Legal milestone for open source, Aug 16, 2008

Advocates of open source software have hailed a court ruling protecting its use even though it is given away free.

The public perception of open source software is changing fast, said Mark Shuttleworth, who leads distribution of the Ubuntu operating system (OS)

I had a very interesting conversation with Mr Ubuntu, aka Mark Shuttleworth, at the end of last week and you can read the resulting news story here.

What will a child in the UK make of a laptop designed to help children in the developing world? Rory Cellan-Jones brought an XO home to find out.

The UK computer agency Becta is advising schools not to sign licensing agreements with Microsoft because of alleged anti-competitive practices.

Schoolchildren in Russia are to be taught using the free, open-source Linux software in an effort to cut the cost of teaching information technology.

The organisation behind the project has launched the "give one, get one" scheme that will allow US residents to purchase two laptops for $399

Microsoft has stirred up debate in the open source community by announcing that it will be submitting two licenses to the Open Source Initiative (OSI) for approval.

A version of the increasingly popular Linux operating system Ubuntu will be developed for use on net-enabled phones and devices.

The backers of the One Laptop Per Child project are looking at the possibility of selling the machine to the public.

On this week's edition of BBC technology programme Digital Planet South African space tourist and open source evangelist Mark Shuttleworth talks about the developing world's need for technology solutions.

A US judge quashed the firm's demands that rival Novell hand over documents it presented to the European Commission for use in an anti-trust case.

Microsoft is appealing against a South Korean ruling that it must unbundle its media player and messaging service from its Windows software system.

Bill: So when you go onto Google, Linux is behind that?

Tim: Yes, that's right. Linux is behind Google.

Bill: But, with respect, does anyone really care?

Open source code, written by a community of thousands of software developers, has always been made freely available. But there are ways of making money from it, as David Reid finds out in Amsterdam.

The UK government's school computing agency, Becta, has said schools could save costs by switching to what is known as open source software.

The scene is much like any other modern office: an open-plan work space crammed with desks, telephones and computers. But there's one big difference. The word 'Microsoft' is nowhere in sight.

Microsoft is under attack by a bevy of competitors. But is the software giant really at its "most vulnerable moment in history"?

Microsoft may have a monopoly right now, says Mr Colony, but "protection of a monopoly is tricky". And there are plenty of challengers ready to put Microsoft's durability to the test. Foremost among them is the Linux operating system.

The sub-£100 box, called Nivo, runs on open-source software and is known as a "thin client". Several can be linked up to a central "brain", or server.