[This happened](https://lists.launchpad.net/launchpad-users/msg05118.html) while no one was looking. Suffice is to say, these are pretty cool news, I've always considered LP.net to be one of the best platforms for FLOSS hosting, way above sf.net and freshmeat. The tight integration between the VCS (Bazaar in this case) and the rest of the platform functions is one of the key components here. Yeah, you could list me as a fan.

But there was always that thing that bugged me: the way a platform for FLOSS wasn't free itself. That is not the case anymore. I don't have an ubuntu machine around anymore (I replaced my girlfriend's desktop with fedora-es so she could report any missing translations to me directly :) but man, just by looking at the [directions to get the source code](https://dev.launchpad.net/Getting), it says it may take some ''hours'' just to download the code. That is wicked.

These news were shadowed no doubt by the announcement of Microsoft's [release of a chunk of code under the GPL](http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/072009-microsoft-linux-source-code.html). I took a brief look at it and it only makes sense for them to release this code, it benefits their product, and there was no other way to release kernel code but under the GPL. I don't think this means MS will start unloading tons of code on Linux, but at the same time they have come to the realization that (GPL != Business) is not true anymore. After all, it makes sense to release code under whatever license as long as it means increasing their own business. That's the way most companies operate: they weigh the trade-off, and if it benefits them, so be it.