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BECTA (British Education Communication Technology Agency), is the UK agency in charge of defining IT policy for all schools in the United Kingdom. Among other things, they define standards for infrastructure for all the schools in the country.

The Free Software Foundation (FSF) will release guidelines next month defining a process for discussion and comment on the GNU GPL 3.0, eWEEK.com reports. General Counsel Eben Moglen says the FSF hopes to give the community time to "absorb the process" prior to unleashing a draft GPL 3.0 in January.

[ED: Groklaw has a great follow up to the story we posted earlier about MS threat against South Korea. PJ brings up same argument that comments on our site has voiced. This is precisely why we should not use their file format and go with Open Document Nationwide]

So, if Microsoft withdrew Windows from the Korean market, could Korean citizens in the future access their government documents saved already in Microsoft formats? Extrapolate, please, to Massachusetts. Now do you understand why the government there wants to rely only on open standards and open formats for digital documents? No matter what anyone does, if the documents are open standards/open formats, you are assured that you can always access your legacy data. Your grandchildren will be able to do so, too.

The latest version of CrossOver Office 5.0, now lets Linux users run Microsoft Office 2003, as well as earlier versions of Office and other popular productivity software such as Microsoft Visio and Internet Explorer, Intuit Inc.'s Quicken, Lotus Notes, Adobe Systems Inc.'s Photoshop and others.

After 15 years, the Free Software Foundation is just weeks away from announcing the roadmap for a rewritten GNU General Public License. Software developers and vendors are eager to know how this significant update to the license will impact the industry.

[This is an excellent article foreshadowing, not only the development process, but also some of the key issues to be addressed. The open process is in keeping with the spirit of the libre software spirit. -Ed]

Oracle is now fielding a free database.

The company on Friday posted a "freebie" version of its 10g product to the Oracle Technical Network (OTN).

Oracle Database 10g Express Edition, or XE, targets hobbyists, new database developers and others who might want to try out the technology, said Andy Mendelsohn, senior vice president of database server technologies for the Redwood Shores, Calif., company.

Black Duck Software, which provides a service for untangling the licensing legalities in using various open-source software, said last week that it would give away free access to its database through the end of 2005.

After four months of developer scrutiny, Alfresco is seeing the light of day with the general availability of the open source enterprise content management (ECM) application, officials announced Monday.

The State of Massachusetts' plan to adopt the OpenDocument file format as the standard for its office documents looks set to become the center of a political tug of war after Massachusetts's Secretary of State voiced opposition to the plan.

[Microsoft's stated grounds for objecting are, as reported here, are so obviously bogus it's pathetic. How does adding support for OpenDocument into their office suite affect anyone's backwards compatibility? -Ed]

A group of companies including PalmSource and France Telecom have set up a new forum to develop mobile Linux standards. The Linux Phone Standardization Forum (LiPS) will launch officially in mid-November and hopes to standardise the applications layer of Linux-based mobile devices.

A group of industry heavyweights have come together to develop and promote open-source storage management software.

The new group, named Aperi, from the Latin verb "to open," will include IBM, Cisco Systems, Network Appliance, Computer Associates, Brocade Communications, Fujitsu, McData and Engenio Information Technologies.

Kochi-based All Kerala Computer Manufacturers and Dealers Association (AKCMADA) is considering pushing the use of Linux OS in the state.

The rationale behind the move is the scope for higher margins and additional service in the long term that the open source software provides PC dealers. With the shift to Linux, the association is also encouraging its members to steer away from pirated software often bundled with the PCs that they sell.

P. K. Harikrishnan, president of AKCMADA, said, "Hardware margins are an area of concern, and offering pre-loaded Linux operating system would generate valuable margins. In the long run it would also enable the charge for service and support for software. We are currently addressing this as well as the legal angle of selling a PC."

Let the academy come to you, says Linux Holdings managing director, Kin le Roux. The training company is planning to offer Linux short courses at small towns in Southern Africa with their "Academy on Wheels".

GroundWork Open Source Solution is shipping an upgrade to its end-to-end IT management software based on a variety of Open Source modules, bringing to admins an easy to use UI, new configuration tools, and even middleware for data capture.

Widespread corporate adoption of Web-based applications is a sure bet for the future, and that future will also bring a more scalable and user-friendly MySQL, said MySQL AB CEO Marten Mickos.

In part two of our conversation with him, Mickos discusses those trends, as well as the pitiful state of e-mail applications today and MySQL's changing user base. In part one, he predicted that partnerships with proprietary systems and software vendors are the key to putting open source on the corporate IT map.

[Ed: This is one of the most confusing pro-open source articles I have read. Ultimately, the author gives his reasons why FOSS works. He starts off, however, saying that the major companies he had at a panel we not enthusiastic about FOSS. He named the firms and suddenly, I realized he was speaking with the wrong people. Some of those companies have made major investments in Linux. Stay cool until you finish. It's not that bad. -tadelste]

One thing is for sure... The open source movement is gaining momentum and serious technology managers are beginning to rethink how they might participate in the open source movement. So what would you say if I asked you straight up, Wwhat are you doing about open source software in your companies?''

The fourth issue of (IN)SECURE, a free digital security magazine published in PDF format, has been released.

Eric Nathanson, enterprise architect for Oakwood corporate housing, was working in an environment where management had a "certain level of suspicion" about using open source software. But Nathanson convinced his superiors that a GPLed portal package was more secure, more efficient, and much better on the budget than proprietary alternatives. "We convinced by delivering," Nathanson says.

DistroWatch reports - A new test CD image of PCLinuxOS has been released: "PCLinuxOS .92 Test 01 is available. PCLinuxOS .92 features an updated 2.6.12 kernel, hotplug has been moved to udev to provide faster boot times. The fabulous KDE has been updated to version 3.4.3. KOffice replaces Openoffice on the live CD. OpenOffice 2.0 can be installed after a hard drive install. X.Org has been updated to X.Org 6.9cvs. Approximately 400 package update brings PCLinuxOS .92 up to date with the latest open source applications....

OSDir has some nice shots of the slick PCLinuxOS .92 Test 1.

Microsoft's business practices get it in trouble again, as the S. Korea Fair Trade Commission continues its investigation of Microsoft. Faced with the possibility of unbundling some trinkets, Microsoft is threatening to pull Windows from the S. Korean market. Sure they will. Linux news? Not strictly, but useful knowledge for Linux consultants or others who may sell against Microsoft.