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AnnouncementsNon-Commercial announcements Campaigner Responds to EC's Questionnaire Florian Mueller has sent out a notice concerning the latest EU software patent push. "Some campaigners have already warned that the EU is once again working on ways to strengthen the legal basis of software patents in Europe. Pro-patent lobbyists such as SAP lawyer Guenther Schmalz confirmed in public that "it is starting again". The European Parliament had thrown out a proposal for a software patent directive on July 6 last year. Companies, organizations and individuals who would like to tell the EU their opinion on what its patent policy should look like have until the end of this month to answer the EC's questionnaire."
The Community Patent Consultation A new web site called The Community Patent Consultation seeks to curb the latest round of European patent legislation. "In January 2006, the European Commission started a consultation on a project that, if it goes according to current plans, will result in the legalization of software patents, which are known to be devastating to the software industry. The project is the Community Patent. While the essential idea, having EU-wide patents, is a good one, the current Commission proposal would transfer EU and member state legislative and judicial power to the European Patent Office, which would effectively legalize their hitherto illegal practice of granting software patents. The Commission asks any interested party to fill-in a questionnaire with their views." (Thanks to Armijn Hemel.)
EU Parliament votes down mutual patent recognition Florian Mueller has sent out a press release regarding a patent victory in Europe. "A majority of the European Parliament today voted against calling on the European Commission for a legislative proposal to stipulate the mutual recognition of national patents by the 25 member states of the EU. Such mutual recognition would make the patents that the national patent office of any EU country grants enforceable against companies in all other member states."
FSFE celebrates its fifth birthday The Free Software Foundation Europe has announced its fifth birthday celebration. "FSFE President Georg Greve looks back at the Foundation's history so far: "To me, it is exciting what we have achieved in five years since our formation - AGNULA, one of the first projects funded by the European Commission to be published as Free Software; our efforts in the Microsoft antitrust suit; the great success we had, in association with others, in preventing software patents in Europe last year; our eminent standing at UN level and last but not least our fellowship, which we initiated last year. I would have never expected these prosperities in such a short time.""
Justsystems Participates in ODF Alliance as Founding Member Justsystems has announced its participation in the Open Document Format Alliance as a founding member. "Justsystems is the only corporation from Japan to participate in the Alliance, which was formed by 35 companies and organizations worldwide including, Corel Corporation, IBM, Novell, OpenForum Europe, Oracle Corporation, RedHat, Inc., the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) and Sun Microsystems."
K3b Fundraiser Started (KDE.News) KDE.News has announced a new fund raising effort. "Sebastian Trüg has been working on K3b for a long time now and his computer has always served well for development. However it is now old and showing the first signs of senility. In order to keep up his work on K3b he needs a new machine. That is why the K3b fundraiser has been launched. The goal is to collect €1000 Euro by 31st March 2006. If you are willing to donate you can do so using PayPal or a bank transfer. There will be one major reward and that is K3b 1.0."
Commercial announcements Autodesk announces MapGuide Open Source Web Mapping Software Autodesk, Inc. has announced a new version of MapGuide. "Autodesk, Inc. today introduced the new version of MapGuide Open Source, its next generation web mapping software originally called MapServer Enterprise, and made it available on the new MapGuide Open Source site hosted by the Open Source Geospatial Foundation MapGuide Open Source is free software licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License. It enables users to quickly develop and distribute spatial and design data over the web, as well as reduces their total cost of ownership for a web mapping solution."
Grasshopper announces PageStream 5.0 for LinuxPPC Grasshopper has announced the first release of PageStream 5.0 for the LinuxPPC platform. "PageStream is a desktop publishing program available for Linux, Windows, Macintosh, and Amiga variants with a rich assortment of features and a solid 20-year history."
Novell announces Next-Generation Linux Desktop Novell has announced their next generation enterprise Linux desktop system. "The new Linux desktop, SUSE(r) Linux Enterprise Desktop, is a comprehensive, full-function desktop containing technology innovations and usability breakthroughs including enhanced power management, integrated desktop search, high-performance graphical interfaces and numerous application improvements based on open source innovation."
ServerPronto Pushes Linux Options to the Next Level ServerPronto has announced support for Red Hat, Debian, SUSE, CentOS and other Linux distributions by its dedicated server hosting service. ""Many server hosts offer support for mainline Linux distributions like Red Hat and SUSE," said Chris Kurzweg, Chief Operating Officer of ServerPronto. "ServerPronto takes the open source concept a few steps further with a breadth of Linux-based operating systems guaranteed to fit the unique needs of organizations of all sizes.""
SGI Receives SAP Certification for Altix Linux Servers SGI has announced the receipt of SAP certification for its Altix server platform. "With Altix driving their Linux enterprise infrastructures, SAP customers can more easily and affordably consolidate their resources to reduce ownership costs. Meanwhile, new customers now have a proven, scalable and cost-efficient platform for deploying SAP solutions on Linux, which is rapidly becoming a preferred option among enterprise IT managers."
