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AnnouncementsNon-Commercial announcements FSF says: Take a stand with us for freedom, against ACTAThe Free Software Foundation (FSF) has published a new declaration calling for the rejection of ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) unless key changes to protect the public's freedom are made. "FSF's operations manager John Sullivan added, "Now that some details of ACTA have been made public, we know that our previous concerns were justified. We are asking the free software community to join us in speaking out against this attack on the public's freedom, and I hope that people will not only sign the statement, but also write and publish their own specific thoughts about the issues. This is a time for people to show -- in as many ways as possible -- that they value the freedoms ACTA threatens. The more signatures and visible support we have, the weaker ACTA will look.""
Commercial announcements OIN Announces Associate Member ProgramOpen Invention Network (OIN) has announced the launch of its Associate Member Program and that Canonical has become the first Associate Member. "OIN Associate Members, such as Canonical, demonstrate support and commitment to limiting the effects of patent disputes in Linux. Canonical's activities and those of all companies seeking to adopt and use Linux will be facilitated as OIN works closely with Canonical and other companies that are supporting Linux's growth and expansion. Through the support of its founding members including IBM, NEC, Novell, Philips, Red Hat and Sony, OIN has amassed a broad portfolio of patents, including patents held by nominees on its behalf."
New computer label for computer preinstalled with a free operating systemThe Swiss non-profit association FreieComputer (free Computers) has announced the launching of the new "free computer" label for computers sold with a pre-installed free operating system.
Articles of interest Mandriva saved by investors (LeMagIt)LeMagIt is reporting (in French) that some unnamed investors have injected more money into Mandriva, which will not be sold after all. Business model changes may follow. English text can be had via Google, but don't be confused when it bizarrely translates "les utilisateurs Mandriva" as "Gentoo users." (Via O'Reilly).
OpenOffice at the crossroads (The H)The H has posted a discussion with Michael Meeks on the future of OpenOffice.org. "The problem is we're not starting from square one. OO.o has quality issues, maybe fewer than we did have, which is encouraging, but they're certainly there. And in consequence if you slow down changes you may improve quality, but from what base? Interestingly, the Linux kernel quality metric is improving and yet the rate of change is accelerating, so there are other ways to work. Maybe you have to go down hill a bit before you can find a better way up, so its possible if we relax QA just a bit, we make things worse, but if we increase the number of commits very radically we move to a different place in the graph, and bugs get traced and fixed much more quickly."
The Party of Gno (Linux Magazine)Over at Linux Magazine, Joe "Zonker" Brockmeier suggests a different course for the free software movement. He says that users aren't responding well to being told "No" (or "Gno" as he puts it in a little dig at the FSF), so those who want to push freedom need to provide realistic alternatives to things like iPads, DRM-encrusted media, proprietary "cloud" services, and so on. "The free software movement, though, seems to be shrinking. It still has its adherents, of course. But, when I look around at Linux events I see a sea of Mac OS X. Most contributors I know see no problem with proprietary services like Dropbox and Ubuntu One. With very few exceptions, most companies that work in the community have settled on some mixture of proprietary and open source services to try to find a working revenue model. In short, the free software philosophy seems to have gone out the window for most users and contributors. And I'll freely admit, I've advocated the pragmatic approach — because after more than 10 years of working in the community, it's clear that getting things done with a purist approach isnt working."
Suicide by victory: more on SCO (ZDNet)It's been a while since we've had a weird article from Paul Murphy on the SCO case, but he's not done yet. "Now that copyrights have been made an issue, someone capturing Novel [sic] can most probably really do what SCO's lawyers only thought they could do: issue real Linux licenses and make them stick."
New Books IFOSSLR 2.1 availableThe International Free and Open Source Software Law Review has published Volume 2, No. 1. There are several new articles, covering topics like GPL obligations, copyright boundaries, and a piece on "challenges and opportunities for open source legal communities" by Luis Villa.
Getting Started with Processing--New from O'ReillyO'Reilly has released "Getting Started with Processing" by Casey Reas and Ben Fry.
Web Operations--New from O'ReillyO'Reilly has released "Web Operations" edited by John Allspaw and Jesse Robbins.
Contests and Awards Open Clip Art Library + Free Culture Research Conference Logo Design ContestThe Open Clip Art Library is holding a logo contest. "All artists in the Open Clip Art Library Community are encouraged to submit entries to be judged by an esteemed panel that includes Donna Benjamin and Giorgos Cheliotis. The logo selected to represent the Conference will earn the artist credit and promotion on the event's pages, as well as an invitation to attend the conference, itself. Any Community artist wishing to submit a logo for consideration should be sure to choose "fcrc logo" in the 'submit to contest' selection box, while filling out the standard clip art upload form." The submission deadline is July 9, 2010.
Education and Certification New C++ Course Available from the O'Reilly School of TechnologyThe O'Reilly School of Technology (OST) has announced a new course designed to help current or aspiring C++ coders learn new skills, build experience, and earn University Certification, all online. C++ 1: Introduction to C++ is a self-paced, instructor-coached course written by O'Reilly author Steve Oualline.
Meeting Minutes Python Software Foundation Officers for 2010The 2010-2011 Board of Directors for the PSF has appointed its officers. "Guido van Rossum returns as President of the PSF. As President, Guido serves as the principal representative of the Foundation."
Upcoming Events Events: July 1, 2010 to August 30, 2010The following event listing is taken from the LWN.net Calendar.
If your event does not appear here, please tell us about it.
Page editor: Rebecca Sobol |
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