Stories about: Free Software Foundation

Sun Microsystems' decision to buy MySQL AB, the company behind a popular and growing open-source database, for US$1 billion, could allow Sun to to expand MySQL's reach -- and give database giant Oracle something new to worry about. But more immediately, Sun's announcement addresses a problem facing the privately held MySQL, namely, its future.

Linux development is more like a social network built on trusted relationships and less like a democratic community of individuals dedicated to a single development process, according to Linux creator Linus Torvalds.

McAfee has warned investors that the "ambiguous" nature of open source licensing could turn into a business threat.

Linux creator Linus Torvalds, in an interview being made public by the Linux Foundation Tuesday, stressed that version 2 of the GPL (GNU General Public License) still makes the most sense for the Linux kernel over the newer GPL version 3.

A group of lawyers focused on protecting open-source and free software has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Verizon Communications, alleging that routers the company uses with its Fios broadband service violate the GNU GPL (General Public License).

Longtime Linux and open-source programmer and activist Theodore "Ted" Ts'o, who is responsible for maintaining the Linux kernel file system for the open-source project, has been named the new chief platform strategist for The Linux Foundation (LF).

As a lawyer, law professor and software programmer, Eben Moglen is passionate about technology, software and user freedom. A former board member of the Free Software Foundation and the founder, president and executive director of the Software Freedom Law Center in New York since 2005, Moglen has worked to protect and advance open source and free software. Moglen, 48, is a Connecticut native who grew up in Manhattan and began programming for pay at the age of 13. Eventually, he worked as a developer at IBM to put himself through college and law school. A longtime friend of free software advocate, Richard Stallman, Moglen recently talked with Computerworld about his work, his belief in open source and what he sees as the changing future of software in the world economy.

The Free Software Foundation has published a new open-source software license aimed at developers whose code is used for software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications.

The Software Freedom Law Center, an organization focused on protecting open-source and free software, has filed copyright lawsuits against two US companies, alleging that they are redistributing software in violation of the GNU GPL (General Public License).

Microsoft quietly got its proposed Office Open XML format through two European standards bodies. A member of the Free Software Foundation Europe looks at the low-profile process that made it happen.

Microsoft failed Monday in its bid to overturn a European Commission antitrust ruling against it, when the European Union's second highest court dismissed the company's appeal and ordered it to pay the bulk of the Commission's legal expenses.