http://www.osnews.com/ Exploring the Future of Computing en-us Copyright 2001-2009, David Adams OSNews version 4 donotreply@osnews.com (Adam Scheinberg) donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:54:32 GMT http://www.osnews.com/images/osnews.gif http://www.osnews.com/ 120 http://www.osnews.com/story/22548/How_KDE_and_GNOME_Managed_To_Shoot_Each_Other_Dead/ http://www.osnews.com/story/22548/How_KDE_and_GNOME_Managed_To_Shoot_Each_Other_Dead/ From Free Software Magazine: "Google promises a much needed shift in the way small computers work. Problems like software updates, backups, installation, maintenance, viruses, have plagued the world for too long: a shift is way overdue. To me, however, the change about to happen shows us what many people have refused to believe for a long time: KDE and GNOME shot each other dead." Sun, 29 Nov 2009 20:02:49 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Kroc Camen) GNU, GPL, Open Source 105 http://www.osnews.com/topics/62 News pas de calais http://www.osnews.com/story/22472/SFLC_Finds_One_GPL_Violating_Company_Per_Day/ http://www.osnews.com/story/22472/SFLC_Finds_One_GPL_Violating_Company_Per_Day/ "I've been on a mission in recent months to establish just how common and mundane GPL violations are. Since 21 August 2009, I've been finding one new GPL violating company per day (on average) and I am still on target to find one per day for 365 days straight. When I tell this to people who are new to GPL enforcement, they are surprised and impressed. However, when I tell people who have done GPL enforcement themselves, they usually say some version of: Am I supposed to be impressed by that? Couldn't a monkey do that? Fact is, the latter are a little bit right: there are so many GPL violations that I might easily be able to go on finding one per day for two years straight." Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:17:45 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) GNU, GPL, Open Source 5 http://www.osnews.com/topics/62 News http://www.osnews.com/story/22408/FOSS_License_Compliance_for_Companies/ http://www.osnews.com/story/22408/FOSS_License_Compliance_for_Companies/ Armijn Hemel (gpl-violtions.org, Loohuis Consulting) and Shane Coughlan (Opendawn, FSFE) complete a trilogy of articles examining FOSS licensing issues and best practice on LWN.net with an outline of FOSS license compliance for companies. Readers may also be interested in part one, introducing the topic and describing what developers can do to protect their rights, and part two, examining the field of compliance engineering. Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:47:21 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) GNU, GPL, Open Source 3 http://www.osnews.com/topics/62 News shanecoughlan http://www.osnews.com/story/22259/Stallman_No_Evidence_of_Backdoor_in_Mac_OS_X/ http://www.osnews.com/story/22259/Stallman_No_Evidence_of_Backdoor_in_Mac_OS_X/ Well, this is refreshing. While Richard Stallman is a staunch critic of anything closed and non-Free, his ire seems mostly directed towards DRM and Microsoft. However, a lesser known fact is that he often talks about Apple's Mac OS X too in his speeches. During those speeches, he repeatedly claimed Mac OS X contained a backdoor which allowed Apple to forcibly impose software changes upon users. Stallman has now posted a retraction for those claims. Tue, 29 Sep 2009 22:19:31 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) GNU, GPL, Open Source 58 http://www.osnews.com/topics/62 News http://www.osnews.com/story/22100/_The_Failure_of_the_GPL_/ http://www.osnews.com/story/22100/_The_Failure_of_the_GPL_/ David Chisnall casts a critical eye over the GNU General Public License and asks whether it's done more harm than good for the Free Software movement. "Looking back, has the GPL been a help, or a hindrance? And will it continue to be a help or hindrance in the future?" Wed, 02 Sep 2009 12:41:44 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) GNU, GPL, Open Source 71 http://www.osnews.com/topics/62 News nitsudima http://www.osnews.com/story/22086/Best_Open_Source_Software_of_2009/ http://www.osnews.com/story/22086/Best_Open_Source_Software_of_2009/ InfoWorld has announced its 2009 Best of Open Source Software winners, spotlighting its top 40 picks among open source enterprise software, application development tools, networking and network management software, and platforms and middleware projects. The package also includes a 'Hall of Fame' for the 10 most indispensable open source projects of all time. InfoWorld's top picks among desktop productivity tools builds on its recent 'Best Free Open Source Software for Windows,' adding GIMP, Blender, and Audacity, among others. Mon, 31 Aug 2009 17:43:55 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (OSNews Staff) GNU, GPL, Open Source 3 http://www.osnews.com/topics/62 News snydeq http://www.osnews.com/story/22064/FSF_Launches_Windows_7_Sins_Campaign/ http://www.osnews.com/story/22064/FSF_Launches_Windows_7_Sins_Campaign/ When Windows Vista was launched, the Free Software Foundation started its BadVista campaign, which was aimed at informing users about what the FSF considered user-restrictive features in Vista. Luckily for the FSF, Vista didn't really need a bad-mouthing campaign to fail. Now that Windows 7 is receiving a lot of positive press, the FSF dusted off the BadVista drum, and gave it a fresh coat of paint. Wed, 26 Aug 2009 22:23:56 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) GNU, GPL, Open