I’ve always admired Tim O’Reilly for his sensible positions on technology issues, but this really put a smile on my face:

Tech Books to Enter Public Domain

Computer book publisher O’Reilly & Associates is taking a dramatic stand against automatic extensions of U.S. copyrights by voluntarily limiting its own copyright protection on hundreds of technical titles—and promising they’ll enter the public domain after that.

This, I feel, is a bold step in the right direction. In an era when corporations are pushing for ever more control, O’Reilly & Associates is putting its assets into the public domain within the timeframe deemed appropriate by our Founders (who I daresay understood the implications of never-ending copyrights far better than our current government). Good for them!

Companies like O’Reilly deserve our unwaivering support. They’ve certainly got mine.