Linux-Watch: Samba gains legal access to Microsoft network file protocols

On Dec. 20, the Samba Group andthe Software Freedom Law Center announced a deal with Microsoft thatplaces all of Microsoft’s network protocols needed for programs to workwith Windows Server into the hands of the newly formed Protocol FreedomInformation Foundation.
It will make Microsoft’s servernetwork protocol documentation available to open-source developers suchas The Samba Group.This information is provided under an NDA (nondisclosure agreement) anddevelopers must agree to the NDA before gaining access to thedocumentation.  Which makes me scratch my head, why call it the Protocol Freedom Information Foundation.

Washington Post: Intel Drops out of One Laptop Per Child program

Intel said on Thursday it will drop out of the OneLaptop Per Child project and resign from the board after the project’sboard demanded the chipmaker stop supporting other efforts in emergingmarkets.

Spread OpenID.org

Spread OpenID is a platform helping to spread the idea of OpenID and make it more known among users. It’s mainly focused on end users who have read or heard about it but don’t know where to start. It is not a competing site to OpenID.net or any other site. Spread OpenID works alongside the OpenID community wherever possible. 

(via Glynn)

The Economist:  Technology in 2008, Three Fearless Predictions

Rejoice: the embrace of “openness” by firms that have grown fat on closed, proprietary technology is something we’ll see more of in 2008. Verizon is not the only one to cry uncle and reluctantly accept the inevitable. Even Apple, long a bastion of closed systems, is coming round to the open idea. Its heavily protected iPhone was hacked within days of being launched by owners determined to run third-party software like Skype on it.

LinuxWorld: Open source infiltrates government IT worldwide

A little progress report on the once highly touted Munich migration to desktop Linux. The migration has now reached the halfway stage, and is due to completein 2009. 5000 workstations are running Open Source on top of MicrosoftWindows, 660 have taken the next step to Linux, and almost a third ofall users are now trained to use Open Source.

Technorati Tags: adoption, Free Culture, Intel, Linux, OLPC, OpenID, Samba

When I write a blog post I often look for an illustration to make my point, I am not a photographer or artist so I have to look for images that are available for free. That often means going through Flickr doing a search for Creative Commons licensed photos. Today I took a look at the Wikimedia Commons. There are a ton of images and photos licensed under a number of permissive licenses. The photo below is one that the Wikimedia users have tagged as of particularly high quality and it’s available under the GNU Free Document License. There’s really no obligation for you to give credit (but I like to do so anyhow). There are also a number of videos, and sounds among other royalty free photos.

The picture below is excellent and is of the Tengger massif in Java, Indonesia, at sunrise, showing the volcanoes Mt. Bromo (large crater, smoking) and Mt. Semeru (background, smoking). The early morning fog surrounds the peaks, covering a plain of finest volcanic ashes.

Picture by Thomas Hirsch

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.

Technorati Tags: commons, creative commons, Free Culture, GNU Free Document License, wikimedia

This paper,”Infringement Nation: Copyright Reform and the Law/Norm Gap” by John Tehranian discusses the problem with copyright especially in light of the pervasive use of the Internet. The premise:

As the rapid pace of technological change continues to force a reconsideration of the vitality of our intellectual property regime, it is tempting indeed to cite the
“communications revolution” of our time—the Internet—as disrupting to the delicate balance struck by pre-digital copyright laws between the rights of owners and users of creative works.

Definitely worth read.

(via BoingBong)

Technorati Tags: , copyright, Free Culture, John Tehranian