Open Source Archive

FOSDEM 2006 Approaching

Guest post by Jonita Prifti 2006-02-09 Open Source 4 Comments

FOSDEM 2006 is approaching. The event will take place on the 25th and 26th of February in Brussels, Belgium. The FOSDEM is a free and non-commercial event for the community and organised by the community. FOSDEM 's goal is to provide free and open source developers and communities a place to go over the latest developments in the free and open source arena and to promote the development and the benefits of free and open source solutions. Read more for some interviews with key speakers at FOSDEM.

Submitted by fsmdave 2006-02-09 Open Source 13 Comments

"The third International Forum on Free Knowledge brought together many groups and individuals interested in the development of free software worldwide to the city of Maracaibo. One reason Venezuela choose to host this event is because starting in January (2006), their new free software law, directive 3.390, comes into effect, which mandates all government agencies to migrate to free software over a two year period. I was invited to speak about Telephonia Libre: the use of free software in telecommunications."

Submitted by sean batten 2006-02-07 Open Source 81 Comments

"Linus Torvalds doesn't want to change the Linux kernel's software license, and he said so again last week. For good measure this time, he threw in some inflammatory remarks. "I literally feel," wrote Torvalds, "that we do not, as software developers, have the moral right to enforce our rules on hardware manufacturers. We are not crusaders, trying to force people to bow to our superior God." Since the crusades were a foreign adventure responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands, that's not the most diplomatic response, and FSF counsel Eben Moglen refused to be drawn into retaliation when we contacted him for comment."

Torvalds vs. GPL 3 DRM Restrictions

Thom Holwerda 2006-02-02 Open Source 91 Comments

Linus Torvalds, father of the Linux kernel, has fleshed out his unhappiness with GPLv3 in three recent posts on the Linux Kernel Mailing List. Torvalds previously stated that the kernel will remain under the licensing terms of GPLv2. Yesterday, Torvalds offered his opinion as to where the battle over DRM should take place.

Submitted by Inhibit 2006-01-31 Open Source 27 Comments

So you might have heard of the new GNU Gnash Flash player from GNU.org. While still in it's infancy, it's the first non-Macromedia stand alone flash player available. Here is an article walking you through installing Gnash on Linux. It's geared toward Mandriva, but can be used by anyone to compile Gnash from source.

GNU Is Developing an Open Source Flash Implementation

Thom Holwerda 2006-01-25 Open Source 37 Comments

GNU is actively developing Gnash, an open source Flash movie player distributed under the GPL license. Based on GameSWF, Gnash will eventually provide complete support for SWF version 7 compliant Flash movies. Implemented with OpenGL and libxml2, Gnash will be avilable as a standalone Flash player, and as a Firefox plug-in. In order to avoid any potential intellectual property conflicts, the Gnash developers are not using any Macromedia tools to facilitate faster development. Instead of reverse engineering Macromedia technologies, the Gnash developers are basing their implementation on the SWF specification.

Linux Developers Debate GPL 3 Support

Thom Holwerda 2006-01-23 Open Source 37 Comments

Leading Linux developers are divided on whether the open source operating system should use the next version of the GNU General Public License. The first public discussion draft of GPL 3 was released last week. Over the weekend the Linux kernel mailing list started discussing whether this version could be used, as this may require a consensus among kernel developers.

Stallman Speaks on the Future of GPL 3.0

Thom Holwerda 2006-01-20 Open Source 78 Comments

The update to the GNU GPL 2.0, which was some five years in the making, was released this week for a year of public commentary. Richard Stallman, the founder of the Free Software Foundation and author of the current license, sat down with eWEEK Senior Editor Peter Galli at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to talk about his aims, hopes and wishes for the new license.

Wasted Efforts in F/OSS – Office Suites

Submitted by Herschel Cohen 2006-01-20 Open Source 48 Comments

"If building infrastructure is the true forte of Free/Open Source Software, why is there so much duplicative efforts to build so similar edifices seen in Office Suites? Would it not be better to put the initial efforts into construction a software scaffold as the first fundamental step in building the structure to allow all suites components to be placed upon it from any interested source? While I do not consider myself a competent software architect, conceptually the proposal in the previous sentence seems reasonable. Moreover, it could attract talent that is more attuned to fundamentals of process control, i.e. information exchange rather than the attributes seen in a keystroke binding to an action upon a gui that a class of users expects from an application."

