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Softpanorama |
May the source be with you, but remember the KISS principle ;-)
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The Seventh Circuit affirmed the ruling of The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana and dismissed the case, finding the plaintiff had suffered no antitrust injury."Although antitrust law serves the interests of consumers rather than producers, the Supreme Court has permitted producers to initiate predatory-pricing litigation," Judge Easterbrook wrote in the November 9 decision. "This does not assist Wallace, however, because his legal theory is faulty substantively."
Perhaps most significantly, Wallace had not contended that software available under the GPL would lead to monopoly prices in the future. The court observed the anomalous thinking behind any conclusion that it would, "when the GPL keeps price low forever and precludes the reduction of output that is essential to monopoly."
The court cited the market domination of proprietary operating systems like Windows, OS X and Solaris despite the fact that Linux is available for free for 15 years. Similarly Photoshop is preferred in the market to Gimp, and Lexis and Westlaw are preferred to free legal sources such as court websites.
The court ruled that Sherman Act didn't advance the plaintiff's case either. Instead of being a restraint on trade, the court held that the GPL serves to foster creativity, by enabling the free distribution and building of new derivative works.
See [a copy of the opinion. No. 06-2454 (7th Cir., November 9, 2006).]
Slashdot Re:An old slogan comes to mind
(Score:5, Informative)by Halo1 (136547) <jonas@maebe.elis@ugent@be> on Monday October 23, @06:31PM (#16553120)
(http://www.ffii.org/)I wouldn't be surprised if the ONLY reason they used this against Amazon, is because Amazon does the same thing to others.Then be very surprised. IBM has a long history of strong-arming other companies with its patent portfolio [forbes.com] and extracting license money from them [ffii.org]. In fact, Marshall Phelps (who now works for Microsoft [microsoft.com] fwiw), turned IBM's sleeping patent portfolio into a $1+ billion profit [forbes.com].
Re:An old slogan comes to mind (Score:5, Interesting)
by Gulik (179693) on Monday October 23, @03:50PM (#16550734)
"Live by the sword, die by the sword."
Of course, with IBM's patent portfolio, they can match you sword-for-sword and still have fifteen thousand left to swing at you after you've run out.
Which won't protect them from any of those patent litigation firms, but then there's still the sheer megatonnage of IBM's legal department to contend with.
I knew it (Score:0)by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 23, @04:12PM (#16551042)A couple years ago in a thread surrounding the SCO vc IBM case, I made a reply to the background chorus of/.'s that were singing IBM's praises: i.e. how lucky FOSS was to have IBM's support. I was jumped when I suggested to hold back a little- I worked for IBM for a number of years, and stated that if mgmt thought it was in their interests, they would skin us all alive & sell the result in China as customized wetsuits.
Man, I am absolutely telling you all again that IBM's "partnership" with FOSS is one of convenience only- if and when the time comes, IBM will without a doubt or a regret bend each and every one of us associated with FOSS over a chair... smiling the whole time & telling us "we were asking for it".
is a counter-argument to the position of the Maintainers (and others). It makes cogent points, which is why I think the FOSS movement must split. There has never been a good fit between the FSFers, who believe that software really should be free, and the corporate types, who want to commodify operating systems as a way of providing a platform on which to hang money-making aps and services. And these are conflicts of moral principle on the FSF side versus huge financial stakes on the corporatist side. The latter cannot give way -- it would cost too much and render the whole enterprise pointless. And the FSFers can't give way because it would make the enterprise pointless from their perspective.
Personally, I am happy to see it, of course, because the conflict highlights the unworkability of the Free Culture Movement's models of peer-based production without regard for payment. Since the FCM regards open source software as a pilot program for all other creative products, ranging from music to movies, the quicker its weaknesses as a mode of production are rendered obvious, the sooner the debate can shift to real issues of how to define and protect IP rights in a time of great technological change. Where should they shrink, and where should they expand?
posted by James DeLong @ 9:06 AM | Software
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CommentsThe goose has laid enough golden eggs, time to kill it and cook it for dinner?Posted by: John Smith at September 30, 2006 04:13 PM
So let's say you just released some commercial software. Would you ever allow for a compromise in the associated license? Would you ever allow somebody to "mostly" comply to your terms?If you don't like our terms of use, don't use our software. We're not trying to "fit" with anyone. We're writing software for our own needs. This is what drives us to write code and, in turn, what drives the Free software movement. The GPL works to help ensure the code we write remains Free - not just "mostly" free.
Free software may be "unworkable" for you. That's fine. By the same token, many commercial solutions on the market are worthless to us, either due to the financial cost or the closed nature of development. For example, if I need a feature tweaked somewhat, I'm at your mercy. This is unacceptable for a lot of people.
Rather than just assuming that your position is correct, perhaps you should take a look around. Do you realize just how huge the Free software movement has become? Can you comprehend the fact that there might be a reason for it?
Posted by: Tom at October 17, 2006 01:42 AM
Have a look at www.Joomla.org or many similar free software projects that continue to grow exponentially. Why? Because thousands of people like me (independent consultants and small companies) charge good money to customize and maintain installations for our clients, and we also contribute contribute back to Joomla and others, knowing it will grow our core profitable platform. It's a new ecosystem, and it's entirely economically sustainable.Posted by: Dan at October 17, 2006 03:45 AM
September 29, 2006 (Red Herring) Exclusive Q&A: Linux kernel creator speaks out about the current controversy over an update to the key open-source license.
A new version of a license for open-source Linux has caused a storm among the community of open-source developers. Known as GNU General Public License, or simply GPL, it is the most widely used license for distributing free software.
The current version of the license, GNU GPLv2, was released in 1991. The first version of the license was written by open-source proponent Richard Stallman, who founded the Free Software Foundation that administers the license. The GPL license also covers the Linux kernel whose creation was led by Linus Torvalds.
Now 10 kernel developers have rallied against the Free Software Foundation’s efforts to update the license. They have signed a “position paper” against the new version known as GPLv3.
The kernel developers contend that the Free Software Foundation’s plan to promote GPLv3 has “the potential to inflict massive collateral damage upon our entire ecosystem and jeopardize the very utility and survival of open source.”
Though Mr. Torvalds supports them, his name has been absent from that position paper.
Now, in an email interview with Red Herring, he puts his thoughts on the record. Mr. Torvalds says this is not as much a “debate” between the kernel developers and the Free Software Foundation “as it is a declaration of different positions.”
Q: Ten key kernel developers have signed a "position paper" on the new draft of the GNU GPL license. Why did you not join them in signing the paper?
A: I wrote a separate email to the kernel mailing list about that. It’s easiest to just point you at it: http://lkml.org/lkml/2006/9/24/246. It wasn’t the only reason. The actual letter was mostly penned by James Bottomley, and I just don’t much like the “open letter” kind of things, so if I didn’t write it or add to it, I generally try to keep my name off it.
Finally, I actually wanted to make clear that I wasn’t the only one who felt that way, so I didn’t feel like my name needed to be on everything.
Q: Do you even believe there is a need to update the GPL license and have a version 3 put out? Do you think that GPLv2 is not serving the purpose adequately?
A: I think the GPLv2 is stronger today than it was 15 years ago. It’s been upheld in court both in the U.S. and abroad, and obviously it’s gathered a much larger community around it. So no, I don’t see the need.
Q: What is your position on the draft version of the GNU General Public License Version 3?
A: One of my major gripes with it is that it extends the GPLv2 so much that it’s not at all the same license. If it had been developed as a totally new license, that would be fine, but since the FSF [Free Software Foundation] has been asking people to release their code compatible with “any future versions,” I think it’s a bit inappropriate to add totally new issues to the license.
FSF promised that any such future versions would be “similar in spirit,” but it’s apparently their stance on the spirit that matters, not the stance of the people who they tried to actually reassure with the language—which makes the whole thing rather pointless.
