http://www.macnn.com/news.php?id=17790

I'm not very technical when it comes to stuff like this, but what does this mean for Apple and OS X?

It only means bandwidth was wasted posting the "story"

This dispute was running prior to the release of OSX. Apple subsequently made concessions to the issues mentioned. You can view an opinion of the remaining issues here: APSL

This is not really an OSX thing, it's about GNU-Darwin. You can download Darwin from Apple, there is a version for PPC and x86.

It helps if you understand what "Free Software" means; it does not mean free as in you don't pay for it. It's a philosophy of software development, modification and use that allows people to freely modify the code and in general you should post your code so others can also offer feedback and modifications.
For example, Apple's license says you *must* post your mods to Apple if you intend to use modified Darwin code devoped for in-house (not public) use.
Apple also has provisions in the license to partly guard against being sued if someone posts proprietary code that somehow ends up in the distribution at a later date.
These provisions are not strictly in agreement with what most free software licenses say, hence his dismay.

I think this guy is getting a little too worked up over it, but that's just my opinion. Most UNIX ports that run in Darwin are done by the usual army of Fanatical MacHeads, and he doesn't count himself amonst them.

Not really something to worry about; somebody somewhere will take up the slack if he quits.

gordguide wrote:
"Doesn't seem to be a current story; this dispute was running prior to the release of OSX. Apple subsequently made concessions to the issues mentioned."

Actually, it seems reasonably current, since the dates on the news posting referred to by the article are quite recent.

As for what it means, well, basically the people running the GNU/Darwin project are having a snit, and have threatened to take their toys home.

Oh, for those who were wondering, the DMCA litigation referred to has to do with a for-profit company distributing a patch that allows iDVD to work with drives other than the SuperDrive. I'm not sure how valid the lawsuit is, but I don't think this makes Apple an evil, evil company.

You're right jf, I was going by a date listed by viewing the source (in Internet Exporer it's View: Source) but I quickly came to my senses and realized that in itself that doesn't mean anything. At the time it just seemed to be that we'd been through this enough already.

If you misssed it, jf has quoted what I posted first, but please ignore that, it is a current story.

Now for some really good news from MacNN, fire up Software Update and you will find OSX 10.2.3.

The DMCA case was back in August. The 28th or so, I re-read it last night. It's a current story about a long running debate really. Kind of a tantrum on the part of the GNU people if you ask me.

--PB