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Cisco Falls Afoul of GPL

Cisco Falls Afoul of GPL
By Maureen O'Gara
Article Rating:
October 17, 2003 10:42 AM EDT
Reads:
 12,140
Forbes Magazine repeated an interesting little tale this week that was leaked to an Internet chat room about how the Free Software Foundation (FSF) is trying to get Cisco to open source the Linux- based software that runs the popular $129 networking router made by Linksys, an outfit Cisco acquired in June for, ahem, $500 million. See, the Linux software is distributed under the GPL and is in turn embedded in chips that Linksys gets from Broadcom and the widget is popular enough that 400,000 of them sold in Q1. The Free Software Foundation wants the Linux code ripped out of the router or code made available to the world at large. The FSF murmurs of legal action. Forbes says the FSF is currently engaged in 30-40 so-called "enforcement actions."

Published October 17, 2003 – Reads 12,140
Copyright © 2003 SYS-CON Media, Inc. — All Rights Reserved.
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Maureen O'Gara the most read technology reporter for the past 20 years, is the Cloud Computing and Virtualization News Desk editor of SYS-CON Media. She is the publisher of famous "Billygrams" and the editor-in-chief of "Client/Server News" for more than a decade. One of the most respected technology reporters in the business, Maureen can be reached by email at maureen(at)sys-con.com or paperboy(at)g2news.com, and by phone at 516 759-7025.

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Most Recent Comments
cafal 10/20/03 08:45:27 AM EDT

There was no "leak", this has been public knowledge in tech forums from the outset. Forbes' article has been completely trashed and debunked (take a look at slashdot from time to time, you might learn something.) You might have at least read the feedback forum on the Forbes' discussion itself before reposting the same FUD.