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AnnouncementsNon-Commercial announcements Database Patent Prior Art NeededJosh Berkus writes about the need for some prior art research on database software. "The USPTO has launched its promised Patent Application peer review site, with 5 new patent applications for us geeks to debunk with prior art. All I can say is, if this is the dreck the patent examiners have to deal with day in and day out, I'm not surprised that they're tempted to just stamp it "approved" and go home and drink. So let's help them out."
US Court: email is privateHere's a release from the EFF on the US 6th Circuit Appeals Court's ruling in Warshak v. United States. "Over the last 20 years, the government has routinely used the federal Stored Communications Act (SCA) to secretly obtain stored email from email service providers without a warrant. But today's ruling -- closely following the reasoning in an amicus brief filed the by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and other civil liberties groups -- found that the SCA violates the Fourth Amendment." So email users have an expectation of privacy - at least in the 6th circuit.
Open Sound System open-sourced4Front Technologies has announced the release of the Open Sound System code under the GPLv2 and CDDL licenses. OSS was once the Linux sound driver subsystem, but it was taken proprietary some years ago and has since been replaced by ALSA. "The new open source community development model makes it possible to replace the obsolete and incompatible vendor specific sound subsystems and OSS implementations with a state-of-the-art implementation developed by 4Front Technologies. The goal has always been to standardize audio under POSIX compliant systems and this includes real time operating systems and embedded systems as well."
SFLC's open source law immersion programThe Software Freedom Law Center has launched a program aimed at helping lawyers learn more about open source issues. "The Software Freedom Law Center benefits the FOSS development ecosystem both by providing direct legal services and by promoting the general understanding of relevant legal issues. Most often, these issues include software licensing, trademarks, patents, government regulations on software, and aiding various nonprofit organizations within our community. The SFLC Open Source Law Immersion Program is designed to provide practicing lawyers an opportunity to learn first-hand about these issues in open source law."
Commercial announcements Clearswift and SpikeSource form technology partnershipSpikeSource has announced a partnership with Clearswift. "Clearswift and SpikeSource, a leading provider of business-ready open source solutions, today announced a strategic partnership focused on delivering secure, open source solutions to market. As part of the agreement, SpikeSource will offer to its customers Clearswift's content security products and services. The companies will also work to build integrated solutions that will allow businesses to capitalize on SpikeSource's broad portfolio of open source solutions and platform, and Clearswift's content filtering expertise."
First American company focused solely on K12 open-source launchedImpari Systems, Inc. has announced its opening. "Impari Systems, Inc. announced today that they are now open for business. "Our private stock sale was a complete success, and we're ready to start working with schools. We realized what open source could do for students across America and had to start this company to help local schools move to this cost-effective, secure and rich environment. Impari Systems is focused only on open source and solely for K through 12 schools," reported Matt Burkhardt, CEO of Impari Systems, Inc."
Linbox adds patch and application deployment to Linbox Rescue ServerLinbox has released a new module for its Linbox Rescue Server (LRS) under the GPL: the Linbox Secure Control (LSC). The Linbox Secure Control lets you automate patch and application deployment across heterogeneous IT environments. "Fully integrated into the LRS Web management interface, Linbox Secure Control monitors the status of each install and displays the status on screen, so you can quickly and easily ensure that each deployment has been successful. Software deployment tasks can be scheduled for later execution and can occur on any number of computers in parallel."
Linspire does the Microsoft dealNow Linspire has done a deal with Microsoft . "Through this agreement, the companies will work to advance office document compatibility, enhance instant messaging interoperability and reinforce existing collaboration on digital media. In addition, Linspire will be providing its customers with the option of acquiring a patent covenant from Microsoft for customers operating the Linspire desktop."
Lumen Software announces new PostgreSQL LAPP stackLumen Software has announced its decisions to use a PostgreSQL-supported Linux-Apache-PostgreSQL-PHP (LAPP) stack for its open-source Lumenation development platform. "After significant consideration of PostgreSQL and MySQL, which is part of the popular LAMP stack, developers at Lumen found that the PostgreSQL database offered a higher level of functionality and handled large amounts of data and traffic better than the alternatives."
