MetaFilter posts tagged with gpl

The software patent cold war is getting less cold

finite — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 05:26:56 -0800

[Patent Lawsuit Filter] On Wednesday Sun Microsystems announced a counter suit against Network Appliance, wherein they will draw on their "defensive portfolio" which is "one of the largest patent arsenals on the internet". They are going to be requesting a permanent injunction to remove all of NetApp's filer products from the marketplace, and also seeking monetary damages (half of which they've pledged to donate to the Software Freedom Law Center and Peer to Patent Project). Last month, NetApp sued Sun for patent infringements in ZFS. Earlier this month in Texas, the first ever patent infringement lawsuit against Linux distributors was filed. The plaintiff in the case against Red Hat and Novell is IP Innovation and Technology Licensing, a company that successfully got some money from Apple with a similar claim earlier this year. They're owned by Acacia Technologies, a company with close ties to Microsoft, which has caused some to suggest that this suit might be more about spreading FUD than about securing licensees for patents. The Sun/NetApp case is less clear-cut. In September, the founder of Network Appliance (Dave Hitz) announced on his blog that they were suing Sun for patent infringement, explaining that "Sun has been using its patent portfolio as a profit center. About 18 months ago, Sun’s lawyers contacted NetApp with a list of patents they say we infringe, and requested that we pay them lots of money." Sun's CEO (Jonathan Schwartz) replied on his blog, thanking NetApp for suing them and saying that "Sun did not approach NetApps about licensing any of Sun's patents and never filed complaints against NetApps or demanded anything." Dave replies that he is stunned by Jonathan's response, in a post titled "Sun Patent Team Demanded $36 Million From NetApp". After this, their blogs went silent on the subject for a few weeks. Then, Jonathan announced the counter suit (the first link in the fpp), and Dave responded with two more blog entries. Groklaw has reason to believe Microsoft is also involved in this case.

Open-source hardware projects for the electronic artist

Blazecock Pileon — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 13:06:25 -0800

To work around the proprietary whims of digital audio software developers and laptop processor limitations during the mid- and late-1990s, a small band of technically-minded people, including the electronic musician Blitter, pulled together in the late 1990s to engineer the open-source OPEN DSP EZ-Kit platform, a 16-bit computer designed entirely with a focus on low cost and extensible control and DSP arithmetic capabilities. While this project and similar commercial offerings never seemed to gain the critical mass needed to sustain long-term interest, perhaps the new Arduino hardware project from MIT's Processing hardware group may gain a foothold with Processing and Pure Data audio software hobbyists and artists alike, allowing the creative community to extend, enhance and share inventive uses of new technology. Arduino's use has already begun in fascinating museum installations around the world, and has become a part of this year's SONAR and Ars Electronica festivals.

the case of the GPLed shareware

reklaw — Mon, 30 Aug 2004 14:43:14 -0800

An Open Letter to Zed. Someday people will realise that the GPL offers no protection from anything, and use a real free software license instead.

Uncool: Chill, Bill. Technorati: Awake!

troutfishing — Fri, 25 Jun 2004 07:36:10 -0800

Think tanks attack Open Source "The Alexis de Tocqueville Institute’s attack on Linux is just the latest in a series of attacks on Open Source by think tanks.....

I was able to detect a common theme to all their criticism. They all seem to be funded by Microsoft. "

SCO wants GPL declared unconstitutional.

silusGROK — Fri, 31 Oct 2003 09:48:23 -0800

SCO is at it again ... this time they've asked a federal judge to declare that Linux's general public license — a backbone of the free software movement — unconstitutional. Let's hope the judge has more sense than SCO.

www.myowndeanforamericawebsite.com

jpoulos — Tue, 30 Sep 2003 13:32:33 -0800

Build your own Howard Dean website! The Dean campaign has released web site "kits" under the GNU GPL and based on the Drupal codebase, which allow web-based communities to quickly and easily build their own sites to support Dean's campaign. Last night, he held a conference call with over 3,500 "house parties" and individuals to spread the word. If Dean gets the nomination, he'll have technology to thank for it. (yeah, via slashdot.)

SCO to IBM: Abandon that damned illegal GPL, you pirates!

JollyWanker — Sat, 16 Aug 2003 09:18:27 -0800

Take your hands off the GPL and back away from the keyboard... New twist in the SCO vs. IBM and the rest of the known computing universe: it appears SCO's primary argument in their case will in fact be that the GPL is invalid, trumped by US federal copyright law. (Quote redirect from via Inquirer from Wall Street Journal). And apparently, I'm not alone in beginning to think there's merit to the "Microsoft's behind all this!" conspiracy theories, since these "coincidences" are really starting to pile up...

BGM — Thu, 02 May 2002 11:43:30 -0800

Peru goes GNU. And I quote: "You may have heard about this if you watch the free software news, but I just want to repeat it for anyone who hasn't. The Peruvian government has introduced legislation requiring government offices to use free software; Microsoft is unhappy; and a member of the Peruvian Congress has written a response which I highly recommend reading, in which he explains in strong terms why it's out of the question for the government of a democratic nation to use proprietary software."

HeikoH — Sat, 20 Oct 2001 11:38:43 -0800

Let's stop wasting US$ 78 billion a year. Is software development really this inefficient? Aside from the main theme, there is also an interesting statement from a CIO towards the end of the article. "Those folks [involved in the open-source movement] are very knowledgeable, very good at what they do, and they're producing really great code," [...]

milnak — Mon, 17 Sep 2001 13:11:53 -0800

Is the GPL a binding legal contract? If so, who would be able to (and could afford to) bring necessary legal action against groups who choose to ignore the terms?

andrew cooke — Sat, 12 May 2001 14:16:59 -0800

Political software licences? The GPL prevents commercial use. Should it also try to enforce human rights?

greyscale — Tue, 28 Mar 2000 20:12:54 -0800

Cyber Patrol hacker sells out for one dollar < I made my political point and just don't want further annoyance... ...Mattel initiated legal action in e-mail subpoenas in mid-March and Skala and Jansson removed cphack from their sites, but not before urging computer activists to copy and distribute it.... ...Nevertheless, some mirror site operators think open source software protections make the issue moot. The court cannot impose an Internet ban because cphack was released under the GNU General Public License... > perhaps you've seen this--the final decision will be interesting with repect to free speech and the GNU GPL. something to watch anyhow.

mathowie — Thu, 23 Sep 1999 22:36:37 -0800

Dontcha hate it when something like Winamp gets bought out by AOL? It crashes a bit too much on my home system so I went looking for alternatives and was glad when I found FreeAMP (it's GPL'ed to boot!). Take the high road, use the mp3 player that guarantees no AOL buyouts on your desktop.