http://www.osnews.com/ Exploring the Future of Computing en-us Copyright 2001-2013, David Adams OSNews version 4 donotreply@osnews.com (Adam Scheinberg) donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Wed, 19 Jun 2013 12:05:55 GMT http://www.osnews.com/images/osnews.gif http://www.osnews.com/ 120 http://www.osnews.com/story/27038/Would_You_Like_To_Attend_OSCON_/ http://www.osnews.com/story/27038/Would_You_Like_To_Attend_OSCON_/ OSNews is a sponsor of this year's O'Reilly OSCON in Portland, Oregon, USA. A lucky OSNews reader will win a free three-day pass, including two tutorials days. To win the pass, post a comment on this story saying something about Open Source Software or OSCON. We'll pick a winner at random next week. If you don't have an OSNews account, you may email us your entry. Part of the conference is the 9th annual Open Source Awards, and today the 16th is the deadline for nominations. If you'd like to nominate an outstanding open source contributor, do it here. Read on for more information about OSCON. Update: The 20% discount code for OSNews readers is "OSN." Thu, 16 May 2013 04:23:35 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (David Adams) GNU, GPL, Open Source 42 http://www.osnews.com/topics/62 News http://www.osnews.com/story/26028/Enforcing_the_GPL_kernel_hackers_join_the_fight/ http://www.osnews.com/story/26028/Enforcing_the_GPL_kernel_hackers_join_the_fight/ "The Samba Team and seven kernel hackers have come together with Software Freedom Conservancy to help efforts to ensure compliance with the GPL by those who implement Linux and other GPL software. Richard Hillesley talked to Bradley Kuhn of Software Freedom Conservancy, Jeremy Allison of Samba, and Matthew Garrett, who works in his spare time with the GPL Compliance Project for Linux Developers." Fri, 01 Jun 2012 23:56:42 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) GNU, GPL, Open Source 39 http://www.osnews.com/topics/62 News Modafinil http://www.osnews.com/story/25932/FSF_statement_on_jury_s_partial_verdict_in_Oracle_v_Google/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25932/FSF_statement_on_jury_s_partial_verdict_in_Oracle_v_Google/ John Sullivan, executive director of the Free Software Foundation: "Were it grounded in reality, Oracle's claim that copyright law gives them proprietary control over any software that uses a particular functional API would be terrible for free software and programmers everywhere. It is an unethical and greedy interpretation created with the express purpose of subjugating as many computer users as possible, and is particularly bad in this context because it comes at a time when the sun has barely set on the free software community's celebration of Java as a language newly suitable for use in the free world. Fortunately, the claim is not yet reality, and we hope Judge Alsup will keep it that way." Couldn't agree more. Thu, 10 May 2012 01:08:28 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) GNU, GPL, Open Source 38 http://www.osnews.com/topics/62 News http://www.osnews.com/story/25857/GPL_copyleft_use_declining_faster_than_ever/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25857/GPL_copyleft_use_declining_faster_than_ever/ "A new analysis of licensing data shows that not only is use of the GPL and other copyleft licenses continuing to decline, but the rate of disuse is actually accelerating." This shouldn't be surprising. The GPL is complex, and I honestly don't blame both individuals and companies opting for simpler, more straightforward licenses like BSD or MIT-like licenses. Sat, 21 Apr 2012 19:25:47 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) GNU, GPL, Open Source 179 http://www.osnews.com/topics/62 News http://www.osnews.com/story/25724/Interview_Richard_Stallman/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25724/Interview_Richard_Stallman/ It's been a while since we caught up with Stallman. But a couple months ago we took a look around at what's happening with law, politics and technology and realized that he maybe perhaps his extremism and paranoia were warranted all along. So when we were contacted by an Iranian Linux publication and asked if we would like to publish an English translation of a recent interview they had done with Stallman, I thought that it was a particularly rich opportunity. Tue, 20 Mar 2012 17:07:22 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (OSNews Staff) GNU, GPL, Open Source 78 http://www.osnews.com/topics/62 Interview Linux Review http://www.osnews.com/story/25667/Building_Bridges_Open_source_according_to_Microsoft/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25667/Building_Bridges_Open_source_according_to_Microsoft/ The Dutch LinuxMagazine translated an interview (direct PDF link) from their magazine with Gianugo Rabellino, Senior Director Open Source Communities at Microsoft into English. Many of your readers are probably wondering, is Microsoft really involved in open source these days, or is there more to it? Fabrice Mous started his conversation with Mr. Rabellino to get to know him better, but also to ask him some pressing questions about Microsoft's policies towards open source and open standards. It turned out to be an interesting, but certainly quite critical conversation, that will probably lead to some discussion. We would very much like to hear your opinion on the open source policy of Microsoft. Thu, 01 Mar 2012 22:39:17 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (David Adams) GNU, GPL, Open Source 29 http://www.osnews.com/topics/62 News Fabrice Mous http://www.osnews.com/story/25469/Richard_Stallman_Was_Right_All_Along/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25469/Richard_Stallman_Was_Right_All_Along/ Late last year, president Obama signed a law that makes it possible to indefinitely detain terrorist suspects without any form of trial or due process. Peaceful protesters in Occupy movements all over the world have been labelled as terrorists by the authorities. Initiatives like SOPA promote diligent monitoring of communication channels. Thirty years ago, when Richard Stallman launched the GNU project, and during the three decades that followed, his sometimes extreme views and peculiar antics were ridiculed and disregarded as paranoia - but here we are, 2012, and his once paranoid what-ifs have become reality. Mon, 02 Jan 2012 19:12:50 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) GNU, GPL, Open Source 177 http://www.osnews.com/topics/62 Editorial