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.
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:
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."
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
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!
New HTML Parser: The long-awaited libxml2 based HTML parser code is live. It needs further work but already handles most markup better than the original parser.
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