January 23, 2003


That chic jaunty mouse wearing white gloves and short red trousers 
roared earlier this month when the Supreme Court ruled 7-2 to uphold 
extensions of copyrights. But this week, we issue a warning to the little 
rodent's corporate protectors. Watch out for pesky copyright advocates of 
the Open Source variety, who are part of a massive copyright licensing 
rethink.

This week, Open magazine features one of the most steadfast Open Source 
evangelists, Bruce Perens, who is now editor of a Prentice Hall book 
series. Here's a mainstream publishing house, with the nerve to allow 
each book in his series to be published under an Open Source license.

What are they thinking? Perens answers, as he defends the book series 
as a publishing business model. We also find out where all this 
knowledge-building spirit of Open Source and options for copyright-lite might 
soon take all of us as readers, authors, and publishers.

In another interview, an executive from the TOLIS Group shows how the 
company's Linux Tape Device Certification Program helps tape-device 
manufacturers, as well as TOLIS, enjoy the currency of shared information.

Finally, an important reminder to our readers: We need you to 
re-subscribe. Take advantage of our newly streamlined Open subscription form, 
where you can do so by answering just 5 easy questions. That way, you 
will continue receiving Open, and you'll be sure to keep up with an 
ever-morphing marketplace of issues, trends, and technologies.

Just click http://www.open-mag.com/81353952129.htm to go straight to 
the subscriber home page and story links. And remember to send a copy to 
your friends mired in proprietary systems.

Regards,
 
The editors of Open magazine