Announcements
Non-Commercial announcements
FSF settles with Cisco
The FSF has announced a settlement in its GPL-infringement lawsuit against Cisco. "Cisco has agreed to appoint a Free Software Director for Linksys, a subsidiary of Cisco, to supervise Linksys' compliance with the requirements of free software licenses such as the GPL (the GNU General Public License). The Free Software Director will report periodically to the FSF regarding Linksys' compliance efforts. Cisco has further agreed to take certain steps to notify previous recipients of Linksys products containing FSF programs of their rights under the GPL and other applicable licenses, to publish a licensing notice on the Linksys website, and to provide additional notices in a separate publication. In addition, Cisco will continue to make the complete and corresponding source code for versions of FSF programs used with current Linksys products freely available on its website. Cisco will also make a monetary contribution to the FSF."
Gnash Summer Project Seeks Donations
The Gnash free flash player development team has announced the "Gnash V9 Summer Bash". "The non-profit organization Open Media Now, which manages Gnash, is seeking donations in support of its summer v9 project. "We are halfway to our fundraising goal now and need to raise another $75,000 to make the project a success" says OM Now Executive Director Lauren Riggin. "This is a project that impacts how we, as a community, access and provide web content. So, naturally, we are hoping for a wide spectrum of support from individuals, organizations, and companies -- anyone wanting an alternative to proprietary flash. Five dollars or $50,000, it all says 'Go-for-it'! And that's what we love to hear."" Find out more about the Gnash V9 Summer Bash.
GNOME foundation needs your vote for Board elections 2009 (GnomeDesktop)
The GNOME foundation has announced the 2009 Board elections. "As you should know, the GNOME foundation is run by a board of 7 directors known as "The Board". After 18 months of active duty, it's now time to refresh either the blood or our confidence. Which means: GNOME Board Elections 2009. May 22th : deadline to apply as a candidate May 22th-25th : send your questions for the candidates June 3rd-17th : Voting period July 3rd : old and new board meet at GUADEC"
Zemlin: Strange Bedfellows: The Linux Foundation and Microsoft
Linux Foundation (LF) executive Jim Zemlin comments on the recent joint letter [PDF] from the LF and Microsoft. The letter is in response to a draft "Principles of the Law of Software Contracts" statement from the American Law Institute. "As Horacio E. Gutiérrez, Microsoft Corporate Vice President and Deputy General Counsel points out in his blog and the letter also states: 'Notwithstanding our varying approaches to the licensing and distribution of software, we share a common desire for a sound, effective commercial law framework for software contracts that reflects business and community realities. Such a framework will ultimately increase the variety and functionality of software available, benefitting both businesses and consumers.'"
Openmoko: more hardware info and gta02-core
OpenMoko has released more information about the design of its current "gta02" platform. The purpose of this release is to help support the gta02-core project, which is doing a community-based redesign of this hardware. "The gta02-core project is primarily a test-bed for the community development process. While it's hoped to take the process through working prototypes, the project is not intended to result in a mass-production phone. If the community succeeds in the gta02-core project, development of a GTA03 may follow similar lines with community involvement in specifying, designing and developing the hardware."
New Books
Beautiful Security - New from O'Reilly
O'Reilly has published the book Beautiful Security edited by Andy Oram and John Viega.XMPP: The Definitive Guide - New from O'Reilly
O'Reilly has published the book XMPP: The Definitive Guide by Peter Saint-Andre, Kevin Smith, and Remko Tronçon.
Contests and Awards
Inkscape 0.47 about screen contest announced
The Inkscape 0.47 about screen contest has been announced. "As usual, since we will be releasing a new version of Inkscape in the near future, we need to have a new about screen done. Do you think you're up to the challenge of making one? Here is a chance to have your art being the about screen of the next release! Read more details and the rules here. Deadline for submissions is May 25, 2009."
