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December 19, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Belgian developer Dries Buytaert is on the verge of putting open source CMS (content management system) Drupal officially into business.

Annoucing $7 million in first round founding from North Bridge Venture Partners, Sigma Partners, and O'Reilly AlphaTech Ventures, Buytaert and Jay Batson, former CEO and founder of Pingtel, hope to steer their Drupal spun startup Acquia deeper into the enterprise.

Drupal already counts SonyBMG, Warner Brothers Records, Forbes, and The Onion as proponents. The investment in Acquia will fuel a foray into value-added software and services for Drupal, which was recently part of a comprehensive InfoWorld Test Center comparison of five open source CMSes.

In the roundup, Drupal 5.2 squared off against DotNetNuke 4.4.5, Plone 3.0, Open Source Matters Joomla 1.0.13, and 2007 InfoWorld Bossie winner Alfresco Community Edition 2.1.

Additional resources
Open source CMSes prove well worth the price
We look at five free offerings boasting solid Web publishing features that challenge their commercial competitors
2007 InfoWorld Bossie Awards
InfoWorld editors and reviewers award the Best Open Source Software for the enterprise

Posted by Jason Snyder on December 19, 2007 03:22 PM

December 19, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Asterisk passes million download milestone

The open source VoIP tide keeps rolling, as InfoWorld Bossie winner Asterisk announced its millionth download in 2007 today.

Digium's open source VoIP platform continues to win over organizations on the smaller end of the spectrum, but widespread enterprise adoption remains elusive, despite Asterisk's business-worthy proposition, as noted by InfoWorld's Paul Venezia in Open source VoIP makes the business connection, a deep dive look at open source IP telephony in the enterprise.

Of course, enterprising business-class Asterisk deployments do exist. Summer Bay Resorts, winner of an InfoWorld 100 award winner, replaced its legacy PBX with a series of HP DL360 machines running CentOS and Asterisk at each of its call centers, logging more than 1 million voice minutes per month on a 13-server system, as Venezia found out in Case study: Asterisk proves its worth.

The cost benefit of going open source for IP telephony is compelling. And Asterisk offers a bevy of worthwhile business features, not to mention a deep development community. It should be interesting to see whether Asterisk can build on this momentum and push deeper into the enterprise in the year to come.

Additional resources
Open source VoIP makes the business connection
Thanks to worthwhile IP PBX alternatives such as Asterisk, open source VoIP is ready for targeted enterprise deployment
Case study: Asterisk proves its worth
Looking to expand its phone operations, Summer Bay Resorts called on Asterisk -- and the open source IP PBX delivered
Adventures in Asterisk deployment
Wherein the author rolls up his sleeves and embarks on his own open source VoIP odyssey
Interactive graphic: Anatomy of an Open Source VoIP Rollout
Screencast: Open source VoIP: Trixbox 2.0
2007 InfoWorld Bossie Awards
InfoWorld editors and reviewers award the Best Open Source Software for the enterprise
2007 InfoWorld 100 Awards
This year's recipients of InfoWorld's highest honor are shining examples of IT projects undertaken by tech leaders committed to pushing their organizations forward
Paul Venezia: The Deep End

Posted by Jason Snyder on December 19, 2007 02:41 PM

December 17, 2007 | Comments: (0)

GPL lawsuit settled

The Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC) said Monday it has settled a lawsuit filed against Xterasys pertaining to an alleged violation of the GNU General Public License.

The lawsuit was filed alleging that networking products maker Xterasys used BusyBox Unix utilities offered via the GPL but did not provide source code, as required under the GPL. SFLC filed the lawsuit on behalf of BusyBox developers Erik Andersen and Rob Landley.

Xterasys has agreed to cease all binary distribution of BusyBox until SFLC confirmation that complete corresponding source code has been s published, SFLC said. Once this is done, Xterasys's rights to distribute BusyBox under GPL will be reinstated.

Xterasys also has agreed to appoint an internal open source compliance officer to monitor GPL compliance and notify previous recipients of BusyBox from Xterasys of their rights to the software under the GPL, said SFLC. Xterasys also will pay an undisclosed amount of financial consideration to the plaintiffs, SFLC said.

A representative at Xterasys acknowledged Monday that the lawsuit had been settled. The lawsuit was filed in November.

Posted by Paul Krill on December 17, 2007 12:38 PM

October 16, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Microsoft licenses gets open source approval

Microsoft has received OSI (Open Source Initiative) approval of two of its Shared Source software licenses, the Microsoft Public License and Microsoft Reciprocal License, meaning they meet multiple criteria of OSI's open source definition.

The company has been seen in many circles as an opponent of the open source movement; OSI even noted negative interactions between Microsoft and the open source community. But the approvals mean the licenses have satisfied the 10 criteria of the OSI's open source definition and should be approved, OSI said.

"As we continue to work with the open source community, we look forward to ongoing feedback on how to improve our participation and provide greater transparency to all of our customers and partners," said Jon Rosenberg, director of Shared Source programs at Microsoft, in his blog on Tuesday.

