News (82)

DRM, GPLv3 just 'hot air': Linus Torvalds

Digital rights management (DRM) and the General Public License (GPL) cause a lot of 'hot air' to be exchanged but they are not a 'big deal', according to Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux. Read more »

Torvalds says DRM isn't necessarily bad

Provisions against digital rights management in a draft update to the GPL could undermine computer security, Linus Torvalds said this week in e-mails reflecting the Linux leader's pragmatic philosophy. Read more »

Red Hat attempts to win back developers

The Linux seller is promising to make up for its mistreatment of developers by improving its focus on its free offering. Read more »

'Too early' to debate Linux GPL 3 support

Alan Cox is trying to nip premature debate on GPL 3 support in the bud. Read more »

Oracle expands Linux compatibility

The list of hardware compatible with Oracle's Linux distribution continues to grow, with the software maker certifying six new configurations this week. Read more »

Companies accused of violating the GPL

Thirteen companies, including Motorola and Acer, have been handed letters claiming they have failed to comply with the GNU General Public License Read more »

GPL getting tougher on patent deals

The third draft of General Public License version 3 includes provisions to toughen the license's stance on patent deals between software providers. Read more »

'Free' is the new 'cheap' for software tools

James Gosling, a vice president and fellow at Sun Microsystems, once quipped that the average software developer spends more on cafe lattes than on tools. Read more »

GPL3 could block Novell/Microsoft plans

The next version of the GNU General Public License (GPL) may contain provisions aimed at curbing a controversial deal recently signed by Linux vendor Novell with arch-rival Microsoft. Read more »

Torvalds: No GPL 3 for Linux

Linus Torvalds said Wednesday that he won't convert Linux to version 3 of the General Public License, as he objects to digital rights management provisions in the proposed update. Read more »

More Development, Gpl, Linux News Results

Features (37)

Microsoft not yet open for business

The most impressive aspect of Microsoft's statement on Thursday in favour of caring and sharing wasn't in anything the company said. It was the speed at which the world, or that part of it not in a commercial relationship with Microsoft, digested the information and replied: Heard it before. Not good enough. Read more »

The open-source techie who means business

Alan Cox, one of the most respected figures in the open-source community, talks about GPL 3, software patents, the kernel development process and Linux on the desktop. Read more »

It's a Matrix moment for Linux

We are finding out that the brains of Linux programmers have been floating in tanks, feeding the parasitic robots (lawyers) who are calling the shots at financially strapped SCO. Now it's time to harvest those brains. Read more »

Tech tips: Administering Windows from Linux

Terminal Services provides handy remote administration capabilities--and now, it's not limited to Windows. See how rdesktop allows Linux systems to connect to Terminal Services and administer Windows systems. Read more »

Sprucing up open source's GPL foundation

Modernisation is coming to the General Public License, a legal framework that supports a large part of the free and open-source software movements and that has received sharp criticism from Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates. Read more »

JavaFX sends Sun back to the future?

Sun's chief technology officer for software discusses the issues facing Sun with JavaFX and whether it will be enough to put Java back on the desktop. Read more »

Developer Spotlight: Richard Stallman

Builder AU recently caught up with RMS to talk about his achievements, the Free Software movement and his concerns with the US-Australian Free Trade Agreement. Read more »

Road test: .NET development without Visual Studio

This month we put five IDE alternatives to Microsoft's Visual Studio against each other. Is there an alternative for .NET developers? David McAmis puts the candidates to the test. Read more »

The FUD war against Linux

Open-source activist Bruce Perens uncovers the SCO-Microsoft connection behind a campaign to convince users that trade secrets of Unix have been copied into Linux. Read more »

Special report: Linux.conf 2005

Builder AU will be covering the latest news, interviews and blogs from Linux.conf.au 2005 live in this special report from Canberra. Read more »

More Development, Gpl, Linux Features Results

Blog (3)

GPL 3 -- a bridge too far?

Staff [blogs:syslog] -- Now it's time to create a new phrase: "free as in free software," meaning the freedom to make adversaries of potential partners -- the kind of freedom one has when one's work must be carefully excluded from other people's projects. Read more »

Samba gets an inside look at Microsoft documentation

Staff [blogs:syslog] -- A complicated third-party arrangement means that the open-source Samba project will be able to make use of proprietary documents describing Microsoft file-sharing software. Read more »

GPLv3 would prevent MS/Novell

Chris Duckett [blogs:betaliving] -- According to the Free Software Foundation's general counsel, Eben Moglen, GPL version 3 would prevent the type of deal made by Microsoft and Novell from happening. Read more »

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  • Staff Crying, mooning and leaving

    In this week's roundup we see that continuous whining can get results, Linux users get 64-bit Flash and Moonlight previews, the latest in the Yahoo/Microsoft relationship and Senator Conroy ducks and weave in Senate Question Time. Read more »

    -- posted by Staff

  • Brendon Chase Sun eye Web developers with Netbeans 6.5

    Despite the recent employment axe hitting Sun the company has pushed out a new release of its Netbeans open source IDE with an eye to appeal more to Web developers. Read more »

    -- posted by Brendon Chase

  • Renai LeMay BarCamp buzz: Let the hacking continue

    Attending last weekend's BarCamp in Sydney, it was hard to escape the conclusion that a certain "dot-com bust" flavour had seeped into the kool aid previously being drunk by Australia's web 2.0 and early stage start-up sector. Read more »

    -- posted by Renai LeMay

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