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Announcements
Non-Commercial announcements
FSFE calls on Microsoft to release interoperability information without restrictions
The Free Software Foundation Europe is calling on Microsoft to release interoperability information without restrictions. "The European Commission has fined Microsoft 899 million Euro for anti-competitive behaviour by restricting access to interoperability information through unreasonable royalty payments prior to October 2007. This is in addition previous fines of 497 million Euro and 280 million Euro applied in the same investigation, resulting in a total penalty of 1.676 billion Euro. "Microsoft is the last company that actively promotes the use of software patents to restrict interoperability. This kind of behaviour has no place in an Internet society where all components should connect seamlessly regardless of their origin," says Georg Greve, president of the Free Software Foundation Europe."
GNOME and Mozilla Foundations announce cooperation
The GNOME Foundation and the Mozilla Foundation have announced that they will be working more closely together in the future. Specifics include Mozilla joining the GNOME advisory board, working with GNOME on XUL and Firefox, and a $10,000 donation in support of the recently-announced accessibility program.
Google helps FSFE' Freedom Task Force to deliver training, attend conferences and translate documents
The Free Software Foundation Europe reports on a donation to its Freedom Task Force by Google. "Google has made a donation to assist FSFE's Freedom Task Force with delivering training courses, attending conferences and localising documents. "The Freedom Task Force is working to foster effective legal infrastructure for Free Software in Europe. A great deal of our work is based on engaging directly with people and Google's contribution will allow us to do this more effectively," says Shane Coughlan, FTF Coordinator. "Training, physical presence in countries and providing materials in local languages are essential aspects of building a coherent pan-European community.""
New Linux Foundation Board Members Elected
The Linux Foundation (LF) has announced the results of its annual Board of Directors election. The LF board is comprised of all LF membership classes as well as individual affiliates. "New board members elected during this cycle include Linux and open-source expert Larry Augustin, Advanced Micro Device's Chris Schlaeger and Texas Instrument's Eric Thomas. Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Ubuntu, has been re-elected as an individual member to the board. James Bottomley was also re-elected as the Technical Advisory Board's (TAB) representative to the board. The TAB is a collection of community developers and provides the Linux kernel community a direct voice into The Linux Foundation's activities."
Judge dissolves wikileaks.org injunction
The Electronic Frontier Foundation reports that an injunction against wikileaks.org has been dropped. "A federal district court judge in San Francisco today rescinded a controversial order that disabled the "wikileaks.org" domain name which had -- until two weeks ago -- pointed to Wikileaks, a website designed to give whistleblowers a forum for posting materials of public concern."
Commercial announcements
IGEL Technology presents embedded Linux speech recognition capabilities
IGEL Technology has announced full dictation and speech recognition capabilities on Linux and XP embedded thin clients. "IGEL Technology, one of the world's leading thin client vendors, today announced that they have partnered with Philips Speech Recognition Systems to bring advanced digital dictation and speech recognition solutions to its Linux and XP embedded thin clients. This solution is expected to offer substantial savings and optimization potential in the healthcare sector because it enables attaching digitally captured findings directly to patient files where additional information can be added and stored."
Linspire and Virtual Bridges announce Win4Lin Pro Desktop 4.5
Linspire, Inc. and Virtual Bridges have announced the availability of Win4Lin Pro Desktop 4.5 through the CNR.com site. "Available at a special introductory price of $34.99, Win4Lin Pro Desktop provides consumers, SMBs and enterprise customers an easy-to-use virtualization solution that allows Freespire 2.0, Linspire 6.0, Ubuntu 7.04 & 7.10 desktop Linux users to run Windows on Linux and assists in the complete migration process to desktop Linux."
Novell reports 1Q 2008 financial results
Novell, Inc. has announced its financial results for the first quarter of its 2008 fiscal year, which ended on January 31. "For the quarter, Novell reported net revenue of $231 million. This compares to net revenue of $218 million for the first fiscal quarter 2007. Income from operations for the first fiscal quarter 2008 was $8 million, compared to a loss from operations of $21 million for the first fiscal quarter 2007. Income from continuing operations in the first fiscal quarter 2008 was $15 million, or $0.04 per share. This compares to a loss from continuing operations of $12 million, or $0.04 loss per share, for the first fiscal quarter 2007. Foreign currency exchange rates favorably impacted revenue and unfavorably impacted operating expenses by $7 million and did not materially impact income from operations year-over-year."