Posted by Paul Krill on October 16, 2007 12:19 PM

October 15, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Sun's Project Indiana to bear fruit

Sun Microsystems in October will begin delivering on its Project Indiana effort, which is intended to entice more Linux users to try out the open-source Solaris OS.

"By the end of the month, we will have the first developer preview available of OpenSolaris available at opensolaris.org," said Ian Murdock, chief operating systems platform strategist at Sun and founder of the Debian Linux distribution. Murdock spoke at the Sun open source summit press event in Santa Clara, Calif. on Monday.

With OpenSolaris and Project Indiana, Sun is attempting to make its Solaris OS more like Linux in areas such as packaging. A binary release of Solaris will be featured, as will the ability to upgrade a system on the fly just like Linux offers.

The finished project is planned for release in March.

Posted by Paul Krill on October 15, 2007 12:35 PM

September 24, 2007 | Comments: (0)

GPLv3 shunned, survey says

Just 6 percent of developers working with open-source software have adopted the new GNU General Public License version 3, an Evans Data survey has found.

Also, two-thirds say they will not adopt GPLv3 anytime in the next year, and 43 percent say they will never implement the new license. Almost twice as many would be less likely to join a project that uses GPLv3 than would be likely to join, Evans said in a statement released on Monday.

"GPLv3 is controversial because it imposes restrictions on what you can do with programs implemented under this license," said John Andrews, president and CEO of Evans Data in the statement. "Developers are confused and divided about those restrictions, with fairly equal numbers agreeing with the restrictions, disagreeing with them, or thinking they will be unenforceable."

Evans also noted GPLv3 has a clause forbidding licensees from bringing patent infringement lawsuits, directly attacking the recent Novell-Microsoft alliance. Seventy percent of the developers in the survey felt the alliance has been bad for the open-source community, according to Evans.

GPLv3 was released by the Free Software Foundation on June 29. The foundation cited improvements like copyright technology to provide uniformity in different jurisdictions and the ability to modify software on PCs or in household appliances.

Other findings in the survey of more than 380 open-source developers included:

* Lack of skills in an organization was called the greatest barrier to migration from Windows to Linux.
* The Apache Foundation was cited as the organization having the best open-source offerings.
* A third of open-source developers are building desktop applications.

Posted by Paul Krill on September 24, 2007 04:30 PM

September 20, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Lawsuit filed over alleged GPL misuse

The Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC) announced Thursday it has filed the "first-ever" U.S. copyright infringement lawsuit based on a violation of the GNU General Public License (GPL) on behalf of its clients.

The two clients are principal developers of BusyBox, a lightweight set of standard Unix utilities commonly used in embedded systems. It is open source software licensed under GPL version 2. The suit was filed against Monsoon Multimedia, which SFLC said acknowledges use of BusyBox in its products but has not provided recipients with access to underlying code as required by the GPL.

Monsoon could not be reached for comment on Thursday. The lawsuit was filed in Manhattan Federal District Court on Wednesday, SFLC said. The complaint seeks an injunction against Monsoon and requests damages and litigation costs be awarded to the plaintiffs.

A copy of the complaint can be found here.

Posted by Paul Krill on September 20, 2007 03:40 PM

August 09, 2007 | Comments: (0)

SpikeSource CEO cites open source opportunities

Open source is creating more business opportunities rather than limiting them, even if the software itself is given away, said Kim Polese, CEO of SpikeSource.

"In fact, I see open source [as] driving an incredible renaissance right now," she said in an interview on Wednesday at LinuxWorld Conference & Expo in San Francisco.

"There are more opportunities being founded," she said.

Open source business models generally involve selling subscriptions to technical support services. Another business model that does not involve selling software is the hosted model, in which software is hosted and accessed via the Web with advertising providing revenues, such as what Google has done.

When software is given away, a community forms around it, Polese said. Developers of this software can then build a commercial business. She cited as an example Bryght , which formed around the Drupal project for open source content management.

SpikeSource provides access to open source stacks and certifies them across multiple operating systems. Patch management and support services also are featured.

Posted by Paul Krill on August 9, 2007 12:11 PM

June 13, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Sun CEO: poverty, not licenses are biggest threat to open source

Sun CEO Jon Schwartz used his blog to extend an olive branch -- or at least some olive oil -- to Linux creator Linus Torvalds Wednesday in a simmering dispute over the terms of the next version of the GNU Public Licences (GPL V3).

Schwartz invited Torvalds to dinner at his house (Schwartz cooks, Torvalds brings the wine) in an effort to break through a log jam over adoption of GPL V3 and clearing the air of simmering resentments between the Linux and OpenSolaris communities.

Schwartz was responding to a post by Torvalds on the Linux kernel mailing list that suggested that a decision by Sun to release Solaris under GPL V3 might tip the scales in favor of standardizing the Linux kernel under that version of the GPL license. As reported by news.com, Torvalds was writing on the Linux Kernel mailing list and said that, while he didn't like the latest version of the GPL license as much as GPL V2, "I'm pragmatic, and if we can avoid having two kernels with two different licenses and the friction that causes, I at least see the _reason_ for GPLv3. As it is, I don't really see a reason at all."

