Author Archives: Tim

Recognition for Open Access Innovators

What do you know about Public Library of Science (PLOS)? Since 2003 they’ve been providing us with an example of what open access can mean for the advancement of science. They publish scientific papers and articles in a freely available, online format. They’re also keen advocates for open access generally, as they see it as a key force in efforts to speed up the progress of science.

At the moment they’re running a recognition scheme called the “Accelerating Science Award Program”. ASAP is designed to honour those who have used or applied scientific research available via Open Access to make an impact in science, medicine, business, technology, or society more widely. As well as public recognition at an event in Washington DC and in a widely distributed portfolio book, the three winners of the award will receive $30,000 prizes. So if you know someone who’d make a good nominee, someone who’s applied scientific research to innovate and make a difference (in any field), now is a great time to let them be known.

Google’s VP8 License Proposal

Google have released a draft agreement designed to help VP8 adoption by licensing a number of relevant patents on a royalty free basis. It sounds good, but the details of the license still need some work. Hopefully we’ll see some changes to this draft before the final license is released.

There are a number of issues with the document as it stands. One key problem is that it’s not sub-licensable; every user wanting to benefit from the agreement would need to make an individual response. Continue reading →

No One Speaks For Me

“Thoughts on Open Innovation” is the title of a recently released OpenForum Academy publication collecting essays on a range of open innovation topics designed to “deliver a snapshot of important developments for policy-makers, business leaders and researchers to consider”. Simon contributed a chapter entitled “No One Speaks For Me”, looking at the concept of a meshed society and some of the ways in which the old world naturally excludes and even fights the onset of the new. The book can be downloaded free, either as a whole or by individual chapters; so have a look, there’s plenty there to get your teeth into!

OSI Board Meeting

Last week the new board of the Open Source Initiative met in Washington DC. Decisions were made with regard to a range of issues including a move to become a member-based organisation and the decision to hire a general manager for the group (details and availability of the role to be advertised shortly). Read the full meeting report here.

SVG Everywhere

Some landmark news you may have missed recently is the reality that all the major web browsers now support the open standard for scalable vector graphics, SVG. SVG was of course created and standardised long ago, but it’s taken some 14 years from the initial development through to this position of receiving full support from all the big name browsers.

Resistance to the standard came from Microsoft. They attempted to have their own technology become the standard — first by submitting it as a candidate for the basis of the SVG standard and then, when the rest of the community rejected their submission, by leveraging their other software monopolies to promote their own format and by dragging their feet over supporting SVG.

But the inevitable attractor of open standards has finally had its effect, and the power of this important open standard is finally unleashed across Firefox, Chrome, IE8 and most others. SVG allows very small image downloads to deliver rich, potentially interactive graphics that work on any device at any resolution. To get a hint of the power, take a look at the web site of SVG pioneer Kelvin Lawrence.

No EULA required

Open source software should not force acceptance of an End User License Agreement (EULA). In every context where an “EULA” is appropriately used, it’s describing the rights that an end-user and not a distributor is surrendering in return for the freedom to perform an act that would otherwise breach the copyright. The freedoms you need to use the software under open source licenses are granted unconditionally, and the freedoms you need to distribute and modify the software are conditioned on acts other than signalling acceptance of the license with a signature or a click-through.

I thus continue to assert that it is always unnecessary for open source software to present users with the license and demand an act of submission before proceeding. Demanding such an act is to be discouraged; it conditions users to believe that use of the software is subject to compliance actions.

There’s never a need for compliance or enforcement action on mere use (as opposed to distribution or modification). As has been written elsewhere, the freedom to use without seeking permission or proof of compliance is actually the key benefit of open source software and slavish recital of redundant EULA behaviour distracts users from this truth.

Did you miss the year of the Linux Desktop?

Back in August last year you might have seen Miguel de Icaza’s blog post “What Killed the Linux Desktop“. Since then a debate has been smouldering yet again in the Linux community with regard to whether the “year of the Linux Desktop” is still an achievable dream. Google’s Chromebook is one solid response to that question. It runs a stripped down, single function Linux system that’s easily maintained and secured centrally.

But the reason it should really be considered an answer to the question of the supremacy of Linux is its focus on the browser. The browser has overtaken the desktop as the prime location for applications. Linux based applications form the backbone of today’s computer usage, being the powerhouse behind the majority of applications people actually use. The real metric is not replacement of Windows; it’s replacement of Windows applications. Read more and have your say in today’s InfoWorld article.

What does the Special 301 really reveal?

This week the United States Trade Representative (USTR) released the annual Special 301 Report. For those of you who are not aware of this report, it assesses the standard to which America’s international trading partners “uphold intellectual property rights protection and enforcement”. Of the ninety five countries assessed, forty one have then been put into the report itself. The report consists of  a series of watch lists, of countries that to a greater or lesser degree fail to meet the standards desired by the USTR.

How effective an indicator of intellectual property rights protection does this survey really offer? Continue reading →

Open Source Accounting Solution for Non-Profits

Non-profit organisations are faced with an unappetising choice when deciding on a software solution for their accounting needs. They can either develop and maintain a complicated system of their own or they can use propriety software which undermines their charitable, equality focussed basis. This conflict between ideological desire and practical needs is likely to be particularly heartfelt for open source and free software non-profits.
 
Software Freedom Conservancy has a solution to propose. They plan to first survey existing solutions developed for for-profit accounting needs and then develop from the best available system an open source solution focussed specifically on the needs of non-profit organisations. When completed this software should save the sector millions each year as well as increasing its collaborative potential.
 
The Conservancy is itself a charity and is looking for financial help to fund the development of this software. Today they announced the start of a campaign to raise the necessary funds to dedicate a year of developer time to turning the concept into a reality. The project already has a range of endorsements and statements of support but is still seeking donors. This is your chance to contribute to the ongoing success of a range of non-profit charities all in one go.

Components Becoming Major Source Of CVEs

Earlier today Sonatype released the results of  their annual survey. The survey looks at the extent to which developers use open source components, with a particular focus on how they balance the competing needs of speed and security. The data makes it clear that security is very often not the priority.

The results of the survey show the massive extent to which developers now rely on components. Of course, this has been the case for many years, but the full maturation of the concept of component assembly rather than code writing is well illustrated here. Continue reading →