A roundup summarising important developments pertaining to software patents. A LOT has happened since the last post regarding software patents. Here are some reports and developments to be aware of.

Being 39 years of age, Linus Torvalds was born on the 28th of December 1969 in Helsinki, Finland. Though the fact that he graduated the Helsinki University with a Master's degree in computer science may not seem very interesting, you should know that the University's decision to hold a UNIX course during his years there was one of the things that led to the creation of Linux.

As you may already know, managing software in Debian is done through tools like Synaptic and apt-get. These are called packages and are (mostly) freely available on the internet. Linux software packages are held on online libraries called repositories.

In keeping with our theme of free stuff (see Embedded Technology Journal, January 27, 2009) we proudly chronicle the newest free alternative for embedded developers: a free Linux-compatible microprocessor. Never has so much been offered to so many for so little. Or something like that.

This is the text of the Open Cloud Manifesto - it came from someone who disagrees with its sentiments.

Maybe there are shades of the Aperi process here with companies feeling they are being bulldozed into signing something they haven't had a hand in developing?

Reading Prof. Felten's post on "DRM in Retreat" earlier this year might have led one to believe that DRM was getting ready to take a long walk off a short pier wearing concrete shoes. However, the DRM town hall meeting hosted by the Federal Trade Commission this week in Seattle quickly disabused all in attendance of such a notion.

The beauty of the GPL, as any accomplished software developer will recognize, is that like a piece of elegantly written code, it has a simplicity and transparency all of its own. The license fulfils its demanding objective, of protecting and promoting the principles of free software, without ambiguity or compromise, and as such, is unlikely to fade away.

Martin Owens, the leader of the Ubuntu Massachusetts Local Community (LoCo) Team and general guru for things GNU/Linux, has published a delightful little book (currently in draft form) that explains the concept of Free and Open Source Software. Available in PDF form as well as in the SVG source files, the 22-page book should be part of every FOSS supporter’s library.