OpenedHand announce Poky platform builder 3.1
OpenedHand has released version 3.1 of Poky platform builder. "OpenedHand are pleased to announced the release of version 3.1 of Poky platform builder. Poky is a freely available open source platform build tool that enables device manufacturers to design, develop, build, debug, and test a complete, modern, software stack using Linux, the X Window System and GNOME Mobile based application frameworks for both ARM and x86 based platforms."
OpenMoko unlocks Neo Phone industrial design
OpenMoko has announced the availability of the industrial design source files for its Neo branded mobile phones. "Openmoko's source code was freed in February 2007, allowing complete transformation of its mobile phone software. Now, by publishing mechanical CAD files, Openmoko frees industrial designers to fundamentally redesign the Neo branded mobile phones to fit their vision and market needs. Some already have."
Shuttle's KPC computer will run Foresignt Linux
Shuttle has announced that the newly launched $199 KPC will feature the Foresight Linux operating system. "With an intuitive interface and user focused design, Foresight does away with the need for users to be familiar with Linux. A host of the latest software is packaged with the operating system, giving users convenient and enjoyable access to music, photos, videos, documents, and the Internet. Even keeping up-to-date with the latest features and fixes is a simple process with the user friendly update button."
Vyatta.org launched
Vyatta has announced the launch of Vyatta.org. "Vyatta, the leader in Linux-based networking, today announced Vyatta.org, a new site for the popular Vyatta Community, which brings together users and developers to advance the cause of open-source networking as an alternative to the over-priced and inflexible solutions from proprietary vendors. Vyatta.org will feature more collaborative and efficient ways for members to contribute, learn, and shape the future of Vyatta."
Resources
Linux Gazette #148 is out
Issue #148 of the Linux Gazette has been published. "Linux Gazette is a volunteer-run monthly web magazine dedicated to two simple ideas: making Linux a little more fun, and sharing ideas and discoveries."
Contests and Awards
Alfresco announces Alfresco Content Excellence award winners
Alfresco Software, Inc. has announced the winners of its 2007 Annual Content Excellence Awards. "The debut year for the awards program recognizes its top partners and contributors in the categories of Partner of the Year, Content Management and Collaboration Implementation of the Year, and Contributor of the Year, in Europe and North America."
Join EFF at the 17th Annual Pioneer Awards at ETech
The Electronic Frontier Foundation will hold its 17th Annual Pioneer Awards at the O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference. "The ceremony will be held at 7:15 p.m., March 4th, in the Marina Ballroom of the San Diego Marriott Hotel and Marina. The 2008 winners of EFF's Pioneer Awards are the Mozilla Foundation and its Chairman Mitchell Baker, University of Ottawa Professor Michael Geist, and AT&T whistleblower Mark Klein. Michael Robertson -- founder and CEO of MP3.com, Linspire, MP3Tunes and Gizmo5 -- will give the awards' keynote address: "What to Expect When You're Expecting...To Be Sued.""
Event Reports
Open eHealth Foundation and partners announced at HIMSS 2008 (LinuxMedNews)
LinuxMedNews covers an announcement at the HIMSS 2008 conference. "At the HIMSS 2008 conference in Orlando, Florida, the Open eHealth Foundation released a press statement describing the formation of this new organization with new partners including InterComponentWare, Agfa HealthCare and Sun Microsystems."
Meeting Minutes
Perl 6 Design Meeting Minutes (use Perl)
The minutes from the , 2008 Perl 6 Design Meeting have been published. "The Perl 6 design team met by phone on 27 February 2008. Larry, Allison, Patrick, Will, Jerry, Jesse, Nicholas, and chromatic attended."
X.Org board meeting minutes
The meeting minutes from the February 14, 2008 X.Org board meeting have been published. "Attending: Bart Massey, Keith Packard, Carl Worth, Stuart Kreitman, Kevin Martin, Daniel Stone, Matthieu Herrb, Jim McQuillan, Adam Jackson, Egbert Eich, Stuart Anderson, Eric Anholt".
