Because people asked…
Q: will you be doing a Q&A on the Red Hat and Novell patents suits?
A: Are you crazy? :) I’ve worked for both companies and managed a team that may well have written or implemented the code at issue. I’m not touching that in public with a ten foot pole. :)
Q: but! but!
A: [...]
“Free software… refers to four kinds of freedom, for the users of the software…”
–Free Software Definition, emphasis mine
“closing the [ASP] loophole would infringe on certain peoples rights and he [Moglen] didn’t see any way to preserve everyone’s rights…”
– Eben Moglen, as paraphrased here
[The rest of this post is not based on any conversations with FSF/SFLC [...]
Thinking about the Open Service problem
As Havoc mentioned, I’m putting in some time on thinking about what an Open Service Definition (to parallel the Open Source and Free Software Definitions). I present here a rough draft of a framework for evaluating such a definition. It is not the definition itself, nor a license/technology/business model/etc. which [...]
Four quick notes on Havoc’s GUADEC keynote:
I did the right thing by not going to GUADEC, but man, I wish I were at GUADEC.
Havoc (and others saying the same thing) are completely right that we must move towards deep web integration. I have no strong opinion on whether online-desktop is the right technological approach for [...]
(Before going further, you should (at the minimum) read the disclaimer on Monday’s post and (ideally) make sure you’ve read all of the past two posts. (first, second.))
Q: Companies hate this! The sky is falling if the GPL is adopted!
A: Find your calm place. There is no doubt that the new license will create new [...]
(This is part two of a series. Before going further, you should (at the minimum) read the disclaimer on yesterday’s post and (ideally) make sure you’ve read all of yesterday’s post.)
Q: Has there ever been a sequel that wasn’t terrible?
A: Godfather II and Star Wars II. (I refuse to call it V.) I’m no Coppola, [...]
Q: So why are we here?
A: At the end of this week, after 16 years, the Free Software Foundation should bless version three of the GNU General Public License, the sequel to what is arguably the most widely used and most impactful copyright license ever.1 Quite literally everyone who makes software - open, proprietary, or [...]
It is good to see that the GNOME Foundation has officially announced that we’re retaining the Software Freedom Law Center to help us with the Foundation’s legal issues. I’ve been tangentially involved, since it is trivially easy for me to swing by the SFLC offices, and I’m excited that we’ve got more smart, clueful people [...]
Clare: I had a bottle of Barefoot Wine the night of the GNOME 2.0 release. Their foot isn’t quite right, but it was close enough for my purposes. :)