Mandriva: We will not go to CanossaMandriva has put out its own declaration regarding deals with Microsoft. "We also believe what we see, and up to now, there has been absolutely no hard evidence from any of the FUD propagators that Linux and open source applications are in breach of any patents. So we think that, as in any democracy, people are innocent unless proven guilty and we can continue working in good faith. So we dont believe it is necessary for us to get protection from Microsoft to do our job or to pay protection money to anyone."
Novell unveils workgroup suite for small businessesNovell has announced the Novell Open Workgroup Suite Small Business Edition with support from Intuit. "The Novell Open Workgroup Suite Small Business Edition includes Linux server and desktop components with e-mail, collaboration and the most advanced open source office products available. The benefit? Customers get a markedly improved return on their IT investments and aren't locked into expensive, proprietary-only software bundles."
Open-Xchange gives feature boost to collaboration serverOpen-Xchange, Inc. has announced a feature update for Open-Xchange Server 5. "The upgrade adds more than 50 usability improvements to the Linux-based collaboration suite. Open-Xchange Server 5 provides customers with key messaging functions such as email, calendaring, contacts and task management that are fully integrated with advanced groupware features such as document sharing, project tracking, user forums, and a knowledge base. Service Pack 3 for Open-Xchange Server 5 offers major productivity improvements through performance enhancements and through supporting the latest Application Server of Red Hat Linux Enterprise Server 4."
Performance Technologies broadens its NexusWare carrier grade Linux distributionPerformance Technologies has announced new additions to its NexusWare(R) Linux-based operating system and development environment. "NexusWare V12 now supports Performance Technologies' wide range of single board computer hardware offerings, including both x86 and PowerPC(R) processor architectures, and operates across the entire Performance Technologies product line. Performance Technologies is showcasing NexusWare at NXTcomm 2007."
19" Linux Digital Photo Frame Kit seeks Hacker-Tinkerer-PhotographersRedPost has released a fun little gadget, a 19" LCD monitor that boots a modified version of Damn Small Linux from USB flash drive. You can upload pictures via USB or WiFi, display a web site, or just hack on it.
Wind River Carrier-Grade Linux Goes to SpaceWind River Systems has announced that it has been selected by Honeywell Aerospace to support the development of NASA's New Millennium Program Space Technology 8 (ST8) Dependable Multiprocessor. The contract marks the first time a Linux platform has been selected by Honeywell for a space mission.
New Books O'Reilly to sell book chapters onlineO'Reilly will be selling chapters of their books in PDF format. "In today's Web 2.0 driven publishing marketplace, it takes new and creative strategies to get authors and their work noticed by web savvy readers. But even when it is noticed, today's readers increasingly want content in new and convenient ways that suit their digital lifestyles. Along with traditional print formats, they want content they can read on computers, PDAs, and cell phones. For this reason O'Reilly Media--the pioneering publishing company that coined the term Web 2.0--has recently launched several innovative publishing programs aimed at delivering content in formats the tech generation craves. Starting this month, O'Reilly Media customers have the option to purchase book content by the chapter in PDF format for $3.99."
Resources Announcing the FLOSS License SlideDavid A Wheeler presents the FLOSS License Slide, which is available as both PDF version and an OpenDocument format version. "The "Free-Libre / Open Source Software (FLOSS) license slide" shows if software under some of the most widely-used FLOSS licenses are compatible (and if so, how). The figure and explanatory text all fit in a page, which can be handy."
FSFE NewsletterThe June 13, 2007 edition of the FSFE Newsletter is online with the latest Free Software Foundation Europe news. Topics include: FSFE and Digicomp announce Free Software Licensing course, Meeting Libre 2007 in Miraflores, Spain, FSFE at eLiberatica 2007 in Romania, Richard Stallman in Sweden, ConfSL, LUGConf and Fellowship meeting in Cosenza, Italy, Linuxtag in Berlin, Linuxwochen tour through Austria and Donations now tax-deductable in Switzerland.
