KDE e.V. is pleased to announce that we have joined the Open Invention Network community as a licensee. Open Invention Network was founded as a way to help defend the Linux ecosystem, and by extension much of the Free and Open Source software world, from the risks associated with software patents.

"A working group has been set up in January 7th, 2002 by APRIL and FSF France. The original idea is from Pierre Jarillon (ABUL president). The objective is to have Free Software classified as an intangible world cultural heritage by the UNESCO

When you work in the software industry, either in the services sector, or in the products sector, you never get to see the harmony, the cooperation and the amiability that, you find in the Free Software Community.

To outsiders, software whose source code is freely distributable is open source software. However, as soon as you become involved with the community that centers around such code, you quickly find that it is also called free software -- and that the two terms are far from synonymous. Which term you choose to use can quickly associate you with a whole spectrum of political and philosophical beliefs, and can make the difference between receiving cooperation and being ostracized. As a newcomer, you might easily imagine that you have stumbled out of the woods and into the target end of a rifle range, all because of your innocent choice of jargon.

When the two main desktop projects catering to free and open source software - KDE and GNOME - held their annual desktop summit at the same place for the first time, they probably expected nothing but messages of peace and harmony to emanate. Instead...

"..RMS’s other mission here is to promote the Free Software Movement. The creator of the GPL...is at pains to correct misunderstandings of what the term free software means and to draw a distinction between it and the open source movement.

These days everyone is looking for a bargain, and laptop manufacturers are eager to deliver. As you might expect, these cheaper netbooks often lack the performance and security features you'll find in higher-priced models. Fortunately, you can overcome many of these limitations – without spending an extra cent – by turning to open-source software.

Happy Independence day to my US readers. This holiday is a celebration of the United States adoption of the Declaration of Independence which declared independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain. I thought it would be a good day to remind everyone what open source is all about…

The parties have filed their proposed voir dire questions, the
questions each party would like potential jurors to be asked when trying to find the jurors who will hear and decide SCO v. Novell. Here's a definition of voir dire, and here's a very good explanation from ABA of the voir dire process and why some feel voir dire is more important than the trial itself.