Let’s Unlock Our Data
Today is Document Freedom Day. It is a day marked around the world for document liberation. It also highlights the importance of using open standards and open data formats for…
Recent Posts
Welcoming OSI’s new board members
The OSI board elections were held earlier this month and the board voted in a new slate of directors starting April 1st, 2010. I would like to welcome our three…
Tony Wasserman’s thoughts on joining the OSI Board
As a new member of the Board (as of 1 April), I thought that it would be useful to explain why I wanted to join the OSI Board and what…
OSI Opposes Barriers To Open Source Software For Television
The Open Source Initiative Board has added OSI to the list of organizations asking that the BBC not be allowed to add digital restriction measures to digital broadcasts in the…
The OSI Categorically Rejects IIPA’s special pleadings against Open Source
Introduction Moore’s Law, Disk Law, and Fiber Law have created an economic engine for growth, promising exponentially improving computing, storage, and networking performance for the foreseeable future. And yet according…
Time To Rebut The IIPA’s FUD Against Open Source
A recent blog posting at The Guardian about the US “Special 301” rules has generated deep concern around the global open source community. It points (via a blog posting by…
I signed the Public Domain Manifesto
You can read about it here and then decide for yourself whether to sign it as well.
Exporting Open Source from the US
If you distribute Open Source software containing encryption from the United States, you are subject to US export controls, yes. But are there any real restrictions? The only thing that…
WordPress Foundation
Yesterday Matt Mullenweg announced the establishment of the WordPress Foundation. It’s goals, among others, are “to further the mission of the WordPress open source project: to democratize publishing through Open…
Magic Lantern firmware makes Canon EOS 5D Mark II the camera Canon should have released
I love stories of user-driven innovation. Here’s one I just discovered: the Magic Lantern firmware upgrade for the Canon EOS 5D Mark II camera. Trammel Hudson tells the story of…
Open Street Map helps Haiti relief projects
This afternoon I heard this story on NPR. It’s not the first time OpenStreetMap was mentioned as an asset in the relief effort. It was also mentioned three days ago…
Sahana 2010 Haiti Disaster Relief Portal
On January 12, 2010, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti 15 miles from its capital, Port-au-Prince. On January 14th, the Sahana team, based largely in Sri Lanka, launched its Haiti…