Q: If the GNU GPLv3 proceeds in its current form, what do you fear?
A: Well, “fear” may be too strong a word. What I think the GPLv2 has been good at is that it was so widely acceptable that it acted as a common thing for people to get together around. The GPLv3 imposes a number of new rules that aren’t really acceptable to many people, and as such it just means that rather than have one common license, we’ll have two.
Now, multiple licenses isn’t really necessarily a huge deal in practice, since even before, we’ve had lots of different non-GPL open-source licenses that have had reasonably wide use. But I happen to think it’s a loss, and also confusing to have different versions of the “same” license basically say different things.
Q: The Free Software Foundation has issued a clarification on its web site that developers will have the right to use GPLv2 even after GPLv3 is published. In light of that, do you think that the GPLv3 in its current form is not as dangerous?
A: That’s just silly. Of course people have the “right” to continue to use the GPLv2. That’s like clarifying that the Earth will still retain its gravity and we won’t all fly out into space when the GPLv3 is released. That was never a worry. The FSF can release new versions of the GPL, but they can’t force people to use them.
Q: How do you think that the current impasse around GPLv3 can be solved? What are your recommendations to move ahead?
A: Personally, I think the FSF should either just really try to keep to the same rules as the GPLv2, or just rename the new license, so that there is no confusion. People are used to just saying “GPL,” without the ambiguity of which GPL we’re talking abut.
Q: Who do you think needs to negotiate with the Free Software Foundation to make the changes happen?
A: They’ve been at it for a year and a half now. I’m not sure this is about negotiation anymore. They certainly knew that they were the radical fringes of the bigger community, and they certainly knew my standpoint on the things they added to the GPL. I think the thing they didn’t expect was just that while I’m a moderate, I’m passionate about being moderate.
I asked Torvalds, via email, if he was likely to take Moglen up on his offer to participate in the process. Torvalds' reply, which was cc:ed to Moglen, was less than enthusiastic:I wonder why everybody but the FSF seems to know my email address, but the FSF can't find it.
If it has an anti-Tivo clause, I think it's bad. I've tried to explain it to some people (the freedom of the _project_ is much too important to let any license clause limit how you can use it), but when other people did that, the FSF just explained how they had mis-used the word "use".
But I'm so fed up with the FSF right now that I'm not in the least interested. There's no way in _hell_ they can claim that they don't know my standpoint, so what are they even asking for?
The FSF's response to the kernel developers on Monday took issue with the characterization of the anti-DRM clause as an "end use restriction," but didn't address the developers' other arguments about the anti-DRM clauses in the GPLv3 draft.
In fact, the FSF's response largely failed to address any of the concerns put forward by kernel developers and instead focused on correcting a few minor factual errors in the position paper. The FSF has declined several requests for interviews to answer questions about the developers' position paper. Moglen, through the SFLC, has also declined to answer any questions.
Stopping TiVo is worse than TiVo itself
Torvalds says that he has cc:ed Moglen in the past regarding his position on the GPLv3 drafts, and that his position on the license should be clear already. Torvalds also writes that removing the anti-DRM clause would go a long way toward addressing his concerns:
Eben, I think the whole anti-Tivo crusade is _wrong_. If you can get rid of the language that says that you cannot use a project any way you want to (and I don't care if it legally is about "distribution" or "use", I just want it to be _practically_ about the usage standpoint), just about all my very fundamental concerns go away.
Other people might worry about the patent language, but at least I _personally_ really only dislike the whole term "Tivoization", and all the new language to try to "stop" it. I think stopping Tivo is a much bigger problem than Tivo itself ever was.
But that [removing the anti-DRM language] would require a public statement that things like Tivo trying to control _which_ particular version of a program they run on hardware _they_ control is actually ok, and that you can actually use a GPLv3'd project in all the same situations you could use a GPLv2 one.
(It's not just Tivo, either. Medical supplies, cellphones with restricted updaters, you name it. Cryptography is a fundamental technology, and should not be disallowed).
It's their hardware. I do _not_ want to ask for control of the "environment" back in a license. I want the improvement to the _software_, not the keys to the kingdom. The "environment" a program runs in (or the medium it is distributed on) doesn't have to be open. Just the program itself.
As it is, the GPLv3 limits a program that uses it very fundamentally more than Tivo _ever_ limited Linux. Tivo never limited the way Linux could be used by others. The GPLv3 tries to limit how a project can be used. The GPLv3 is the one that really limits your freedoms, not the other way around.
Since Torvalds seems to object primarily to the anti-DRM provisions, I asked if he'd consider moving to the GPLv3 if the FSF removed those provisions from the final license. Even if that happened, Torvalds says that he's not "not going to single-handedly try to relicense" the kernel out of respect for past authors of kernel code.
"Any concern by an author of the _current_ work against the switch does weigh very much more than any voice for the switch talking about potential future work.... However, without the anti-Tivoization clauses, I won't fight it rabidly."
- Re:The GPL3 process is not closed(Score:5, Insightful)
by mrchaotica (681592) * <<mrchaotica> <at> <yahoo.com>> on Tuesday September 26, @12:14PM (#16200627)
More and more people will start exploiting the loopholes in GPL v.2 (e.g. apps as web servies, so they're not technically "distributed" to the users, TiVo-esque locking of hardware to use only the company's version of the program, etc.).
- Re:The GPL3 process is not closed(Score:4, Interesting) by CaymanIslandCarpedie (868408) on Tuesday September 26, @12:17PM (#16200687)
But for many people (Linus included) those "loopholes" are features not bugs. Those holding views can argue those features are what caused GPL 2 to be so widely adopted and that the "fixes" in v3 will cause v3 to "crumble" (ie nobody using it).
- Is this the enlightened attitude of the FSF?(Score:1)
by partisanX (1001690) on Tuesday September 26, @01:27PM (#16201651)
(http://partisanx.blogspot.com/)If you don't like it, shut up and leave!!!
Yeah, great attitude. Great example for the kids. Very democratic and all that.
eWEEK: “The DRM provisions are designed to go after companies like TiVo, which uses Linux but collects information on consumers’ actions. While TiVo complies with GPL 2.0, it may have more difficulty complying with GPLv3’s anti-DRM provisions.”Not true. As far as I know (I’m not an insider), TiVo is not a derivative work of Linux in the legal sense—it’s simply a Linux application that happens to ship with a Linux distribution bundled as a complete package.
Given that it’s not a derivative work, the anti-DRM provisions (or anything else for that matter) in GPLv3 can’t affect TiVo at all, nor can they affect similar products that simply bundle a Linux application with Linux itself (i.e., pretty much any Linux-based server appliance, etc.).
Now, my first assumption was that this was yet another case of misunderstanding the GPL and/or how Linux-based products such as TiVo work. However, Eben Moglen himself appears to sow the seeds of confusion this time:
Asked if TiVo could avoid using GPL 3.0 when that license is released next year, Moglen said, “Once a GPL’d work has been relicensed under GPLv3, although a party having a copy under GPLv2 could continue to distribute it under that license, any further maintenance from upstream would force the license upgrade.” TiVo could avoid using GPL 3.0 even if, say, the Linux kernel were to change licenses, but only by freezing itself at the last version of the kernel that was licensed under GPL 2. “That will prove to be impracticable in almost every real commercial setting,” Moglen said.
I assume Eben isn’t misunderstanding the GPL, so perhaps he’s misunderstanding how TiVo works. Or, perhaps he made some comments that were taken out of context (the above isn’t an exact quote, after all, and goodness knows, I’ve been misquoted enough times I take such attributed statements with a grain of salt). I do hope, though, it’s not the FSF overplaying its hand on what constitutes a derivative work.
