GnuBio launches as open-source genome sequencing startup

From the article: "The company [...] has licensed a suite of intellectual property from Harvard that, together with other intellectual property[..] enables the company's business model." "Company's name[...]was chosen [...]because it is a term that is asociated with shareware in Linux."

Sic, I think there is a confusion here.

> But the hardware is just the first step. Boyce says the company will approach institutes with an enticing offer. "We will sell you these cheap systems, or sequence your samples ourselves, but there is a catch. After a certain time period has elapsed, you have to give us those samples for our open source database."

Awesome. Their license requires you to release your sequence data to them. It's as if by using GNU/Linux, you had to release your documents and music publicly.

Although generally I support freedom of genetic information, this has to be done at the level of the IRB and with informed consent from the people giving you the DNA. As an aside, the article grossly misstates what a biomarker is.

Boy, as the Free Software Foundation, I'd be displeased with their GnuBio name.