CHENNAI: Recent discussions on which software package to be incorporated in the free laptops to be distributed to students this year in Tamil Nadu have highlighted the attempts across the country to promote the use of Free and Open Source Software in education and other fields.

CMU: “A digital company called The Echo Nest has launched a Shazam-style technology that is open source, and can therefore be used by any developers wanting to incorporate audio-based music identification into their product.”

In an effort to broaden Linux’s appeal, the open-source software maker says it will bundle its new Enterprise Server 8 with SGI’s Altix 3000 servers and superclusters.

Linux and Open Source: “While Linux still has trouble getting a grip on the desktop, everywhere else Linux rules. No where is that clearer than it is in the fastest of the fast: the supercomputers.”

Mentor Graphics Corporation today announced its support for Freescale Semiconductor’s Advanced Multi-Processing Series of QorIQ® multicore processors by providing its comprehensive Mentor® Embedded Linux platform, open source tools and services, to deliver a unified workflow for Freescale customers.

SuSE Linux customers will get some legal indemnification for using the open-source OS, the fourth legal umbrella to emerge from an industry grappling with threats brought by SCO.

There is an ongoing shift toward open-source licenses that are more permissive, reflecting an increased emphasis on building communities rather than protecting against free-riders.

Web Upd8: “Sparkleshare is an open source tool to synchronize your files in the cloud and it can use a GitHub, Gitorious or your own private GIT server.”