Source 141 http://www.osnews.com/topics/62 News http://www.osnews.com/story/22034/ACP_One_of_the_Oldest_Open_Source_Applications/ http://www.osnews.com/story/22034/ACP_One_of_the_Oldest_Open_Source_Applications/ The Airline Control Program, introduced by IBM around 1967, predated the term 'open source' by decades. But you may be surprised by how much of its development reflects the FOSS movement today. Fri, 21 Aug 2009 15:02:47 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) GNU, GPL, Open Source 0 http://www.osnews.com/topics/62 News estherschindler http://www.osnews.com/story/21844/The_Challenges_for_Open_Source_in_China/ http://www.osnews.com/story/21844/The_Challenges_for_Open_Source_in_China/ The uphill battle that open-source programs face to steal ground from proprietary software comes with added pitfalls in China, where problems like software piracy take away strengths that open source has elsewhere. The Chinese government backs multiple domestic open-source projects, but their software is not widely used. Low awareness, a lack of big open-source projects and difficulty finding expertise in certain programming languages all hamper the development of open source in China. Thu, 16 Jul 2009 22:25:03 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) GNU, GPL, Open Source 1 http://www.osnews.com/topics/62 News caffeine deprived http://www.osnews.com/story/21592/The_Fight_Over_Open_Source_Leeches_/ http://www.osnews.com/story/21592/The_Fight_Over_Open_Source_Leeches_/ InfoWorld reports on the fight over open source 'leeches' -- companies that use open source technology but don't give back to the open source community. While some view such organizations as a tragedy of the commons, others view the notion of 'freeloaders' as a relic of open source's Wild West era, when coding was a higher calling and free software a religion. Mon, 01 Jun 2009 16:28:39 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (OSNews Staff) GNU, GPL, Open Source 31 http://www.osnews.com/topics/62 News snydeq http://www.osnews.com/story/21543/Ex-Microsoft_Employee_Free_Software_Will_Kill_Microsoft/ http://www.osnews.com/story/21543/Ex-Microsoft_Employee_Free_Software_Will_Kill_Microsoft/ Keith Curtis worked at Microsoft for 11 years, coding on Windows, Office, and at Microsoft's research department, before leaving the Redmond giant. Call it a revelation, call it giving in to the devil's temptations, but he's now a complete open source and Linux advocate, and in his new book, "After the Software Wars", he explains why open source will prevail against Microsoft's proprietary model. Fri, 22 May 2009 13:58:19 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) GNU, GPL, Open Source 147 http://www.osnews.com/topics/62 News shaneco http://www.osnews.com/story/21343/Red_Hat_Maps_Open_Source_Activity/ http://www.osnews.com/story/21343/Red_Hat_Maps_Open_Source_Activity/ Red Hat today published a new study together with Georgia Tech mapping open source activity across 75 countries. Officially called the Open Source Index (OSI), the final score is made of a number of factors including policies, practices in the Government, Industry, and Community. Topping the list current is France with a score of 1.35. Spain is second at 1.07, Germany third at 1.05. Tue, 21 Apr 2009 15:10:58 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) GNU, GPL, Open Source 7 http://www.osnews.com/topics/62 News http://www.osnews.com/story/21306/Stallman_Discusses_Free_Software_GPLv3/ http://www.osnews.com/story/21306/Stallman_Discusses_Free_Software_GPLv3/ On June 29, 2007 the Free Software Foundation released the GNU General Public License, version 3. What happened since then? Federico Biancuzzi had the opportunity to discuss many subjects with the FSF's founder and president Richard Stallman. Tue, 14 Apr 2009 15:38:59 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) GNU, GPL, Open Source 48 http://www.osnews.com/topics/62 News http://www.osnews.com/story/21192/ESR_GPL_No_Longer_Needed/ http://www.osnews.com/story/21192/ESR_GPL_No_Longer_Needed/ Eric S. Raymond is one of the three big figures in open source, together with Linus Torvalds and Richard Stallman. During a talk for the Long Island Linux User Group, he made some interesting statements about the GPL, namely that the GPL is no longer needed due to the way the open source movement works. Tue, 24 Mar 2009 18:02:05 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) GNU, GPL, Open Source 80 http://www.osnews.com/topics/62 News google_ninja http://www.osnews.com/story/21189/Stallman_the_Javascript_Trap/ http://www.osnews.com/story/21189/Stallman_the_Javascript_Trap/ Richard Stallman, frontman of the Free Software Foundation, has shifted his attention towards web applications. "In the free software community, the idea that non-free programs mistreat their users is familiar. Some of us refuse entirely to install proprietary software, and many others consider non-freedom a strike against the program. Many users are aware that this issue applies to the plug-ins that browsers offer to install, since they can be free or non-free. But browsers run other non-free programs which they don't ask you about or even tell you aboutâ€"programs that web pages contain or link to. These programs are most often written in Javascript, though other languages are also used." Tue, 24 Mar 2009 09:58:25 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) GNU, GPL, Open Source 27 http://www.osnews.com/topics/62 News google_ninja