OpenLife

Yesterday - Tuesday 26 October - we had the last meeting of 2002 in the Open Source Forum. Our special guest star was no one less the Jon “maddog” Hall who spoke on the Total Cost of Ownership advantages of Linux and open source software. When Vilhelm saw Jon’s mighty beard he thought that Jon was Santa Claus

Just turned 3 years old and in great shape. Every day he amazes us with profound and deep insights such as: Don’t worry I will take good care of you both (to his parents) and I cannot visit you tomorrow ’cause tomorrow is my day off (to his grandparents). Here are some pictures from his birthday party.

Press. In the Reuters‘ online article Net downloaders ordered to pay up by Bernhard Warner I am quoted for the following:

In this case, we’re talking about compensation for the damage the Anti Piracy Group claims its members have suffered. It’s the courts that decide the amount of compensation to be paid due to copyright infringement, not the victim.

Friends. Bi-monthly or so meetings in a my little group of friends - Gert, Thomas, Tor and Morten (Nikolaj was alas not able to attend that night) - that meet to discuss Internet, cyberspace, Wi-Fi, broadband and other things on our minds. The picture is from a meeting in mid-November.

Portrait. The 4 November 2002 edition of the Danish business magazine - Berlingskes Tidendes Nyhedsmagasin - had an article written by Henrik Føhns with a portrait of me. Read the article - Faktureringsmaskine og digital frihedskæmper - online here.

Reader comments. Tor corrects my basic Latin grammar blunder: It is Homo Generosus and not Homo Generosa. Ups. Malthe hints to that the Danish and English meaning of FagFestival is not the same. Hmmm.

Open Source. The Japanese Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI), an independent administrative institution with non-civil servant status, 25 October 2002 hosted a session Intellectual Property Rights of Software and Open Source with professor Larry Lessig and Bradford L. Smith, Senior Vice President and General Counsel at Microsoft, as speakers. Interesting discussion! Listen and watch here.

Homo Generosus. Danish science writer, consultant, lecturer and organizer Tor Nørretranders has written a new exiting book Det Generøse Menneske (the Generous Man) that presents the modern man and the man of the future not as the boring calculating economic man but as a man that lives to give, share and make strong impressions - in particular on the other sex. Buy the book at Guleroden and visit Tor’s weblog.

Enterprise System Copenhagen. Call me mr. Exit! First, Araneum was sold to TietoEnator as of 1 September 2002. See press release here. I cofounded Araneum in 1996. Now, as of 1 October 2002, TietoEnator has also acquired Enterprise Systems Copenhagen A/S. See press release here. I was also one of the cofounders of Enterprise Systems back in 1998. I own shares in both acquired companies.

So, within two months I have exited my two most important IT-investments. Pretty impressive in such a depressed market for IT-companies! The sales, however, do not make me filthy rich. Indeed, the marketprice for IT-companies reflects today’s economic situation. Nevertheless, I am proud to have been part of both companies and that TietoEnator has chosen these companies and its employees and paid real money for them in a market where everybody are selling themnselves for next to nothing.

Interview. As an introduktion to our participation 11 November 2002 on a panel discussing Intellectual property rights in play at the FagFestival a professional event arranged by the Danish association of Journalists, my colleague advokat Kasper Heine and I have been interviewed. The very short interview can be listened to at http://www.fagfestival.dk/default.asp?id=60660.