- Sauer says:
January 27th, 2006 at 8:42amLinux will not be placed under the terms of GPL v3. Linux himself said so: Lihttp://lkml.org/lkml/2006/1/25/273
- Dylan Thurston says:
January 27th, 2006 at 11:38amYou’re misunderstanding something. The TiVo application itself need not be released, but if they use any packages licensed under GPLv3 (say, shellutils, since it seems the kernel itself is unlikely to be relicensed), then according to the proposed terms they won’t be able to “deny users that run covered works the full exercise of the legal rights granted by this License”, namely the right to modify the shellutils on the device.
- Joe Buck says:
January 27th, 2006 at 1:08pmHere’s my understanding: let’s assume that some component that Tivo needs to run is licensed under GPLv3. Tivo makes a modified version of it. They digitally sign the executable, and the Tivo box checks that signature before agreeing to run the application.
Under GPLv2, they can release the source, and people can read the source, but they can’t use that source to build code that will run in a Tivo, because they don’t have the appropriate key to sign the executable with.
Under GPLv3, they can no longer use this approach. Since the executable won’t run without a signature, they have to either provide all recipients of the binary with the means to produce their own modified, signed, runnable executables, or they can’t distribute.
However, it appears Linus objects to this model, so the kernel will continue to use GPLv2. If he does, then RMS’s plan to take free software away from the DRM people will fail, as there is too much free software they can still use.
Tivoization is the creation of a system that incorporates software under the terms of a copyleft software license, but uses hardware to prevent users from running modified versions of the software on that hardware. Richard Stallman, creator of the copyleft GNU General Public License (GPL), coined the term and believes this practice denies users some of the freedom that the GPL was designed to protect.[1]The term came about because of how TiVo uses GPL software on TiVo brand digital video recorders (DVR). TiVo's software incorporates the Linux kernel and parts of GNU, both of which are licensed under the GPL Version 2 (GPL v.2). The GPL v.2 requires TiVo to release the associated source code for others to use and modify. One of the goals of this GPL requirement is to allow others to modify the software to better suit their purposes.[2]
However, Stallman believes TiVo circumvented this goal by making their products run programs only if the program's digital signature matches those authorised by the manufacturer of the TiVo. So while TiVo has complied with the GPL v.2 requirement to release the source code for others to modify, any modified software will not run on TiVo's hardware. Many of the authors of the code that TiVo used complain that their work has thus been misappropriated[citation needed]. As a result, one of the goals of the proposed GPL Version 3 is to prevent "Tivoization"; according to Eben Moglen, "the licence should prohibit technical means of evasion of its rules, with the same clarity that it prohibits legal evasion of its rules." [3]On the other hand, Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux, has argued that it is appropriate for TiVo to use digital signatures to limit what software may run on their systems. In explaining his opposition to the GPLv3's attempts to protect freedom from tivoisation, he has stated that he believes the use of private digital signatures on software are a beneficial security tool. However, no draft of GPLv3 prohibits using private digital signatures as a security tool[citation needed]. Torvalds also believes that software licenses should only attempt to control software, not the hardware on which it runs. So long as one has access to the software, and can modify it to run on some other hardware, Torvalds believes there is nothing unethical about using digital signatures to prevent running modified copies of Linux.[4]
There is also the interpretation that the "complete source code" in the GPL v.2 already implies that TiVo has to offer the private keys required for enabling modified software to run on their hardware. Gpl-violations.org has already successfully enforced this interpretation in Germany against Siemens and TomTom.
From: Linus Torvalds
Date: Sun Sep 24 2006 - 22:45:59 EST
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One of the reasons I didn't end up signing the GPLv3 position statement
that James posted (and others had signed up for), was that a few weeks ago
I had signed up for writing another kind of statement entirely: not so
much about why I dislike the GPLv3, but why I think the GPLv2 is so great.
(There were other reasons too, but never mind that.)
I didn't get my fat arse off the ground on that, partly exactly because
the developer poll of "which is better" which was related to that issue
distracted me, but mostly because I just seldom write that kind of text -
one thing the kernel work has conditioned me for is that I write _replies_
to email, I seldom start threads myself (I suspect most of my emails on
linux-kernel that aren't replies are just release announcements).
However, since there was a sub-thread on groklaw about the kernel
developers opinions on the GPLv3, and since I did try to explain it there
(as a reply to postings by PJ and others), and since some of those
explanations ended up being exactly the "why the GPLv2 is so insanely
great" that I never wrote otherwise, I thought I'd just repost that
explanation as an alternative view.
So this post is kind of another way to look at the whole GPLv3 issues: not
caring so much about why the GPLv3 is worse, but a much more positive "Why
the GPLv2 is _better_". I suspect some people may have an easier time
seeing and reading that argument, since it's not as contentious.
A lot of people seem to think that the GPLv2 is showing its age, but I
would argue otherwise. Yes, the GPLv2 is "old" for being a copyright
license, but it's not even that you don't want to mess with something that
works - it's that it very fundamentally is such a good license that
there's not a whole lot of room for fixing aside from pure wording issues.
So without further ado, here's my personal "reply" to the the GPLv3
position statement. It's obviously not meant to repudiate James' text in
any way, it's just an alternate view on the same questions..
I made other posts in the same thread on Groklaw thread, not as positive,
and not perhaps as worthy and quotable. This one may be a bit out of
context, but I do think it stands on its own, and you can see the full
thread in the "GPL Upheld in Germany Against D-Link" discussions on
Groklaw. The particular sub-thread was on what happens since we can't
easily change update the license, called "So What is the Future Then?"
(I'd like to point to the groklaw posts, but there doesn't seem to be any
way to point to a particular comment without getting "The URL from Hell",
so it's easier to just duplicate it here).
Linus
---
And thus spake PJ in response:
"GPLv2 is not compatible with the Apache license. It doesn't cover
Bitstream. It is ambiguous about web downloads. It allows Tivo to
forbid modification. It has no patent protection clause. It isn't
internationally useful everywhere, due to not matching the terms of
art used elsewhere. It has no DMCA workaround or solution. It is
silent about DRM."
Exactly!
That's why the GPLv2 is so great. Exactly because it doesn't bother or
talk about anything else than the very generic issue of "tit-for-tat".
You see it as a failure. I see it as a huge advantage. The GPLv2 covers
the only thing that really matters, and the only thing that everybody can
agree on ("tit-for-tat" is really something everybody understands, and
sees the same way - it's totally independent of any moral judgement and
any philosophical, cultural or economic background).
The thing is, exactly because the GPLv2 is not talking about the details,
but instead talks entirely about just a very simple issue, people can get
together around it. You don't have to believe in the FSF or the tooth
fairy to see the point of the GPLv2. It doesn't matter if you're black or
white, commercial or non-commercial, man or woman, an individual or a
corporation - you understand tit-or-tat.
And that's also why legal details don't matter. Changes in law won't
change the notion of "same for same". A change of language doesn't change
"Quid pro quo". We can still say "quid pro quo" two thousand years later,
in a language that has been dead for centuries, and the saying is still
known by any half-educated person in the world.
And that's exactly because the concept is so universal, and so
fundamental, and so basic.
And that is why the GPLv2 is a great license.
I can't stress that enough. Sure, other licenses can say the same thing,
but what the GPLv2 did was to be the first open-source license that made
that "tit-for-tat" a legal license that was widely deployed. That's
something that the FSF and rms should be proud of, rather than trying to
ruin by adding all these totally unnecessary things that are ephemeral,
and depend on some random worry of the day.
That's also why I ended up changing the kernel license to the GPLv2. The
original Linux source license said basically: "Give all source back, and
never charge any money". It took me a few months, but I realized that the
"never charge any money" part was just asinine. It wasn't the point.
The point was always "give back in kind".
