The LWN.net 2002 Linux Timeline - December [LWN.net]

What I can say is that Microsoft has enough cash on hand to pay 5,000 programmers to write free software for about a century. There is clearly no need for the proprietary software model.

-- Richard Stallman

Pearle will deploy SCO Linux 4.0 in 325 European stores (SCO press release).

Mozilla 1.2 is released (release notes). This release is quickly pulled for an important bugfix.

PostgreSQL 7.3 is released (announcement).

The GForge project surfaces as a new focal point for the development of the (free) SourceForge software.

Meanwhile, Dmitry is testifying in a foreign country in a foreign case that accuses his Moscow-based employers of wilfully breaking a law whose jurisdiction is six thousand miles away. "Did you *care* you were breaking US law?", asked the prosecutor of Dmitry, damningly. "No. I didn't care.", said Dmitry, going on to explain that, at the time, sitting in a Moscow flat working for a Russian company, he was rather more concerned with quaint local customs.

-- NTK

The (delayed) ElcomSoft trial is held. Despite the fact that the defense is not allowed to present much of its case, the jury returns a "not guilty" verdict.

Jon Johansen is put on trial in Norway for his role in the creation and distribution of the DeCSS code. Watch this space for the verdict.

The KDE 3.1 release is delayed into January due to a set of last-minute security issues.

Somebody syncs with Linus's BitKeeper tree on bkbits.net every 68 seconds.

No one could have possibly arranged for more publicity for the open source movement and its importance than Bill Gates coming and giving $400 million to fight Linux.

-- Atul Chitnis, Linux Bangalore/2002 organizer

Linux Bangalore/2002 is endorsed by the Indian government, despite a recent visit by Bill Gates attempting to head off Indian adoption of free software.

The last remaining pieces of Lineo are acquired by Metrowerks (announcement).

The Creative Commons Project launches with several licenses aimed at helping creators make their work freely available (web site).

Linux comes ahead of Microsoft on Google's list of top search terms.

If there is a lesson to be learnt from Adobe's eBook fiasco, it is that litigation is no substitute for well-designed software.

-- The Economist

The Linux Professional Institute delivers its 20,000th exam.

The California DVD case is accepted by the Supreme Court, which will determine whether a web site publisher can be sued in a distant state for posting the DeCSS code.

Matsushita and Sony join up to develop an embedded Linux distribution for consumer devices.

<== November

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