ZDNet's Dana Blankenhorn reports today on a new open source navigation project launched by European GPS company TomTom that adds additional functionality to navigational devices, regardless of the make or model. The OpenLR project aims to put navigation data on top of a unit's existing database so drivers can access local traffic, weather, and other useful information as they travel.

Jim Zemlin at the Linux Foundation has a good reaction piece up today to the news of TomTom's settlement with Microsoft in their patent fight. We covered TomTom's countersuit against Microsoft, and the fundamental issues here. Dana Blankenhorn's take on the settlement was that "it seems pretty clear the company [TomTom] has surrendered," and Paula Rooney at ZDNet characterizing the settlement as David losing to Goliath. Zemlin sees the result of this dispute as evidence that Microsoft's new "openness" is not necessarily so open, but there is a silver lining.

In February, Microsoft filed suit against TomTom, claiming that the portable GPS manufacturer had violated eight of its patents. Three of the patents in question dealt in some manner with TomTom's implementation of the Linux kernel.

While Microsoft's Horacio Gutierrez stated the lawsuit is between TomTom and Microsoft, and not an attack on the Linux kernel as whole, many in the open source world are wary. The Linux Foundation's Executive Director, Jim Zemlin, has said that it would be prudent to keep an eye on the situation, but there was no reason to get overly excited, yet.

TomTom has made the next move, lending some credence to the Gutierrez's "it's just between the two of us" claims. On Monday, TomTom filed a countersuit in the US Court District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. TomTom alledges that Microsoft violated its intellectual property (though sources vary on the number of patents involved) in its Streets and Trips products.