Btw, on a personal note, I can even tell you where that "never charge any
money" requirement came from. It came from my own frustrations with Minix
as a poor student, where the cost of getting the system ($169 USD back
then) was just absolutely prohibitive. I really disliked having to spend
a huge amount of money (to me) for something that I just needed to make my
machine useful.
In other words, my original license very much had a "fear and loathing"
component to it. It was exactly that "never charge any money" part. But I
realized that in the end, it was never really about the money, and that
what I really looked for in a license was the "fairness" thing.
And that's what the GPLv2 is. It's "fair". It asks everybody -
regardless of circumstance - for the same thing. It asks for the effort
that was put into improving the software to be given back to the common
good. You can use the end result any way you want (and if you want to use
it for "bad" things, be my guest), but we ask the same exact thing of
everybody - give your modifications back.
That's true grace. Realizing that the petty concerns don't matter,
whether they are money or DRM, or patents, or anything else.
And that's why I chose the GPLv2. I did it back when the $169 I paid for
Minix still stung me, because I just decided that that wasn't what it was
all about.
And I look at the additions to the GPLv3, and I still say: "That's not
what it's all about".
My original license was petty and into details. I don't need to go back
to those days. I found a better license. And it's the GPLv2.
Linus
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The Dangers and Problems with GPLv3 by James E.J. Bottomley, Mauro Carvalho Chehab, Thomas Gleixner, Christoph Hellwig, Dave Jones, Greg Kroah-Hartman, Tony Luck, Andrew Morton, Trond Myklebust, David Woodhouse
This document is a position statement on the GNU General Public License version 3 (in its current Draft 2 form) and its surrounding process issued by some of the Maintainers of the Linux Kernel speaking purely in their role as kernel maintainers. In no regard should any opinion expressed herein be construed to represent the views of any entities employing or being associated with any of the authors.1 Linux and GPLv2
Over the past decade, the Linux Operating System has shown itself to be far and away the most successful Open Source operating system in history. However, it certainly wasn't the first such open source operating system and neither is it currently the only such operating system. We believe that the pre-eminent success of Linux owes a great part to the dynamism and diversity of its community of contributors, and that one of the catalysts for creating and maintaining this community is the development contract as expressed by GPLv2.
Since GPLv2 has served us so well for so long, and since it is the foundation of our developer contract which has helped propel Linux to the successes it enjoys today, we are extremely reluctant to contemplate tampering with that licence except as bug fixes to correct exposed problems or updates counter imminent dangers. So far, in the whole history of GPLv2, including notable successes both injunctively and at trial, we have not found any bugs significant enough to warrant such corrections.
2 Linux, the Kernel and the Open Source Universe
Linux Distributions, as the Free Software Foundation (FSF) has often observed, don't only contain the kernel; they are composed of a distribution of disparate open source components of which the kernel is only a part (albeit a significant and indispensable part) which collectively make up a useful and usable system. Thus, Linux as installed by the end user, is critically dependent on entities, known as distributions, who collect all of the necessary components together and deliver them in a tested, stable form. The vast proliferation of Open Source Licences complicates the job of these distributions and forces them to spend time checking and assessing the ramifications of combining software packages distributed under different (and often mutually incompatible) licences--indeed, sometimes licensing consideration will be sufficient to exclude a potential package from a distribution altogether.
In deference to the critical role of distributions, we regard reducing the Open Source licensing profusion as a primary objective. GPLv2 has played an important role in moving towards this objective by becoming the dominant Licence in the space today, making it possible to put together a Linux Distribution from entirely GPLv2 components and thus simplify the life of a distributor. Therefore, we believe that any update to GPLv2 must be so compelling as to cause all projects currently licensed under it to switch as expediently as possible and thus not fragment the currently unified GPLv2 licensed ecosystem.
3 Linux and Freedom
Another of the planks of Linux's success rests squarely on the breadth and diversity of its community of contributors and users, without whom we wouldn't have the steady stream of innovation which drives our movement forward. However, an essential element of this is the fact that individuals with disparate (and sometimes even competing) objectives can still march together a considerable distance to their mutual benefit. This synergy of effort, while not compromising dissimilar aims, is one of the reasons Linux manages to harness the efforts of not only motivated developers but also corporate and commercial interests. This in turn is brought about by a peculiar freedom enshrined in the developer contract as represented by GPLv2, namely the freedom from binding the end use of the project. Without this freedom, it would be much more difficult to satisfy the objectives of the contributors, since those objectives often have expression in terms of the end use to which they wish to put the particular project. Therefore, in order to maintain the essential development synergy and consequent innovation stream it provides to Linux, we could not countenance any change to the GPL which would jeopardise this fundamental freedom.
4 Pivotal Role of the Free Software Foundation
We have acknowledged before, projects controlled by the FSF (especially gcc, binutils and glibc) are essential components of every shipping Linux distribution. However, we also take note of the fact that the FSF operates very differently from Linux in that it requires assignment of copyright from each and every one of the thousands of contributors to its code base. These contributions have been given to the FSF not as a tribute to do with as it will but under a solemn trust, as stated in article 9 of GPLv2, only to licence the code under versions of the GPL that "... will be similar in spirit to the present version". We, like all the individual contributors to GNU projects, have taken that trust at face value and accorded the FSF a special role in the Open Source Universe because of it. It goes without saying that any updates to GPLv2 must be completely in accord with the execution of that trust.
5 GPLv3 and the Process to Date
The current version (Discussion Draft 2) of GPLv3 on first reading fails the necessity test of section 1 on the grounds that there's no substantial and identified problem with GPLv2 that it is trying to solve.
However, a deeper reading reveals several other problems with the current FSF draft:
5.1 DRM Clauses
Also referred to as the "Tivoisation" clauses.
While we find the use of DRM by media companies in their attempts to reach into user owned devices to control content deeply disturbing, our belief in the essential freedoms of section 3 forbids us from ever accepting any licence which contains end use restrictions. The existence of DRM abuse is no excuse for curtailing freedoms.
Further, the FSF's attempts at drafting and re-drafting these provisions have shown them to be a nasty minefield which keeps ensnaring innocent and beneficial uses of encryption and DRM technologies so, on such demonstrated pragmatic ground, these clauses are likewise dangerous and difficult to get right and should have no place in a well drafted update to GPLv2.
Finally, we recognise that defining what constitutes DRM abuse is essentially political in nature and as such, while we may argue forcefully for our political opinions, we may not suborn or coerce others to go along with them. Therefore, attempting to write these type of restrictions into GPLv3 and then relicense all FSF code under it is tantamount to co-opting the work of all prior contributions into the service of the FSF's political ends, and thus represents a fundamental violation of the trust outlined in section 4.
5.2 Additional Restrictions Clause
As we stated in section 2 one of the serious issues in Open Source is too many licences. The additional restrictions section in the current draft makes GPLv3 a pick and choose soup of possible restrictions which is going to be a nightmare for our distributions to sort out legally and get right. Thus, it represents a significant and unacceptable retrograde step over GPLv2 and its no additional restrictions clause.
Further, the additional restrictions create the possibility of fragmentation of the licensing universes among particular chosen restrictions, which then become difficult to combine and distribute (because of the need for keeping track of the separate restrictions). Thus, we think this potential for fragmentation will completely eliminate the needed compulsion to move quickly to a new licence as outlined in section 2
5.3 Patents Provisions
As drafted, this currently looks like it would potentially jeopardise the entire patent portfolio of a company simply by the act of placing a GPLv3 licensed programme on their website. Since the Linux software ecosystem relies on these type of contributions from companies who have lawyers who will take the broadest possible interpretation when assessing liability, we find this clause unacceptable because of the chilling effect it will have on the necessary corporate input to our innovation stream.
Further, some companies who also act as current distributors of Linux have significant patent portfolios; thus this clause represents another barrier to their distributing Linux and as such is unacceptable under section 2 because of the critical reliance our ecosystem has on these distributions.
