06.04.08
#boycottnovell @ FreeNode: June 3rd, 2008
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Links 04/06/2008: GNU/Linux WIns with Acer, Intel, and Poland
Desktop
- Acer bets big on Linux
Acer has stated that it will be pushing Linux aggressively on its laptops and netbooks.
- The Ultimate Ultraportable?
As I’ve noted a number of times, I think the appearance of the ultraportable platform will provide a huge boost for GNU/Linux among ordinary users, and prove to be a watershed in the history of open source. The combination of ultraportable form factor with Ubuntu’s ease-of-use will only magnify that effect. And if the rumours about Dell’s new mini Inspiron running Ubuntu (presumably the Netbook Remix) prove correct, we could be witnessing the birth of the ultimate ultraportable.
- Why Sugar is a big deal for Windows
Leigh Dyer explains why the low-cost laptop interface is shaking up the OS world, and predicts why it could appear on millions of Windows systems.
- Google Gadgets for Linux
Since releasing Google Desktop for Linux, we’ve added almost all of our most requested features, like 64-bit support and the ability to search applications and documents. All except one major exception: Desktop Gadgets. Gadget support is not just a single feature, but rather an entire platform for miniature applications. It’s a complex undertaking, but we’re now putting the finishing touches on the product.
- “Polish Walmart” selling laptops with OpenOffice.org pre-installed
- Biedronka offers low cost Kubuntu based laptop
- A Tale of Two Experiences … Or Why I Don’t Use Windows
- Linux Gazette: June 2008 (#151)
- The countdown starts
- PlayOnLinux v3.0 a.k.a Arietis Released
Server
F/OSS
Kernel
- Linux adds ARM SoCs
- Kernel space: Using the firmware loader for static data
- Why do Open-Licensed drivers matter?
The very fifth reason open-licensed drivers matter, and a very current one, is that supporting an Open-Licensed driver can create jobs that weren’t there, save money for companies, help optimize drivers outside of the original vendors aggressive product schedule, and allow customers and clients who rely on functional drivers to actually have a say in what goes on with the drivers.
- Tracking Kernel Oops
- Patrick Brady dissects Android
Microsoft
Microsoft: The Nearness of CitriXen, MySQL
The article “MySQL Gives .NET High Five” comes from a biased source, but nonetheless, the headline can really turn heads given the apathy of Microsoft’s developer community towards this databases, which makes a digital fabric that competes against .NET, WS, and IIS on the Web.
There was a lot of head scratching at this year’s MySQL Conference and Expo when Microsoft was singled out for its contributions to open source development.
“Seriously?” one attendee was overheard asking during the keynote address of Marten Mickos, who was CEO of MySQL AB until Sun Microsystems Inc. acquired the open source database developer for $1 billion in March. Mickos, who’s now senior VP in Sun’s new database group, pointed to Redmond’s work with MySQL in naming Microsoft one of three companies to receive its Partner of the Year awards.
The above is far from an act of engagement, but what about the following speech where the bizarre acquisition of XenSource is discussed? And indeed, the question about a Microsoft acquisition is raised as well (transitively grabbing XenSource for Windows' benefit).
The following are just a few of the many questions that the Citrix Geek Speak audience asked me during my session:
* Desktop Virtualziation – VMware VDM vs. Citrix XenDesktop.
* What do I think of Citrix buying XenSource for $500,000,000.
* Should Microsoft Buy Citrix? If so Why?
[...]
The video therein requires Adobe Flash to view. █
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Novell Slams Free (Gratis) GNU/Linux
Yesterday we wrote about [cerf 3635 some semi-blind promotion of Novell] and warned about the impact of this, especially when one considers the fact that Novell uses GNU/Linux FUD and OpenSolaris FUD (rarely Windows FUD) to market itself. The item below sheds light on something that Novell did in China not so long ago; Susan Hauser chimed in as well (just days ago) to add to her wood to this fire of GNU effigies.
According to the following new item, “Novell joins Microsoft in Anti-Linux FUD.” This would not be exactly news, but the detailed proof of this seems rather compelling.
The Novell “partnership” with Microsoft has been a hot topic in Linux circles since it was announced a few years ago. Recently, Novell and Microsoft introduced a joint-marketing site to promote their collaboration.
A few years ago, I had really high hope’s for Novell’s forays in to Linux. However; bad move after bad move has left me with no confidence in Novell or their Linux products. I can’t say I was shocked to find this work of misinformation touting the “benefits” of Novell over Redhat and “unpaid” Linux.
Novell has this lovely chart to highlight the benefits of SUSE over “unpaid” Linux. “Unpaid” is a complete spin word, sounding like something Karl Rove cooked up in a focus group.
Watch this good comment about Novell’s marketing attempts as of late.