Calls for Presentations
Akademy 2008: Call for Presentations (KDE.News)
A Call for Presentations has gone out for Akademy 2008. "As the new leaves of spring bud in the Low Countries, the organisation of Akademy is also growing. This will bear fruit in August as the worldwide KDE community gathers in Sint-Katelijne-Waver, Belgium at the De Nayer Institute to celebrate and consider the post-KDE 4.0 world. Now that the KDE 4 technology platform is in place, this year's Akademy will focus on bringing the pillars of KDE to applications, research efforts around KDE, and work on non-traditional platforms for the desktop. Your work on KDE is interesting to us, so please submit a talk. See the complete Call for Presentations for more details. The important date is the deadline for submissions to the main conference tracks: May 1st."
2008 Google Summer of Code
A call for participation has gone out for the 2008 Google Summer of Code. "Google Summer of Code 2008 is on! Over the past three years, the program has brought together over 1500 students and 2000 mentors from 90 countries worldwide, all for the love of code. We look forward to welcoming more new contributors and projects this year. We are now accepting applications from open source projects who would like to act as mentoring organizations for 2008, and will be accepting these applications through March 12, 2008. We will begin accepting student applications on Monday, March 24th."
GUADEC 2008 Website and CFP
The GUADEC 2008 web site is online and a call for participation has gone out. "GUADEC, the annual GNOME conference will be held in Istanbul, Turkey from the 7th to the 12th of July 2008. The conference will bring together the GNOME development and user community and key personalities from businesses and governments, to discuss the future direction of the GNOME project." The submission deadline is March 30.
SAGE-AU Call for Technical Papers and Tutorials
A call for papers and tutorials has gone out for the 2008 SAGE-AU conference. The event takes place in Adelaide, Australia on August 11-15, 2008, submissions are due by March 31. "The SAGE-AU Annual Conference is the premier Systems Administration event in the Asia-Pacific region. The conference offers a premium educational forum for System Administrators of all platforms and levels of experience, and an excellent opportunity to meet, network and learn from acknowledged experts in the field. This year's conference will start with three days of tutorials followed by the technical program. The technical program will run in two parallel streams covering a wide variety of system administration related talks."
Upcoming Events
FSF annual associate member meeting announced
The FSF Annual Associate Member Meeting will take place on Saturday, March 15 at MIT, Cambridge, MA. "Keynote speeches from FSF board members Mako Hill and Henri Poole and the director of the FSF-backed End Software Patents campaign Ben Klemens will each address the 2008 theme, "Tackling the Big Issues." They will look at the projects that will demand the Free Software Foundation's attention in 2008: from software patents to freedom for web services, from advancing free software adoption to the changing relations with the entertainment industry brought about by this year's Hollywood writers strike."
GUADEC 2008 to be held in Istanbul, Turkey (GnomeDesktop)
GUADEC 2008 has been announced. "GUADEC, the annual GNOME conference will be held in Istanbul, Turkey from the 7th to the 12th of July 2008. The conference will bring together the GNOME development and user community and key personalities from businesses and governments, to discuss the future direction of the GNOME project."
The OpenOffice.org Annual Conference goes to Beijing
The OpenOffice.org community overwhelmingly voted for Beijing, China as the site for the next OOo conference. This is the first time OOoCon has been held outside of Europe. It is tentatively scheduled for October 15-17. Click below for more details.
Continuent Sponsors PostgreSQL Conference East 08
Continuent, Inc. has announced its sponsorship of the PostgreSQL Conference East 08. "Continuent, Inc., the leading provider of commercial open source middleware solutions for database high-availability and scalability, today announced its sponsorship of the PostgreSQL Conference East 08. The conference takes place March 29-30, 2008, in the Computer and Space Sciences Building at the University of Maryland College Park, and is designed allow contributors, current users and future users/developers to learn and network."
