Business News

Firefox Gets Googled

Fresh from its successful IPO, the newly-public Google Corporation has hired away star programmer Ben Goodger, lead engineer of the Mozilla Firefox project. Goodger announced that he will retain his position as Firefox lead engineer after the move to Google. His agreement with Google will apparently allow him to spend up to half of his time working on the Firefox project and other Mozilla matters. Blogs speculated on the meaning of the move. Google played down the significance of the change, stating that "Ben is a very talented engineer. His experience and skills match Google's interest in exploring interaction between browsers and Google services." Some analysts wonder if Google may be planning to develop its own browser. Why else, they say, would Google have recently acquired the domain name Gbrowser.com. http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/ http://www.google.com/intl/en/jobs/

PCs on the Cheap

Nicholas Negroponte, chairman of the MIT Media Lab, announced an effort to create a US$ 100 portable computer designed for users in developing countries. The PC will run Linux and will include a 14-inch screen with an AMD processor. AMD is apparently already working on a low-cost chip for developing economies that will be integrated into Negroponte's plan. A prototype of this low-cost computer is almost ready for testing. The first experimental units will appear by the end of this year, and the production model should be ready sometime in 2006. To keep the cost down, Negroponte plans to sell and manufacture the computers in large volumes. The minimum number of units for a single order will be 1 million. The low cost and large volume makes these computers ideal for classroom settings. Negroponte plans to develop educational software to go with the low-cost PCs. http://www.media.mit.edu/

Translators Wanted

The ambitious and media-savy Linspire Corporation (formerly Lindows) has launched an effort to enlist volunteers to help with translating Linux applications into 78 different languages. The International Resource Management Application (IRMA) project will use a web interface for translation activities. A lead translator for each language will review the work of volunteers assigned to the language team. According to Linspire CEO Michael Robertson, "Instead of using expensive translation firms, we're turning to Linux supporters to help make Linux available to new segments of the population. Soon, a Linux-based operating system will be available to any user, regardless of the user's native language." The group claims that it has already lined up more than 200 translators. Linspire says the translations will eventually be available to the community, and applications such as OpenOffice.org, Mozilla, and KDE will be able to integrate the new languages into their products. http://irma.linspire.com/

Free Legal Sevices

The Open Source Development Labs, an industry-backed organization devoted to developing and supporting Linux, has announced that it has raised US$ 4 million to start the Software Freedom Law Center, a group that will provide legal services for Open Source projects. According to OSDL chief executive Stuart Cohen, "OSDL is committed to supporting initiatives such as the Law Center to help protect the legitimate development and use of Linux and Open Source software." The Software Freedom Legal Center will start with 2 full-time intellectual property attorneys. If all goes well, they are expected to expand their staff to four attorneys later this year. Organizations such as the Samba Project and the Free Software Foundation have already signed on as clients. http://www.osdl.org/

OSI Changes

Eric Raymond, president and co-founder of the Open Source Initiative (OSI), has announced that he is resigning his position as president. Raymond issued a statement saying, "One of the important parts of any founder or leader's responsibility is to know when to step aside." Russ Nelson will take over as the new president. OSI provides an official certification system for open source licenses and acts as an advocate for open source issues. The group appears to be in the midst of a major restructuring. Their current emphasis is on developing a more international focus and building a registry of open source projects. OSI has also announced that it is also replacing high-profile open source lawyer Larry Rosen as general counsel. Mark Radcliffe will take over as general counsel, and Laura Majerus will assume the role of Legal Affairs director. http://www.opensource.org/

Open Source in Education

The International Open Source Network, which is part of the United Nations Development Program, has created a document designed to provide policy makers with information on open source software in education. The document advises government officials and school leaders on how and why their schools would benefit from adopting open source solutions. Schools are a major consumer of OS licenses, and the savings associated with adopting free and open source software is potentially huge. In countries such as the United States, local school districts are largely independent, and each district must make its own decisions on purchasing and implementation. The IOSN document will be a good source of information for school leaders, and it will also serve as an aid for advocates who are working for greater acceptance of open source. http://www.iosn.net/ http://www.iosn.net/education/foss-education-primer

More on Patents

The European Union has decided to restart its discussion of "computer-implemented inventions." This decision is a victory for opponents of software patents, who have spoken out against the proposed EU software patent directive. Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, IBM announced it will donate 500 software patents for use with open source development. This announcement eliminates the threat of legal action these patents may have posed to open source developers and products. In addition, Sun recently released over 1600 patents, some of which may affect Linux, to allow open source developers to work on the new Open Solaris. A recent report from the Public Patent Foundation asserted that Linux could infringe on 283 patents. The recent donations by IBM and Sun could help reduce that number, but the patent issue still looms large. At a recent summit of the Open Source Development Labs, Linux insiders weighed in on patents. "Are software patents useful? That's pretty clearly not the case," said Linus Torvalds. Apache co-founder Brian Behlendorf added, "If you could not patent algorithms or ideas, how much of the money spent on writing software would go away? How much innovation would disappear? Now much investment in that innovation would disappear? I don't think any of it would disappear. Between 150,000 and 300,000 software patents have been issued in the United States. A high percentage of patents are later declared invalid, but patent disputes can escalate to expensive legal battles, and the sheer cost can intimidate small groups from taking on large, well funded corporations. Microsoft has vowed to build and expand their own patent portfolio. Mitch Kapor, chairman of the Mozilla Foundation, compared the patent threat from Microsoft to a "weapon of mass destruction." "We have to be concerned about...the use of patent WMDs. If totally pushed to the wall - because their business model no longer holds up in an era in which open source is an economically superior way to produce software, and the customers understand it, and it's cheaper and more robust, and you've got the last monopolist standing - of course they're going to release the WMDs. How can they not?" http://www.osdl.org/ http://www.ibm.com/