][ stefano maffulli

After one year spent using my (pretty old) cell phone for more than just sms and audio calls, I understand better some of the new challenges that the free software movement have to face.’  I already wrote about the implications of GPLv3 on mobile handsets, but that post only scratches the surface of the issues.
The [...]

Tags: free software movement, freedom, gplv3, handset, mobile, social

Savio questions the usefulness of AGPL and his argument seems very slippery to me. He questions whether the Affero GPL is an obstacle to the development of more free/libre open source software.’  He uses Facebook as an example company that is contributing back modifications to memcached, software that FB uses after having it heavily modified [...]

Tags: affero, agplv3, community, fsf, gplv3

Mac OS X 10.5.6 update disables direct iPhone Pwnage jailbreak
Apple's USB engineers have confirmed off the record that it was a conscious move to prevent iPhone customers to jailbreak their phone. It's amazing the amount of disrespectful behavior that Apple manages to throw at its customers without losing their loyalty. It is really a cult, [...]

5 Tips for free software advocates
I like these tips. Most important, price is not a factor to use when advocating free software.
(tags: free+software tips advocacy)

Yesterday I went to listen to the conference where MIP, Politecnico Business School, published the results of the research about Mobile Marketing and Services. The research was based on 200 case studies, involving all the major actors of the supply chain (advertising investors, media buyers, creative agencies, telecom operators’  and service providers) and also a [...]

Tags: advertising, business, funambol, marketing, mip, mobile

Wow! As far as I know, this is the first time FSF is forced to go to court to enforce its copyright.
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) today announced that it has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Cisco. The FSF’s complaint alleges that in the course of distributing various products under the Linksys brand Cisco [...]

GPLv3 to reinforce FSF open-source license position? • The Register
Enough with FUD: GPLv3 is now the fifth most chosen license in the open-source community, used in 6,300 projects. And growing.
(tags: gplv3 fsf adoption blackduck)

Impact Mozilla
Mozilla Marketing Plans. The few I looked at contain really interesting suggestions. I haven't finished watching them though.
(tags: community mozilla firefox [...]

Last month I had the luck to listen to Muhammad Yunnus speak about leadership and change. His speech was full of inspiration and hope, his work showed that radical changes can start by questioning what we take for granted.’  Mr. Yunnus reported a dialogue with the director of a bank where he went to ask [...]

Tags: change, freedom, gnu, grameen, rms, social responsibility, stallman, vision, yunnus

Novell reports leap in Linux revenues – ZDNet.co.uk
Novell's Linux business grew by 33 percent over the fourth quarter last year, according to the company's latest financial figures. Identity and access management revenues were up 11 percent compared to the same period last year, and systems and resource management revenues climbed 15 percent.
(tags: novell business free+software+business [...]

Short answer: no, I don’t think so. But it will take lots of efforts for GPLv3 software to diffuse on handsets, too.
Longer answer. For us at Funambol it’s quite clear that not all of the Funambol clients can be distributed as binaries under the same AGPLv3 license that regulates the source. That’s because for platforms [...]

Tags: community, fsf, fud, funambol, mobile, openmoko, priority