These two models have to address common issues, like the development of competitive software ecosystems, the ever-growing market for mobile phones with internet access, and the increase of patent litigation costs. It is time for a reality check: Are open source software and proprietary software still antagonistic models?
How do open source software and proprietary software respectively respond to those challenges? And how do firms choose between the two, adapting their economic and business models and their strategies to today’s challenges?

Mark LANGE,

Senior Policy Counsel, Microsoft
Mark is Senior Policy Counsel in the Microsoft Law and Corporate Affairs department in Europe, based in Microsoft’s Paris and Brussels offices since 1998. Mark’s work focuses on business strategies and government regulation, which has included issues relating to open source particularly in connection with competition, interoperability, public procurement, standardisation, and intellectual property.

Carlo PIANA
IT Lawyer at the bar of Milan
Carlo is a lawyer by training and a free/open source software advocate. A qualified attorney in Italy, Piana has been practising IT law since 1995, focusing his practice on software, technology, standardization, data protection and digital liberties in general, and serves as external General Counsel to the Free Software Foundation Europe (“FSFE”). Piana has been involved in some important IT cases in Europe, such as the long-running antitrust battle between the EU Commission and Microsoft .

Come and find out what separates them and what unites them, and where the future of software development and commercialisation might lie!