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A GNU dawn for open source
The release of GPLv3 on Friday caused widespread controversy following Microsoft's series of pacts with a host of Linux vendors
The third version of the GNU General Public License finally came to fruition on Friday, promising a level of protection against software patents. It's been a stormy few months for the open-source community regarding patents, as Microsoft has been in talks with most of the leading Linux vendors over a variety of partnership agreements. Some, such as Novell, yielded. Others, such as Red Hat, did not. But the controversial GPLv3 has divided the open-source world, with Linus Torvalds weighing heavily into the debate.