NEWSUPDATES ON TECHNOLOGIES, TRENDS, AND TOOLS THIS MONTH'S NEWS Defense as an Offense 09 • Defensive Patent License Shields Against Infringement Suits The Shape of Things to Come .... 10 • European Commission Sets Digital Agenda • Google Fleshes Out Details for Android 2.2 Two Become One 11 • MeeGo 1.0 Software Platform for This Month Netbooks Announced On June 7 Apple revealed (or re-revealed, if you follow Gizmodo) the iPhone 4. The new iPhone features a front-facing camera, true multitask- Thanks for Sharing ing, a high res display and the ability to shoot video in 720p. And An- 12 • uTorrent uTP Protocol Goes Open droid users everywhere said, “So what?” Source All of the features mentioned above are already available on Android- • Initial Web 2.0 Lineup Announced based smartphones such as HTC’s Evo 4G. What’s more, Android 2.2 ushers in features currently unavailable in iOS, the operating system In the Channel: Selected Distros that powers Apple's mobile devices. In 2.2 it’s possible to enable any 14 • Linux Mint 9 phone running the OS as a hotspot, send Android intents from a desktop • Qimo 2.0 Web browser to a mobile device, and fully explore Flash-based sites • Peppermint 1.0 without restriction. All of these functions are available to developers. Android is literally rooted in open source because it’s based on the Linux kernel, but past that, it provides users the freedom of choice, a tenant of open source since the beginning. Android-powered phones are avail- able on multiple carriers and at multiple price points and performance levels. The user interface is customizable and carrier specific, and MORE NEWS ONLINE Google’s willingness to open API calls to not just apps, but mobile sites from within the browser, is noteworthy. Mozilla Evangelist Mocks Apple According to data introduced at the Google I/ O keynote, more than 60 http://www.linuxpromagazine.com/On- Android devices are on the market with an average of 100,000 activa- line/News/Mozilla-Evangelist-Comments- tions occurring daily. This is huge. People all over the country and the on-Apple-s-Recent-HTML5-Demos world are using open source technology every time they make a phone UK Non-Profit Aims to Reduce Linux call, every time they use an app, and the fact that many of these people Fragmentation do so having never even heard of the concept of open source says a lot http://www.linuxpromagazine.com/On- about the reliability and functionality of the operating system. line/News/UK-Non-profit-Aims-to-Re- Jim Zemlin, executive director of the Linux Foundation put it best in a duce-Embedded-Linux-Fragmentation- piece he wrote for Bloomberg Businessweek: on-ARM-Devices “Apple has set a high bar, no doubt. But if you don’t believe Linux can WebM Enters the Firefox Trunk beat an entrenched market leader, just ask the folks who used to run http://www.linuxpromagazine.com/Online/ Sun.” News/WebM-Enters-the-Firefox-Trunk 8 AUGUST 2010 ISSUE 117 LINUX-MAGAZINE.COM | LINUXPROMAGAZINE.COM NEWS Linux News Defensive Patent License Shields against Infringement Suits NEWS BITES University of California Berkeley law professors Jason Schultz and Jennifer Red Hat Chairman to Step Urban may have found a way to shield open source developers successfully Down in August from project-killing patent infringement lawsuits. The catch is that their solu- Chairman and former CEO of Red tion requires the FOSS community to file patents. Hat Matthew J. Szulik has submitted Schultz and Urban’s solution, the Defensive Patent License, requires a group his resignation to the board of direc- of copyright owners that dedicate their patents solely to defensive purposes. tors and will leave the company ef- Much like the GPL, a standardized license is distributed within the group. fective August 12. “There are people inventing things in FOSS projects all the time that are po- “I am at a stage in my life when I tentially patentable. But there are a number of reasons why people aren’t pat- would like to have more time and en- enting anything, generally, in the FOSS world. Some places are, but very few – ergy available to devote to my family and usually they’re the giant companies, so it’s the IBMs and the Novells of and some of my personal interests the world who are sort of doing the patenting, not the actual developers in the outside of Red Hat,” Szulik said in his projects or an individual or smaller scale,” said Schultz. resignation letter that was submitted Generally, members of the FOSS community don't just oppose patenting, to the SEC on May 26. many would like to see software patents abolished altogether. But FOSS members like Florian Mueller, founder of NoSoftwarePatents.com, are begin- Most of