12.09.09
Looking for Violations in Free Software: Fearsome or Awesome?
Summary: As OpenLogic goes head-to-head with Black Duck, the troubling question again arises, “do they make Free software look scary?”
SEVERAL days ago we wrote about OpenLogic's latest new service, which can be seen as either good or bad (depending on whose point of view). The man in charge, Steve Grandchamp, is from Microsoft and we wrote about the relationship between OpenLogic and Microsoft under:
- Whispers from Former Microsoft Employees Inside the Open Source World
- The Open Source ‘Census’ Lost Its Credibility
- GMOME, OpenLogic, and the Microsoft Connection
According to this new announcement, Grandchamp’s company will compete against another company created by a former Microsoft employee; that latter company would be Black Duck, which does not always inspire much confidence in Free software (to say the least). They are both tracking and assessing risk.
OpenLogic, Inc., a provider of enterprise open source software solutions encompassing hundreds of open source packages, today announced a new Source Code Scanning and License Compliance module for OLEX Enterprise Edition. The new module allows companies to identify any open source code used in their applications and ensure they are in compliance with the associated open source licenses. It includes OSS Deep Discovery – a tool that scans a company’s source code to identify open source code, components and licenses. OSS Deep Discovery will be free to customers that purchase the License Compliance module.
What we found in the case of Black Duck is that they also use their software to give a false impression of Microsoft gains. Let us hope OpenLogic never does that. █
williami said,
December 9, 2009 at 7:32 pm
(reads that OpenLogic article again)
Hmm, I honestly don’t know if the GPL (any version) is included in the list. I’m starting to guess not, as both products might think the GPL (any version) is bad, but it reality, it isn’t.
That dosen’t make me trust these companys at all.
Roy Schestowitz Reply:
December 9th, 2009 at 7:47 pm
The FSF and the SFLC also seem dismissive. RMS was dismissive when I asked him about Palamida.
These are not Free software companies. They just manage private data for the most part.