However, Torvalds went on to cast doubt on Sun's intentions and commitment to open source, noting that Linux had eaten into Sun's chip design business and reduced the appeal of the Solaris operating system.

"They may like open source, but Linux _has_ hurt them in the marketplace. A lot," he wrote.

Releasing Solaris under GPL V3 would be Sun's way of looking good while "still keep(ing) Linux from taking their interesting parts, and would allow them to take at least parts of Linux without giving anything back," Torvalds wrote.

In his open letter to Torvalds, Schwartz took issue with those claims, noting that it was open source companies that ate into Sun's business, not the open source community. "Companies compete, communities simply fracture," Schwartz wrote.

He also called Torvalds out on disparaging comments he made about the Solaris operating system's stability, and on the general air of cynicism in Torvald's discussion of Sun's moves towards open source, including open sourcing Solaris and Java.

"Why does open sourcing take so long? Because we're starting from products that exist, in which a diversity of contributors and licensors/licensees have rights we have to negotiate. Indulge me when I say It's different than starting from scratch. I would love to go faster, and we are all doing everything under our control to accelerate progress. (Remember, we can't even pick GPL3 yet - it doesn't officially exist.) It's also a delicate dance to manage this transition while growing a corporation," Schwartz wrote.

GPL V3, which is due to be released by the Free Software Foundation in the coming weeks. The new license has been a source of controversy because of concerns within the open source development community that it will make it more difficult to combine elements of code covered under the new license and earlier versions of GPL. Parts of the Linux operating system including its kernel are licensed under GPLv2.

The new version of GPL also wades into the messy issue of patent-licensing such as the deal struck between Novell and Microsoft in November, with a provision promising patent safety to those who receive software, such as Linux, distributed under the license.

But Schwartz called on Torvalds to lay down his sword, noting that the differences between the Linux and OpenSolaris communities were trivial compared with the challenges of poverty and the growing gap between rich and poor nations.

"We should put the swords down - you're not the enemy for us, we're not the enemy for you. Most of the world doesn't have access to the internet - that's the enemy to slay, the divide that separates us," he wrote. "Let's stop wasting time recreating wheels we both need to roll forward."

The first step may be a mashup in the truest sense: "I invite you to my house for dinner. I'll cook, you bring the wine."

No word yet on what's on the menu, or whether Torvald's calendar is free that night.

Posted by Paul Roberts on June 13, 2007 10:48 AM

June 11, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Navy, Marines give OK to open source

Among the prestigious organizations that are recognizing the value that open source software provides, you can now add the U.S. Navy. As first reported over at GCN, a statement issued Monday by the Department of the Navy's CIO, the Navy and Marine Corps. now have a green light to use open source software.

Open source, according to the CIO's office, will be critical to the Navy and Marines "achieving an interoperable net-centric environment is to improve the warfighter’s effectiveness through seamless access to critical information."

The Navy CIO spells out Department policy in a Memorandum of Understanding about Open Source (PDF available here.)

The memo addresses ways to remove barriers to open source. In particular, IT staff in the Navy and Marines are instructed to treat open source products identically to commercial off the shelf products when it meets the definition of a commercial item.

According to Navy rules, "commercial" software includes any item that is "sold, leased or licensed tot he general public," according to the memo.

The Navy CIO also created an Open Source Working Group to provide guidance on increasing the use of open source within the Navy and Marines, the Navy said.

Posted by Paul Roberts on June 11, 2007 10:38 AM

May 23, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Novell and EFF team on patent reform

Fresh off a stinging round of criticism at the Open Source Business Conference for its licensing deal with Microsoft, Novell Inc. made an effort to change the discussion today, announcing a deal with the Electronic Frontier Foundation to reform patents worldwide.

Novell issued a statement saying that the company would work with EFF to lobby governments and national and international organizations to develop patent legislation and policies that promote innovation.

In particular, Novell and EFF plan to appeal to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) to encourage the group to take a global approach to patent reform.

Novell will help fund EFF's "Patent Busting" program, which was launched in 2004. That project tries to identify prior art that can knock down patents that impose heavy burdens on software developers and Internet users.

"EFF has long been at the forefront in addressing the key challenges of the digital age, including worldwide intellectual property issues," said EFF Executive Director Shari Steele. "The support of Novell – a company founded on the proprietary software development model but now strongly embracing the open source approach – will be a great boon to our efforts to rid the industry of innovation-killing patents. We hope Novell's example encourages other software vendors to join the effort."

Nat Friedman, chief open source technology and strategy officer at Novell, told InfoWorld that Novell hopes it will lend credence to the arguments EFF makes before governing bodies.

"EFF has really been a lone voice on this issue. If you bring us in as a corporate concern with more than 500 patents, saying the same thing, it may move us past the same old arguments to the point where these groups will take action," Friedman said.

Novell's news came on the tail of a contentious session at OSBC in which Justin Steinman, Novell's director of marketing for Linux and open platform solutions joined Sam Ramji, Microsoft's director of Linux Labs and others to debate the pros and cons of the Microsoft-Novell collaboration and co-development deal that was announced in November.

