MS lawsuit could impact ODF

The court ruling that Microsoft violated an XML-related patent held by i4i, a small Canadian company, could threaten not only Redmond, but also the open source community, according to eWeek.

“If the validity of the patent is upheld then the immediate question is whether this will also impact OpenDocument Format (ODF) and if so, then this turns out to be a significantly more important issue and one which will crystallise the fury of the anti-patentistas,” Brian Prentice, an analyst with Gartner, wrote in a blog

The XML-based OpenDocument Format was originally designed as an open source alternative for spreadsheets, word-processing and other productivity applications.

Sony Electronics is to change the format of the e-books it sells so they will work on devices other than its own Sony Reader, reports Brand Republic News.

At the moment it sells books via the Sony eBookstore in a format not used by other publishers, but according to the New York Times, it is to drop its proprietary format by the end of the year and adopt the ePub open standard used by major publishers, including Random House and HarperCollins.

The move should help it compete against Amazon, which sells e-books that can only be read on its own electronic reading device, the Kindle, as well as on iPhones.

SpringSource, a software company founded by Australian open source entrepreneur Rod Johnson, has been acquired by virtualisation kingpins VMware in a transaction valued at over $420 million, states ITnews.

SpringSource's founders will earn a share of several hundred million dollars courtesy of a generous employee share and option plan, plus incentives from VMware for key staff to remain with the company after the acquisition.

Under the terms of the deal, VMware has offered $362 million in cash and equity plus the assumption of approximately $58 million of unvested stock and options.