Microsoft Forces Shutdown of Autopatcher 290
kaufmanmoore writes "Posts on Neowin and Autopatcher's site announce Microsoft has forced the closure of the Autopatcher download section. Details are scarce as to the exact reason for the take down after over 4 years of availability, but an official from Microsoft legal says that it has nothing to do with Windows Genuine Advantage. Goodbye to another useful tool that helped sysadmins apply Microsoft's numerous patches."
Submission + - SugarCRM goes GPLv3 (linuxworld.com)
dmarti writes: "SugarCRM is to adopt GPLv3 for the next release of its CRM software after coming under pressure from its user community to move away from its own alomst-open-source Sugar Public License."
Bookmark User pressure leads SugarCRM to adopt GPLv3 - LinuxWorld (linuxworld.com)
German Court Convicts Skype For Breaching GPL 309
terber writes "A German court has once again upheld the GPLv2 and convicted Skype (based in Luxembourg) of violating the GPL by selling the Linux-based VoIP phone 'SMCWSKP 100' without proper source code access. (Original is in German, link is a Google translation.) Skype later added a flyer to the phones' packaging giving a URL where the sources could be obtained; but the court found this insufficient and in breach of GPL section 3. The plaintiff was once again Netfilter developer Harald Welte, who runs gpl-violations.org. The decision is available in German at www.ifross.de (Google translation here)."
Submission + - Samba goes GPLv3: Jeremy Allison (linuxworld.com)
dmarti writes: "The software that enables Linux to act as a Windows file and print server is adopting the Free Software Foundation's new license. What will be the impact on users, distributors, and appliance vendors? Samba maintainer Jeremy Allison answers, in a podcast interview."
Bookmark Samba goes GPLv3: Jeremy Allison (linuxworld.com)
eBay May Lose 'Buy it Now' Button in Patent Case 177
Spamicles writes "A judge has delayed his ruling on the eBay patent infringement case. eBay has been involved in a legal dispute over the use of its popular "Buy it Now" button, which allows consumers to skip the bidding and purchase items on eBay directly. The patent suit was filed six years ago by MercExchange L.L.C. In May of 2003, a jury ruled in MercExchange's favor finding that eBay did in fact infringe on the patent, but in 2005 the US Supreme Court ruled that MercExchange was not automatically entitled to a court order blocking the offending service, essentially handing a victory down to patent reform advocates. However, the ruling by the Supreme Court does not affect the final judgment of the court."
Submission + - Linux developers outline tech gaps (linuxworld.com)
dmarti writes: "Linus Torvalds, Andrew Morton, and Jonathan Corbet talk about core kernel areas needing significant development work, including the filesystem, power management, and instrumentation. "Many people would like for the driver to also use power efficiently, and handle suspend/resume well, but it's definitely a secondary concern to 'working'," Linus says."
