A New Decade For Open Source, Feb 08, 2008

Friday, February 8 is the last day of Decade Zero of Open Source. Saturday, February 9 is the anniversary of Open Source and the start of Decade One. It's a computer scientist thing. We always start counting from zero

It's a threat Microsoft can't let stand: the entire third world learning Linux as children, and growing up to use it. And Microsoft is going to get its way.

There's been a lot of talk about GPL version 3: whether it goes too far to be acceptable to business, whether the Linux kernel developers will ever switch to it, whether our community will fork or undergo unrest over it. Much of that talk is based on a poor understanding of the GPL3 terms, and with release of the new license imminent, it's time to clear that up.

The main noise against software patenting in Europe has come from the open source community, but the threat of patent-infringement lawsuits hangs over all companies

Do you need open-source legal protection any more than you need meteor insurance? Don't dismiss the idea.

Most legal observers discount the legal claims by SCO as illegitimate. But there are bigger challenges to contemplate than those from SCO. In fact, users face a convergence of issues that may ultimately lead to other claims being brought against Linux and open-source software.