Attendees at the show expressed frustration at the mixed messages coming from Microsoft and Novell in the wake of the agreement, especially warnings from Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer that Microsoft may assert more than 200 patents that it contends are being infringed on by other open source companies.

Steinman told InfoWorld that Novell timed the release with the conclusion of the panel discussion, which occurred in San Francisco. Friedman said that the deal with EFF was an offshoot of the same discussions internally that spawned the Microsoft deal.

"I think it's fair to say that we've been talking a lot about patents within Novell in the last twelve months. More than we have in the past," he said. Novell concluded that the patent system is broken and that patents are hobbling innovation and open standards, by putting companies on the defensive.

Patents, Friedman said, frequently are filed on fundamental concepts in computer science and on combinations of previous inventions. "There are bad software patents because they're overly broad. They cover things which are commonplace in the industry," he said.

Steinman and others defended Novell's deal with Microsoft, saying that the company was not conceding that it violated, but merely trying to put its customers at ease. The deal, according to Steinman and Ramji, will be good for the open source movement in the long run.

"Microsoft was Novell's #1 channel partner in Q1 of 2007," said Steinman. "This is a deal that put Linux into Walmart and Nationwide Bank," he said.

In the meantime, Friedman urged other companies to also support EFF in its effort to shoot down suspicious patents.

"We think it would be wonderful if other companies would join EFF," he said. "The situation is everybody is threatened by software patents, not just us."

Novell has more than 500 patents itself but does not sue over them, Friedman said.

"We've never - in our entire history - we've never sued anyone over patents," he said.

"The US software industry existed for decades without software patents," said Friedman.

Possible outcomes of the EFF efforts are intellectual property systems or shorter patent lifetimes. Currently, patents can remain in effect for 17 to 20 years, Friedman said.

"That's a really long time in the software industry," he said.

Posted by Paul Roberts on May 23, 2007 02:48 PM

May 09, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Eclipse director still eyes Sun

Despite what some might believe, Sun Microsystems would not have to dump its NetBeans open source tools platform if the company ever joined the rival Eclipse Foundation, Eclipse Executive Director Mike Milinkovich said on Tuesday.

Interviewed at the JavaOne conference, Milinkovich disagreed with a report that said Sun would be forced to halt NetBeans as a condition of Eclipse participation. This notion, he said, is "just utter hogwash."

"We would love to have Sun join. There's no reason they can't join. The door's certainly always open," Milinkovich said. Right now, however, there are no active discussions with Sun about Sun climbing aboard, he said.

Sun already offers an Eclipse plug-in enabling development for the Sun GlassFish application server via the Eclipse IDE, Milinkovich said.

Two Sun officials, Tim Bray, Sun director of Web technologies, and Rich Green, executive vice president for software, both declined to comment Monday on whether Sun would be joining Eclipse.

In another development, the Eclipse Foundation is on course to ship its multi-project Europa release in June, Milinkovich said.

The 23-project package features more than double the number of projects in last year's 10-project Callisto release. To keep developers working on the same level with its technologies, Eclipse offers a single, uniform release of projects.

Part of the Europa release is the Dynamic Languages Toolkit, featuring support for dynamic languages, Milinkovich said.

Posted by Paul Krill on May 9, 2007 08:08 AM

May 08, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Novell Linux Guru headed to Google

Novell has lost another open source star to the burgeoning Googleplex in Mountain View, as Linux kernel programmer Robert Love announced, Friday, that he was leaving Novell, and joining Google. Love, who is 25, is a top Linux programmer and author of Linux Kernel Development. At Novell for just over three years, he served as Chief Architect of the Linux Desktop.

In a final blog entry at Novell, Love celebrated the accomplishments of his team in realizing what he termed Linux's "first desktop commercial success."

Love will be working from GOOG's Cambridge, Massachusetts offices for the Open Source Program Office, which manages a number of projects within the company, including the popular Summer of Code, in which Google provides stipends to young software engineers to participate in a variety of open source development projects.

Love is just the latest high-profile defection from Novell for Google. In December, Samba programmer Jeremy Allison decamped after just more than a year in protest over the company's partnership with Microsoft to promote Linux-Windows integration.

Posted by Paul Roberts on May 8, 2007 09:13 AM

February 09, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Open source helps housing effort

Open source software will serve at the heart of a project management system developed in a humanitarian effort to design housing for the needy.

Built on the drupal open source content management system, the Open Architecture Network Web-based system enables collaboration between building architects and designers.

"The primary focus is bringing [architectural] design services to communities who normally would not be able to afford it," said Cameron Sinclair, executive director of Architecture for Humanity, which is spearheading the project. Sinclair won a 2006 Technology Entertainment Design (TED) prize to develop the application, which will be formally launched at this year's TED conference, being held in Monterey, Calif. March 7-10.

With the system, building architects and designers can produce projects and comment on architectural drawings, for example. Copyright-free designs, building plans and blueprints can be downloaded and uploaded. Best practices and worst practices also will be featured.

