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Tag Archive: source

Microsoft Funds Open Source CodePlex Foundation

Microsoft Funds Open Source CodePlex Foundation

Relations between the open source movement—particularly the communities behind various distributions of Linux—and software giant Microsoft have always been contentious. On one hand, Microsoft claims to be embracing open source development efforts and working to integrate and support open source tools in its own commercial products and applications…on the other hand, for years Microsoft has claimed Linux infringes on oodles of Microsoft patents, and the company has passive-aggressively leaned on organizations and even its own customers not to stand with Linux if—or when—fireworks erupt.

U.K. Government To Embrace More Open Source Software

U.K. Government To Embrace More Open Source Software

The British government has said that open source software will be adopted for public services "when it delivers best value for money," and that public services should avoid being “locked into proprietary software,” according to the BBC.

The move could reportedly save the government $900 million a year, and is part of a wave of open source moves by governments around the globe, said Simon Phipps, chief open source officer for Sun Microsystems.

"We waste a fortune on proprietary computer software because of paying for licenses and promises up front and not demanding value."

Open Source Gets Copyright Protection

Open Source Gets Copyright Protection

You might never have given a thought to copyright on open source software. After all, anyone can use it, right? Well yes, but as a federal appeals court ruled yesterday, that’s no reason it shouldn’t qualify for the copyright protection known as Artistic License.

It all revolves around a case involving model railroads. Yes, model railroads.

Robert Jacobsen, who manages open source software group Java Model Railroad Interface, had written and issued some code under an Artistic License. Under that, anyone using the code has to acknowledge the author, show the original file source and how they’ve been modified.

Xterasys Settles with BusyBox

Xterasys Settles with BusyBox

Networking device maker Xterasys has agreed to settle a lawsuit brought by the developers of BusyBox, which alleged the company was violating the terms of BusyBox’s GPL open source licensing by failing to distribute source code along with their BusyBox-enabled products.

Under the settlement, Xterasys will stop distributing BusyBox until the Software Freedom Law Center (which handled the suit on behalf of the BusyBox developers) confirms it has published the complete BusyBox source code on its Web site. Xterasys will also appoint an Open Source Compliance Officer to ensure GPL compliance in its products, and notify its customers of their rights to the BusyBox software under the GPL. No financial terms were disclosed.

First U.S. GPL Suit Targets Monsoon Hava

First U.S. GPL Suit Targets Monsoon Hava

In what may turn out to be an important legal precedent for the open software movement, the Software Freedom Law Center has filed the first U.S. copyright infringement lawsuit over violation of the terms of the GNU General Public License, or GPL. The SFLC’s clients? Erik Andersen and Rob Landley, the developers of BusyBox, an application which implements several Unix-like utilities for use in embedded systems. The lawsuit’s target? Monsoon Multimedia, makers of the Hava video placeshifting system, which reached retails back in July.

Microsoft: Open Source Violates 235 Patents

In an interview with Fortune magazine (available online via the CNN Web site) Microsoft’s VP of intellectual property Horacio Gutierrez and Microsoft’s general counsel Brad Smith make the bold assertion that free and open source software (FOSS)—including the Linux operating system—violate some 245 Microsoft patents, and the company believes open source distributors and end users should pay royalties on the allegedly-infringed technology. In fact, Microsoft even implies that one reason for the quality of open source software is that it steals Microsoft technology.

Half-Life 2 Script Leaks Onto Web – Again

“While this leak – which has not yet been confirmed by Valve – is by no means as serious as previous incidents which saw the source code for the engine and an incomplete early build of the game itself finding their way online, the manner in which it happened will undoubtedly cause red faces at the company.

Reports indicate that the developer actually distributed the script over the Steam distribution network by accident, with the inclusion of a file – intended for captioning purposes in the game – in one of the preview builds of Counter-Strike: Source which have been made available in the past week.”

Half-Life 2 source leaks

Development studio Valve Software has seen the entire source code to Half-Life 2 – including source from some of the company’s middleware partners – leaked to the Internet following a breach in the company’s security.

The source code bundle includes none of the game’s artwork or levels; however, the entire source code for the game itself, its graphics engine and the Havok physics engine, Miles sound system and various other pieces of middleware is being distributed widely as a 30mb zip file.

Major console price drops imminent in US

According to a source quoted on US console news site Consolegold.com, Gamestop stores have received promotional materials advertising $50 off each console – apparently confirming rumours that price drops to the consoles would happen before the E3 trade show in Los Angeles in mid-May.

These cuts would bring the GameCube to $99.99 (£63), and the PS2 and Xbox to $149.99 (£95). In other words, all three consoles would be available for under $400 (£252) – a move bound to vastly increase the number of people owning multiple platforms.

How does open source pay in the long run

Computer Weekly 360 has an interesting article which talks about the business that is open source software. How do companies actually make money by giving away free software? For those of you not familiar with open source software, the code is usually free for download and use. Even the license under which this code is distributed, either by general public license (GPL) or GNU license can permit you to use the software for commercial applications.

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