A Good Foundation for 2009

If I had to pinpoint major open source trends in 2008, one of them would be the rise in the foundation as a major force in free software. The best-known examples of these are probably the Mozilla Foundation and GNOME Foundation, both of which have expanded their ambitions recently. Here's what each has to say about its aims...

On Open Enterprise blog.

Getting a Handle on EU OSS

Rather pathetically for someone based in an island lying but a few dozens of kilometres off the continent, I am conscious of the fact that I don't write enough about the open goings-on in Europe. Matthew Aslett's excellent European Tour - by far the best round-up of OSS activity in Europe around - goes a long way to filling this need, but it's (presumably) something of a one-off.

What we need is more info from Over There on a regular basis, from someone who's well plugged into that scene. I find that Roberto Galoppini's postings on this topic are really helpful here, and definitely worth keeping an eye on if you're interested in what those funny people East of Dover are up to.

Badgeware Comes in from the Cold

Has badgeware - software whose licences requires attribution to be displayed in all copies - gone legit? Roberto Galoppini seems to think so:

Badgeware is not only OSI approved, but it is also endorsed by the Free Software Foundation now, with its flagship license. The debate is over.

Where Are With Open Source in Europe?

Given its non-standard nature, free software is particularly hard to pin down in terms of the bare facts about its development and deployment. But this post from Roberto Galoppini does a useful job of pulling together linnks to various stories and studies about open source in Europe that provide a few pointers.