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Community
Radio Stations use publicVoiceXML
PublicVoiceXML (http://www.publicVoiceXML.org) is both, the
name of a VoiceXML 2.0 compliant browser and the name
of a trial project with European community radio stations,
who are evaluating VoiceXML technology for their day-to-day
business. Some of them, such as Vienna's community radio
station Orange 94.0, have contributed to the user requirements
phase and have been successfully integrating VoiceXML
into their content management and remote journalists
management system. The trial activity, which started
on March 1st 2002 and which will be lasting until August
2003, is partially supported by the Information Society
Technology Program of the European Commission as one
out of seven Open Source lead projects.
Open
Source as the European Strategy
Open source software can be considered both a great
opportunity and an important resource. Some recommendations
regarding open source software have been made in several
political circles in the European Union in the last
years, including the talk by Erkki Liikanen (Commissioner
for Enterprise and Information Society) given at ISSE
99 in Berlin, who said: "[...] the solution to
this problem certainly lies in non-proprietary and open
source systems." In the European Commission's Information
Society Technology Advisory group (ISTAG) report "Orientations
for workprogramme 2000 and beyond" we can read
in the section about system architectures: "by
focusing on open software standards (for example building
Linux) it may be possible to spark European creativity
in this area and dramatically reduce our reliance on
imports."
Europe
has now the opportunity of participating in, and benefiting
from the open source movement. European companies and
developers are already a driving force in many open
source projects. If open source software is able to
change the rules in the information technology industry,
the companies and countries which better understand
it and are more advanced in its use and knowledge will
have a clear competitive advantage. And in any case,
in the world of open source software, any party that
helps the movement in any part of the world, in addition
to have clear benefits, will always help the movement
as a whole. A snapshot of the ongoing debate can be
found here http://www.cordis.lu/ist/ka4/tesss/impl_free.htm
.
The existence of free (open source) software has a complex
and important impact on the economy as a whole. The
fact that information technology becomes more accessible
and is more trusted is an enabler for the creation of
new markets. The existence of a population of pro-users
(users that are also producers of software and information)
plays a key role in the take-up of new activities and
branches, as illustrated by the example of music, digital
photography and personal home pages. New products (for
instance appliances), new services (for instance training
or information services) and new branches of activity
can develop on this basis. In specific fields, such
as education, the reduction in total cost of ownership
that is enabled by use of open source platforms, and
even more the mobilisation of the creative abilities
of all players in the field lead to an increased efficiency
of the public services. The dynamic stability enabled
by open source platforms, that is the possibility to
have long-term trajectories of innovation, make possible
more efficient investment strategies in user industries.
However,
while the reality of these macro-economic effects is
well-documented, their quantification, and their comparison
(taking in account possible negative macro-economic
impact) is not possible today, because of the lack of
adequate detailed statistical data on free and open
source usage and its detailed links with economical
and non-economical activities. Still, a number of companies
have shown that it is possible to build business on
top of the Open Source software distribution model,
by offering consulting, expertise and special licenses.
Details on free software business models can be found
here http://eu.conecta.it/.
Continued...
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Copyright
© 2001-2003 VoiceXML Forum. All rights reserved.
The VoiceXML Forum is a program of the
IEEE
Industry Standards and Technology Organization
(IEEE-ISTO).
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