free software foundation
Linux.com: The trouble with artwork and free software licenses
Submitted by CMS Report on September 26, 2007 - 4:46pmThe crux of the problem is that non-software artwork like the examples above occupies a strange niche inside free software applications and operating systems. They are not code, but they are tightly integrated into the system. Artists frequently create them as standalone works, but they are also -- by necessity -- bundled into software packages and distributions, many of which are under the FSF's General Public License (GPL)."
Complete StoryCNET: GPL getting tougher on patent deals
Submitted by Bryan on March 28, 2007 - 7:31pm"The basic idea of the GPL is unchanged: Anyone may use, modify and redistribute GPL software, but a party that redistributes GPL software must publish any changes that are made.
One change in GPL 3 governs patents. An earlier draft required an organization that distributed GPL software to grant rights to its patents related to the software. But the new draft is narrower, requiring only that it grant rights to patents relating to any contributions it makes to that software."
InformationWeek: The Controversy Over GPL 3
Submitted by Bryan on March 17, 2007 - 7:57am
"Unless there's a radical reworking of GPL version 3 (GPLv3, in the programmer lexicon), a significant portion of the open source community will reject it, chief among them Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux. "I will not sign on to GPLv3 if it limits how the code is used," Torvalds says in a lengthy E-mail exchange with InformationWeek.
If popular GPL projects diverge over time into incompatible products--those developed under GPLv3 and those under GPLv2--it will multiply the licensing and compatibility complications that already dog corporate open source adoption."
eWeek: FSF Targets Apple Stores in Anti-DRM Protests
Submitted by Bryan on October 3, 2006 - 5:57pm"Members of DefectiveByDesign.org, a campaign by the Free Software Foundation, are set to descend on flagship Apple stores in New York and London to protest the company's embrace of digital rights management technology."