Calls for Presentations
SciPy 2009 Call for Papers
A call for papers has gone out for SciPy 2009. "SciPy 2009, the 8th Python in Science conference, will be held from August 18-23, 2009 at Caltech in Pasadena, CA, USA. Each year SciPy attracts leading figures in research and scientific software development with Python from a wide range of scientific and engineering disciplines. The focus of the conference is both on scientific libraries and tools developed with Python and on scientific or engineering achievements using Python." Abstracts are due by June 26.
Upcoming Events
BugCON '09 has swine influenza
BugCON 2009 has been postponed, the new time and location have not been chosen. "As maybe you know during two weeks Mexico suffered an epidemic, so the institute where BugCON going to be change the dates of all activities, including BugCON, this week we will have confirmed the new dates, probably BugCON will be on Agust. For these reason, BugCON mantein its CFP open from this moment to June 22th. You can read more about BugCON at www.bugcon.org".
Conference on Cyber Warfare: registration open
Registration is open for the Conference on Cyber Warfare. "Registration is now open for the CCD CoE Conference on Cyber Warfare, which will take place at the Estonian National Theater on June 17-19, 2009. Following a worldwide Call for Papers, there will be 29 presentations given by researchers from 13 countries."
Linux Installfest workshop in Davis, CA
The Linux Users' Group of Davis has announced its next Linux Installfest, the event takes place in Davis, CA on May 30.LPC 2009 Keynote and other speaker updates
Some keynotes for the 2009 Linux Plumbers Conference have been announced. "Keynotes: * Vivek Kundra, Federal CIO (live via video, with real time Q&A) (Invitee - To be confirmed) * Keith Packard, Intel, X Window guru Tutorials: * Linus Torvalds, Advanced git tutorial" The event takes place on September 23-25 in Portland, OR.
OpenMoko Freerunner phones discounted for DebConf attendees
DebConf attendees will be offered discounted OpenMoko Freerunner phones. "The folks at Tuxbrain have a surprise for DebConf attendees, with which they want to support the community and drive innovation and progress: For 249 incl. 16% VAT (deductable upon presentation of a valid EU VAT ID), you can pre-order: - a "buzz-free" Openmoko Neo Freerunner phone (A7) ("buzz-free" means it's free of the infamous "buzz" bug) - an extra battery - a headset - a debugging board (v3)"
Events: May 28, 2009 to July 27, 2009
The following event listing is taken from the LWN.net Calendar.
| Date(s) | Event | Location |
|---|---|---|
| May 25 May 29 |
Ubuntu Developers Summit - Karmic Koala | Barcelona, Spain |
| May 27 May 28 |
EUSecWest 2009 | London, UK |
| May 28 | Canberra LUG Monthly meeting - May 2009 | Canberra, Australia |
| May 29 May 31 |
Mozilla Maemo Mer Danish Weekend | Copenhagen, Denmark |
| May 31 June 3 |
Techno Security 2009 | Myrtle Beach, SC, USA |
| June 1 June 5 |
Python Bootcamp with Dave Beazley | Atlanta, GA, USA |
| June 2 June 4 |
SOA in Healthcare Conference | Chicago, IL, USA |
| June 3 June 5 |
LinuxDays 2009 | Geneva, Switzerland |
| June 3 June 4 |
Nordic Meet on Nagios 2009 | Stockholm, Sweden |
| June 6 | PgDay Junín 2009 | Buenos Aires, Argentina |
| June 8 June 12 |
Ruby on Rails Bootcamp with Charles B. Quinn | Atlanta, GA, USA |
| June 10 June 11 |
FreedomHEC Taipei | Taipei, Taiwan |
| June 11 June 12 |
ShakaCon Security Conference | Honolulu, HI, USA |
| June 12 June 13 |
III Conferenza Italiana sul Software Libero | Bologna, Italy |
| June 12 June 14 |
