Announcements
Brief items
Draft MariaDB trademark policy
For the curious: the MariaDB project has posted a draft trademark policy. They try hard to cover all the bases. "Typical fair use of the trademarks is expected and no specific permission from us is needed. MariaDB is built by and for its community. We share access to the trademarks with the entire community for the purposes of discussion, development, and advocacy. Anyone should feel free to mention MariaDB or display our project's logos."
The Document Foundation joins Open Invention Network
The Document Foundation (home of LibreOffice) has announced that it has joined the Open Invention Network. "The Document Foundation is a major free software project, and LibreOffice a key office suite for creating, managing and sharing documents. By becoming a licensee of the Open Invention Network, we fight software patents - which stifle innovation and encourage predatory business practices - and at the same time we improve the protection of our software projects".
KDE Joins Open Invention Network as a Licensee
KDE has joined the Open Invention Network (OIN). ""We view an OIN license as one of the key methods through which open source innovators can deter patent aggression," said Adriaan de Groot, vice president of KDE. "We are committed to freedom of action in Linux, and in taking a license we help to address the threat from companies that support proprietary platforms to the exclusion of open source initiatives, and whose behaviors reflect a disdain for inventiveness and collaboration.""
Git Joins the Software Freedom Conservancy
The Software Freedom Conservancy has announced that the Git project has joined the Conservancy. "By joining the Conservancy, Git obtains the benefits of a formal non-profit organizational structure while keeping the project focused on software development and documentation."
Friendly conference update
The Geek Feminism Blog notes that the Linux Foundation has adopted an anti-harassment policy. "Those of us who have attended Linux Foundation events will probably agree that their policy simply puts into writing what they were already doing. Other organizations which already have strong agreement on both standards of behavior and internal decision-making may be interested in adopting Linux Foundation's simpler, streamlined policy."
EFF Announces Intellectual Property Legal Team
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has announced its new lineup focusing on intellectual property issues. Intellectual Property Director Corynne McSherry will be joined by Senior Staff Attorney Abigail Phillips and Staff Attorney Julie Samuels. EFF Senior Staff Attorney Kurt Opsahl will also continue his dual role on EFF's Civil Liberties and IP teams.FSFE welcomes revised European Interoperability Framework
The European Commission has published a revision of the European Interoperability Framework. "This document aims at promoting interoperability in the European public sector. The document is the result of a prolonged and hard-fought process. Free Software Foundation Europe accompanied this process and offered input to the European Commission at various stages."
FSFE: 172 public institutions removed non-free advertisement
Free Software Foundation Europe has an update on its PDFreaders campaign. "Only one month after the letters for the PDFreaders campaign of FSFE were sent, 172 public institutions have removed advertisements for proprietary PDF readers from their websites."
Canonical and the Ubuntu project release the Ubuntu Font Family for the web
Google and the Ubuntu project have released the Ubuntu Font Family to the world for use on the web through the Google Font Directory. "Through the magic of the Google Font API any web designer can now pick Ubuntu from the Google Font Directory and bring the beauty and legibility of the Ubuntu fonts to their web properties."
Articles of interest
Chitnis: Why I came back
Atul Chitnis has posted a long discussion on why he stepped up to organize FOSS.in 2010 after saying that he was done. The key information is at the end, though: "So yes, you read correctly: There won't be a FOSS.IN next year. FOSS.IN/2010 is the last one. This is Team FOSS.IN's swansong." Here's hoping it doesn't turn out that way in the end; it would be sad to lose this important event.
Google launches open source YouTube channel (The H)
The H covers the launch of an official YouTube channel for Google's Open Source Programs Office (OSPO). "According to Google Open Source Team member Ellen Ko, the new channel is aimed at organizing videos related to Google and other open source projects in a single place."
Mueller: 882 Novell patents go to Microsoft, Apple, EMC, and Oracle
On his blog, Florian Mueller is reporting that CPTN Holdings LLC, which acquired the Novell patents (or will when and if the sale closes), is owned by four industry heavyweights: "Twitter user @VM_gville just pointed me to the website of the German federal antitrust authority ("Bundeskartellamt"), which discloses a merger (or more precisely, joint venture) notification filed a week ago (on 09 December 2010), according to which the four companies behind CPTN Holdings LLC -- the acquirer of 882 Novell patents -- are Microsoft, Apple, EMC, and Oracle. The product market in which the newly formed company plans to operate is defined as "patents"."