Events: March 13, 2008 to May 12, 2008
The following event listing is taken from the LWN.net Calendar.
| Date(s) | Event | Location |
|---|---|---|
| March 8 March 14 |
Asia OSS Conference & Showcase 2008 | Guangzhou, China |
| March 14 March 16 |
PyCon 2008 | Chicago, IL, USA |
| March 15 | FSF Associate Members Meeting | Cambridge, MA, USA |
| March 16 March 19 |
BossaConference 2008 - International Conference on Open Source Software for Mobile Embedded Platforms | Pernambuco, Brazil |
| March 16 March 21 |
Novell BrainShare 2008 | Salt Lake City, UT, USA |
| March 16 March 20 |
Free Software and Open Source Foundation for Africa | Dakar, Senegal |
| March 17 March 20 |
Eclipse Community Conference | Santa Clara, CA, USA |
| March 17 March 20 |
Spring VON.x Conference | San Jose, CA, USA |
| March 19 March 20 |
LinuxWorld Expo 2008 Brussels | Brussels, Belgium |
| March 24 | SDForum Global Open Source Conference | San Francisco, CA, USA |
| March 26 March 28 |
CanSecWest 2008 | Vancouver, BC, Canada |
| March 26 | Document Freedom Day | Everywhere, Worldwide |
| March 29 March 30 |
PostgreSQL Conference East 2008 | College Park, MD, USA |
| March 31 April 2 |
UKUUG Spring 2008 Conference - Dynamic Languages | Birmingham, England |
| March 31 | 2008 European Workshop on System Security | Glasgow, Scotland |
| March 31 April 2 |
UKUUG Spring 2008 Conference | Birmingham, England |
| March 31 April 2 |
Sharkfest Wireshark Network Analysis Summit | Los Altos Hills, CA, USA |
| April 2 | First meeting UKUUG PostgreSQL SIG | Birmingham, England |
| April 3 April 4 |
E-Mail Systems Conference 2008 (Exim and other mail systems) | Birmingham, England |
| April 4 April 5 |
openSUSE Packaging Days II | IRC, Everywhere |
| April 7 April 9 |
IT360 Conference & Expo | Toronto, Canada |
| April 7 April 11 |
Django Bootcamp with Juan Pablo Claude | Atlanta, Georgia, USA |
| April 8 April 10 |
Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit | Austin, TX, USA |
| April 10 April 13 |
Go-OO Conference 2008 | Prague, Czech Republic |
| April 12 April 13 |
Open Source Developers Conference Taiwan, 2008 | Taipei, Taiwan |
| April 12 April 13 |
LugRadio Live USA 2008 | San Francisco, CA, USA |
| April 12 April 18 |
KDevelop Developer Meeting 2008 | Munich, Germany |
| April 14 April 18 |
Embedded Systems Conference - Silicon Valley | San Jose, CA, USA |
| April 14 April 17 |
MySQL Conference and Expo | Santa Clara, CA, USA |
| April 15 April 17 |
Embedded Linux Conference 2008 | Mountain View, CA, USA |
| April 15 April 17 |
SOA in Health Care | Chicago, IL, USA |
| April 16 April 18 |
X Developers' Conference 2008 | Mountain View, CA, USA |
| April 16 April 18 |
X Developers' Conference for 2008 | Mountain View, USA |
| April 16 April 18 |
Croatian Linux User Conference | Zagreb, Croatia |
| April 17 April 19 |
9th International Free Software Forum | Porto Alegre, Brazil |
| April 17 April 18 |
Samba Experience 2008 | Göttingen, Germany |
| April 18 April 19 |
Third Annual Silicon Valley Ruby Conference | San Jose, CA, USA |
| April 21 April 25 |
Open Source meets Industry: Application Park and International Congress | Hannover, Germany |
| April 22 | The Mobile Future | Santa Clara, CA, USA |
| April 22 April 25 |
Web 2.0 Expo | San Francisco, CA, USA |
| April 22 | OSADL International Congress | Hannover, Germany |
| April 23 April 24 |
Troopers 2008 Security Conference | Munich, Germany |
| April 23 | Linux Foundation Spring Legal Summit | Schaumburg, IL, USA |
| April 25 April 29 |
Open Tech Summit Taiwan 2008 | Taipei, Taiwan |
| April 27 May 2 |
INTEROP Las Vegas 2008 | Las Vegas, NV, USA |
| May 5 May 9 |
Ruby on Rails Bootcamp with Charles B. Quinn | Atlanta, Georgia, USA |
| May 8 | Embedded Masterclass 2008 | London, UK |
| May 9 May 11 |
Pycon Italia Due | Firenze, Italy |
If your event does not appear here, please tell us about it.
Page editor: Forrest Cook