Contributor agreements that aggregate the copyrights of open source code in favour of a single corporate sponsor are a sure sign of a community where one member has more rights than the rest. This article explores why they happen.
Filed under: Copyright, Governance, Open Source | Tagged: Business, Copyright, GPL, License, Multi-licensing, Open Source | 6 Comments »
The debate over the demise of “Open Core” has led to a reprise of “which open source license is best” arguments again. But the real driving force is not the licence; it’s the equality of participants.
Filed under: Open Core, Open Source | Tagged: Apache Software Foundation, GNU General Public License, Licenses, Open Source, Proprietary software | 2 Comments »
Software patents are broken and the only possible justification for having them is self-defence (which is itself a risky accumulation of armaments that can easily fall into the wrong hands). It seems plenty of important members of both the Linux Foundation and the Open Invention Network make public assertions claiming they believe that, so there [...]
Filed under: Open Source, Patents | Tagged: Linux Foundation, Open Invention Network, Open Source | 2 Comments »
Microsoft and FOSS, Behind the scenes ACTA, Android & less-than-free, new music and new copyright.
Filed under: Links | Tagged: Microsoft, Open Source | 1 Comment »
OSfA takes effective action on behalf of America’s open source communities
Filed under: Issues, OSfA | Tagged: IIPA, Open Source, OSFA, OSI, Politics, Special 301, USA, USTR | 1 Comment »
OSFA Refutes IIPA’s Attack on Open Source Software Responding to the request for action, Open Source for America has published a strong refutation of the position IIPA has taken on open source. “Open Source for America (OSFA) believes the IIPA’s request to be both irresponsible and misleading in its characterization of OSS. OSFA strongly urges [...]
Filed under: Links | Tagged: Brand, Digital Economy Bill, Evolution, IIPA, Marketing, Open Source, OpenOffice.org, OSFA, Science | Comments Off
§ I gather that the Board of Directors of the Open Source Initiative met on Sunday to elect the board for their 2010-11 financial year. I am both honoured and delighted to discover that they have elected me as a Director, with effect from April 1st. That’s an auspicious date . One or two friends [...]
Filed under: Open Source, OSI, Webmink | Tagged: Open Source, OSI | 20 Comments »
§ I am standing in the election for the OpenSolaris Governing Board one last time (this would be my third consecutive term if elected, so it has to be the last time). Each term has been quite different to the others, and I have no doubt this next year will be very different again for [...]
Filed under: Open Source, OpenSolaris, Webmink | Tagged: Community, Election, FOSS, Governance, OGB, Open Source, OpenSolaris | 4 Comments »
Today is my last day of employment at Sun (well, it became Oracle on March 1st in the UK but you know what I mean). I am a few months short of my 10th anniversary there (I joined at JavaOne in 2000) and my 5th anniversary as Chief Open Source Officer. I hope you’ll forgive [...]
Filed under: Open Source, Webmink | Tagged: FOSS, Open Source, Sun | 130 Comments »
Disney Offers Ptex on New Open-Source Site The news here is actually that Disney has opened a new site to hold all its future open source projects. Disney doing open source has to be one of the signs of the end times. (tags: Disney OpenSource FOSS Animation)
Filed under: Links | Tagged: Animation, Disney, FOSS, Open Source | Comments Off
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