Issue 18/2011 http://www.oss-watch.ac.uk/newsletters/january2011.pdf January Supporting open source in education and research http://www.oss-watch.ac.uk elcometoourfirstnewsletterof2011.Inthisissue,we WbringyouanarticlebyRowanWilsononopensource In thIs Issue: developmentasitrelatestothemobiledeviceworld.Rowan alsobringsusablogpieceexaminingthenewsthat882 Appstoresandopenness patentsbelongingtoNovellhavebeensoldontoCPTN HoldingwiththeacquisitionofNovellbyAttachmate.Our TheNovelldeal secondblogpiececomesfromRossGardler,whodiscusses theJavaCommunityProcessandexaminestheimpactof TheJCPisdeadtome, Oracle’sacquisitionofSunfromaverypersonalperspective. longliveJava Wehopeyouenjoyreadingournewsletter.Asever,allcomments FAQs [email protected]. ElenaBlanco,ContentEditor,[email protected] stay up-to-date Onlinenewsletteravailableat: News from OSS Watch OSSWatchnewsfeed http://www.oss-watch.ac.uk/rss/osswatchnews.rss http://www.oss-watch.ac.uk/ newsletters/january2011.pdf LinuxFoundationpublishesannualreportonwho TheApacheSoftwareFoundationlaunches codesthekernel ‘ApacheExtras’toaccelerateinnovation TheLinuxFoundationhaspublisheditsannualreport TheApacheSoftwareFoundation(ASF)hasannounced onLinuxkerneldevelopment.Thereportdetails apache-extras.org,theGoogle-hostedsiteforcode whodoestheworkandhowfasttheLinuxkernelis associatedwithApacheprojectsthatarenotpartof growing.ItalsoreportsonwhosponsorstheLinux thefoundation’smorethan80top-levelprojectsand kernelandwhilstthetraditionalLinuxsupportersare dozensofinitiativesintheApacheIncubatorandLabs. stillpresenttherehasbeenanoticeableincreasein http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-apache-software-foundation- thenumberofsponsorsfromthemobileand launches-apache-extras-to-accelerate-innovation-111844094.html embeddedsectors. ASFresignsfromJCPExecutiveCommittee http://www.linuxfoundation.org/news-media/blogs/browse/2010/12/our- annual-kernel-development-report-new-and-old-faces TheApacheSoftwareFoundationhasresigneditsseat ontheJavaSE/EEExecutiveCommittee.Apachehas TheDocumentFoundationjoinsOpenInvention servedontheECforthepast10years,winningthe Network JCP‘MemberoftheYear’awardfourtimes,andwas TheDocumentFoundationhasjoinedtheOpen recentlyratifiedforanothertermwithsupportfrom InventionNetwork(OIN),tofurtherextendthefree 95%ofthevotingcommunity. softwareecosystems.Bybecomingalicensee, https://blogs.apache.org/foundation/entry/the_asf_resigns_from_the TheDocumentFoundation-developerofLibreOffice, afreeofficesuiteforpersonalandcorporate GoogleWaveacceptedintoApacheIncubator productivity-hasjoinedthegrowinglistof TheApacheSoftwareFoundation(ASF)hasannounced OSSWatchonline organizationsthatrecognizetheimportanceof thatGoogle’sWavecommunicationplatformhas participatingintheOpenInventionNetwork,inorder beenacceptedintotheApacheIncubator.Aproposal toprotectthefreesoftwareecosystemfromtherisks tomigrateportionsofthecodebasetotheASFwas OSSWatchblog associatedwithsoftwarepatents. postedtotheApacheIncubatorwikiinNovember http://blog.documentfoundation.org/2010/12/20/the-document- byGoogleandNovellemployees,aswellasseveral ContactOSSWatch foundation-joins-open-invention-network/ independentdevelopers.TheApacheIncubatoris theplacewherepotentialfutureApacheprojectscan MyriadGroupsuesOracleAmericaoverJava OSSWatchtwitter besubmittedtotheopensourceorganisationfor licensing consideration. MyriadGroupAG,aSwisssoftwaredeveloper,has http://www.h-online.com/open/news/item/Google-Wave-accepted-into- OSSWatchisfundedbythe suedanOracleCorp.unitintheUSforatleast$120 Apache-Incubator-1147935.html JointInformation million.Accordingtothecomplaint,OracleAmericahas SystemsCommittee madeMyriadpayfortheJavaprogramminglanguage on‘unfair,unreasonableanddiscriminatoryroyalty- basedterms’. http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-12-13/myriad-group-sues- oracle-america-over-java-licensing.html OSSWatchonline OSSWatchblog ContactOSSWatch OSSWatchtwitter http://www.oss-watch.ac.uk http://osswatch.jiscinvolve.org [email protected] http://twitter.com/osswatch OSSWatch,ResearchTechnologiesService,OxfordUniversityComputingServices,13BanburyRoad,OxfordOX26NN,[email protected] ©2007-2011UniversityofOxford.CreativeCommonsAttribution-ShareAlike2.0England&Waleslicence Appstoresandopenness Fullarticlecanbefoundathttp://www.oss-watch.ac.uk/resources/appstores.xml Asmobiledevicesbecomemorecomplexandmore itinawebapplication–essentiallyawebsitewithactive Blog popular,educationalinstitutionsareunderincreasing elementsembodiedinJavascriptthatwouldbeviewed pressuretocreatesoftwareandmobilewebcontent viathephone’sbuilt-inwebbrowser. thathelpstheirstudentsandstaffgettheinformation Within18monthsofthephone’slaunch,Applehad andfunctionalitytheyneed,onthemove.AtOSSWatch, reviseditsstrategy,releasedasoftwaredevelopment wehaveseenmoreandmorerequestsforinformation kittothird-partydevelopersandlaunchedaunified ondevelopingopensourcesoftwaresolutionsfor distributioncentreforallapplicationsontheirplatform: mobileplatforms.Thisdocumentexplainssomeofthe theso-called‘AppStore’.Withasmallexception(a generalcontextandissuesaroundmobileopensource separateschemeforbusinessesthatwishedtodistribute development,andindoingsodiscussessomemore theirownprivateapplicationstoaprivategroupof generaltrendsinhowsoftwareisdistributed. handsets),theAppStorewastheonlywaythird-party developerscouldgettheirsoftwareontotheiPhone. 