UK Linux guru backs GPL 3, Jan 31, 2006

Linus Torvalds may have his doubts, but Alan Cox is supporting the next version of the GPL

Google is preparing its own distribution of Linux for the desktop, in a possible bid to take on Microsoft in its core business - desktop software.

Microsoft's offer to license parts of its Windows source code would be a poison pill for open-source projects attempting to improve interoperability with Windows, critics say.

It has been interesting observing how lobbying works at the state level as the ODF situation has developed here in Massachusetts. The types of antics engaged in by those who log in their expense vouchers on K Street normally seem far away from most state capitals, but I expect that's because the level of scrutiny is much lower in the provinces than inside the Beltway.

IBM on Monday introduced a free version of its DB2 database, a move designed to win software developers over to its products.

Responding to concerns from customers and partners, Novell is restructuring its corporate licensing framework to streamline the process and make license agreements more flexible.

The problem, as I've detailed in previous columns, is that Ubuntu Linux does not come with all its batteries included. For example, the library that makes it possible for an Ubuntu machine to play DVDs is missing when the Ubuntu installation process completes.

Corel Corp. may have given up on bringing WordPerfect to Linux, but that doesn't mean Linux users have to give up on running WordPerfect on Linux.

... in the year since Nicholas Negroponte, the founder of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Laboratory, unveiled his prototype for a $100 laptop, he has found himself wrestling with Microsoft and the politics of software.

Putting an open source-based laptop in the hands of millions of users around the world will help drive home the importance of non-proprietary development and applications, says Red Hat

I'm no bean-counter. I'm an IT guy. But, I know that over the last few years, it's CFOs and dollars, not CIOs and gigabytes, that determine what technology companies buy.

Sun Microsystems is considering a dual-licensing move that could raise tantalizing possibilities of open-source cooperation between Linux and Sun's Solaris operating system, but legal issues complicate the possibility.

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