I see Novell, Hovsepian and Mat Asay are making pitiful comments about the ‘desktop market’ again.
For starters, there is no real desktop market. All the Linux desktop deployments today are done by people who’ve just decided to go out and do it at a grassroots level. There is no ‘corporate’ deployment of desktop Linux in the way that Novell desperately wants to pretend, and there’s certainly no money there for them. I suggest they concentrate on where they’re losing money now, and then they might have a crack at it.
We last wrote about Novell's financial issues just days ago. █
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Quick Mention: Microsoft Office (‘Same’ Version) Incompatible with Self
Another reason for Microsoft to put OOXML in the wastebasket
Office 2008 suffers from having two of its most important features — compatibility with Apple’s Intel processors and Microsoft’s new Office 2007 file formats — be things that users can’t directly or immediately see.
By the author’s own admission, there was no review available on time and this post was too shallow and speculative. Search the Web and you’ll immediately find that this promise from Microsoft was empty. Example:
Office 2008 and Office 2007 Compatibility Headache
[...]
After some testing, this is what I discovered. When I saved an Office 2008 document in the .docx format, Office 2007 stripped out some of the spaces. By some, I mean a lot of spaces, including spaces between words as well as a series of leading spaces used to align text. If I saved the same document using Office 2008 in the .doc format (i.e., Word 97), I had no portability problems between the Mac/Windows versions of Office.
Also see this older one. which considered only a beta release:
Although “total integration with Windows Office users” has always been a promised feature — and chief selling point — of Office for Mac, longtime users know that compatibility is easier said than done. While pre-Office 2007 Word, Excel and Access files created in Office for Windows may be viewable or editable on the Mac, the same cannot be said for e-mail data files created in Outlook for Windows. Considering the importance of e-mail in the office, we find the lack of platform synergy both confusing and irritating.So, how does the Office 2008 beta handle these two hurdles? The results, sadly, are mixed.
This is interoperability? Microsoft seems unable to maintain fidelity even with its own software across platforms. How unmaintainable is OOMXL? █
From the Campaign for Document Freedom
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OpenSUSE: The EULA from Novell and the Road to Microsoft Hell
OpenSUSE users wish to believe that they are independent from Novell and unaffected by the company’s pact with Microsoft. Well, here is a must-read from Beranger. It’s quite an eye opener.
So, the most shocking part for me? The openSUSE 11.0b3 EULA.
“The Grumpy Editor” is quoting the most relevant parts: «It must be said that this distribution got off on rather the wrong foot; it puts up an end-user license agreement which prohibits redistribution for compensation, bundling openSUSE with any other “offering,” reverse engineering, transfer of the software, use in a production environment, or publishing benchmark results (but only if you’re a software vendor). Users are required to stop using the software upon termination of the license, which happens after 90 days, after the next release, or whenever Novell says so. And, just in case one was considering the crime of using the release for too long: “The Software may contain an automatic disabling mechanism that prevents its use after a certain period of time, so You should back up Your system and take other measures to prevent any loss of files or data.”»
[...]
Novell, the only way you can use Linux and feel like you’re using Windows. Read the EULA before our lawyers contact you. Most important: we might disable your copy whenever we want. Free Trojan horse included. “Upgrade to SLED or to Vista” coupon available on request.
Like we didn’t see that coming. █
FUD Gauge Oscillates in Slashdot and SourceForge Again
What Brian at Linux Today once labeled “how not to treat your readership [or audience]“
One particular article that was highlighted by Slashdot yesterday serves as a brilliant FUD piece against the GPL. It made the front page. While its aim is to shed light on what becomes an integral part of almost every software, it politely ‘misunderstands’ a few important concepts. Rather than view to the article again, consider reading the following rebuttal.
Irreconcilable conflict between $ and Open Source ?!
[...]
I guess this particular attorney has never heard of Red Hat (aiming for $1 billion in revenue), Oracle (runs its own infrastructure on open source software), Cisco (world’s largest networking vendor that is now backing Linux) and many other for profit vendors that all have somehow RECONCILED open source and profit
But that’s not all. As you may already know, Microsoft sponsors SourceForge Awards. It takes pride as ‘the’ one company which is seemingly running the show with Visual Studio and FUD-invoking ‘prizes’ (the awards of shame). That is still the case. Remember that only Microsoft is listed among the/as a sponsor (nothing has changed since the last time) and now comes even worse FUD from Slashdot (same owners as SourceForge), which portrays open source as potentially illegal.
