Open source wins court victory

A German court agreed with a Linux programmer`s contention that Fortinet, a US security appliance maker, must comply with the terms of the General Public License (GPL), which governs many open source projects.

A Munich district court has issued a preliminary injunction barring Fortinet from distributing products that include a Linux component that programmer Harald Welte helped write.

News.Com says the case adds new legal weight to the GPL and shows some computer industry growing pains from adopting open-source software.

The licence allows anyone to use GPL software in products without paying a fee, but it requires that they provide the underlying source code for the GPL components. Welte says Fortinet failed to disclose the use of open software in a variety of its products.

Two Taiwanese graphics chip makers have increased support for Linux-based PCs by releasing the source code for some of their drivers to the open-source community.

PC World says Via Technologies and XGI Technology have released source code for some of their products to enable developers to create drivers for versions of the Linux operating system that the companies do not support directly. The report says the added Linux support is a further sign that the OS continues to gain momentum.

A designer of Microsoft`s Xbox game console has teamed up with two of China`s biggest electronics makers to develop a system to deliver movies and video games on demand via broadband Internet.

Associated Press says Kevin Bachus and his new partners plan to develop a computer system that will deliver games, sports, movies and television programs to millions of homes worldwide via the Internet. Details of the technology have not been released.

Novell has warned that working from home could pose a security threat to businesses and there will be an increase in security breaches if home workers are left unchecked, reports BBC News.

The report says a study by Novell found 80% of Britons admit to not taking computer security precautions when working from home, making them easy targets for hackers.

IBM has won a $125 million deal that will put "black boxes" in thousands of cars in the United Arab Emirates to stem the abnormally high rate of traffic-related deaths in the Persian Gulf state, reports CNet.

The report says the four-year deal calls for IBM to equip cars and trucks with a telematics device and global position system that will provide information on a vehicle`s location and speed to government agencies. It will link tens of thousands of vehicles in a nationwide wireless network.

If a driver exceeds the speed limit, a warning will be transmitted to the driver using an on-board speaker. IBM says cars will also be equipped with screens and voice-recognition software to access services planned for the future.