En this review of 2021 we see that the month of April was much calmer than that of March.
April news. These are my highlights
Oracle vs. Google
One case that had developers on edge for a long time was Oracle's lawsuit against Google over the use of Java application programming interfaces.. As if it were a series of lawyers, it all started with a trial judge determining the tree of names that makes up the API is part of the structure of the command. Copyright law determines that such a set of commands is not copyrightable, since duplication of the command structure is a condition for compatibility and portability.
Upon Oracle's appeal, the Federal Court of Appeals ruled otherwise, determining that it constitutes intellectual property.
Google's strategy was to recognize that APIs do have intellectual property, but reimplementing them in Android constitutes fair use.
The court's argument to reject Google's claims is interesting: The judges held that Google developed Android to gain revenue through control over related services and advertising. At the same time, Google retains control over users through a proprietary API to interact with its services, the use of which is prohibited to create functional analogues,
In this way, we arrived at the Supreme Court, which decided in favor of Google, pointing out that Google's goal was to create a different system focused on solving problems for a different computing environment, and the development of the Android platform helped realize and popularize this goal.
The millionaires of the world of technology
Forbes magazine released its list of the 500 richest people in the world. In her the 20 millionaires
The world's richest tech people add up to 1,2 trillion dollars. Estro represents nearly 50% of the total net worth of all billionaires in his industry. And a look at the 20 richest in the overall list establishes that industry executives hold eight of the top 20 spots on the list of the world's richest people, including 6 spots in the top ten.
The anecdotal fact is that the ex-wife of Jeff Bezos manages to enter the list thanks to the compensation he received for the divorce. Which does not prevent the ex-husband from continuing to top the list.
Stallman and the Free Software Foundation speak
It was inevitable that Richard Stallman and the Free Software Foundation would come out and talk to respond to the boycott organized by some organizations. The founder of the Free Software Foundation said:
Ever since I was a teenager, I felt like there was a movie curtain separating me from other people my age. I understood the words of their conversations, but I couldn't understand why they said what they said. Much later I realized that I did not understand the subtle signals that other people responded to.
Later, I found out that some people had negative reactions to my behavior that I didn't even know about. By being direct and honest with my thoughts, I sometimes made others uncomfortable or even offended, especially women. This wasn't a choice: I didn't understand the problem well enough to know what options there were.
For its part, the Free Software Foundation described the reinstatement process:
We decided to bring RMS back because we missed his wisdom. His historical, legal, and technical insight on free software is unrivaled. He has a deep sensitivity to the ways in which technologies can contribute to both enhancing and diminishing basic human rights. Your worldwide network of connections is invaluable. He remains the most eloquent philosopher and an unquestioned defender of freedom in computing.
RMS acknowledges that it has made mistakes. He sincerely regrets, especially how the anger he generated against him has negatively impacted the reputation and mission of the FSF. Although his personal style remains problematic for some, the majority of the board feels that his behavior has moderated and believes that his thinking strengthens the FSF's work in pursuit of its mission.
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