Writing Open Source: The Conference | Owen Sound, Canada |
| June 13 | SouthEast LinuxFest | Clemson, SC, USA |
| June 14 June 19 |
2009 USENIX Annual Technical Conference | San Diego, USA |
| June 17 June 19 |
Open Source Bridge | Portland, OR, USA |
| June 17 June 19 |
Conference on Cyber Warfare | Tallinn, Estonia |
| June 20 June 26 |
Beginning iPhone for Commuters | New York, USA |
| June 22 June 24 |
Velocity 2009 | San Jose, CA, USA |
| June 22 June 24 |
YAPC|10 | Pittsburgh, PA, USA |
| June 24 June 27 |
LinuxTag 2009 | Berlin, Germany |
| June 24 June 27 |
10th International Free Software Forum | Porto Alegre, Brazil |
| June 26 June 28 |
Fedora Users and Developers Conference - Berlin | Berlin, Germany |
| June 26 June 30 |
Hacker Space Festival 2009 | Seine, France |
| June 28 July 4 |
EuroPython 2009 | Birmingham, UK |
| June 29 June 30 |
Open Source China World 2009 | Beijing, China |
| July 1 July 3 |
OSPERT 2009 | Dublin, Ireland |
| July 1 July 3 |
ICOODB 2009 | Zurich, Switzerland |
| July 2 July 5 |
ToorCamp 2009 | Moses Lake, WA, USA |
| July 3 July 11 |
Gran Canaria Desktop Summit (GUADEC/Akademy) | Gran Canaria, Spain |
| July 3 | PHP'n Rio 09 | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
| July 4 | Open Tech 2009 | London, UK |
| July 6 July 10 |
Python African Tour : Sénégal | Dakar, Sénégal |
| July 7 July 11 |
Libre Software Meeting | Nantes, France |
| July 13 July 17 |
(Montreal) Linux Symposium | Montreal, Canada |
| July 15 July 17 |
Kernel Conference Australia 2009 | Brisbane, Queensland, Australia |
| July 15 July 16 |
NIT Agartala FOSS and GNU/Linux fest | Agartala, India |
| July 18 July 19 |
Community Leadership Summit | San Jose, CA, USA |
| July 19 July 20 |
Open Video Conference | New York City, USA |
| July 19 | pgDay San Jose | San Jose, CA, USA |
| July 20 July 24 |
2009 O'Reilly Open Source Convention | San Jose, CA, USA |
| July 24 July 30 |
DebConf 2009 | Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain |
| July 25 July 30 |
Black Hat Briefings and Training | Las Vegas, NV, USA |
| July 25 July 26 |
EuroSciPy 2009 | Leipzig, Germany |
| July 25 July 26 |
PyOhio 2009 | Columbus, OH, USA |
| July 26 July 27 |
InsideMobile | San Jose, CA, USA |
If your event does not appear here, please tell us about it.
Mailing Lists
Python Concurrency email list announced
A new Python Concurrency email list has been announced. "python-concurrency@googlegroups.com is a new email list for discussion of concurrency issues in python. It arose out of Dave Beazley's class on the subject last week: http://www.dabeaz.com/chicago/concurrent.html". Also, a new Python Concurrency wiki site has been launched.
Web sites
ESP launches en.swpat.org
ESP has announced the launch of en.swpat.org. "End Software Patents today launched en.swpat.org, a wiki to document the case against software patents. Over 100 articles have already been started to give an idea of the scope and structure of the wiki."
Miscellaneous
O'Reilly Webcast: What to Expect in Rails 3.0
O'Reilly has announced a May 22 webcast by Yehuda Katz on Rails 3.0. "Considered by many developers to be one of the fastest frameworks for building applications, Rails has come a long way since 2005. Slated for release later this year, Rails 3 will feature some innovative new features that will make the developer experience even better. Rails 3 will also be the first release that rolls in the popular Merb project. In this live, online event, Yehuda Katz, Core Team Member on the Rails and Merb projects, will cover some of most important new features in Rails 3.0 and answer questions from the audience."
Page editor: Forrest Cook