Free Software Business¶
More aftermath regarding Qt after Nokia's recent decision to pair up with Microsoft.
the Inquirer: Android Developers Union makes Google demands
Canonical Blog: Ubuntu, the cloud OS
Network World: Open source expert takes on the hardest job at Microsoft
Software Patents¶
Google and Microsoft joint forces and sued GeoTag in order to invalidate a patent relating to geolocation.
- the Inquirer: Google and Microsoft set the legal hounds on Geotag
- FOSS Patents: Microsoft and Google jointly sue GeoTag Inc. in order to invalidate a patent asserted against more then 300 entities
- Ars Technica: Google and Microsoft team up to battle geotagging patent troll
Forbes: Feds Could Block Microsoft Group’s Bid For Novell Patents
the Inquirer:Samsung wins Spansion patent row
the Inquirer: Motorola sues Tivo over technology patents
Copyright and Other Legal Act Reforms¶
JURI, the Legal Affairs Committee in the European Parliament voted to introduce an exception to the copyright monopoly to benefit the public at large. It is said to be the first limitation of copyright monopoly in decades. This is just a first step, but at least it is one!
- Christian Engström: Books for the blind in JURI: Win!
- Falkvinge: An Important Dent In The Copyright Monopoly
Sköne Oke: Is the Com aware that the US has not ratified the Vienna Convention
Irish Minister for Enterprise Mary Hanafin quashed rumours that she was planning to rush through a statutory instrument relating to copyright issues before leaving office.
OpenSource.com: Emergency ignored: Current status of the [US] Patent Reform Act
La Quadrature du Net: EU Governments United Against the Knowledge Society?
Government and Free Software Policies¶
OSOR: FR: Candidats.fr initiative to raise election candidates’ awareness of free software
OSOR: Zaragoza: 'Spain's public sector major driver open source desktop'
OSOR: MT: Government starts open source portal
OSOR: SI: Slovenian public administrations moving to open source desktops
OSOR: RO: 'Romanian government not against, nor in favour of open source'
Software Livre Brazil: Venezuela: Software Libre en el debate político
Short-ish article about what's wrong with IT procurement in governments and some first-hand reports of vendor lock-in problems with Microsoft.
Computer World UK: Open Source by Any Other Name…
Dana Blankenhorn: The Real Fight for Government Control is Open Source
Open Standards¶
The UK government seems to finally get it and decides to use truly open standards and the NHS has some good plans about adopting Free Software.
- Computer World UK: True Open Standards; Open Source Next
- ConsortiumInfo.org: U.K. Comes out for Royalty-Free Standards for Government Procurement
- FSFE: FSFE welcomes paper calling for Free Software in the NHS
Computer Weekly: Government open source plan hindered by lack of security clearance
At the same time BSA lobbies in UK against using open standards, claiming it will cost the state more, reduce choice and hinder innovation.
- ZDnet: BSA: Open standards will 'increase e-government costs'
- TechRights: BSA is Lobbying (and Lying) to Exclude Software Freedom From the British Public Sector
- Rob Weir: The BSA’s New Candlemakers
Khronos Group today released the final specification for WebGL, a specification that brings OpenGL hardware-accelerated graphics to the web browser.
- the Inquirer: Final WebGL 1.0 specification released
- the Next Web: WebGL finalized, brings hardware-accelerated 3D to the browser
Guardian: US Justice Department reportedly investigating MPEG LA over VP8 threats
Other interesting links¶
ORGZine: The threat to non-print archives
Computer World UK: Open Source Procurement: Subscriptions
TechDirt: ICE Boss: It's Okay To Ignore The Constitution If It's To Protect Companies
LibreOffice: LibreOffice Conference to be held in Paris this October
KDE.News: Desktop Summit CFP and Registration open
the Register: German data regulators move to tighten IP address laws
the Register: Anon Mail commenters to stay anon
The Next Web Asia: China Unicom plans to dominate China with its own mobile OS
ZDnet: London Stock Exchange Woes not Linux's Fault
the Inquirer: Intel completes McAfee purchase
OSOR: ES: Cenatic nominates free and open source community for award
Bradley M. Kuhn: Software Freedom Is Elementary, My Dear Watson.
Falkvinge: Kill Copyright, Create Jobs
PoemShape: On Linux, Software Patents, Shakespeare & the Web
Matt Blaze: Shaking Down Science
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