Architecture for Humanity projects are licensed under the Creative Commons Developing Nations license, meaning anyone in a developing nation can freely use the copyrighted designs.

Communities in areas affected by disasters such as Hurricane Katrina and the South Asian tsunami are intended benefactors of the system. One particular project involves designing inexpensive homes for Gulf Coast families in Mississippi. Also, designers in places such as Afghanistan, Angola and Chile are putting projects on the network.

Powering the application are Sun Microsystems Sun Fire servers and a Sun StorageTek storage system. Sun will support the project for a year. Advanced Micro Devices is hosting the application at its data center in San Jose, Calif.

Architects contributing to Open Architecture Network work on either a pro bono basis or for a reduced fee. Funding for the housing projects themselves usually comes from individual donors and companies. Architecture for Humanity is involved in projects ranging from housing and community centers to schools and health clinics in five countries.

Posted by Paul Krill on February 9, 2007 12:43 PM

December 22, 2006 | Comments: (0)

Allison hire spurs Google-MS war?

So Jeremy Allison of Samba fame is going to Google, leaving Novell as a protest over the Novell-Microsoft patent deal. Allison's departure makes sense: The agreement -- with its implication that Linux has an IP problem -- casts a pall over the open source movement. It seems inevitable that Allison would walk. But his choice of new homes... ah, now that's truly provocative.

You can view Allison's choice of Google in two ways.
1) A demonstrably smart guy needs a place to flee. Google hires smarts guys, lots of them. It's their habit, though plenty of those guys are reportedly sitting around on their hands, thinking deep thoughts and not doing all that much. In that scenario, Google is the ultimate soft landing. Or...

2) Google is signaling something big with this hire. Does this suggest they want to scale out their Web Office offerings beyond Google Docs and Google Spreadsheets? To do that, they would need a high-performance clustered file system to serve files across networks. Now, who would you hire if you wanted to do something like that? How about the guy who developed Samba, an "Open Source/Free Software suite that provides seamless file and print services to SMB/CIFS clients"? By walking out on the Novell, Allison might be making his point and putting a hurt on Microsoft in the process. Or am I reading too much into this?

Posted by Steve Fox on December 22, 2006 11:49 AM

November 20, 2006 | Comments: (0)

Updated: Novell CEO talks patents

Novell CEO Ron Hovsepian has issued an open letter addressing concerns about the recent agreement between Novell and Microsoft and how it might impact Linux customers. The full text is reprinted here:

Open Letter to the Community from Novell
November 20, 2006

On November 2, Novell and Microsoft announced a significant, multi-part agreement to work together to improve the interoperability between Linux and Windows and for Microsoft to redistribute more than 350,000 subscriptions for SUSE Linux Enterprise to the Windows customer base over a five-year period. This agreement is at the heart of what IT users demand -- to deploy both Linux and Windows, and to have them work well together -- and many companies have spoken out in support of this new cooperation.

Customers told us that they wanted Linux and Windows to work together in their data centers, and so we agreed to develop new technologies and standards in server management, virtualization and document file format compatibility. CIOs want to focus on their business, and they want their suppliers to focus on improving operating system interoperability. The Linux community will benefit from the creation and release of the open source code to improve Linux's interoperability with Windows that will result from this agreement.

Our interest in signing this agreement was to secure interoperability and joint sales agreements, but Microsoft asked that we cooperate on patents as well, and so a patent cooperation agreement was included as a part of the deal. In this agreement, Novell and Microsoft each promise not to sue the other's customers for patent infringement. The intended effect of this agreement was to give our joint customers peace of mind that they have the full support of the other company for their IT activities. Novell has a significant patent portfolio, and in reflection of this fact, the agreement we signed shows the overwhelming balance of payments being from Microsoft to Novell.

Since our announcement, some parties have spoken about this patent agreement in a damaging way, and with a perspective that we do not share. We strongly challenge those statements here.

We disagree with the recent statements made by Microsoft on the topic of Linux and patents. Importantly, our agreement with Microsoft is in no way an acknowledgment that Linux infringes upon any Microsoft intellectual property. When we entered the patent cooperation agreement with Microsoft, Novell did not agree or admit that Linux or any other Novell offering violates Microsoft patents.

Our stance on software patents is unchanged by the agreement with Microsoft. We want to remind the community of Novell's commitment to, and prior actions in support of, furthering the interests of Linux and open source, and creating an environment of free and open innovation. We have a strong patent portfolio and we have leveraged that portfolio for the benefit of the open source community. Specifically, we have taken the following actions:

We have stated our commitment to use our own software patents to protect open source technologies. (www.novell.com/company/policies/patent/).

We have spoken out against EU legislation that would liberalize the standards for granting software patents (www.novell.com/company/policies/patent/european.html).

We offer indemnification to our Linux customers accused of intellectual property infringement (http://www.novell.com/licensing/indemnity/).

We have teamed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office and other industry leaders to reduce the issuance of "bad patents" in the software area (See www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1911979,00.asp).

