05.27.09
Posted in Finance, GNU/Linux, Hardware, Microsoft, Vista 7, Windows at 2:16 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Intel and Microsoft defend their cash cows with artificial limitations
Summary: Two monopoly abusers are said to be orchestrating sets of rules that harm consumers and harm GNU/Linux
YESTERDAY we wrote about Microsoft colluding with OEMs in order to stifle GNU/Linux adoption on sub-notebooks and thus also harm consumers. Just over a week ago we saw the latest conviction of Intel for its many crimes that a lot of consumers do not pay attention to. Right now in the Inquirer we find potential evidence that Intel and Microsoft are colluding again. This would not be the first time. See for example:
Here is the latest shameless attempt to elevate profits at Intel and Microsoft
IF RUMOUR is to be believed, Intel is up to its dirty tricks again, this time by way of a pact with Microsoft to secure a 10.2 inch screen size maximum for netbooks sporting Windows 7, leaving poor old Via and its 11-inch and above segment out in the cold.
[...]
What the move means in practice is that netbooks bigger than the specified 10.2-inches won’t be eligible for the lowest Windows 7 licensing rates, meaning firms like Via – which don’t restrict vendors’ spec choices – and OEMs making 11.6-inch Atom Zxx-based netbook product lines will have to cough up more cash for a heavier version of the OS.
This, in turn, will ensure that Intel clings on to its 10-inch netbooks price advantage whilst kicking the 11-inch and above netbooks segment where it hurts. Of course, it’s also in Intel’s interest to make netbooks as small and basic as possible, with Chipzilla desperately seeking to limit any further cannibalization of the market for its faster chips that get bunged into more expensive notebooks.
Even Microsoft’s biggest fans are growing tired of apparent price-fixing practices.
Even a $100 upgrade fee would be “cheap” for Ultimate, cheaper than the $700+ price charged in Australia, but still $100 more than Ubuntu.
Then there are those alleged ASUS-Microsoft kickbacks [1, 2, 3] and new anti-Linux Web site. Is it not ironic that this Web site needed GPLv3-licensed software to be produced?
Micorsoft uses GPL V3 software to promote windows against Linux
[...]
After that, a quick visit to www.flowplayer.org will tell you that Flow Player is an Open Source GPL V3 software.
Couldn’t Microsoft be decent enough and use any other software from their “oh so great ecosystem”?
GNU/Linux-powered sub-notebooks are causing great harm to Microsoft's bottom line, which saw a huge decline in profit as a result of that. Microsoft fights back with lies [1, 2, 3], so it is worth keeping an eye on. █
Permalink
Send this to a friend
Posted in Europe, Finance, GNU/Linux, Microsoft, OLPC, Open XML, Windows at 1:33 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: European Commission fines allegedly returned to Microsoft via Romania
Microsoft’s OOXML ballots were a scandal in Romania [1, 2] (direct links), just like in the rest of the world.
There is active adoption of GNU/Linux in Romania (Ubuntu for example), but Microsoft fights back. A *buntu presentation, for example, got foiled/derailed by Microsoft employees in Romania last year.
It turns out that a lot more is happening in Romania. According to this post from yesterday, there may be an EU-wide Microsoft scam.
In what is perhaps a sign of desperation, Microsoft is really pushing governments around the world to sign up to el cheapo mega-deals that they think they can’t refuse. The FSFE’s Georg Greve points out to me in an email that there’s an interesting angle to this story in Romania:
It seems ironic that the European Commission has to fine Microsoft repeatedly over sustained monopoly abuse, then transfers part of that money to Romania, which enjoyed the highest level of financial support ever granted to a candidate country in the history of the European Union, and the Romanian government then decides to return part of that money to Microsoft with close to no tangible benefit for Romania.
The post then links to the following story:
The Romanian government is about to spend millions of euro on proprietary software, drawing flak from the country’s budding open source movement. “This government is out of touch with reality.”
The Romanian government announced its renewal of a framework software licence with Microsoft in the middle of May. The framework licence deal is worth 100 million euro in software licences to be used by government agencies between 2010 and 2012. Romania will also pay the software giant another 58 million euro this fall, as the final payment for the 2004 – 2009 framework licence agreement that expired last month.
