Weekly news wrap-up: HP flip-flops on DMCA; Microsoft extends license scheme deadline

It was a week of big tech companies having second thoughts. Hewlett-Packard threatened to sic the DMCA on security researchers, then backed off; Sun may have talked about releasing StarOffice for the Mac, then said it wasn’t so sure; and Microsoft gave a deadline for its new scheme to bleed more money out of software licenses, then extended that deadline.
Let’s start with HP, the company that’s been courting the Linux community heavily lately. HP first threatened to sue SnoSoft under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act after the security collective exposed a flaw in HP’s Tru64 Unix operating system.

As most NewsForge readers know, the Linux and Free Software communities aren’t huge fans of the DMCA, because they see its anti-circumvention provisions as an assault on freedom to do research and to program. Even HP’s in-house Linux advocate Bruce Perens expressed surprise at the company’s threats. Within a matter of hours after the news broke, HP issued a short statement saying it would not pursue a DMCA action against SnoSoft, saying the company will not use the law to prevent research.

StarOffice for Mac: Yes or no?

Just over a week ago, C|Net’s News.com reported that Sun and Apple were working together on a StarOffice port to the Mac. Then, Sun said no, that wasn’t the case. Then, C|Net reviewed its first story and noted that the Open Source project OpenOffice continues to move toward a OS X port, even if Sun doesn’t.

In the meantime, Robin “Roblimo” Miller wrote a column on why a StarOffice port to the Mac would also be good for Linux.

What if you tried to sell a license and no one came?

Microsoft first gave July 31 for the deadline as its new licensing scheme, then must have thought, “Oh, what the heck — we’re such nice guys, let’s give our customers another day to send us their money.” Some Microsoft resellers were telling customers they had an extra day to sign up for what essentially is a license rental scheme.

Maybe that deadline extension had something to do with the little problem of many Microsoft customers looking elsewhere instead of paying the new license fees.

Speaking of licenses

Tina Gasperson reports that the Open Source Initiative board is mulling whether to allow click-wrap agreements on Open Source licenses. From the discussion on the story, that may not be a popular move.

Also, we report that RealNetworks is seeking public comment on its proposed Public Source License.

Odds ‘n’ ends