Versora and CodeWeavers Announce Linux Desktop Migration and Productivity Bundle Versora and CodeWeavers have announced the Linux Desktop Migration and Productivity Bundle. "The bundled software package includes Versora's Progression Desktop which automates the migration of data, application and system settings from Windows desktops to Linux as well as CrossOver Office Standard 5.0 that allows applications such as Microsoft Office and Adobe Photoshop to run on Linux. "A bundled migration tool that includes the ability to run Microsoft Office productivity apps on Linux makes sense for individuals and organizations who want to move off Windows to Linux, but have concerns about a rip and replace scenario," said Versora CEO Mike Sheffey."
VMware and Intel partner on virtualization technology Intel Corporation and VMware, Inc. have announced a collaboration that aims to to bring virtualization technology to new market segments. "In a keynote at the Intel Developer Forum, Intel Senior Vice President Pat Gelsinger and VMware President Diane Greene announced expanded product support and a global joint marketing campaign to increase awareness and adoption of the technology. Intel also announced a new virtualization capability that VMware plans to support in its future products."
New Books Cross-Platform GUI Programming with wxWidgets A downloadable version of the book Cross-Platform GUI Programming with wxWidgets has been announced. "wxWidgets now has its own 700-page book to help you learn or brush up on your cross-platform programming skills. Written by Julian Smart and Kevin Hock with Stefan Csomor, "Cross-Platform GUI Programming with wxWidgets" was published on July 27th 2005 by Prentice Hall. It's part of Bruce Perens' Open Source Series."
Flickr Hacks--O'Reilly's Latest Release O'Reilly has published the book Flickr Hacks by Paul Bausch and Jim Bumgardner.
Resources FSF Europe Newsletter The March 8, 2006 edition of the FSF Europe Newsletter is online with the latest news from the Free Software Foundation Europe.
OSS Primer for Heath Care Leaders (LinuxMedNews) LinuxMedNews has announced a new Forrester Whitepaper entitled the Open Source Software Primer for Health Care Leaders. "As information technology in the health care industry evolves from an administrative tool for billing and bookkeeping to a clinical tool for improving the quality and efficiency of health care, the scope of information sharing is expanding beyond the walls of individual institutions. Achieving this level of integration will require that software models overcome a host of technical obstacles, and that they are accessible, affordable, and widely supported. This report examines the development and distribution of open source software, a well-established software development model—and a potential solution to the looming challenges of integration—characterized by collaboration among individuals and organizations with common interests, sharing intellectual property, and a commitment to standards."
Contests and Awards KDE Wins Best Desktop Environment Award (KDE.News) KDE.News has announced the receipt of a LinuxQuestions.org 2005 award for KDE. "The results of the LinuxQuestions.org 2005 awards were published earlier this week and KDE once again won the Desktop Environment of the Year award. The distance between KDE and the other desktop environments increased over last year while no less than 3 KDE applications won in their own categories."
KOffice Design Competition Winner (KDE.News) KDE.News has announced the winner of a KOffice 2 contest. "Martin Pfeiffer has won the competition for KOffice 2 GUI and functionality design. All entries are available under the GPL license at the results page. His entry was chosen from among the eighteen submissions because of its innovative, ground-breaking approach to workflow and document handling. Across the board, the entries were of a high quality and demonstrated eagerness to think outside the established office suite paradigm."
Upcoming Events Crystal Space Conference The 2006 Crystal Space Conference will take place in Aachen, Germany on July 15 and 16. "The Crystal Space team, together with the Center of Learning and Knowledge Management and Department of Computer Science in Mechanical Engineering (ZLW/IMA) at the university of Aachen (Germany) will hold the very first Crystal Space Conference. During those two days developers and users of Crystal Space will talk about technical and artistic issues related to developing 3D games using the Crystal Space framework."
LinuxWorld Conference and Expo-Boston to Feature Mobile Linux Focus IDG World Expo has sent out a press release on the upcoming LinuxWorld Conference & Expo. The event takes place in Boston, MA on April 3-6, 2006. "Reflecting the growing momentum of the mobile Linux market, IDG World Expo has added a conference track that focuses on Mobile and Embedded Linux to April's LinuxWorld Conference & Expo, sponsored by PalmSource. The show floor will also feature a Mobile Linux Pavilion where companies in the mobile Linux market will be showcasing the latest advancements in the use of Linux in mobile devices, such as wireless handhelds and mobile phones. Current exhibitors in the Pavilion include PalmSource, Open Source Development Labs (OSDL) and the Linux Phone Standards (LiPS) Forum."
3rd European Lisp Workshop The 3rd European Lisp Workshop has been announced. "It will take place in Nantes, France, on July 3 and 4, 2006. It is supported by the Association of Lisp Users (ALU) and Ravenbrook Limited. ALU has sponsored a $500 prize fund for exceptional papers submitted to the workshop."
Events: March 16 - May 11, 2006
Mailing Lists Announcing edupython list The edupython mailing list has been announced. "In order to facilitate small groups working on specific Python-in-Education projects, we have launched an edupython list on google groups. We envision participation by people trying to coordinate work on the nuts and bolts implementation of a project, with frequent progress reports and requests for suggestions and comments coming back to edu-sig."
Web sites Polish Linux Audio Forum A new Polish Linux Audio Forum has been announced. "This forum is a part of Polish Linux, Sound & Music website. It contains descriptions of over 100 programs, 80 articles and 400 screenshots of audio apps."
Page editor: Forrest Cook |
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