GPL offenders tackled by Linux law watchdogs, Nov 21, 2007

The Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC) said it has filed suit against two companies for allegedly violating the General Public License, which covers usage of Linux and thousands of other free and open source products.

Red Hat, the largest Linux vendor, and Ubuntu-maker Canonical have both rejected calls from Microsoft to forge a deal similar to the one the Redmond giant signed with Linux distributors Novell, Xandros, and Linspire.

The Mono open-source project will create a Linux version of Silverlight by the end of year, said Miguel de Icaza, a Novell vice president and head of Mono.

A decade-old concept of moving a desktop computer's everyday tasks onto the Web is gaining steam.

Zend Technologies on Monday is expected to release an updated version of Zend Platform, its server software for running corporate Web applications written in PHP language.

A battle is being fought in the arcane world of international standards, with piles of money and long-term access to digital documents at stake.

Novell said Monday it is participating in an open-source project designed to bridge rival document formats and thus enable its OpenOffice.org customers to work with Microsoft Office documents.

After years of requests and debates, Sun Microsystems is ready to release Java source code under a Linux-friendly license.

A former investor in the SCO Group has identified a Microsoft executive who, he said, worked to "backstop" a funding deal that ultimately helped SCO pursue its legal case against the Linux operating system.

Microsoft's decision to not enforce patents on Web services standards underscores the growing acceptance of core open-source tenets.

Fresh off an investor tour, Marc Fleury, the general manager of Red Hat's JBoss division, argued that talk of Oracle offering its own Linux distribution is more speculation than reality.

One of a growing cadre of open-source companies, Zimbra will add joint document creation and sharing to its messaging and collaboration software at the LinuxWorld conference on Monday.

Larry Ellison has stirred up the Linux market again, sparking speculation Oracle may start shipping a cut-price version of Red Hat

A wiki software start-up is releasing two products into open source to help get more developers familiar with its commercial products.

Massachusetts is sticking to its plan to adopt OpenDocument, despite a critical report calling for a delay to the high-profile move.

A Massachusetts state senator blasted the state's high-profile decision to adopt OpenDocument as a digital document standard, calling it unlawful and insensitive to the needs of people with disabilities.

Novell is readying two major product launches meant to make its open-source software more palatable to corporate customers.

Sun Microsystems plans to alter its licensing to make it easier to bundle Java Runtime Environment with Linux.

Contrary to Larry Ellison's apparent desire to control Linux, IBM prefers to have at least two independent Linux distributors serving corporate customers, an IBM executive said on Wednesday.

Larry Ellison's recent comments regarding Linux were anything but off-the-cuff and said with a specific purpose, say long-time Oracle watchers.