open source

New Light Shed on Ian Murdock Police Brutality Claims

Yesterday, we reported on the untimely death of open source software pioneer Ian Murdock, who died in sensational circumstances after a string of emotionally charged posts on social media in which he threatened suicide and claimed to have been the victim of a vicious incident of police brutality.

Terri Molini/Flickr

The O’Reilly Open Source Convention Was a Twitter Disaster

O’Reilly Media’s 2015 Open Source convention (OScon) turned into a debacle on Twitter last week after the invitation of a controversial activist. The drama escalated after O’Reilly Media employed a flawed mass-blocking tool on its official Twitter accounts, which blocked a swathe of journalists and developers in addition to the convention’s critics.

LEON NEAL/AFP/Getty Images

Tesla Open Source EV Patents Let Apple Jump in as Competitor

On June 12, 2014, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said on the company’s web site that “All Our Patent Belong to You.” In adopting an “open source” policy to allow others to use the company’s patented intellectual property for free, Tesla’s stock (NASDAQ-TSLA) went up and the company got lots of publicity. But the statement preserved patent rights by requiring “good faith”, which is definitely not “open source.” Now, in a bizarre move, Musk has announced unlimited free-use of Tesla’s patents. Twenty-four hours later, Apple leaked that it is designing an electric vehicle and is now bidding to recruit Tesla employees.

Tesla being towed to dealer.