Submitted by jonobacon 2006-01-19 Open Source 40 Comments

"When I first got into open source many moons ago, the advocacy movement was a thriving and vocal part of the community. Most of the movers and shakers back in the day were advocating the use of free and open software at work, to their friends and to their local community via LUGs and other groups. Back then, advocacy was a key part of the community, not only in showing existing computer users this alternative software, but also advising disadvantaged people for whom free software could really open up the doors to skill, employment and potential. Recently it seems this community-driven advocacy effort has petered out somewhat, and there are far fewer people talking about, conducting, exploring, refining and pushing open aource advocacy."

GPL 3: First Draft Available

Submitted by anonymous 2006-01-16 Open Source 76 Comments

The Free Software Foundation has published the first draft of the GPL v3, the successor to the most popular open source license. The rationale behind some of the changes are here, while comments are here. Danese Cooper of OSI has posted her comments too. Update: Stallman: "We've partly removed the inconveniences of preventing a user from combining code from various free software packages." More here.

GPL 3: Pre-Release Buzz Centers on Patents, License Compatibility

Thom Holwerda 2006-01-15 Open Source 17 Comments

The first public draft of GNU General Public License 3.0 will be released at an event at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Monday, and open-source software advocates are hoping that effective provisions for software patents as well as GPL compatibility with other licenses will be prominent in the draft. There is much optimism among those in the free and open-source community that GPL 3.0, the next version of the license that governs much software, including the Linux kernel, will provide a stable licensing environment for the foreseeable future.

Free Software Events for December 2005

Submitted by Dave Guard 2006-01-09 Open Source 1 Comment

"2005 was a busy year for free software. The early days of 2006 provide a good opportunity to look ahead at the wonders that the new year will bring, but it's also good to spend a small amount of time reflecting upon what 2005 delivered. Free software technology has made even more inroads into the corporate server space. Desktop and office applications have steadily improved as well, with implementations of them on the sharp increase. Awareness of free software, the business models, philosophy and its advantages are spreading well too. All in all a lot of positive things happened during the year, and that includes the last month, December."

Debate Looms for GPL 3 Draft

Thom Holwerda 2006-01-08 Open Source 22 Comments

The first draft of GNU General Public License Version 3 will be unveiled next week at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass., but that milestone is likely to be more of a beginning than an ending. The release of the draft will kick off months of debate over the content and exact wording of the license that will govern much open-source software for the foreseeable future.

The Reality of Advocacy

Submitted by Jono Bacon 2006-01-02 Open Source 14 Comments

"Advocacy is a funny old game. Although it seems a loose and inexact science, developing as an advocate demands a range of communicative, philosophical and technical skills. Advocacy is not just about the message, but it is about the tone, colour and dynamics of the communication. As a professional advocate of Open Source, I get email asking about how to advocate efficiently and with a high degree of success."

The Cost of Free Software

Eugenia Loli 2005-12-11 Open Source 143 Comments

Free software advocates focus on the ability to share, develop, and improve software as a community effort. But how do these freedoms affect the business community? David Chisnall takes a look.

Does Free Software Make Sense for Your Enterprise?

Submitted by Dave Guard 2005-12-09 Open Source 46 Comments

'Dude, I can, like, totally do that way cheaper with Linux and stuff.' These were the words of a bearded geek running Linux on his digital watch. As he proceeded to cut and patch alpha code into the Linux kernel running on the production database system, the manager watched on in admiration. Six months later, long after the young hacker decided to move into a commune in the Santa Cruz hills, something broke. Was it really 'way' cheaper?"

If This Suite’s a Success, Why Is It So buggy?

Thom Holwerda 2005-12-08 Open Source 107 Comments

"Of all the myths that have grown up around open source software, perhaps the most pervasive is Eric Raymond's aphorism that 'Many eyes make bugs shallow', suggesting that if lots of people can view a program's source code, they will find and fix its errors more quickly than commercial products whose code is jealously guarded. The only problem with this is that it's not true - certainly not in one of the flagship projects of open source, OpenOffice."

How to Get People To Work for Free

Submitted by Dave Guard 2005-12-02 Open Source 8 Comments

"As time marches on and our lives become more complicated, it seems we have less and less time to devote to that free software project we started back in our idealistic youth. Rather than abandoning a good project due to lack of time, consider seeking out the assistance of other members of the free software community. With a few simple steps you can make it easy to find volunteers to help you complete your project."

Revised Open Source GPL Expected Spring 2007

Thom Holwerda 2005-12-01 Open Source 33 Comments

Plans to update the General Public Licence, which underpins the distribution of most open source software, were released by the Free Software Foundation and the Software Freedom Law Center yesterday. The first discussion draft of the new license – known as GPLv3 – will be released at a public conference, due to be held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on 16th and 17th January.