6 Conclusions
The three key objections noted in section 5 are individually and collectively sufficient reason for us to reject the current licence proposal. However, we also note that the current draft with each of the unacceptable provisions stripped out completely represents at best marginal value over the tested and proven GPLv2. Therefore, as far as we are concerned (and insofar as we control subsystems of the kernel) we cannot foresee any drafts of GPLv3 coming out of the current drafting process that would prove acceptable to us as a licence to move the current Linux Kernel to.
Further, since the FSF is proposing to shift all of its projects to GPLv3 and apply pressure to every other GPL licensed project to move, we foresee the release of GPLv3 portends the Balkanisation of the entire Open Source Universe upon which we rely. This Balkanisation, which will be manifested by distributions being forced to fork various packages in order to get consistent licences, has the potential to inflict massive collateral damage upon our entire ecosystem and jeopardise the very utility and survival of Open Source. Since we can see nothing of sufficient value in the current drafts of the GPLv3 to justify this terrible cost, we can only assume the FSF is unaware of the current potential for disaster of the course on which is has embarked. Therefore, we implore the FSF to re-examine the consequences of its actions and to abandon the current GPLv3 process before it becomes too late.
Such as the "Matrix House" described in our last article: A DRM-encumbered booby trap not unlike the malfunctioning inventions which feature so regularly in our Rise Of The Machines™ series.
Don't use the GPL to fight these battles, you reckon.
But as we suggested at the outset this is a very nuanced postbag. First of all, we need to outline the problem. When TiVo used Linux, which is based on GPL version 2.0 code, added a proprietary front-end, and turned it into a DRM device, many people were upset.
Asks Matthew Barratt:
There are any number of well developed OSs that people like TiVo and the like could choose. VxWorks, Symbian would do nicely, QNX, embedded XP (eeeeeek!) even? VxWorks is POSIX compliant, so largely familiar to a Linux developer. TiVo picked Linux because it was free. If they didn't like the look of linux in future, maybe because of GPL 3, they could very easily switch to something like VxWorks and it'd make 50pence difference to the unit cost.Indeed, wouldn't life have been simpler if TiVo had chosen a non-free embedded OS? But the objection to TiVo is that they were breaking the spirit, if not the letter of the GPL. Software libre advocates can't prevent such appropriations by invoking the Law of Good Taste, but they can prevent misuse under the GPL. So TiVo is seen to be exploiting a loophole in GPL version 2.0, and so GPL 3.0 is designed to stop TiVOs of the future by blocking this loophole.
But that's not our problem, says Matthew, who sees DRM as an unavoidable part of the world:
I get the impression that this is all muddled up with the wider DRM debate. Is GPL 3 is being leveraged by some as a means to overcome DRM (which is here to stay like it or not) mechanisms? If so they are living in cloud coockoo land and it sounds like they are assuming that there's no other choice out there for Tivo et al.With the scene set, Bill Hufmann gets to the problem with admirable succinctness:
I can sympathize with both sides of this argument, but it does seem to me that GPL 3.0 extends the free (freedom) software concept to cover free (freedom) entertainment content as well. The constituencies of the two concepts overlap considerably but forcing equivalence seems unnecessary and could destroy one or both movements.As Kym Farnick points out, Linus rejection of GPL 3.0 doesn't imperil Linux, it imperils the GPL 3.0 draft as it's currently drafted.
- Torvalds can happily continue using GPL v2 for the Linux Kernel, and there's no reason to go to v3.0, whatever that turns out to be.
- Torvalds could (with difficulty) move to another OSS license or even create a new Linux Open License (LOL) ;-) Maybe one similar to the Mozilla license.
- Moglen can make parts of the V3 license optional.
Carsten's email here sums up the tone of many defending the GPL 2.0 kernel position.
Linus didn't create Linux as something to fit the (L)GPL. He had already started on the Linux project, *then* decided that he needed a formal license, came across the GPL v2 and decided that that fit his needs. End of story, really.I can see why the Open Source "advocates" (be they programmers or journalists) would want to use Linux as the vehicle for their moral crusade. It was succesful, and as Torvalds has always tried to stay away from the political discussions, they pretty much had a free run.
Blaming Linus for not carrying *your* banner in your personal fight for "freedom" is insane. Fight it yourself if you must, but don't start dragging someone into it who just wants time to plug away at his OS.
Ah, but if it was simply a case of few journalists or detached advocates berating Torvalds for rejecting some fancy new license, then it wouldn't merit many column inches. But the license he's being urged to adopt is the officially designated successor to the one he's already using.
Leaving us with the question, does the GPL need Torvalds more than Torvalds needs the GPL?
And if that isn't enough indigestible thoughts before breakfast - how about this thought from Justin Davidow:
Linux is not a magical moral crusade that people undertake to compete with Bill, nor is it a "free" alternative.Er. It isn't?
"'Linux' is only a name," writes Paul Meekin hopefully, carrying on the spirit. He continues:
It is like the value of a company in the stock market in that it only has meaning while everyone believes in it. If enough people decide they don't like Linus's ethical rule, a spin-off would soon occur which would be subject to the new rule. The old GPL ensures that the genie is well and truly out of the bottle for good.But no Register mailbag would be complete without a few unexpected Scuds making their way across the ether and exploding in a zone heavily defended by posturing and hypocrisy. We'll end with these three gems.
Thanks for the Article. What amuses me most is your quote from Linus:" ... we do not - as software developers - have the moral right to enforce our rules on hardware manufacturers. We are not crusaders, trying to force people to bow to our superior God."
Since when has he felt like that. Last time I remembered, the kernel people (including Linus) were real big on being the superior software Gods. Isn't that why we can't have binary modules loaded into the kernel to support hardware? One recent example would be the following:
http://www.smcc.demon.nl/webcam/
And that whole fiasco. Anyways, just amusing to see Linus flip flopping around and sticking to what is convienent to him. I am a big fan of Linux/OpenSource and use it extensively for work and play, but I wish some of the public figures would get a clue and get off their high horses some time.
[name with held by request]
Kevin Hall does a great job of stripping away the posturing that goes on in the holy FOSS crusades, here -
You did hit the nail on the head: if OSS isn't about some kind of moral or ethical shift then what is it exactly? I do get the feeling that Linus has identified that far from being a moral crusade in the tradition of the enlightenment, a crusade set around reason, logic and compromise, the whole OSS/Linux push has been propagated with the kind of zealously that would put the Spanish Inquisition to shame.The thing is, apart from the obvious weaknesses about making a lot of ballyhoo about a clanking Unix clone, it's a complete work of hypocrisy. Lots of huge corporations pour fortunes into OSS development like Oracle and HP into software like Apache and Linux. They get their development done at bargain basement prices and OSS gets a fat subsidy from select sugar daddies. Together your moral foundations are being built on quicksand. You can't fight your number one enemy (Microsoft as has been clearly stated) without making its competitors fatter in the process.
There's also two bigger problems: first no one ever elected Linus to be in charge of Linux and if it is really "free" then he shouldn't have any casting vote over it or own any of the trademarks. The weaknesses (and conversely its strengths) of Linux will stand or fall by its creator who probably shouldn't be able to operate with impunity. I think I also get a sense of impending failure: as Linux matures there is really a creeping sense of failure around the project. It hasn't blew Windows off the desktop, has made modest gains into servers and commercially has only really blossomed where cheapest is key. Much of its surrounding software is either poor quality, arcane in design and administration, outdated or a weak imitation of something commercial.
And the last word goes to reader Chad Walstrom, who's bemused by all the talk of 'moral responsibility' from the FOSS camp:
You left out the part that he believes developers have a moral obligation to make sure the software works, which would fit beautifully with your house analogy.Ouch.