In 2005, we co-founded Open Invention Network ("OIN"), "an intellectual property company that was formed to promote Linux by using patents to create a collaborative environment." (See www.openinventionnetwork.com). Novell's substantial contributions to OIN were made to benefit not only ourselves, but also other Linux vendors, distributors and developers, and anyone else willing to commit not to assert their patents against Linux.

In closing, we wish to be extremely clear that Novell is committed to protecting, preserving and promoting freedom for free and open source software. We recognize that the community of open source developers is essential to all our activities in Linux, and we welcome dialog with the community as to how we can continue to work together toward these common goals.

Ron Hovsepian
Chief Executive Officer
Novell, Inc.

What do you think? Do Mr. Hovsepian's statements influence your decision to use Novell products and services, including Suse Linux? Do you think Microsoft drafted the deal with Novell with bad intentions in mind? Send us your feedback, below.

Update (11/21/06): In response to Mr. Hovsepian's letter, Microsoft has issued a statement. "We at Microsoft respect Novell's point of view on the patent issue, even while we respectfully take a different view," it reads. "Novell is absolutely right in stating that it did not admit or acknowledge any patent problems as part of entering into the patent collaboration agreement." Click the link for the full text of Microsoft's response.

Posted by Neil McAllister on November 20, 2006 03:25 PM

November 13, 2006 | Comments: (0)

It's real: open source Java

After a seemingly endless series of pre-announcements and forward-looking briefings, Sun Microsystems has finally begun the process of making Java open source. Better still, it's doing it for real: The code will be released under the GNU GPL (General Public License).

Sun has promised to eventually release the code to all its own software for some time, and it has already made available the code to a number of products. But these releases were generally made under Sun's own open source license, called CDDL (Common Development and Distribution License). The decision to release Java under the GPL is something of a departure, but it's sure to be a welcome one among the free software faithful. Although CDDL is recognized by the Free Software Foundation as a free software license, it is widely perceived as being more aligned with the interests of commercial software businesses than is the GPL, and less in tune with the spirit of free software.

The most obvious benefit of choosing the GPL is that this move, once and for all, aligns Java with the GNU/Linux community -- including distributions like Debian, which only include software based on very strict guidelines with regard to licensing and intellectual property.

Says Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz in his blog, "The GPL is the same license used to manage the evolution of GNU/Linux -- in choosing the GPL, we've opened the door to comingling the communities, and the code itself."

Even more interesting, Schwartz made reference to another story that has been bouncing around the headlines of late: the recent partnership between Microsoft and Novell. That deal was "one of the strongest motivations to select the GPL," according to Schwartz -- which would make Sun execs very prescient, indeed, considering that the partnership was only announced a couple of weeks ago. Or perhaps waiting for the Microsoft/Novell deal to close explains Sun's delay in formally open sourcing Java?

At any rate, Schwartz adds, "Those that say open source software can't be safe for customers - or that commercially indemnified software can't foster community -- are merely advancing their own agenda. Without any basis in fact."

What do you think? Is the decision to release Java under the GPL a victory for the free software movement? And are we seeing the battle lines being drawn between those companies who believe open source can coexist with business models like Microsoft's, and those who choose cleave more closely to open source ideals? Talk back to us, below.

Posted by Neil McAllister on November 13, 2006 01:45 PM

November 09, 2006 | Comments: (0)

Microsoft/Novell deal violates GPL?

Microsoft and Novell have described their recent partnership as a historic effort to "bridge the divide" between open source and proprietary software. But is it legal?

According to Eben Moglen of the Software Freedom Law Center, the deal between the two companies would not be compatible with the terms of the forthcoming GPL (GNU General Pubic License) version 3, and it might not be compatible with the current version.

All versions of the GPL require that anyone who distributes GPL-licensed software must grant the recipient all the rights offered under the GPL. Included in those rights is the right to redistribute the software. But if the patent license Microsoft has granted to Novell customers only extends to Novell customers, then Novell customers cannot redistribute the software freely. According to Moglen, this may violate the terms of the license.

As it turns out, this possibility was not lost on Novell, either. In a press release issued Tuesday, Novell made its case for compatibility with the open source license.

"Many people want to know whether this agreement is compatible with Novell's obligations under the GPL, especially section 7," Novell's general counsel is quoted as saying. "This was an important consideration for us as well. Under the patent cooperation agreement, Novell's customers receive directly from Microsoft a covenant not to sue. Novell does not receive a patent license or covenant not to sue from Microsoft, and we have not agreed with Microsoft to any condition that would contradict the conditions of the GPL. Our agreement does not affect the freedom that Novell or anyone else in the open source community, including developers, has under the GPL and does not impose any condition that would contradict the conditions of the GPL. Therefore, the agreement is fully compliant with the GPL."

Got that? Well, if it's not all that clear to you, you're not alone. Moglen isn't convinced either.

Thankfully, however, he'll get his chance to study the matter. Vnunet.com reports that Moglen has been granted permission to conduct a confidential audit to determine whether the Novell/Microsoft partnership is compatible with the GPL, version 2. He says he's open to the possibility that Novell has pulled it off, but adds, "They will not clear GPL3 by a millimeter."

