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On previous occasions it's been mentioned that it takes very specific behaviors for the Free Software Foundation to file suit against a company for violating the GNU GPL license.
Today, the FSF let Cisco Systems know in no uncertain terms that line had been crossed. The complaint centers on the Linksys brand routers, and the firmware used on those products.
Matt Asay at CNET directs readers to Glyn Moody's take on the Gartner Group's findings that 85% of enterprises are using open source software.
The Gartner numbers seem positive, and encouraging -- especially in light of the acknowledgement that the remaining 15% are planning to move toward more open source software in the near future. Then Gartner drops the bad news -- cases that Moody says don't end badly (they are usually remedied with a polite phone call) or even happen terribly frequently (12 or so cases a year) -- that 69% of companies have no formal method of evaluating and cataloging their open source applications, leaving them at risk of intellectual property liabilities.
The Software Freedom Law Center just announced its fourth victory over a software company that incorporated GPL-licensed software in its proprietary product. What happens when the SFLC sues a software company, and how can proprietary software vendors best work with the open-source world? The answer depends, as always, on the license.
Despite continued infighting between the Free Software and Open Source communities, the OSI has blessed the new AGPLv3 license.
Late last week the AGPLv3 license (Affero GNU Public License) formally completed the OSIﾒs (Open Source Initiative) license review process. The AGPL license differs from the ubiquitous GPL license in a number of important ways, the biggest of which closes the so-called ﾓASP loophole.ﾔ
All open-source licenses are not created equal. Understanding the different licenses is essential before you start to use, and modify, open-source code.
All open-source licenses have certain common elements: They promise that the source code may be used by anyone, for any purposes. They promise that the software may be changed by anyone, in any way that they like. And they promise that people who use the software never have to pay the authors or distributors.
Why are there so many licenses? And how do they differ?