So the issue seems straightforward. There are several ways of ensuring DRM is not part of our future: it can be legislated out of existence, or compensation frameworks can (and surely will) be agreed which make it unnecessary. Don't, say the Torvalds camp, bork our favorite license. Related stories
OSDL accepts GPL proliferation (18 August 2006)
Lessig, Stallman on 'Open Source' DRM (15 April 2006)
Mozilla's Google millions - a tax dodge? (14 March 2006)
Linus, GPL 3.0 and sharks with lasers on their heads (10 March 2006)
Linus: read-up on your GPL 3.0 (15 February 2006)
GPL v3.0: Linus replies (8 February 2006)
If Linus snubs new GPL, is that it for 'open source'? (6 February 2006)
No GPL 3.0 for Linux - Torvalds (26 January 2006)
Linux zealots proud to be as miserable as planes (12 December 2005)
TiVo uses the open source Linux operating system in its digital video recorders and gets a lot of heat from people in the Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) community because those boxes aren't as open as hackers would like them to be.
Oddly enough, however, Linus Torvalds, who created Linux and oversees its development, isn't among the complainers. In an e-mail interview with Forbes, he explains his position.
Forbes: TiVo is criticized for placing digital rights management restrictions on content. What is your take on this?
Torvalds: TiVo has the DRM issue (media companies have strong-armed them into not being as useful as they could be), but the thing that clashes with some in the FOSS community is that they make it hard to upgrade their box with another version of Linux. Which I personally think is OK--they made the box, they choose how to upgrade it. I only care that they give the source code back, not that they make it easy, or necessarily even possible, to play with their hardware. Again, it's the "reciprocity of source code" versus the "freedom of software" thing.
Does TiVo make it difficult to upgrade their box, or impossible? And how do they do this?
Nothing is ever "impossible." But what you can do is, for example, build a small piece of your hardware that refuses to even start up unless another (big piece) can authenticate itself properly to the small piece. The easiest way to do that is to simply cryptographically sign a binary that you're running and refuse to run it unless the cryptographic signature matches the vendor's signature. So you may have the full source code for the box, and you can build your own binary, but unless you have the vendor's private key, you're going to have a really hard time signing your new binary as being "trusted" by the hardware. Now, this is a bit offensive, isn't it? You bought the hardware. It's in your living room. And even if you knew how to fix some problem, the hardware is literally built to not allow you to.
You say what TiVo is doing is "a bit offensive." So why not use GPLv3 [GNU General Public License] to make them stop doing it?
In my worldview, it's OK for other people to do stupid things. I can complain about it, but in the end, it's their choice. If somebody offends me too much, I'll stop dealing with them. Now, I've had to limit my choice of long-distance phone companies because of this practice of mine, but I think it's more productive in the long run than trying to be "activist" with software licensing. Activism and technical decisions just don't mix well.
Why does TiVo get singled out? Aren't there other companies who do the same thing TiVo does with Linux?
I think TiVo gets singled out just because it's an example that a lot of people can relate to. It's something people understand and often interact with themselves (or know people who do). The same kind of thing happens in other embedded Linux uses too: cell phones, network routers, you name it. It's just that they don't have the name and usage recognition that TiVo has.
Part of the complaint involves the inability to upgrade Linux. But isn't DRM an issue too?
Yes. A large part of why they [TiVo] don't want people to upgrade seems to be that they're afraid of the backlash from media companies when people make a TiVo box into a streaming media server. You do realize that the TiVo hardware could easily just connect to the network (it already does), and you could watch your TiVo'ed TV shows from your computer or recode them to take them on the road with a video iPod? These things you could do if you just upgraded it yourself.
If you were to adopt GPLv3 as it is written to today, would TiVo be unable to use future versions of Linux if it also continued imposing DRM restrictions on content? Isn't that rule part of the GPLv3 draft?
That part is a bit muddled and unclear. There's a "DRM" section in the GPLv3, but the way I read it, it doesn't seem to actually say very much. More of a statement of intent than any legal argument. So I would leave arguing against that part to others.
If you did adopt GPLv3 as it is written today, how would this affect TiVo? Couldn't they just keep using and modifying old versions of Linux that were shipped before you adopted GPLv3?
Indeed, they could do that, and probably it wouldn't be a problem for TiVo. I think it would be more of an issue for the next mad scientist that comes along and wants to use Linux for something new and revolutionary, and then starts worrying about the usage restrictions. That's part of why I don't like to restrict usage. Most crazy people are just crazy, but sometimes you have somebody coming up with an odd new idea that actually turns out to be great. By not having restrictions on usage, GPLv2 doesn't restrict anything like that--it just asks for the source code.
Do you not have any desire to hack your own TiVo box?
I actually might hack it. I'm just not that interested in TV, and I'm busy enough as it is. The sad part is that people playing with your hardware is actually a good thing. Companies that make it difficult either do it because they are stupid (that certainly happens) or because they have external forces pressuring them to do so (e.g., media companies and TiVo). I could set up a totally open source PVR [personal video recorder] on one of my computers. I actually did that once, just for the heck of it. In the end, I use TiVo because it's convenient for me, and I don't care that deeply.
III. Willfulness
A willful failure has been defined as "any intentional failure as distinguished from involuntary noncompliance. No wrongful intent need be shown." In contrast, "The courts that have concluded that the failure to comply with a discovery order was not willful have emphasized the inability of the party to comply with the order."
There is no evidence before the court to indicate that SCO lacked the ability to comply with the court's orders. In fact, given SCO's own public statements outlined in part supra, it would appear that SCO had more than enough evidence to comply with the court's orders.
In December 2003, near the beginning of this case, the court ordered SCO to, "identify and state with specificity the source code(s) that SCO is claiming form the basis of their action against IBM." Even if SCO lacked the code behind methods and concepts at this early stage, SCO could have and should have, at least articulated which methods and concepts formed "the basis of their action against IBM." At a minimum, SCO should have identified the code behind their methods and concepts in the final submission pursuant to this original order entered in December 2003 ane Judge Kimball's order entered in July 2005.
Summary of Ruling Authored by: ChasF on Wednesday, June 28 2006 @ 06:23 PM EDT "IBM seeks to limit items numbers 3-112, 143-149, 165-182, 186-193, 232-271, 279-293." Here are the ones left:
- 23
- 43
- 90
- 94
- 186
- 187
- 188
- 189
- 190
- 191
- 192
Summary of Ruling - Part 2 Authored by: ChasF on Wednesday, June 28 2006 @ 06:38 PM EDT There were 294 claims of which IBM objected to 198. Only 11 of the objections have been denied, so this means that 107 claims are valid right now.
The remaining items are:
- 001-002
- 023
- 043
- 090
- 094
- 113-142
- 150-164
- 183-192
- 194-231
- 272-2 78
- 294
Summary of Ruling - Part 2 Authored by: PolR on Wednesday, June 28 2006 @ 07:12 PM EDT item 294 was abandonned by SCOG. See the chart linked by the first post in this
thread.Wells Grants in Part IBM's Motion to Limit SCO's Claims! Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, June 28 2006 @ 06:08 PM EDT I'm just reading the order now. The language seems
decidedly "non-judgelike" to me. I'm wondering if this
may be a red herring.
(Specifically thinking of the "If however, the level of
specificity did not require specific source code then IBM
has fired a wayward shot off the starboard bow in its
attempt to sink SCO s ship." from page 22.)
Wells Grants in Part IBM's Motion to Limit SCO's Claims! Authored by: Jaywalk on Wednesday, June 28 2006 @ 06:29 PM EDT ---
===== Murphy's Law is recursive. =====
Style and Grammar Authored by: Felix_the_Mac on Wednesday, June 28 2006 @ 09:27 PM EDT <The language seems decidedly "non-judgelike" to me>
I agree, I was suprised how loose the style was, and also by the significant
number of grammatical & punctation mistakes.