Linus Torvalds has said in the past that the Linux kernel itself will not be moving to GPL3 when it is finalized, but a Linux distribution includes lots of other software besides the kernel. If GPL3 licensed code is inherently incompatible with an arrangement like Novell's, the Suse Linux distribution could be on shaky legal ground as open source projects begin to take up the new license.

Do you think Novell's partnership with Microsoft is in keeping with the spirit of open source? Are you more likely to choose Suse Linux now that it has the nod of support from Microsoft, or less? Talk back to us, below.

Posted by Neil McAllister on November 9, 2006 06:17 PM

November 09, 2006 | Comments: (0)

Open Source holds up in court

"[T]he GPL and open-source have nothing to fear from the antitrust laws," writes The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit's Judge Easterbrook, reports InternetCases.com.

Plaintiff Wallace filed an antitrust suit against IBM, Red Hat and Novell, arguing that those companies had conspired to eliminate competition in the operating system market by making Linux available at an "unbeatable" price (free) under the General Public License ("GPL"). The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana dismissed the case, finding the plaintiff had suffered no antitrust injury. The Seventh Circuit affirmed.
"Although antitrust law serves the interests of consumers rather than producers, the Supreme Court has permitted producers to initiate predatory-pricing litigation," Judge Easterbrook wrote in the November 9 decision. "This does not assist Wallace, however, because his legal theory is faulty substantively."

Attorney Evan Brown, writing for InternetCases.com, notes, "Perhaps most significantly, Wallace had not contended that software available under the GPL would lead to mononpoly prices in the future. The court observed the anomalous thinking behind any conclusion that it would, 'when the GPL keeps price low forever and precludes the reduction of output that is essential to monopoly.'"

InfoWorld's Matt Asay writes in the Open Sources blog:

Besides a weak understanding of the law, Wallace is unfortunately mired in the proprietary past. His economic reasoning actually resembles that of the proprietary software vendors today. They may actually be dumbfounded by Easterbrook's reasoning. :-)
But let me state it clearly for the record: open source does not mean you have a divine right to profit margins or revenues. It's about freedom. The ability to make money from it is something you have to earn.

Download a copy of the opinion of Wallace v. IBM., No. 06-2454, here (PDF).

For more info on the case, see Internet Cases' previous coverage.

Posted by Mike Barton on November 9, 2006 03:58 PM

November 02, 2006 | Comments: (0)

Live from the Microsoft press conference with CEO Steve Ballmer

Steve Ballmer announced moments ago a set of agreements that will help bridge the divide between open source and priority source software.

"We will enhance interoperability between Linux and Windows, which will give our customers more flexibility," said Ballmer.

Ballmer laid out three aspects to the agreement.

* Microsoft and Novell will collaborate on solutions that will enable customers to work better, faster and more productively through the use of virtualization, management, and document format compataibility.

Both companies will work on compatibility and translation of files between Open Office and Microsoft Office.

* The lawyers will collaborate to create an intellectual property "bridge" between open source and the priority source business models, taking into account all patent rights associated with that.

Any company using Suse Linux will get a patent covenant from Microsoft.

* There will be a business cooperation agreement between the companies to work together on sales and marketing to help adopt both solutons.

"For anyone who runs a mixed environment that will result in higher levels of interoperability, it will be easier for customers to manage mixed enviroments using systems management in particular," said Ballmer.

Posted by Ephraim Schwartz on November 2, 2006 02:36 PM

October 25, 2006 | Comments: (0)

Oracle-Ubuntu rumor fizzles

Rumors of some sort of Linux distribution arrangement between Oracle and Ubuntu have proven to be just that: rumors.

Such an announcement had been widely anticipated at the Oracle OpenWorld conference in San Francisco this week.

"We've never talked to Ubuntu," said Edward Screven, chief corporate architect for Oracle, during a press conference at OpenWorld on Wednesday afternoon. Instead, Oracle announced plans to support Red Hat Linux, cutting onto Red Hat's turf.

But some were seeking even more. At one point during the press conference, one questioner noted the existence of free, open source databases like MySQL and, while beginning to ask when Oracle would offer such as a database, was quickly cut off.

"The only thing we're announcing today is support for Linux," Screven said. The company also will not disclose source code for its own products.

"This is something our customers have asked us to do for quite a while," said Bob Wynne, Oracle vice president of corporate communications, of Wednesday's Linux announcement.

Screven said the adoption of Linux in the enterprise has been too slow and that Oracle's move was a natural extension of progress for Linux and the use of Linux on commodity hardware.

Still, Screven acknowledged Oracle's Linux revenue streams have not amounted to much, relatively speaking. "The amount of revenue in the Linux business compared to all our other businesses is small but the strategic importance is large," he said.

Posted by Paul Krill on October 25, 2006 04:29 PM

October 25, 2006 | Comments: (0)

Oracle move a worry for Red Hat

Don't call it Oracle Linux! The database vendor won't be packaging its own distribution of the open source OS, but Oracle CEO Larry Ellison announced at Oracle OpenWorld this afternoon that his company will be offering full support for Linux under a new "Unbreakable Linux" campaign.

