To be completely honest, I’m not quite sure what to make of Microsoft’s latest IP deal, this time with Amazon centering on the Kindle e-reader. While I’ve spent the last few years highlighting how Microsoft’s IP licensing strategy is more about IP licensing strategy and less about tearing down Linux and open source software, the [...]

Copyright, patents, licensing, community. The usual. Only more so.

Topics for this podcast: *Jacobsen v. Katzer and open source impact *Intel, Nokia team up for MeeGo open source OS *Open source continues in embedded space *MongoDB and the advent of the NoSQL databases *Copyrights, complexities, control and conflict iTunes or direct download (21:48, 6.07 MB)

Ubuntu gets GSA approval. Abiquo and OpenERP get funding. And more.

It’s not often I find myself disagreeing with something written by Joe ‘Zonker’ Brockmeier but there is a first time for everything and I found his OStatic post about Twitter’s list of the open source projects it uses and contributes to overly harsh on the microblogging service provider. I can’t disagree with Joe’s central point [...]

There seems to be no let up in the continued consolidation and traction for open source in the embedded space, with Intel-Wind River, Google’s Android, Cavium Networks-MontaVista and even some new open source efforts highlighting the vibrancy of not only Linux, but additional open source software efforts in embedded markets and devices. Following on the [...]

Moblin and Maemo merge as MeeGo. Talend passes 1,000 customers. And more.

Licensing, community, funding, revenue, business models, patents. And more.

There was some incredulity expressed yesterday when I suggested that SAP is a great case study on the way in which proprietary companies have engaged with open source. To be clear, I was not suggesting that SAP is, or should be considered, an open source company, but based on our understanding of SAP’s changing strategy [...]

We’ve covered the significance of open source software in cloud computing, both with the emergence of cloud models and more recently from the perspective of customers. In the first weeks of 2010, we see open source is maintaining, if not growing, its role in cloud computing. There are also indications open source and its use [...]

Along with “community” one of the most widely used and misused terms in the world of free and open source software is “commercial”. Depending on who you are talking to, and the context in which they are talking, it could be used to mean proprietary software, or companies that are for-profit, or VC-backed, or make [...]

Ken Jacobs departs Oracle. Linus loves his Nexus One. And more.

One of the issues I have with the Free Software approach is that advocates have habit of throwing the baby out with the bathwater when discussing issues that they see as in any way negative to free software. I was reminded of this while reading Bradley M. Kuhn’s criticism of Mark Shuttleworth’s reported views on [...]

Topics for this podcast: *Matt Asay moves from Alfresco to Canonical *GPL fade fuels heated discussion *Apple’s iPad and its enterprise and open source impact *Open source in data warehousing and storage *Our perspective on Oracle’s plans for Sun open source iTunes or direct download (32:50, 9.2 MB)

Matt Asay joins Canonical. Paula Hunter joins the CodePlex Foundation. And more.

Say what you will about Google, its open source software use, its perspective on openness or its lack of openness in some cases (and as evidenced by the links, I have), but the company deserves some credit for being — like it or not — the ‘open alternative.’ In addition to its contributions of code, [...]

Oracle’s plans for Sun’s OSS. The UK’s updated OSS strategy. And more.