Linux News: Business

Friday - June 19, 2009

SourceForge, a media services and e-commerce company that provides open source software downloads and development, is enjoying the best of both business worlds. It is one of the largest open source software repositories -- the SourceForge Web site has more than 30 million unique visitors per month -- and it reported more than $40 million in earnings for its last quarter, with no outstanding debt. Still, the company has no desire to rest on its laurels. Instead, it is pressing ahead with a makeover to become more useful to the open source community. [More...]

Intel Signals Diversification With Wind River Buy

Thursday - June 4, 2009

Intel said Thursday it will buy software maker Wind River Systems for $884 million in an all-cash deal that will help the world's largest computer chipmaker expand beyond the PC market. Intel said the purchase will benefit its processor and software offerings for embedded systems and mobile devices, which run the gamut from smartphones to networking equipment. [More...]

FOSS and the Labyrinthine Land of Licensing

Friday - May 29, 2009

Last December, a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued a decision that could push FOSS questions into a more litigious arena. In the matter of Jacobsen v. Katzer, the court ruled that breach of an open-source license can support a claim for copyright infringement with associated remedies. [More...]

The Curious Case of Android v. Android

Wednesday - May 6, 2009

Google's right to use the word "Android" for its mobile phone operating system is being challenged by Erich Specht, who acquired a trademark for the name "Android Data" in 2002. Google attempted to gain the right to use "Android" for its OS last year, as it happens, but the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office denied its petition due to possible product confusion. [More...]

OdioWorks Drags Apple to Court in Free Speech Battle

Tuesday - April 28, 2009

A discussion about open source technology on the tech forum site run by Virgina-based OdioWorks is pitting the defense of a First Amendment right -- namely, freedom of speech -- against enforcement of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the tech industry's legal guiding light for the past decade. [More...]

Let the IT Land Grab Begin

Monday - April 27, 2009

The reported acquisition of Sun Microsystems by Oracle makes a ton more sense than IBM's earlier failed bid. This new compact, if it succeeds, will bring as good an end to an independent Sun as the pioneering IT vendor could have hoped for at this sorry stage in its history. However, there are much larger implications in Oracle's latest super-grab than Sun's demise and assimilation. [More...]

Oracle Ropes In Sun for $7.4B

Monday - April 20, 2009

Oracle's announcement Monday that it is buying Sun Microsystems for $7.4 billion in cash has the potential to rock the hardware and software markets. Oracle expects the deal will boost its earnings considerably over the next few years. The two companies' technologies will likely mesh to make Oracle an even bigger powerhouse. [More...]

Poised to Pounce on IPO: Q&A With SugarCRM CEO John Roberts

Monday - April 20, 2009

Around the time when Software as a Service was pre-empting the on-premise vendors, SugarCRM burst onto the CRM scene with its own disruptive business mode: open source for CRM. The build-it-yourself model wasn't for everybody, of course -- or so many thought at the time. As SugarCRM continues to refine its code and product lineup, it is attracting customers that once would have opted for a packaged or SaaS product. [More...]

Open Core Debate: The Battle for a Business Model

Wednesday - April 15, 2009

Is software truly open source if you pay for additional features? Your answer may depend on whether you side with the purists or the, ah, not-so-pure. A recent trend entering the debate involves the marketing of so-called open core software. This morphed business model is not what many open source supporters consider "pure" open source. [More...]

Sun Holds Its Breath but Doesn't Turn Blue

Monday - April 6, 2009

Sun Microsystems has rejected IBM's offer to acquire it for $7 billion, a move that took the tech industry by surprise and sent Sun stock plummeting. Speculation is rampant as to why Sun Microsystems spurned the offer -- a move critics view as downright foolish in this economy -- as well as what the two companies may do next, and who else might have pockets deep enough to take IBM's place. [More...]

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