Holger
Every software license you have ever used - from a proprietary EULA to the GNU GPL - rests on a single assumption: that code is copyrightable, and that copying its expression is something different from reimplementing its ideas. For half a century, that premise and distinction held. It gave us the...
Holger
Companies are undoubtedly enormously benefiting from Free and Open Source Software (FOSS). To bring innovative and profitable products to market, they draw extensively on the amazing work of the global FOSS community. Whether it’s a washing machine, a car, a satellite, or a chatty AI agent, FOSS...
Holger
The search for a definition of Open Source Artificial Intelligence (AI) was pressed for success and has meanwhile been released in Version 1.0. Though it does not seem that there is a common consensus on it. What makes it so challenging is that an AI system is build out of and on top of various...
Holger
Offen (EN: “Open”). Lassen wir dieses Wort doch mal für eine Minute wirken. Welche Bedeutungen verbinden wir damit? Transparent. Nachvollziehbar. Ohne Einschränkungen oder Hindernisse. Willkommen, tretet ein. Von der Konnotation her auf jeden Fall positiv. Im weiteren Sinne vielleicht auch frei...
Holger
TL;DR: Medfloss.org ceased to exist, though an archived snapshot is still online. You probably have been forwarded from medfloss.org to this blog entry. This provides some background on its history and why it ended. Time has come to finally sunset one of my favourite projects, but let’s first...
Holger
This is the second post within a new series that I might start one day, about how companies abuse common misunderstanding of the GNU General Public License (GPL) to sell their stuff. Today, a slightly scary example. Scary, as it is so off the point. The company Exafunction, Inc. claims that with...
Holger
A few days ago we just got yet another reason to leave centralized, a-social networks behind. You probably do not want crazy billionaires serial innovators to reinnovate your virtual neighborhood without mercy. Aside of that there are the secret timeline algorithms, of which is little known beside...
Holger
Last week GitHub and its parent company Microsoft announced “GitHub Copilot – their/your new AI pair programmer”. E.g. The New Stack, The Verge or CNBC have reported extensively about it. And there is a lot of buzz around this new service, especially within the Open Source and Free Software world....