the Fastest Run ning to come around to the idea. Linux "I see the Defensive Patent License as a vehicle that could make active patent- The biannual list of the fastest super- ing a choice that is ethical and in the community's best interest," Mueller said. computers in the world was released Anyone actively patenting can sign up to volunteer their patents under the De- at the beginning of June and, unsur- fensive Patent License (DPL), under the condition that all patents are submit- prisingly, the vast majority (455/ 500, ted to the defensive patent portfolio. or 91%) run some form of the Linux Once that initial commitment is made, members of the DPL have access to all operating system. The Linux Founda- the other patents volunteered by existing members. The license is free, recog- tion’s Amanda McPherson discussed nized worldwide, and doesn’t need to be actively renewed. the positive effect this statistic has on Group members can use all patents within the portfolio royalty-free as long as end users by citing that any improve- they don’t file an offensive lawsuit or withdraw any of their own patents from ments to Linux made by one of the the portfolio. supercomputer manufacturers was This ties in with the biggest point of the DPL: Members of a patent portfolio poured back into the kernel. must agree that the patents are being filed expressly for defensive purposes; “Just remember that today’s desk- no money is to be made from licenses or offensive suits. top PC was considered a supercom- "Supporting the DPL would also be a strong political statement because puter not long ago.” someone who does so sends out a clear message that he'd rather get rid of patents in the industry altogether," Mueller said. Smokescreen Turns Flash Defensive patenting allows a developer to hold their patented work in reserve, into JavaScript providing much-needed ammunition in case of an infringement suit. Essen- As the war between Flash and tially, defensive patents deter infringement claims for fear of countersuits. HTML5 wages on, developers are If a member of the DPL were sued by someone outside of the community, he finding all kinds of workarounds to or she could defend themselves and countersue with the full force of their pat- get Flash-based advertising content ents. And, although it hasn’t been officially decided yet, Schultz is against giv- onto the slew of mobile devices that ing a member of the DPL access to not just their patents but to the sum total of can’t, or in some cases won’t, sup- all of the patents offered by the license during litigation. port Adobe’s format. Chris Smoak’s Startups and open source developers often forgo patents in favor of copy- Smokescreen skips the Flash plugin rights. Schultz cites three reasons for patent aversion: cost, skepticism, and and instead uses JavaScript and ideological disharmony. The DPL addresses these issues by emulating open HTML5 to decode the media. source ideas, such as the GPL, as well as the FOSS community’s ideology. This is great news for banner ads, "The all-or-nothing approach is an important and unique feature of the DPL," but for those of us looking forward Mueller said. to watching Hulu at the gym, Schultz and Urban have yet to finalize the DPL, but expect to make a full an- Smokescreen is more than lacking. nouncement soon. “What we’ve heard is that people continue to worry about To remedy this, Smokescreen is patents in open source and free software and that this is not going away. Un- going open source later this month. less we get some incredible ruling from the supreme court or some other kind For previews and news on Smoke- of other miracle answer, patents in software are here to stay. And, ‘How do we screen, head over to http:// deal with this growing reality?‘ is a real, serious question." smokescreen. us/. LINUX-MAGAZINE.COM | LINUXPROMAGAZINE.COM ISSUE 117 AUGUST 2010 9 NEWS Linux News The European Commission Sets Digital Agenda The European Commission announced software, products, and services 5. Increase ICT research and innova- the Digital Agenda for Europe, a long- open. tion. The European Commission term plan to boost economic growth 3. Improved trust through enhanced plans to accomplish this goal and extend benefits of the digital age security. This step requires better co- through investments from both pri- to every person in Europe. The Digital ordination between European re- vate capital and European regional Agenda contains seven goals to sponse to cyber attacks and im- funding. achieve: proved personal data protection. 6. Educate all Europeans on how to use 1. Create “The Single Market,” which This step might require websites to and access online services.