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Although the GPL is considered the most widely used license in open source projects today, plenty of commercial open source projects choose to use a Mozilla Public License (MPL) variant instead. Open source enterprise content management firm Alfresco used to be one such commercial vendor. But as of today, Alfresco is moving from an MPL license to the GPL.

One of the good things about OpenOffice.org is its ability to use different database engines. Just give it the right driver, and OpenOffice.org can connect to virtually any database system, including MySQL. However, deciding what database driver to use and configuring a connection between MySQL and OpenOffice.org can be a bit tricky. Let's walk through the process.

Alcatel-Lucent isn't the only winner in a federal jury's $1.52 billion patent infringement award against Microsoft this week. Other beneficiaries are the many rivals to the MP3 audio-compression format.

LXer Feature: 24-Feb-2007

When Eric Raymond sent off an e-mail complaining about the Fedora project and distribution, some suspected his action was motivated by his conflicting values, with respect to including non-free multimedia codecs in Fedora Core, and that there might be some connection to his work with Linspire. Linspire's CEO Kevin Carmony posted a comment on LXer's forum to clarify the unilateral nature of Raymond's mail.

It's no secret that Linus Torvalds, Linux's founder, dislikes the GNOME desktop. In 2005, for example, Torvalds posted on the GNOME-usability list that "I personally just encourage people to switch to KDE."

The KDE project announces the availability of the third development snapshot of the upcoming KDE 4. This snapshot is meant as a reference for developers who want to play with parts of the new technology KDE 4 will provide, those who want to start porting their applications to the new KDE 4 platform and for those that want to start to develop applications based on KDE 4. This snapshot is not for end users, there is no guarantee that it will be stable, the interfaces are subject to changes at any time.

With the introduction of the Tux/Stick, the company offers customers a solution to connect her notebook of secure ways with different networks by using special communication profiles. To cover those Ad-hoc connections and to simplify the configuration SSV Embedded Systems has developed a new Linux-based micro computer. This tiny system called Tux/Stick comes in the case of a USB stick and works as a gateway between a host PC and different networks.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Microsoft v. AT&T concerning liability for patent infringement for the distribution of software outside of the United States. Although the case is officially about arcane details of a 1984 revision to patent law, the decision could have broader significance if it helps to shed light on the patentability of software, a question the Supreme Court hasn't addressed in a quarter century.

"The more I think about it, the more I am concerned that the "World Domination 201" plan at work here is more about the domination of a yet another mixed operating system and not the world domination of software freedom."

To support more than 650,000 villages and one half billion youths who need education, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) created a nonprofit organization called Shiksha India in 2001. One of Shiksha's primary initiatives was the creation of a collaborative online Web portal, which the president of India launched in a formal ceremony last month. The new e-learning and collaboration portal uses open source technology such as Moodle, Drupal, and MediaWiki.

his article allows you to combine the power of regular expressions with the grep tool to create your own custom LDAP search.

Open source vendor Novell has asserted that there is no truth in speculations of it losing out on the General Public License (GPL) to sell Linux operating system software. Following Novell's collaboration with software giant Microsoft to provide customers choice and flexibility through improved interoperability and manageability between Linux and Windows, rumors were ripe in the industry about the Free Software Foundation (FSF) reviewing Novell's right to sell new versions of Linux software.

Japan's Turbolinux Inc. today begins dispatching the first batch of its Wizpy handhelds to people who ordered them from its Web site. The flash-based multimedia player contains a version of Linux, so it can be used to boot a PC into the operating system, allowing users to access their files in their own working environment on almost any PC.

The National Open Centre (NOC) holds its official launch, hosted by John Hemming MP, in the Houses of Parliament on the 26th February 2007. Nearly 100 individuals from the ICT industry: small business, multi-nationals, proprietary and the open source community, public sector, education and the media have accepted the invitation to this landmark launch.

The Tucson Amateur Packet Radio (TAPR) organization is sponsoring a new open-source license intended for hardware components. Authored by lawyer John Ackermann, the Open Hardware License (OHL) is a share-alike license that developers can apply to documentation and schematics associated with hardware projects. The license stipulates that those who distribute products based on OHL-licensed hardware specifications may not file patent infringement lawsuits against others who use the same hardware specifications.

The Fedora Project Board met this week to discuss issues surrounding the upcoming release of Fedora 7 (F7). Though originally scheduled for release on April 26, that date has now been moved back to May 24, dashing the development team's plan to debut the final release at this year's Red Hat Summit. One thing that Summit attendees will see, though, is the artwork that has been selected as Fedora 7's new theme.

Vine Linux has been updated to version 4.1. This is a minor update consisting mainly of security and bug fixes that have surfaced since the release of version 4.0 exactly three months ago. The latest version of the distribution uses kernel 2.6.16.36 with wireless networking support and hibernate functionality. It also includes GNOME 2.14 desktop, Firefox 2.0.0.1 web browser, Anthy and SCIM Japanese input method, VL Gothic Japanese fonts, Totem and BMP media players, X.Org 6.9.0, a number of server components, and a graphical installer with hardware auto-detection and several new features. Screenshots of Vine 4.1 are available at LinuxQuestions.org.

If you've ever downloaded a widget for your UNIX system, you've already met TAR, the Tape ARchive format that is commonly used in UNIX for packaging multiple files together for easy distribution. This format is popular not only because the tools to create it exist on all UNIX systems, but also because it's particularly good at preserving the directory structure, permissions, and user and group information of the files it archives.

Release-critical Bugreport for February 23, 2007

This release improves user-friendliness introducing Xfce-4.4 as the new default desktop, customized for the scheme of interaction that is familiar to dyne:bolic users. Another important new feature is the ability to create an encrypted nest to prevent access to personal data stored in home directories. No complicated notions are required, our user friendly setup deals with usb and harddisk storages as usual, in case the nest is encrypted you'll see your home icon upgraded to fortress, then everything that goes in your nest is protected. Screenshots of dyne:bolic 2.4 are available at LinuxQuestions.org.