http://www.osnews.com/story/25244/FSF_Warns_About_the_Danger_of_Secure_Boot/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25244/FSF_Warns_About_the_Danger_of_Secure_Boot/ "The Free Software Foundation released a statement open for public signing, titled 'Stand up for your freedom to install free software'. The statement is a response to Microsoft's announcement that if computer makers wish to distribute machines with the Windows 8 compatibility logo, they must implement a system called 'Secure Boot'. The FSF statement warns against the danger that, if done wrong, this system would have to be called Restricted Boot, because it could make computers incapable of running anything but Windows." Signed. Tue, 18 Oct 2011 21:03:46 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) GNU, GPL, Open Source 57 http://www.osnews.com/topics/62 News Dirge http://www.osnews.com/story/25095/Rapid7_Commits_100_000_to_Open_Source_Security_Projects/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25095/Rapid7_Commits_100_000_to_Open_Source_Security_Projects/ Rapid7 created a $100,000 investment fund to support up to seven promising open source projects in the security industry. The "Magnificent7" projects will be identified and supported through the remainder of 2011 and into 2012. Any security-related open source project - with a preference for BSD-compatible licensing - is applicable and encouraged to submit a "Magnificent7" application. Tue, 23 Aug 2011 21:12:31 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (David Adams) GNU, GPL, Open Source 3 http://www.osnews.com/topics/62 News HAL2001 http://www.osnews.com/story/25060/Android_Is_Not_Open_Source_And_Why_That_s_Good/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25060/Android_Is_Not_Open_Source_And_Why_That_s_Good/ Google has finally acknowledged that its characterization of Android as open source is false and, in the end, this can only make the mobile platform stronger, InfoWorld's Galen Gruman argues. 'It's hard for believers to accept that open source brings with it difficulties, but look at the consistent failure of the other open source mobile platforms -- Moblin, Maemo, and MeeGo -- that all devolved into grad-student-like thought experiments and personal pet projects. Users don't want that, and ultimately products are sold to users.' Instead, Google has been quietly taking parts of Android back in house to develop them purposefully and deeply, and as Google has asserted more control over Android, it's improved. Fri, 12 Aug 2011 19:05:09 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (OSNews Staff) GNU, GPL, Open Source 85 http://www.osnews.com/topics/62 News snydeq http://www.osnews.com/story/25028/A_New_Way_of_Measuring_Openness_The_Open_Governance_Index/ http://www.osnews.com/story/25028/A_New_Way_of_Measuring_Openness_The_Open_Governance_Index/ "Much has been said about open source projects - and open source platforms are now powering an ever-increasing share of the mobile market. But what is 'open' and how can you measure openness? As part of our new research report, VisionMobile Research Partner Liz Laffan introduces the Open Governance Index - a new approach to measuring the 'openness' of software projects, from Android to WebKit." Thu, 04 Aug 2011 09:33:32 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (OSNews Staff) GNU, GPL, Open Source 6 http://www.osnews.com/topics/62 News RichterKuato http://www.osnews.com/story/24610/Of_Open-Source_and_Openness/ http://www.osnews.com/story/24610/Of_Open-Source_and_Openness/ In a recent article Thom contributed his opinion to the discussion about the openness of Android that started when Google choose to withhold the source code for honeycomb, here are my 2 cents. In the article the obligations GPL puts on Google are made very clear. This makes it clear that Android is indeed an open-source project. However being open-source and being open aren't always the same thing. Wed, 06 Apr 2011 22:13:38 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (OSNews Staff) GNU, GPL, Open Source 58 http://www.osnews.com/topics/62 News AcacioMartins http://www.osnews.com/story/24576/Yahoo_Plans_To_Open_Code_for_Non-core_Technologies/ http://www.osnews.com/story/24576/Yahoo_Plans_To_Open_Code_for_Non-core_Technologies/ Yahoo plans to release some technologies, including storage technologies, to the open source community, a senior executive of the company said. These are systems that Yahoo built to help it handle large numbers of users on its websites, but that don't necessarily give it a competitive advantage, said David Chaiken, chief architect at Yahoo, in an interview in Bangalore on Friday. Mon, 28 Mar 2011 13:11:31 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (OSNews Staff) GNU, GPL, Open Source 9 http://www.osnews.com/topics/62 News Amy Bennett http://www.osnews.com/story/24550/Open_Source_Skype_Alternative/ http://www.osnews.com/story/24550/Open_Source_Skype_Alternative/ The GNU Project has announced a new project called GNU Free Call, an open source Skype alternative that will offer anonymous VoIP and will use the GNU SIP Witch server as the back end. GNU SIP Witch requires a minimum of system resources so it can be used on cell phones too so it seems the goal is to provide a cross-platform application, the immediate target most probably being Android. Mon, 21 Mar 2011 20:14:11 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (David Adams) GNU, GPL, Open Source 38 http://www.osnews.com/topics/62 News Anonymous http://www.osnews.com/story/24516/Choosing_Between_Portability_and_Innovation/ http://www.osnews.com/story/24516/Choosing_Between_Portability_and_Innovation/ "Now that Linux is the most popular free Unix-like operating system, it shouldn't be a surprise that some projects have begun treating non-Linux operating systems as second-class citizens. This isn't out of contempt for the BSDs or OpenSolaris, it's just a matter of limited manpower: if almost all the users of the application have a Linux operating system and if all the core developers are using Linux themselves, it's difficult to keep supporting other operating systems. But sometimes the choice to leave out support for other operating systems is explicitly made, e.g. when the developers want to implement some innovative features that require functionality that is (at least for now) only available in the Linux kernel." Fri, 11 Mar 2011 23:32:13 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (OSNews Staff) GNU, GPL, Open Source 120 http://www.osnews.com/topics/62 News Oliver