Attachmate Acquisition: What does it mean for SUSE, openSUSE & open source?
Jos Poortvliet talks with Attachmate CEO Jeff Hawn. "What is Attachmate's history with open source projects? Attachmate does not have a corporate track record in the open source business. However, we recognize the importance of open source technology, particularly Linux, and the growing value it brings to enterprises globally. We also recognize and value the openSUSE project, the contribution that the community makes to the SUSE business and most importantly, the many ways in which the community benefits SUSE customers."
Novell Names its First Annual 'Dister' Award Winners (OStatic)
OStatic covers Novell's Dister award winners. "Novell has announced the winners of its first annual 'Dister' awards, which celebrate "innovators and inventors" who use SUSE Studio to build creative SUSE Linux-based software offerings. Novell is handing out two $10,000 grand prizes to two companies: Radical Breeze and Anderware. Here is what they built, and how open source-focused incentive programs like this can really succeed."
Resources
The CENATIC Foundation's OSS report
The CENATIC Foundation, a public foundation based in Spain, has announced the release of a report on "the international status of open source software 2010." The report is a 150-page PDF file looking at open source use across the planet. "The result of this analysis is the identification of the factors that account for the differences in maturity and penetration of open source software in the different geographical regions. Among these factors, we must highlight the key role of Public Administrations in promoting open source software, both by developing policies to promote and encourage its use and by becoming a key user of this software, as happens in those European countries most advanced in the use and development of free technologies. Other factors that explain the different maturity levels among countries are the level of education and the access their citizens have to the information society. In this regard, as a result of its high level of technical training, India shows a high level of open source software development, despite the limited access the general population has to the information society."
Calls for Presentations
OSCON 2011 Opens Call for Participation
The call for participation is open for the O'Reilly Open Source Convention (OSCON 2011). The conference takes place July 25-29, 2011 in Portland, OR. Proposals will be accepted through February 7, 2011.
Upcoming Events
Leigh Honeywell 1st SCALE 9X keynoter
The Southern California Linux Expo has announced that Leigh Honeywell has been chosen as the first keynote speaker for SCALE 9X. SCALE 9X takes place February 25-27, 2011 in Los Angeles, CA.O'Reilly MySQL Conference and Expo 2011
Registration is open for the 2011 O'Reilly MySQL Conference and Expo. The event takes place April 11-14, 2011 in Santa Clara, California.SCALE registration, hotel reservations now open
Registration for the Southern California Linux Expo (SCALE 9X) is now open. SCALE takes place February 25-27, 2011 in Los Angeles, California.SugarCRM Announces SugarCon 2011
SugarCRM has announced it will host SugarCon 2011, its global customer, partner and developer conference, April 4-6, 2011 in San Francisco, Calif.Events: December 30, 2010 to February 28, 2011
The following event listing is taken from the LWN.net Calendar.
| Date(s) | Event | Location |
|---|---|---|
| January 16 January 22 |
PyPy Leysin Winter Sprint | Leysin, Switzerland |
| January 22 | OrgCamp 2011 | Paris, France |
| January 24 January 29 |
linux.conf.au 2011 | Brisbane, Australia |
| January 27 January 28 |
Southwest Drupal Summit 2011 | Houston, Texas, USA |
| January 27 | Ubuntu Developer Day | Bangalore, India |
| January 29 January 31 |
FUDCon Tempe 2011 | Tempe, Arizona, USA |
| February 2 February 3 |
Cloud Expo Europe | London, UK |
| February 5 February 6 |
FOSDEM 2011 | Brussels, Belgium |
| February 5 | Open Source Conference Kagawa 2011 | Takamatsu, Japan |
| February 7 February 11 |
Global Ignite Week 2011 | several, worldwide |
| February 11 February 12 |
Red Hat Developer Conference 2011 | Brno, Czech Republic |
| February 15 | 2012 Embedded Linux Conference | Redwood Shores, CA, USA |
| February 25 | Build an Open Source Cloud | Los Angeles, CA, USA |
| February 25 February 27 |
Southern California Linux Expo | Los Angeles, CA, USA |
| February 25 | Ubucon | Los Angeles, CA, USA |
| February 26 | Open Source Software in Education | Los Angeles, CA, USA |
If your event does not appear here, please tell us about it.
Page editor: Rebecca Sobol