"We take a long view, saying that Linux desktop may have gotten a later start in the game, but because of this shared innovation and the rapid development model, we think, over time, functionally, the Linux desktop will be superior to Windows. It's just a matter of timing," said Jim Zemlin, director of the Linux Foundation.

San Francisco (IDGNS) - The board of the Open Source Initiative (OSI) has approved two Microsoft licenses that allow proprietary source code to be shared, a move that is likely to inspire protest and spur controversy for die-hard open source proponents. ADVERTISEMENT The Microsoft Public License (MPL) and the Microsoft Reciprocal License (MRL), two of Microsoft's "shared source" licenses, are now viable OSI licenses for distributing open source code alongside more widely used community licenses such as the GNU General Public License and the Mozilla Public License. "Today's approval by the OSI concludes a tremendous learning experience for Microsoft, and I look forward to our continued participation in the open source community," said Microsoft general manager of Windows Server Marketing and Platform Strategy Bill Hilf in a press statement.

San Francisco (InfoWorld) - Sun offered informational updates Monday on several ongoing efforts in the open-source arena, including product plans for the OpenSolaris version of the Solaris OS, Java, and the GlassFish application server. ADVERTISEMENT Cited were improvements like a binary release of OpenSolaris and plans for dynamic scripting support in Sun's Java Virtual Machine. Executives from throughout the company met with the media at Sun's Santa Clara, Calif. headquarters campus for an open-source "summit" briefing. "We have so many people who work on open source inside Sun," that they must be brought together for an annual conference, said Simon Phipps, chief open-source officer at the company.

In a surprising announcement the Open Source Initiative said it had approved two of Microsoft's licences as being acceptable for licensing open source software. While many within the open source community will view this as tantamount to allowing a wolf into sheep's clothing, the OSI board (which did not a approve a less permissive third licence) appears to be happy with these two. OSI president Michael Tiemann wrote that the OSI board had approved the Microsoft Public License (Ms-PL) and the Microsoft Reciprocal License (Ms-RL). "The decision to approve was informed by the overwhelming (though not unanimous) consensus from the open source community that these licenses satisfied the 10 criteria of the Open Source definition, and should therefore be approved."

BM has announced that it will collaborate with the Grameen Foundation to help microfinance institutions (MFIs) better serve the world's poor communities. Together they will expand the Grameen Foundation's open source microfinance software platform, Mifos. The goal is to provide MFIs with software that streamlines the lending process and cuts costs so that they can expand their operations to provide loans to more people and offer a wider range of services. IBM will assist in building added functionality and making the application more robust.

San Francisco (IDGNS) - Microsoft's defeat in a European appeals court Monday has left open-source developers hopeful about the future although still dissatisfied with the company's compliance with a 3-year-old antitrust ruling. The European Commission ordered Microsoft to license its workgroup server communications protocols to rivals in March 2004, aiming to make it easier for those companies to develop and sell enterprise software interoperating -- and competing -- with Microsoft's own products. So far, though, there have been few takers for the licenses Microsoft now proposes under its WSPP (Workgroup Server Protocol Program) -- and the licenses have proved useless to open-source developers.

San Francisco (InfoWorld) - A recent federal court ruling pertaining to open-source software in model railroads could derail enforcement of open-source licenses altogether, according to Mark Radcliffe, general counsel for the Open Source Initiative. If allowed to stand, the decision could withhold an important and expected remedy from open-source licensors, that being the ability to get an injunction against license violations, Radcliffe said. But the case does not necessarily set a precedent for other judges to follow, countered Eben Moglen, founding director of the Software Freedom Law Center.

If you expected to read a story someday about a new patent-infringement suit against Linux, this is it. But, while neither of the plaintiffs in this lawsuit is named Microsoft, at least one technology law blog is suggesting the Redmond, Washington-based software giant might be involved. ADVERTISEMENT Several news outlets are reporting that IP Innovation LLC and Technology Licensing Corp. have sued Red Hat and Novell in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, claiming patent infringement from such products as the Red Hat Linux system and Novell's SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server. The plaintiffs are seeking an injunction and damages, and have alleged that, because Red Hat and Novell had notice of the patents, their infringement is willful.

Chatting to Steve Raby, UK country manager for open source ECM vendor Nuxeo yesterday, an interesting point was raised around the issue of motivation of open source developers versus developers on proprietary poducts, and hiring them. Namely: what are the benefits of hiring open source developers, and what are the benefits of developing open source software if you're looking to get hired. Naturaly Steve, who hails from JBoss, will have a biased view of such matters - after all it is his job to sell the idea of open source software to enterprises. But his thesis made sense and is based on his experience so I shall repeat it here.

O3Spaces is a proprietary integrated collaboration and document management application for workgroups and businesses. Almost a year after its launch, the company behind the software has released version 2.2 beta. While the new version doesn't offer any earth-shattering new features, O3Spaces 2.2 sports a wealth of improvements aimed at solidifying its position as a viable alternative to Microsoft SharePoint.