"PJ of Groklaw believes Microsoft is (as usual) up to no good by pushing two licenses for OSI approval. I don't trust Microsoft any more than she does, but I don't share her seeming paranoia that every move the company makes is a deviously cunning ploy to destroy its enemies."
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Microsoft photo standard comes into focus
http://news.com.com –
Microsoft's alternative to the ubiquitous JPEG image format could soon become a standard, a major step in the company's ambitions to spread the technology and boost its Vista operating system.
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Wireless Software for Linux Cleared of Legal Uncertainty by SFLC
http://www.softwarefreedom.org –
"Development of OpenHAL, a wireless network component for Linux, can now resume unfettered after months of legal uncertainty. OpenHAL allows people with wireless cards based on technology from Atheros Communications, Inc. to connect to networks using solely free and open source software."
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OSI Prez confronts irate users over 'badgerware' license
http://www.regdeveloper.co.uk –
Open Source Initiative (OSI) President Michael Tiemann has responded to queries about the organization's decision to "rush through" approval for a new badgerware license by saying that the OSI board did its best for "the community."
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Category: Legal Tags:
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One Month On, GPLv3 Adoption Going Very Smoothly
http://fsfe.org –
I recently read the discussion on the GCC development mailing list related to GCC's transition to GPLv3. Despite generating 172 emails, the transition was quite smooth actually.
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The Coming Software Patent Apocalypse
http://www.codinghorror.com –
Every practicing programmer should read the Wikipedia article on software patents, if you haven't already. Many software companies are of the opinion that copyrights and trade secrets provide adequate protection against unauthorized copying of their innovations. Companies such as Oracle Corporation and Red Hat are therefore generally opposed to the patenting of software.
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Category: Legal Tags:
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Time for Web 2.0 to be Unleashed with Open Source
http://ross.typepad.com –
"Web 2.0 companies are largely built upon Open Source software. But how many of them do you consider significant contributors to Open Source? [...]and with the focus on APIs, instead of contributing code back to the projects you leverage, or contributing your own projects, cooperation has been limited..."
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Microsoft not so 'open' after all?
http://www.computerworld.com –
The head of the open-source group that will decide whether to certify Microsoft Corp.'s "shared source" software licenses as open-source licenses said that more than half of Redmond's licenses appear to automatically fail the group's rules.
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Skype responds to Euro GPL rebuke
http://www.linuxdevices.com –
In response to inquiries regarding a German court's ruling that Skype had breached the GPL, the company told LinuxDevices.com today that it "has not acted improperly." The alleged violation was associated with the method by which Skype "distributed" GPL-licensed source code with a Linux-powered VoIP handset.
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Free Software Licensing, Part 1: Third Time's the Charm?
http://www.linuxinsider.com –
"Many open source projects have been licensed under GPLv2, and while the open source world at large is on-board with free software and the ideal of free distribution, it is less concerned with the FSF's social movement to provide software freedom to all users. Consequently, most new features of GPLv3 address issues geared first toward protecting the rights of end users."
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A GPL v3 killer?
http://geekblog.oneandoneis2.org –
I see Intel has just released the previously-commercial-only Threading Building Blocks (TBB) template library under GPL v2. And this has reminded me of the complications Qt has brought up being v2-only, and it suddenly occurred to me that there's a way MS could bring a really sneaky anti-v3 strategy to bear.
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Microsoft Seeks Open-Source Certification
http://www.pcworld.com –
Today, we reached another milestone with the decision to submit our open licenses to the OSI approval process, which, if the licenses are approved, should give the community additional confidence that the code we’re sharing is truly Open Source.
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Bill Hilf and Microsoft’s ‘Terror Culture’
http://boycottnovell.com –
A nice round up of the latest Microsoft getting into the open source side of things by of Roy Schestowitz.
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Free Software Licensing, Part 2: Beyond GPL
http://www.linuxinsider.com –
In practical terms, developers use GPL v2 and GPL v3 if they want their software to be free and open and to remain free and open no matter how the code is used downstream. It can get more complicated than this, of course, especially since the copyright holder of GPL v2-licensed code, for example, can sell it and even use it in closed-source
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FSF Europe offers to help companies adhere to Free Software licence terms
http://mail.fsfeurope.org –
"...There are several ways that companies distributing GNU GPL code in Europe can get help and advice. Armijn Hemel, an engineer at the gpl-violations.org project, offers compliance services for embedded devices. FSFE's Freedom Task Force has also recently launched professional consultancy services for businesses making use of Free Software in their products..."
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