Open Source Alliance Cyberjaya

There is no doubt that 3 February 1998 was a historic day. For it was then, at a meeting in Mountain View, that a small group led by Eric Raymond came up with the term “open source” as an alternative to the description “free software”. The question is, will history count 21 June 2007 as another such pivotal moment – the day that Open Source 2.0 was born?

The meeting in Mountain View was held because some believed it was time to move on from Richard Stallman’s crusade for freedom through free software, and to adopt a more pragmatic approach. Doing so, the argument went, would make free software/open source more attractive to business users who were more interested in efficiency than ideology.

For Stallman, of course, this re-branding exercise was little less than a betrayal of everything he had fought for. He had called his movement “free software” precisely so that freedom would be foregrounded; open source turned that idea on its head, making what had been the means – better software – into the end itself.

Whatever your position in that debate, there is no denying that free software/open source has now well and truly entered the mainstream. Alongside traditional success stories such as Apache and GNU/Linux, projects like Firefox and OpenOffice.org have shown that it is possible for free software to take on market leaders and steadily gain market share.

Read more: Linux Journal

The BBC’s decision to use Microsoft DRM for its new iPlayer “catch-up” service has come under fire from an open-source group that objects to the UK’s apparent endorsement of Windows. The UK’s Open Source Consortium has written a letter to regulators asking that open solutions be used instead.

The iPlayer in question is a BBC service that will allow viewers to watch any show that they have missed for up to a week after it airs on television. The service is poised to launch soon, but it has generated controversy over the BBC Trust’s (which controls the Beeb) decision to require DRM on the downloads. The idea is that the shows will expire after a few days so that content owners can continue to make money on secondary licensing rights, DVD compilations, etc. The Beeb is also not keen on shows being downloaded and e-mailed to friends and family outside the UK.

The BBC chose Microsoft DRM to protect the downloads, which means that Mac and Linux users are left out in the cold. This didn’t sit well with the Open Source Consortium, which has just written a letter to the BBC.

Read more: Ars Technica

In rejecting the possibility of a cross-licensing pact with Microsoft, Mandriva CEO Francois Bancilhon wrote that there has been “absolutely no hard evidence” that Linux and other open-source applications are in breach of any patents. “So we don’t believe it is necessary for us to get protection from Microsoft to do our job.”

Microsoft Relevant Products/Services’s collection of patent-protection deals with Linux providers lost another potential addition this week, when Mandriva announced that it will not sign such a pact.

The statement, by CEO Francois Bancilhon, has the international company joining with Linux providers Red Hat and Canonical, which have refused to sign cross-licensing deals with Microsoft.

Formerly called Mandrakesoft, Mandriva publishes the Mandriva GNU/Linux operating system for enterprise, government, and educational customers. The company has offices in the U.S., France, and Brazil. Its products are available through its online store as well as through dedicated channels in more than 140 countries.

Read more: NewsFactor