On the other hand, the broad construction and detail of the judgement are
excellent.
Wells Grants in Part IBM's Motion to Limit SCO's Claims! Authored by: swiftest on Thursday, June 29 2006 @ 09:29 AM EDT This is a case about unauthorized copying, ie., "piracy." The wayward
shot fired off the starboard bow is amusingly apropos as it brings to mind two
galleons firing canonballs on the high seas. The judge knew exactly what she was
writing here. Kudos for humor and wit!
non-judgelike interpretation Authored by: Anonymous on Monday, July 03 2006 @ 10:28 AM EDT To my reading, it's very much judge like [disclaimer: my father was a federal
judge]. She's explaining that SCO should have given line, file and version
information regardless;
If IBM was trying to sink SCO's ship, and SCO provided line and file
information, IBM would have missed wildly. If SCO believed they didn't have to
produce line and file information, their own comments missed wildly. Her point
was that no matter how SCO wants to look at it (from IBM's point of view or
their own), they should have produced line file and version information. It
couldn't possibly have hurt them (if their case had merit - heh!), and their own
comments and motions support the need for source code during analysis.
From Open Source
Vol. 2, No. 3 - May 2004
by Jay Michaelson, Wasabi SystemsWhat every developer should know about open source licensing
"The licenses for most software are designed to take away your freedom to share and change it. By contrast, the GNU General Public License is intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change free software to make sure the software is free for all its users."1 So begins the GNU General Public License, or GPL, which has become the most widely used of open source software licenses. Freedom is the watchword—it's no coincidence that the organization that wrote the GPL is called the Free Software Foundation—and that open source developers everywhere proclaim, "Information wants to be free."
United States District Court, Southern District of Indiana,Judge Sarah Evans Barker,Judge John Daniel Tinder, Judge Richard L. Young, Magistrate Judge V. Sue ShieldsCase 1-05-cv-678
For any documents filed but not yet indexed here, they may be in the case's document directory.Exhibits: hide | expand all | normal | (set preference as cookie)
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- [info] 1 [PDF] - Wallace's Complaint [Wallace v. IBM 1] agains International Business Machines Corporation, Red Hat Inc., and Novell, Inc. [ Groklaw ]
- [info] 2 [PDF] - Order of Reference [Wallace v. IBM 2] of Case to Magistrate Judge
- [info] 3 [PDF] - Summons [Wallace v. IBM 3] Issued to International Business Machines Corporation, Red Hat Inc., Novell, Inc. [ Groklaw ]
- [info] 4 - Wallace's Receipt [Wallace v. IBM 4] Regarding Payment of Filing Fee
- [info] 5 [PDF] - Wallace's Return of Service [Wallace v. IBM 5] of Complaint
- [info] 6 - Red Hat's Notice [Wallace v. IBM 6] of Appearance by Philip A. Whistler
- [info] 7 - Red Hat's Notice [Wallace v. IBM 7] of Appearance by Curtis W. McCauley
- [info] 8 [PDF] - Red Hat's Notice [Wallace v. IBM 8] of First Extension of Time [ Groklaw ]
- [info] 9 [PDF] - IBM's Notice [Wallace v. IBM 9] of Appearance by Kendall H. Millard
- [info] 10 [PDF] - IBM's Notice [Wallace v. IBM 10] of First Extension of Time [ Groklaw ]
- [info] 11 - Novell's Notice [Wallace v. IBM 11] of Appearance by Philip A. Whistler
- [info] 12 - Novell's Notice [Wallace v. IBM 12] of Appearance by Curtis W. McCauley
- [info] 13 [PDF] - Novell's Notice [Wallace v. IBM 13] of First Extension of Time [ Groklaw ]
- [info] 14 [PDF] - Notice [Wallace v. IBM 14] of Pretrial Conference set for July 28, 2005 at 2:30 P.M. (2005-06-20)
- [info] 15 [PDF] - IBM's Notice [Wallace v. IBM 15] of Appearance by Michael H. Gottschlich (2005-06-21)
- [info] 16 [PDF] - RedHat's Unopposed Motion [Wallace v. IBM 16] for Additional Extension of Time (2005-06-30)
- [info] 16-1 [PDF] - RedHat's Proposed Order [Wallace v. IBM 16-1] Granting Unopposed Motion for Additional Extension of Time (2005-06-30)
- [info] 17 [PDF] - IBM's Motion [Wallace v. IBM 17] to Dismiss (2005-06-30) [ Groklaw text ]
- [info] 18 [PDF] - IBM's Memorandum [Wallace v. IBM 18] in Support of IBM's Motion [Wallace v. IBM 17] to Dismiss (2005-06-30) [ Groklaw text ]
- [info] 19 [PDF] - Wallace's Motion [Wallace v. IBM 19] for Summary Judgment (2005-06-30)
- [info] 20 [PDF] - Wallace's Memorandum [Wallace v. IBM 20] on Motion for Summary Judgment [Wallace v. IBM 19] (2005-06-30) [ Groklaw text ]
- [info] 21 - Wallace's Exhibits [Wallace v. IBM 21] to Motion [Wallace v. IBM 19] for Summary Judgment
- [info] 21-5 [PDF] - Wallace's Hardcopy [Wallace v. IBM 21-5] of the GPL
- [info] 22 [PDF] - Wallace's Answer Brief [Wallace v. IBM 22] to IBM's Motion to Dismiss [Wallace v. IBM 17] (2005-07-01)
- [info] 23 [PDF] - Wallace's Motion [Wallace v. IBM 23] to Amend Complaint (2005-07-05)
- [info] 23-1 [PDF] - Wallace's Proposed Amended Complaint [Wallace v. IBM] (2005-07-05) [ Groklaw text ]
- [info] 24 [PDF] - Order [Wallace v. IBM 24] Granting Red Hat's Motion for Extension of Time to File Answer to the Complaint to 7/6/2005 (2005-07-05)
- [info] 25 [PDF] - Red Hat's Motion [Wallace v. IBM 25] to Dismiss the Complaint (Counsel also represents Novell) (2005-07-06) [ Groklaw text ]
- [info] 26 [PDF] - Red Hat's Brief [Wallace v. IBM 26] in Support of Motion [Wallace v. IBM 25] to Dismiss Complaint (Counsel also represents Novell) (2005-07-06)
- [info] 27 - Wallace's Memorandum [Wallace v. IBM 27] in Opposition to Red Hat's Motion [25] to Dismiss (2005-07-07)
- [info] 28 - Order [Wallace v. IBM 28] Denying [17] IBM's Motion to Dismisss, Granting [23] Wallace's Motion to Amend/Correct Complaint, Signed July 11, 2005 by Judge Sarah Evans Barker (2005-07-11)
- [info] 29 - Wallace's Amended Complaint [Wallace v. IBM 29] against International Business Machines Corporation, Red Hat Inc., Novell Inc. (2005-07-12)
- [info] 30 - Red Hat's Notice [Wallace v. IBM 30] of Potentially Related Case (2005-07-13)
- [info] 31 - Case Reassigned [Wallace v. IBM 31] to Judge John Daniel Tinder (2005-07-19)
- [info] 32 - IBM's Motion [Wallace v. IBM 32] to Dismiss the Amended Complaint (2005-07-19)
- [info] 33 - IBM's Memorandum [Wallace v. IBM 33] in Support of [32] IBM's Motion to Dismiss the Amended Complaint (2005-07-19)
- [info] 34 - IBM's Motion [Wallace v. IBM 34] for Continuance of Pretrial Conference [DUPLICATE FILING--SEE 35 AND DISREGARD]
- [info] 35 - IBM's Motion [Wallace v. IBM 35] for Continuance of Pretrial Conference (2005-07-19)
