We’re continuing to see signs that the dominant GPL open source license may be fading from favor among commercial open source software players. The latest move away from the GPL comes from content management software vendor Alfresco, which is moving to the LGPL after originally releasing its code under the GPL three years ago. The [...]

Oracle closes Sun acquisition. The state of the union at Red Hat. And more.

WordPress Foundation formed. Reaction to Oracle-Sun approval. And more.

Topics for this podcast: *Open source in consumer devices *VMware-Zimbra deal highlights open source, cloud *A capitalist’s guide to open source licensing *Latest on Oracle-Sun-MySQL, M&A implications iTunes or direct download (24:48, 5.7 MB)

UPDATE: The webinar is now available here. We are pleased to present a new CAOS webinar next week on the cost and other benefits of open source software based on our research and analysis, including our survey of more than 1,700 open source software customers and end users. The report, Climate Change – User Perspectives [...]

EC approves Oracle-Sun. Google patents MapReduce. And more.

There has been a fair bit of hand-ringing recently about free and open source software’s impact on mobile phones and other consumer devices. Lysandra Ohrstrom of the SFLC last week celebrated the increased use of FOSS on devices available at the Consumer Electronics Show, but lamented the fact that often the user does not get [...]

I have to admit, I was somewhat skeptical of VMware’s interest and outlook with regard to open source software when the enterprise vendor acquired SpringSource in August 2009. Basically, I thought VMware was more focused on cloud strategy and SpringSource’s subscription business in application development and deployment than on its open source nature. However, after [...]

Monty turns his attention to the East. The value of JBoss to Red Hat. And more.

VMware confirms Zimbra buy. Facebook sponsors Apache Foundation. And more.

We’ve provided a few examples recently of vendors choosing permissive licenses for open source software projects with the express purpose of rapidly driving adoption of a particular technology (Day Software, JetBrains, SpringSource). The last of those was interesting as compared to SpringSource’s previous decision to use the GPL for the same project with the intention [...]

Regular visitors to the 451 CAOS Theory blog will be well aware of The 451 Group’s CAOS (Commercial Adoption of Open Source) research service and our CAOS long-form reports.

They are probably less aware of the open source coverage that The 451 Group provides on a day-to-day and week-to-week basis, however, and I thought it would be worthwhile to provide some examples of The 451 Group’s ongoing open source coverage by highlighting a few recent reports.

Eclipse adds OSGi server. VMware-Zimbra deal due today? And more.

When SpringSource introduced its dm Server product, then known as the Application Platform, I argued that it was fascinating (if you’re in to that sort of thing) to see that SpringSource had chosen the GPL for the OSGi application server. It is equally fascinating (if you’re in to that sort of thing) to see that [...]

A recent pitch from the folks opposing Oracle’s ownership of MySQL via acquisition of Sun Microsystems got me thinking. The plea, ‘Oracle can have Sun, but not MySQL’ may make sense to some, but to me it speaks to the irony of closing out Oracle or any company or anyone from open source. Upon further [...]

Topics for this podcast: *Google and the meaning of open *Nexus One smartphone and impact *JetBrains sets mind, strategy on open source *Linux in 2010 and beyond iTunes or direct download (27:26, 6.3 MB)

Google unveils the Nexus One. RMS explains his position on dual licensing. And more.

A couple of posts have been published recently worrying about the impact of more open source specialist vendors being acquired by proprietary vendors. This is an issue that crops up occasionally. Usually when a major acquisition has been announced, and the current questioning seems to be driven by the ongoing saga of Oracle-Sun-MySQL, as well [...]

Development tools vendor JetBrains caused something of a stir in October last year with the news that it was releasing an open source Community Edition of its popular IntelliJ Idea Java IDE using the Apache License. IntelliJ Idea 9 was duly released in both Ultimate Edition and Community Edition forms at the beginning of December, [...]

For something as open as Linux — the open source operating system developed by thousands of individuals and dozens of companies — you wouldn’t think it would be so hidden, but that’s exactly what Linux will be in 2010 and beyond. We’ve already discussed progress for non-desktop Linux and the layered pervasiveness of Linux. Now [...]