GPLv2 copyright suit targets 14 firms —  The Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC) has filed suit against 14 consumer electronics companies on behalf of the developers of BusyBox for violating GPLv2 licensing requirements. The lawsuit covers almost 20 Linux-based products, and targets companies including Best Buy, Samsung, Westinghouse, and JVC, says the SFLC. ...
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Amid controversy, Microsoft launches open source foundation — Just as Microsoft has being accused of playing dirty over sales tactics and patents, the software company has launched its first open source organization. The CodePlex Foundation aims to act as a liason between commercial enterprises and open source developers and communities while increasing open source participation, says the foundation. ...
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As open source surges, Microsoft admits Linux threat — An IDC study predicts that open source software will grow at a 22.4 percent rate to reach $8.1 billion by 2013, says eWEEK. Meanwhile, in an SEC filing, Microsoft has added Linux vendors Canonical and Red Hat to its list of as rivals, and acknowledges the growing threat of Android. ...
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Open source lobbying group emerges —  A lobbying group has been launched by more than 70 companies, academic institutions, and communities, to promote open source software as a "transparent and cost-effective option" for U.S. government agencies. "Open Source for America" counts AMD, Canonical, Google, Novell, Oracle, and Red Hat among its members. ...
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Open source Linux device drivers submitted by -- Microsoft? — A software company based in Redmond, Wash. has released 20,000 lines of code under GPLv2 for three Linux device drivers. Microsoft says its first open source Linux code contribution is designed to speed the performance of the operating system when it's run in a Hyper-V virtual machine. ...
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Google names Chrome OS partners — Google followed up on Thursday's announcement of a Linux-based Chrome OS for netbooks by listing nine technology partners that are supporting the open-source platform. Meanwhile, one report claims that Intel, which is not on the list, is collaborating with Google on Chrome OS. ...
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Google's new OS marries Linux and Chrome — Google announced an open source operating system aimed at netbooks that combines the Linux kernel with its Chrome browser. Google expects to release open source code for the Google Chrome Operating System later this year, and will ship a final version in the second half of 2010, says the company. ...
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Debian plans draw sharp warning from GNU guru — As the Debian project releases a second update of its Debian GNU/Linux 5.0 ("Lenny") distribution, a controversy has broken out over the next version, "Squeeze." GNU guru Richard Stallman has warned that by including a Mono-based note-taking application called Tomboy, Debian runs the risk of Microsoft litigation over C# patents. ...
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OpenSource World announces keynote speakers — IDG World Expo has announced speakers for its inaugural OpenSource World 2009 show (formerly LinuxWorld) on Aug. 12-13 in San Francisco. California Secretary of State Debra Bowen will keynote the conference, which will feature presentations on Linux desktops, netbooks, Android, mobile devices, enterprise, security, troubleshooting, and numerous "cloud" topics. ...
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Linux 2.6.30 gets new filesystems —  Linus Torvalds (pictured) announced Linux kernel 2.6.30, adding several new filesystems, including the NILFS2 log-structured filesystem. Linux 2.6.30 enhancements include a local caching layer for NFS data, the RDS server cluster communications protocol, the Tomoyo security module, and support for LZMA and BZIP2 compression algorithms. ...
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Intel to buy Wind River for $884 million — Intel announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Wind River Systems, one of the top providers of embedded Linux distributions and tools. Intel plans to acquire Wind River for $11.50 per share in cash, or about $884 million, making it a wholly owned subsidiary. ...
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Apple sued for squelching wiki chat — The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed suit against Apple to defend the First Amendment rights of a noncommercial online forum. The suit comes in response to pressure from Apple lawyers that forced "BluWiki" to remove discussions of how to make third-party media management software work with the iPhone and iPod. ...
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Microsoft's TomTom patents posted for patent review —  Open Invention Network (OIN) announced that three of the eight patents cited in Microsoft's lawsuit against TomTom have been posted for prior art review by the Linux community. The evidence is being compiled to convince the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office that the patents are invalid. ...
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Europe tops global open source survey —  Red Hat and Georgia Tech have published a study that measures open source activity around the world. The Open Source Index (OSI) is accompanied by an interactive map (pictured) that shows the relative rankings for 75 countries based on their open source software (OSS) activity. ...
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Oracle buys Sun -- may jettison MySQL — Database giant Oracle has agreed to purchase Sun Microsystems in a deal worth $7.4 billion, according to a story in eWEEK. Oracle wants Sun more for its hardware than its software, and may choose to jettison Sun's open source offerings, including MySQL, says eWEEK. ...
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Sun virtualization technology adds VM exports —  Sun has added support for the Open Virtualization Format (OVF) to the latest version of its "open source" desktop virtualization software. Other enhancements to VirtualBox 2.2 (left) include greater hypervisor optimization and 3D graphics acceleration for Linux and Solaris applications, says an eWEEK story. |
Is Linux ready to go to FAT camp? — The Linux Foundation (LF) announced that it will help companies excise the Microsoft FAT filesystem from their systems to avoid the fate of TomTom, which recently settled with Microsoft over alleged patent infringements over FAT. Meanwhile, other open-source leaders are suggesting a standardized FAT substitute may be in the offing. ...
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Microsoft running on FAT reserves? Or fumes? — If by suing TomTom, Microsoft wins the right to charge for ubiquitous FAT filesystem features like long filenames and flash wear-leveling, it could spell real trouble for Linux device makers. Not to mention SAMBA distributors. OTOH, decades of non-enforcement are going make tough sailing for Redmond legal on this one. ...
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The 1,234,567,890th second approacheth — [Updated 1234545906] -- As most any user can tell you, Linux systems think of time in terms of the number of seconds, not counting leap seconds, since the beginning of the UNIX epoch: Jan. 1, 1970. For most readers, that number will reach 1,234,567,890 this Fri. the 13th. Psych! ...
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Forbes prescribes open source for the unemployed —  Unemployed? Take a lead from the great open source entrepreneurs, and have a slice of open source cake, suggests Sramana Mitra in an interesting Forbes article that goes on to profile Apache and CollabNet Founder Brian Behlendorf, SugarCRM Founder John Roberts, and SpringSource Founder Rod Johnson. ...
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Debian VD launch signals changes ahead —  [Updated Feb. 3] -- Debian's long-delayed 5.0 release (aka, "Lenny") will likely launch over the Valentine's-slash-President's day weekend, five months late. A look at Lenny's new installer hints that Debian's long-cherished "when it's ready" release schedule may be headed for divorce court, though. ...
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Why Windows is winning on netbooks — Ordinarily, I don't spend much discretionary income on computers. I get enough of 'em at work. But the other day, I actually considered buying a netbook. In the process of doing some shopping, I learned why Windows is outselling Linux. ...
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Stupid penguin-baiting rant du jour — Linux had its chance there for a while in netbooks, but has now been duly "kicked to the curb" by Microsoft, never to surface again. This according to Robin Harris, apparently an expert in storage, who in an amusing, penguin-baiting rant published by ZDNet, ventures his opinion on desktop Linux. ...
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Auth software firm grows — A company specializing in open source authentication and auditing software for mixed networks says it grew by a factor of five in 2008. Likewise Software says its products can be used to securely integrate Linux, Unix, and Mac systems with Microsoft Active Directory. ...
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Linux's role in Microsoft's decline —  Microsoft yesterday laid off 1,400 workers, with another 3,600 on the block within 18 months. We asked Linux Foundation Director Jim Zemlin what role if any Linux played in Microsoft's misfortunes, how Microsoft will react, and what the news means for Linux and open source. ...
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