- [info] 36 - Order [Wallace v. IBM 36] Granting [35] IBM's Motion for Continuance of Pretrial Conference, Reset for 8/18/2005 2:00pm in room #256 before Magistrate Judge V. Sue Shields. Signed by Judge V. Sue Shields on 7/21/05 (2005-07-21)
- [info] 37 - Case Reassigned [Wallace v. IBM 37] to Judge Richard L. Young (2005-07-22)
- [info] 38 - Wallace's Memorandum [Wallace v. IBM 38] in Opposition to [32] Motion to Dismiss the Amended Complaint (2005-07-22)
- [info] 39 - IBM's Response Memorandum [Wallace v. IBM 39] in Support of [32] Motion to Dismiss the Amended Complaint (2005-08-05)
- [info] 40 - Red Hat and Novell's Motion [Wallace v. IBM 40] to Dismiss Wallace's Amended Complaint (2005-08-08)
- [info] 41 - IBM's Motion [Wallace v. IBM 41] to Stay Briefing on Wallace's Motion for Summary Judgment and to Stay Pretrial Conference (2005-08-09)
- [info] 42 - Wallace's Memorandum [Wallace v. IBM 42] in Opposition to [32] IBM's Motion to Dismiss Wallace's Amended Complaint, [40] Red Hat and Novell's Motion to Dismiss Wallace's Amended Complaint, [25] Motion to Dismiss Wallace's Complaint (2005-08-11)
- [info] 43 - Order [Wallace v. IBM 43] Denying [41] IBM's Motion to Stay Pretrial Conference. Motion to Stay Briefing on Wallace's Motion for Summary Judgment will be discussed at Initial Pretrial Conference. Signed August 15, 2005 by Judge V. Sue Shields (2005-08-15)
- [info] 44 - Minute Entry [Wallace v. IBM 44] for Pretrial Conference held August 18, 2005 before Judge V. Sue Shields (2005-08-18)
- [info] 45 - Red Hat and Novell's Unopposed Motion [Wallace v. IBM 45] for Extension of Time to File Response Memorandum in Support of [40] Motion to Dismiss the Amended Complaint (2005-08-29)
- [info] 46 - Red Hat and Novell's Reply Memorandum [Wallace v. IBM 46] in Support of [40] Motion to Dismiss Wallace's Amended Complaint (2005-09-01)
- [info] 47 [PDF] - Order [Wallace v. IBM 47] Denying as Moot [41] IBM's Motion to Stay, Granting [45] Motion for Extension of Time to File Reply, Denying [19] Wallace's Motion for Summary Judgment, Signed November 28, 2005 by Judge Richard L. Young (2005-11-28)
- [info] 48 - Wallace's Motion [Wallace v. IBM 48] to Amend Complaint (2005-12-01)
- [info] 49 - Notice [Wallace v. IBM 49] of Change of Firm Form and Name by Curtis W. McCauley (2006-01-05)
- [info] 50 - Order [Wallace v. IBM 50] Denying as Moot [40] Motion to Dismiss, Granting [48] Motion to Amend, Denying as Moot [25] Motion to Dismiss, Denying as Moot [32] Motion to Dismiss, Signed January 18, 2006 by Judge Richard L. Young (2006-01-18)
- [info] 51 - IBM's Motion [Wallace v. IBM 51] to Dismiss Wallace's Second Amended Complaint (2006-02-01)
- [info] 52 - IBM's Memorandum [Wallace v. IBM 52] in Support of [51] IBM's Motion to Dismiss (2006-02-01)
- [info] 53 - RedHat and Novell's Reasserted Motion [Wallace v. IBM 53] to Dismiss Wallace's Second Amended Complaint (2006-02-01)
- [info] 54 - Wallace's Memorandum [Wallace v. IBM 54] in Opposition to [53] Reasserted Motion to Dismiss (2006-02-06)
- [info] 55 - Wallace's Memorandum [Wallace v. IBM 55] in Opposition to [53] Reasserted Motion to Dismiss (2006-02-07)
- [info] 56 - IBM's Reply Memorandum [Wallace v. IBM 56] in Support of [51] Reasserted Motion to Dismiss (2006-02-21)
- [info] 57 - RedHat's Reply Memorandum [Wallace v. IBM 57] in Support of [53] Reasserted Motion to Dismiss (2006-02-21)
- [info] 58 - RedHat's Submission [Wallace v. IBM 58] of Supplemental Authority in Support of Reasserted Motion to Dismiss (2006-03-22)
- [info] 58-1 [PDF] - Order [Wallace v. FSF 41] Granting [34] FSF's Motion to Dismiss. Mr. Wallace is DENIED leave to further amend his complaint, Signed March 20, 2006 by Judge John Daniel Tinder (2006-03-20) [ Groklaw ]
United States District Court, Southern District of Indiana, Judge John Daniel Tinder, Magistrate Judge Tim A. Baker
Case 1-05-cv-618
For any documents filed but not yet indexed here, they may be in the case's document directory.
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- [info] 1 [PDF] - Wallace's Complaint [Wallace v. FSF 1] Against Free Software Foundation, Inc. (2005-04-28)
- [info] 2 [PDF] - Order of Reference [Wallace v. FSF 2] of Case to Magistrate Judge (2005-04-28)
- [info] 3 [PDF] - Summons [Wallace v. FSF 3] (2005-04-28)
- [info] 4 [PDF] - Wallace's Receipt [Wallace v. FSF 4] Regarding Payment of Filing Fee (2005-04-28)
- [info] 5 [PDF] - Wallace's Motion [Wallace v. FSF 5] to Amend Complaint (2005-04-29)
- [info] 6 [PDF] - Wallace's Second Motion [Wallace v. FSF 6] to Amend Complaint (2005-05-03)
- [info] 7 [PDF] - Wallace's Proof of Service [Wallace v. FSF 7] of Complaint (2005-05-07)
- [info] 8 [PDF] - Free Software Foundation's Notice [Wallace v. FSF 8] of Appearance by Philip A. Whistler (2005-05-17)
- [info] 9 [PDF] - Free Software Foundation's Notice [Wallace v. FSF 9] of Appearance by Curtis w. McCauley (2005-05-17)
- [info] 10 [PDF] - Free Software Foundations Notice [Wallace v. FSF 10] of Initial 30-Day Enlargement of Time to Respond to Complaint (2005-05-17)
- [info] 11 [PDF] - Wallace's Motion [Wallace v. FSF 11] for Summary Judgment (2005-05-19)
- [info] 12 [PDF] - Wallace's Memorandum [Wallace v. FSF 12] on Motion for Summary Judgment (2005-05-19)
- [info] 13 [PDF] - Order [Wallace v. FSF 13] Granting Wallace's Motion to Amend Complaint and Wallace's Second Motion to Amend Complaint (2005-06-07)
- [info] 14 [PDF] - Wallace's Amended Complaint [Wallace v. FSF 14] (2005-04-29)
Re:Why does everyone think RedHat will die?
(Score:2)Oracle is doing exactly that. "Open source intellectual property is available to all of us. What that means is that any company can take the Red Hat version of Linux and use it at no cost so long as they're willing to support themselves. Well, that actually includes us. We could take the Red Hat Linux as long as we're willing to support it. In fact, we can redistribute it to others and provide support. So why would we buy Red Hat Linux, when we can just take it for nothing?"
"Each time Red Hat comes out with new code we'll synchronize with that version. We will add our bug fixes to current, future and back releases. Your application will run unchanged. We are going to stay synchronized with the Red Hat version. We are not trying to fragment the Linux market."
That's what Ellison, the Oracle CEO, said in the announcement. They think that they're clever than anyone, that they can just copy the source code and make money at the expense of others. Red Hat bought Jboss and oracle thinks they can knock down any open source bussiness (they've warned that they may release support for suse as well) just to avoid Red Hat & cia selling competitors for their Oracle closed product. I hope they fail.