Older blog entries for mpawlo (starting at number 31)

Got slashdotted today. It was quite surprising while I personally submitted the same link about two and a half months ago. Anyway - I think it is good that the discussion on public procurement and open code gets going in a larger forum.

Today Financial Times ran an article on the GNU GPL. I was quoted (scroll towards the end). There is a lot of standard Microsoft FUD in the article, but also good statements by Marten Mikkos, the CEO of MySQL, and Eben Moglen, counsel for Free Software Foundation.

Newsforge is currently running my column Encouraging open code in public procurement policies. This could be the most important issue when it comes to the success of open code. However, you may not agree with me regarding the suggested solution to the "problem". Some argue that public money should always mean open code. I think one should choose the best solution at all times defined by a combination of price, performance, security, license terms, time of delivery, and quality. Sometimes this will mean a free software solution, sometimes open source and then again - sometimes proprietary solutions. The problem today is that open code doesn't stand a chance because of standard issues and the design of public procurement. Read the column for more thoughts no this important matter.

Steve Mallet: There is - in my opinion - a much better Swedish translation made by Patrik Wallstrom and Magnus Ihse, available at Gnuheter. In the Ihse and Wallstrom translation the annotations are included and I also consider the Swedish language better in their translation.

Jmallet: Congratulations on your registration of flata.nu. If you ever build a website I guess you will get some confused visitors from Sweden while "flata" is slang for lesbian in Swedish .-)

Drafted a follow-up to a column published by Newsforge. The first column didn't really work according to the response from the readers. Only thumbs down. Maybe I need to work on my arguments, maybe I need to study Strunk and White more carefully, maybe both .-)

Anyway - follow-up column on "lagom" copyright now drafted.

Any comments, through diary entries or email, is very much appreciated. Those sent before publication are most valuable to me .-)

New column, The case for "lagom" copyright. Not yet published.

First column, The passport to open code. Published by Newsforge December 28, 2001.

Couldn't sleep yesterday. Stayed up til 2 am and wrote an editorial column for Newsforge. I sent it to Robin "Roblimo" Miller and the staff of Newsforge, but I don't know if they will publish it. Here is a little preview for Advogato diary readers:

Column submitted to Newsforge, not yet published.

Bagder published an interesting take at the O'Reilly Network on how to choose license when developing software. According to authors Bjørn Reese and Daniel "Bagder" Stenberg it's possible to be a supporter of open source and not be a fan of copyleft and the GNU General Public License.

Read the article.

Here is something for everyone interested in legal issues:

"As a followup to a free software law summit hosted by Bruce Perens of HP September, 2001, a mailing list to address issues of free software legal issues has been created."

Read all about it at LWN.

Finally, a christmas treat for all Lessig fans. Slashdot has just published the answers to the readers' questions to professor Lessig.

Season's greetings

Mikael

Jonas: Thanks for answering the questions.

Everyone: Read the great Gnuheter interview with Jonas Oberg, vice president of FSF Europe and webmaster of Gnu.org.

Yeah, I know it's in Swedish, and all of Gnuheter is. I guess you should convince Altavista to do a Bablefish that can handle Swedish!

Rusty: You really shoudl seize the opportunity and only open K5 to paying subscribers. You will never get a better chance than this to make your work worthwhile. I am reluctant to pay to participate, nevertheless I would do it just to access K5 now. We are all starving .-)

Jonas: I sent you some interview questions for Gnuheter. I hope you can find the time answering them.

Mikael