The land of open source software is awash in an often confusing array of various licenses and rules regarding what is and is not allowed once someone has written a piece of code. It's enough to scare some vendors away from FOSS altogether, and that can be a problem when it comes to creating open source drivers. Fortunately, some vendors are coming around.

The New York Times is running an interesting piece from IDG News on how administrators and IT chiefs for higher educational institutions are at odds over whether it makes sense to deploy open source software instead of proprietary products. The flap went on this week at the Educause conference in Florida.

Canada has a Request for Information (RFI) related to No-Charge Licensed Software (typically referred to as Free and Open Source Software or FOSS and also applicable to freeware). For the purpose of the RFI, No Charge Licensed Software means Licensed Software that is available at no charge for the Licensed Software and is typically made available as a free download from the Internet.

While Asterisk IP PBX software can be a boon for cash-strapped businesses that need phone upgrades, the free, open source platform has also spawned a host of for-profit vendors that charge for Asterisk professional services, peripherals and software extensions and still manage to undercut the prices charged by more established IP PBX vendors.

Shares of Red Hat, Inc. booked a new 52 week high today by trading above $32.19, traders are definitely monitoring Red Hat's price action to see if this move attracts further buying into the stock.

Microsoft must really love open source and want to see it succeed. Recently, Microsoft's open-source team lead, Sam Ramji, urged open-source vendors not to compete with Microsoft on price, but instead focus on "value."

The Icelandic government has released a policy on free and open source software. In short, the policy states that when buying software free and open source software should be considered on an equal footing with proprietary software, that software based on open standards shall be chosen, that lock-ins to specific vendors should be avoided (choosing free software is one means to achieve this), that bespoke or customized software shall be reusable (and free and open source software achieves this), and finally that students of Icelandic educational institutes shall have the opportunity to learn about and use free and open source software on a par with proprietary software.

This policy applies to all state institutions and organizations operated with public funds.

Ingres and Red Hat today announced plans to work closely together with Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) in the EMEA region.

Is Oracle starting to show its true feelings for open source software? It's taken a few months but the effects of Oracle buying Sun Microsystems are starting to become obvious. And among them are a series of blows for open source software.