The Free Software Foundation tightens the GPL

The Free Software Foundation (FSF) has published the third draft of the third version of the GNU General Public License (GPL), which now includes provisions to outlaw agreements similar to the patent deal agreed by Novell and Microsoft. In that agreement, Novell and Microsoft agreed to hold each others' customers harmless to any patent claims from either side. However, the open-source community saw this as a sneaky move from Microsoft to imply that Linux-based operating systems did infringe its intellectual property and a cheap way to sidestep the patent provisions of the GPL. ...more

BT blacklist reveals exchange shortfall

A blacklist supplied to telecoms operators has revealed that the BT will not be able to open up its network to competitors. British Telecom is required to open up its local telephone network to competing companies such as Colt and Energis so that they can offer their own high-speed internet access services. But it turns out that some local exchanges have little or no capability of being made accessible to outside telecoms companies. ...more

Europe's answer to Google goes into hiding

Europe's plans to whack Google with a search engine of its own have had the curtains drawn over them after a fury of speculation following a speech by France's Jaques Chirac. The Financial Times reports the French President in his New Year speech describing Project Quaero - Latin for 'I seek' - as a much needed answer to 'the global challenge posed by Google and Yahoo'. The initiative will be funded by government and private entities in France and Germany. ...more

UK games chart: Cars races to number one

The Disney PIXAR movie spin-off Cars, deposes Prey from the top of this week's ELSPA games chart. The cartoon racing adventure game from THQ is multi-format - DS, GBA, GC, PC, PS2, PSP, Xb, Wii and X360) - and has 10 playable characters from the film covering 50 races. Nintendo's New Super Mario Bros (DS) is in second place with Buena Vista's Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow (DS, GBA, PSP) in third, up from seven. ...more

Exclusive first look: Samsung 'Santa Rosa' Centrino laptop

We provide a full analysis of Intel's new Centrino platform here, but the real proof of any new technology is how it performs in practice. Samsung was the quickest manufacturer out of the blocks, offering us an exclusive look at its SENS P55 notebook. Its standard 4:3 aspect screen is something of a rarity in an increasingly widescreen world - its 15in diagonal and 1,400 x 1,050 resolution is one we don't see too often. ...more