The Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC), a non-profit that provides infrastructure support for free and open source software projects, is urging developers to stop using GitHub and move their projects to other platforms. The organization has historically had a number of public grievances with GitHub, which it outlines on its Give Up On GitHub site. GitHub’s public launch of Copilot last week was the final …
Stockfish Contributors Sue ChessBase for GPL Violations
image credit: Sebastian Voortman A legal reckoning is brewing in the world of open source chess engines. Stockfish, a GPL-licensed chess engine widely recognized as one of the strongest in the world, has filed a lawsuit against ChessBase. The German-based company makes and sells chess software that relies heavily on the Stockfish engine, maintains a prominent chess news site, and …
GNU Project Maintainers Move to Oust Richard Stallman from Leadership
GNU Project maintainers are working to oust Richard Stallman from his position as head of the organization. In a joint statement published yesterday morning, a collection of 22 GNU maintainers and developers thanked Stallman for his work and declared that he can no longer represent the project: We, the undersigned GNU maintainers and developers, owe a debt of gratitude to …
GPL Author Richard Stallman Resigns from Free Software Foundation
Richard Stallman, free software movement activist and originator of the “copyleft” concept, has resigned from his position as director of the board and president of the Free Software Foundation (FSF), which he established in 1985. This resignation comes on the heels of his resignation from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL) after remarks he made regarding a 17-year …
Why is WordPress Free? Who Pays For It? How Much Does It Cost?
Millennia ago, a cool compassionate dude took a few loaves of bread and fish and multiplied them to feed thousands of hungry folks. Or so the myth/belief goes, depending on how you view it. Almost 2 thousand years later, humans would invent technology that would pretty much allow the same: Code. So, “what does this have to do with WordPress?” …
New GPL-licensed Quirk App Open Sources Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Quirk is a new GPL-licensed Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) app for iOS and Android built in React Native/Expo. The app helps users challenge their “automatic thoughts,” a term that refers to thoughts that come to a person spontaneously in response to a trigger, which can often be negative. Quirk lets users record a quick thought and will automatically narrow down …
CoKinetic Systems Pursues $100 Million GPL License Violation Case Against Panasonic Avionics
photo credit: Paper Plane – (license) Open source software has made its way into nearly every industry, but a recent open source security and risk analysis shows widespread license compliance risks, with 75% of the audited applications including GPL license conflicts. Although most violations are unintentional, there are some cases where companies do not comply with the license in order …
Mullenweg Takes Aim at Wix over GPL Abuses, Wix Response Fails to Address Licensing Issue
Over the weekend WordPress co-creator and Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg called out Wix for copying GPL code from the WordPress mobile app and distributing it in its proprietary app. He identified two repositories that Wix forked in order to bring the GPL-licensed WordPress Rich Text Editor into its app. “If I were being charitable, I’d say, ‘The app’s editor is …
In Case You Missed It – Issue 16
photo credit: Night Moves – (license) There’s a lot of great WordPress content published in the community but not all of it is featured on the Tavern. This post is an assortment of items related to WordPress that caught my eye but didn’t make it into a full post. Four Great How-to Videos From Bob Dunn Bob Dunn, founder of …