Sharing medical software: FOSS licensing in medicine (LinuxMedNews)LinuxMedNews has an announcement for an online paper by Fred Trotter entitled Sharing medical software: FOSS licensing in medicine. "I have written a short guide to software licensing in medicine: Sharing medical software: FOSS licensing in medicine. This covers the problems of license proliferation, the issue of proprietarization and several other key licensing related issues."
Event Reports Global Rails community together and on track at RailsConf 2007O'Reilly has sent out a press release that covers the recent RailsConf event. "RailsConf 2007 was a resounding success with over 1,600 attendees, nearly triple the number of the previous year. The event, held at the Oregon Convention Center May 17 - 20, 2007, was co-presented by Ruby Central, Inc. and OReilly Media. One aspect that set this conference apart from others was the camaraderie and lets pull together spirit of the Rails community at large. In the opening presentation, program chair Chad Fowler spoke about the spirit of community as well as the opportunity for programmers to work together to spread Rails knowledge."
Calls for Presentations Piksel07 - call for projectsA call for projects has gone out for Piksel07. The event takes place on November 15-18, 2007, submissions are due by July 15. "Piksel is an international event for artists and developers working with open source audiovisual software, hardware & art. Part workshop, part festival, it is organised in Bergen, Norway, by the Bergen Centre for Electronic Arts (BEK) and involves participants from more than a dozen countries exchanging ideas, coding, presenting art and software projects, doing workshops, performances and discussions on the aesthetics and politics of FLOSS & art."
WORM 2007 CFP extensionThe call for papers deadline for the 5th ACM Workshop on Recurring Malcode (WORM) conference has been extended to June 24. The event takes place in Alexandria, VA on November 2, 2007.
Upcoming Events The Open Group's Enterprise Architecture Practitioners ConferenceThe Open Group has announced the 15th Enterprise Architecture Practitioners Conference. "... David Linthicum, internationally known services-oriented architecture expert, will be a featured keynote speaker at its 15th Enterprise Architecture Practitioners Conference. Linthicum will address conference attendees during the opening plenary session on Monday, July 23, at 9:40 a.m. The conference will be held July 23rd-25th, 2007 at the Four Seasons in Austin, TX."
Registration opens for the OpenOffice.org annual conferenceRegistration has opened for the 2007 OpenOffice.org Annual Conference. "OOoCon 2007 runs for three full days from September 19th-21st in Barcelona, Spain. OOoCon 2007 topics include technical presentations and workshops for developers, case histories from around the world, future product developments, how to get involved in the Community, and hints and tips for users. There is a special focus this year reflecting the growing interest in OpenOffice.org extensions and components - adding 'plug in' features to OpenOffice.org and using OpenOffice technology in other applications."
VMworld 2007 announcedVMworld 2007 will take place on Sept 11-13, 2007 in San Francisco, CA. "VMworld is the largest virtualization industry event, attended by thousands of IT professionals and executives, developers, technology providers, and industry experts from around the world."
The 2007 WebGUI users conferencePlain Black Corporation has announced the 2007 WebGUI Users Conference. "Plain Black Corporation(R) is pleased to bring this year's annual WebGUI Users Conference back to their hometown, Madison, WI from Oct. 17-19, 2007. The WebGUI Users Conference is an annual event that brings together Plain Black staff and field experts from around the globe to present on all things WebGUI."
Events: June 28, 2007 to August 27, 2007The following event listing is taken from the LWN.net Calendar.
If your event does not appear here, please tell us about it. Web sites Hyperic Launches HyperFORGEHyperic Inc. has announced the HyperFORGE, Hyperic's open source software development site, which will provide developers with an easy way to create plug-ins to Hyperic HQ, the company's flagship systems management platform. Hyperic HQ is used by the social network hi5.
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