Open source patent law panhandling

The Software Freedom Law Centre is moving closer to joining the defence of TomTom, having recently posted a want ad for a patent attorney on its blog, reports ZDNet.

At the same time scepticism is growing over whether this is the right legal fight for open source, with Matt Asay all but accusing TomTom of hi-tech panhandling.

Microsoft fanboy Rob Enderle also taunts Linux on his ITBusiness Edge blog, calling it the tech equivalent of Rush Limbaugh.

Intel and a group of leading automotive-industry manufacturers have formed a non-profit group to develop and promote an open source reference platform for in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) systems, according to The Register.

When Intel announced that it was developing a set of Atom processors specifically for the automotive market, it did not name specific car or parts manufacturers that had committed to using those chips.

The founding members of the group, called the Genivi Alliance, include Intel; auto manufacturers BMW Group, PSA Peugeot Citroen, and (what's left of) General Motors; automotive parts and systems suppliers Delphi, Visteon, and Magneti Marelli (a division of the Fiat Group); and device-controller software company, Wind River.

Hoping to build a bridge between the Java and .Net worlds, the Open Source Business Foundation has unveiled a platform that, for the first time, leverages service-oriented architecture for cloud computing, InformationWeek reports.

The secret sauce that blends the Java and .Net worlds is the Internet service bus, or ISB, which allows corporate and third-party developers to access online applications as a service through an integrated Web-based application.

With the ISB, developers can get at and use existing, battle-tested code to build applications that can commute back and forth between Java and .Net worlds.