Oracle has offered comprehensive support for customers who run Oracle databases on Linux in the past, but the new program is something more. According to Ellison, customers will now be able to receive all their patches, security fixes, and backports for RHEL (Red Hat Enterprise Linux) releases 3 and 4 directly from Oracle. In addition, Oracle will offer its Linux support customers full indemnification from intellectual property lawsuits, like the ones filed by SCO.

Red Hat insists that it maintains a longstanding and successful relationship with Oracle. Remember, though, that although Red Hat does package its own complete distribution of Linux, it doesn't actually sell the OS. Rather, its business model is based on subscription support services. As a result, this new move puts Oracle in direct competition with the Linux vendor -- and, as anyone in the software industry can tell you, Oracle is a formidable competitor.

InfoWorld's resident open source blogger, Matt Asay, was in attendance at the show and has posted screen caps of Ellison's slides, complete with pricing.

It will be interesting to see how this pans out as the shockwaves reverberate across the Linux industry.

Is Red Hat in trouble? Have your say below.

Posted by Neil McAllister on October 25, 2006 03:24 PM

August 24, 2006 | Comments: (0)

Sun baits HP with wooden cutout

Note from the writer, Sept. 7: In this article, I incorrectly reported the material from which the cutout is made. It's wood. I regret any confusion I may have caused.

Sun has its fair share of cutups. Now they've been joined by a cutout.

In a stunt that appears to be part PR, part prank, and part pestering, Sun has secured a wooden cutout of HP founders William Hewlett and David Packard for $6,000, boasts Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz in his blog. Since acquiring the life-size portrait, Sun has set up various photo-ops with it, bedecking the duo in pro-Sun and Solaris paraphernalia.

Therein lies the prank and the pestering of the stunt. The PR emerges in Schwartz's touting of Solaris in his post. "With nearly 25% of Solaris downloads requested on to HP's servers, we know their customers really want the partnership, and we're happy to oblige," he writes.

"To warn you in advance, Bill and Dave have both indicated a strong interest in learning more about Sun and the Solaris platform, so stay tuned," he continues.

The wooden dual portrait, by the way, was part of a cross-country art project called "Pioneers Hitchhiking in the Valley of Heart's Delight."

HP was given right of first refusal to purchase the portrait of its esteemed founders, but the company declined. In his own blog, HP Vice President of Global Marketing Strategy and Excellence Eric Kintz returns Schwartz's volley, seemingly unimpressed by, or perhaps even sour on, Sun's "nice stunt." "I never met Bill or Dave, but I bet neither of them would have approved paying thousands for representations of themselves," he writes.

Kintz also made a point of addressing Schwartz's claims about the popularity of Solaris on HP servers by pointing to an HP-written summation of a 2006 IDC report. As far as I can tell, nothing there contradicts Schwartz's assertions of Solaris being downloaded to 25 percent of all HP servers. The report does say that "HP is #1 in high-end Unix server revenue with a 48.3% market share worldwide. IBM is #2 with 20.7% and Sun is #3 with 14.0%."

As for the fate of Hewlett and Packard: Sun says it will donate the piece to the Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose.

Posted by Ted Samson on August 24, 2006 03:30 PM

July 31, 2006 | Comments: (0)

Tapped by Boeing, Wind River shares the wealth

There's some interesting news blowing out of Alameda, Calif.-based Wind River today which could spell big things for the company as well as the open-source community as a whole.

First off, the company has landed a deal with Boeing through which the aerospace and defense behemoth will use Wind River's open-source Platform for Networking Equipment, Linux Edition, for the P-8A Multi-mission Maritime Aircraft (MMA) mission system. The Wind River platform includes Wind River Workbench, the company's Eclipse-based device-software development suite.

The P-8A is a state-of-the-art aircraft, designed for long-range anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, intelligence, surveillance, and recon.

No matter your feelings on the tools of war, you can't help but be impressed that Boeing has given the nod to Wind River's platform to serve as the heart of the P-8A's advanced mission system.

The Boeing deal undoubtedly means some nice additional cashflow for Wind River, and the company is giving something back to the open-source community: specifically, 300,000 lines of code to the Eclipse Foundation.

The Wind River contributions are going toward four projects: the C/C++ Development Tools Project; the Platform Project; and both the Target Management and Device Debugging subprojects within the Device Software Development Platform Project.

"With this contribution, Wind River is demonstrating our belief in the long-term benefits of guiding the DSO [device software optimization] industry towards an open development tools framework," said Steven Heintz, director of product management for developer tools at Wind River.

By no small coincidence, undoubtedly, the code Wind River handed over to Eclipse is derived from the latest version of Wind River Workbench, version 2.5, released just today. Wind River reports that Version 2.5 includes "enhancements to help customers rapidly develop and test devices back on [the company's] Linux-based platforms. With Wind River Workbench, developers can 'see inside' a running target device and assess system behavior and performance."

Wind River Workbench Version 2.5 is downloadable at evaluations.windriver.com.

Posted by Ted Samson on July 31, 2006 12:34 PM

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