Nominations Open For “Most Likely to be Shut Down By Government”
The corporate overlords at SourceForge asked me to name a Slashdot category for their upcoming Community Choice Awards and to let you guys select the winner. I have named my category “Most Likely to be Shut Down by a Government Agency.” We’re going to run this like we do an Ask Slashdot call for questions — post your nominations into the comments here. Use moderation to send up good ideas. In the upcoming days we’ll post another story where you can vote on the actual winner. Nominations need to include the project name, a link to some sort of official website, and a paragraph of why you think they deserve to win. The project that wins will gain fame, notoriety, and maybe a cease and desist order that they could print out and frame if they had that kind of time.
It’s funny that Rob Malda begins with “The corporate overlords at SourceForge.” Who are they? Who runs the show? Is it not the sponsors?
Overall, by reading Slashdot, what can one conclude? That open source is anti-profit-making corporations and that any day it might be “shut down by government”? Maybe it’s just flamebait, but it’s happening far too frequently these days. It definitely does not encourage Free software adoption. █
Links 04/06/2008: Migrations to GNU/Linux in Germany, Heaps of GNU/Linux Laptops at Computex
Desktop
- Three German KDE Deployments
The IT Service Center Berlin has announced the development of a desktop system for the public services in Germany’s capital (Google Translate to English). This is yet another public body making the switch to the Free Desktop system
- More Pleasant Surprises with Ubuntu
- Linux: You Get What You Paid For (When You Bought Windows)
- LINdependence 2008 – The way it is supposed to work.
If you want Linux to flourish, you better…they are the ones that are going to make this Linux thing happen. A decade of “word of mouth” has barely gotten us 5 percent market share world-wide. Is it growing? Probably, but with efforts like LIN08, it can grow a whole bunch faster.
- Upgrading to Slackware 12.1
- Computex 08: Play latest PC games on the move
StreamMyGame can stream to both Windows and Linux including Ubuntu, Fedora and Xandros. To see more you can watch the webcast of Intel’s keynote online.
Server
- Danish Broadband Supplier Uses JBoss Enterprise SOA Platform for Integration
- Red Hat trounces Microsoft in server operating system stakes
- Why CentOS will not become the next Microsoft
Mobiles/Laptops
- Ubuntu offers Remix, a lighter Linux for mobile users
- Mobile devices driving Ubuntu – Shuttleworth
- Qualcomm debuts 3G Linux mini-notebook
- Dell’s “mini-Inspiron” Eee PC killer revealed
However, if what we’ve already heard holds up, then we’re looking at 8.9-inches dolled up in a sub-$500 price tag with a choice of both Windows XP Home or Ubuntu Linux, 8-in-1 card reader, integrated webcam, direct media playback buttons, and a “host of wireless access options.” Expect more next week as the Computex show kicks off.
- First Atom-based notebook runs Linux
- MSI Wind Notebook Launched Now: Linux with Intel Atom processor in summer
- Computex Taipei: Fear, Loathing and the Mini-Laptop War
- Windows XP given additional resuscitation
- Microsoft Extends XP Deadline for Low-Cost PCs
- Mobile Linux looks to the big time
- Azingo Demonstrates Mobile Linux Solution on TI’s OMAP Platform
- Linux distributor joins Moblin
Linpus Technologies announced it will join Intel’s “Moblin” Linux project, aimed at developing software for low-cost notebooks based on Intel Atom processors. The mature Linux distributor says its “Linux Lite” distribution runs 20 percent longer under batteries when using software developed by the Moblin project.
- Taiwan Firm Takes the ‘mini’ out of Mini-laptops
The Noahpad is offered with Windows XP or Linux, a 1GHz C7 processor from Via Technology, and a hard drive up to 120G bytes. It uses 802.11b/g Wi-Fi and Bluetooth for connectivity and has two USB ports, an SD card reader and a VGA port. It weighs 1.8 pounds (0.8 Kg).
- Developers Reported Enthusiastic About Android Platform
- Jason Chen answers questions about Android
GNU/Linux (Other)
- Mindspeed(R) and Wind River Collaborate on Open Platform for Broadband Gateways
- Philippine open-source advocates aim for bigger community
OSS
- Wikia Search Invites Users to Stir the Pot
- Bika Lims 2.1 Inkosi open source release
- CGI announces Open Source software to support EPA’s National Environmental Information Exchange Network
- Open Source Perst Embedded Database Receives Major Upgrade
- Exclusive Q&A with Mike Milinkovich, Executive Director of the Eclipse Foundation
- Compiere’s Open Source ERP and CRM Solution Meets Distribution Industry’s Demand for Flexibility, Lower Costs, Higher Margins
- Ingres Open Source Database Powers Search for Missing Children
- Open Source Ajax Gains Enterprise Momentum With dojo.E Contribution From Nexaweb
Facebook’s “Open Source” a Farce?
- Facebook adopts the CPAL poison pill
- CPAL? What’s That?
- Is Facebook an open source hero or Microsoft clone?
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