News (60)

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 »

New Linux licence takes aim at DRM and Hollywood

New licensing terms for Linux and other open-source products take a "highly aggressive" stance against the digital rights management software that's widely favoured in the entertainment industry, said Eben Moglen, general counsel for the Free Software Foundation. Read more »

Squiz bows to GPL pressure

Local software vendor Squiz has re-licensed its MySource Matrix tool under the popular GNU General Public License, nearly two years after facing criticism the software's previous licence wasn't open enough. Read more »

New GPL draft due Wednesday

A new phase of wrangling over the future of the dominant open-source license, the General Public License, is set to begin on Wednesday and to end 90 days afterward. Read more »

Newest GPL draft leaves Novell in the clear

The Free Software Foundation released the final draft of an updated General Public License late last week, a draft that prohibits future deals similar to the Microsoft-Novell patent pact but lets that one go ahead. Read more »

Overhaul of GPL set for public release

A major revamp of the General Public Licence is scheduled for public release next week, a move that's expected to kick off a long and vocal debate over the key foundation of open-source programming. Read more »

Sun looks to GPL v3 for Java, Solaris

When it comes to open sourcing Solaris and Java, patents and politics are leading Sun toward a change of heart. Read more »

Open-source board eyes fewer licenses

The Open Source Initiative, an influential open-source organisation, is devising ways to cut down on the rising number of open-source licenses attached to software. Read more »

Affero: A new GPL for SaaS

The Affero General Public License, a new variation of the seminal General Public License (GPL) specifically for one situation the regular GPL doesn't address, is now final. Read more »

Sun considers GPL for Solaris

Sun Microsystems is considering releasing its Solaris operating system under the General Public License, executives said on Monday in the US, raising the possibility of cross-pollination with Linux. Read more »

More Government, Gpl, Open Source News Results

Features (13)

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 »

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 »

In defence of freedom

The principles are the same, but technology has moved on significantly in the 15 years since the release of GPL 2. Read more »

Unix pioneer an open-source killjoy?

Bill Joy, Sun's chief scientist and a pioneer in designing Unix, has voiced doubts about Linux's open-source underpinnings. 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 »

Why open source is bad for Australia

Open source is actually anti-industry, and protecting it is not in Australia's interests, says one industry observer. Read more »

How to make money from Open source

Ever pondered how companies make money from free and open source development projects? Could you open source your code and still make a profit? Con Zymaris puts forward the case. Read more »

Open source vs open standards

Customers and government bodies should focus on products with open standards and realise the pitfalls of open source, argues Scott Petty, Dimension Data Australia COO. 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 »

In defence of proprietary software

Open source advocates believe that emerging governments should give preferential treatment to their products. But why shut out proprietary software? It's profitable, attracts investment and creates jobs. Read more »

More Government, Gpl, Open Source Features Results

Blog (4)

Sun open sources Niagara 2 chip

Staff [blogs:syslog] -- Sun Microsystems has followed through on a promise to release the designs of a second server processor as open-source software. 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 »

Busybox settles a second GPL suit

Staff [blogs:syslog] -- The folks behind Busybox have settled a second lawsuit that argued a company violated the widely used free and open-source license. Read more »

How to make a brand homeopathic

Chris Duckett [blogs:betaliving] -- There was once a time when the word Java was used another person knew what you were talking about. It was either the language, the island or the coffee -- it was hard to take either of those three definitions out of context. 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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