1.Mobilemarcheson ThisconcepthasbeenextremelysuccessfulforApple, ‘Smartphones’andpersonaldigitalassistantshavebeen withover300,000applicationsavailableafterjustover aroundinoneformoranotherformanyyears.Formost twoyears.ItfeaturesveryheavilyinApple’sadvertising, ofthattime,however, andisnowbeing theyhavebeenthe replicatedbyotherdevice exclusivepreserveof manufacturershopeful technologyhobbyists, By being essentially the only way to thattheycanmatch ITprofessionalsand get third-party software onto your itssuccess.Infact,the businessexecutives. modelitselfwasnot Thishaspartlybeen iPhone, the App Store ensured that it reallynovel:smartphone becausethetechnology would gain a large body of software softwareportalslike hasbeenrelatively and a large amount of user attention. Handangohadbeen expensive,butalso fulfillingasimilar becausetheirappeal functionformanyyears, hasbeenlimitedbytheir whiletheunifiedsoftware perceivedcomplexityof repositoriesrunforLinux operation.Foralongtime,mainstreamacceptancewas distributionslikeDebianandMaemo(nowMeeGo)had alsohamperedbytherelativelysmalladditionalbenefit manyofthecharacteristicsofApple’sAppStore.What thatanaverageuserwouldrealiseoveramorelimited theseforerunnersdidnothave,however,wastheelement mobilephoneorevenafilofax. ofcompulsion.Theywereconvenientsourcesofsoftware, JANUARY butausercouldalwaysseektheirsoftwareelsewhere,or Inrecentyears,however,theballooningpopularityof Blog theweband,inparticular,socialwebapplicationslike indeedcreateandinstallitthemselveswithoutconsulting FacebookandTwitter,hasmassivelyincreasedthe anyexternalauthority.Bybeingessentiallytheonlywayto generalpublic’sappetiteformobileinternetconnectivity getthird-partysoftwareontoyouriPhone,theAppStore andapplications.Developmentsininterfacedesign ensuredthatitwouldgainalargebodyofsoftwareanda andsimplificationhavealsohelpedsmartphones–and largeamountofuserattention. morerecentlytablet-basedcomputers–breakintothe mainstream.PhoneoperatingsystemslikeGoogle’s 3.Mediatedandcurated AndroidandApple’siOShavemadeconsumersexpect ThisapproachhasnotonlyworkedwellforApple,but simplecompellinginterfacestousefulfunctionalityand hasalsoserveditsuserswellinsomeways.While data. earliersmartphoneuserswouldhavetocombtheweb Overthesameperiod,educationalestablishmentshave forsoftwarethatranontheirdevices–andtakesome beenworkinghardtomaketheirdataandsystems risksastoitssecurityandfunctionality–Apple’scurated OSSWatchonline accessibleoverthewebfortheconvenienceoftheirstaff softwareservicemakestheprocesseasierandless andstudents.Itmakessensefortheseestablishmentsto risky.However,forproponentsoffreeandopensource extendthisefforttoaccommodatethegrowingnumber software,thisgatheringofthemeansofdistributioninto OSSWatchblog ofuserswhoarecomingtothemviamobilecomputing thehandsofasingleentityistroubling,andposesa devices,butthereare,unfortunately,somecomplications. genuinethreattotheidealofafree,unmediatedsharing ContactOSSWatch ofsoftwarebetweenusers. 2.Theriseoftheappstore Inordertoenforcethecontrolsthatdefinethismodel, OSSWatchtwitter Partofthedrivetomakesmartphonesandtabletseasier Applecompelsbothdevelopersandenduserstoenter tousewasaunificationofthemeansofdistributing intocontractualarrangementswiththemiftheywish applications.WhentheiPhonelaunchedinearly2007,its tomakeuseoftheAppStore.Thesecontractsplace OSSWatchisfundedbythe responsibilitiesonthedevelopersanduserstonotdo JointInformation manufacturer,Apple,initiallyrejectedtheideathatthird- partysoftwaredeveloperswouldbeallowedtoruntheir thingsthatbreakthemodel.Forexample,userscannot SystemsCommittee ownsoftwareonthephone.Nosoftwaredevelopmentkit redistributethesoftwaretheyreceive–whetheritcosts wasdistributed,andinsteaddeveloperswhowantedto moneyornot–anddevelopersmustusetheAppStoreas gettheirfunctionalityontothedeviceweretoldtoembody theironlypointofdistribution. Articlecontinuesathttp://www.oss-watch.ac.uk/resources/appstores.xml OSSWatchonline OSSWatchblog ContactOSSWatch OSSWatchtwitter http://www.oss-watch.ac.uk http://osswatch.jiscinvolve.org [email protected] http://twitter.com/osswatch OSSWatch,ResearchTechnologiesService,OxfordUniversityComputingServices,13BanburyRoad,OxfordOX26NN,[email protected]