We wrote about the relationship between the Romanian government and Microsoft quite a long time ago. With Bill Gates visiting and the defunct 2007 talks about OLPC it became clear that Romania’s government was a proud prisoner of Redmond. Rather than thank and promote Free software it just took pride in illegal copying that Microsoft permitted in Romania because, as Bill Gates put it a couple of years ago, “It’s easier for our software to compete with Linux when there’s piracy than when there’s not.” █
“How many crimes are committed simply because their authors could not endure being wrong.”
–Albert Camus
Permalink
Send this to a friend
Posted in GNU/Linux, Mono, Ubuntu at 1:08 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Turning stereo to mono, with Banshee
Summary: Tracking attempts to push Banshee into Ubuntu by default
AS THEY try to insert the Novell-owned, Mono-based media player into Ubuntu, promoters of Mono would even call it “Monobuntu” now. Here are some notes.
There is no Banshee in Karmic (for now) and there is no response yet to the concern that ECMA is not being responsive. Specifically to Jo Shields, Jose_X writes.
Jo, realize that following a standard created by a patent aggressor is a LIABILITY not an asset. Stop trumpeting mono’s adherence to the two dotnet specs as an asset. It’s the opposite.
There are some more interesting comments right here. Mono is resented for the trouble it brings. █
“There is a substantive effort in open source to bring such an implementation of .Net to market, known as Mono and being driven by Novell, and one of the attributes of the agreement we made with Novell is that the intellectual property associated with that is available to Novell customers.”
–Bob Muglia, Microsoft President
Permalink
Send this to a friend
Posted in IRC Logs at 12:48 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Read the log
Enter the IRC channel now
To use your own IRC client, join channel #boycottnovell in FreeNode.
Permalink
Send this to a friend
05.26.09
Posted in News Roundup at 5:37 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Contents
-
If you are a local government IT official in the U.S. today, it’s likely easier for you to pick up a phone and get easy, quick answers from proprietary software vendors to find technology products to fill your needs, rather than having to manually sort through the sometimes fragmented world of open source projects to find a good fit.
-
Invisible Linux would essentially do for Linux what Apple did with NeXTStep / BSD: take the open source core and wrap it in a layer that may not be open source but which is polished to a degree that makes it irresistible to end users. Such a package would consist of three things: a stable and dependable ABI/API layer for programmers; a professionally designed and use-tested interface for end users; and an organized deployment of all these things for the sake of administrators and commercial software creators.
-
The system includes Linux-based operational software. Users can choose the preferred data preparation scheme.
-
If you’ve run older PowerPC-based Macs in your businesses you may be wondering what to do with them now that Apple has made the transition to Intel, and the G3, G4 and G5 processors are beginning to show their age.
One possibility is to scrap OS X, and turn the machines into servers (or workstations) running Linux. Several distros run on PowerPC Macs, including familiar names like Ubuntu and OpenSUSE, as well as one that is probably less familiar: Yellow Dog Linux (YDL).
YDL is a distro based on the Red Hat Enterprise Linux/CentOS core.
-
As you “already know” – boss knows the best. If bosses were given to choose an operating system which would be right for their employees, that will be Linux. Here is the reasons:
1. Since Linux is free, you have no reason to ask him for part of its budget every time you install, upgrade, and get new software applications. Now instead of buying you a Windows Vista Ultimate Edition, He now has extra money to spare for a spa.
2. Because “he loves you and your job” so much, he wants you and your computer to be free from virus always. In addition, most bosses want the working place to be always clean and just hearing the words like virus, bacteria, or etc make them angry because they know that in the near future someone can absentee from the job.
[...]
-
Kernel Space
-
On May 22nd, 2009, Linux Unified Kernel project development team officially issued Unified Kernel 0.2.4. This version ports the file managment functions into kernel with one interface, and fixes bugs of registry managment in the previous one. With the improvement, applications will perform better on Linux Unified Kernel than on Wine. And the .rpm and .deb installation files are provided in the new release to save the installing time and storage space.
-
With immediate effect there is an improved open Linux firmware available for the ICY BOX IB-NAS4220-B and IB-NAS4210-B (version no. 2.6.3.2 and no. 2.6.3.1). It is the first update since the last official release in November 2008.
-
Applications
-
OK…I think we can put the old wive’s tale to bed that Linux Users just don’t spend money.
2DBoy will be the first to punch a pin in that bubble.
I could have linked the same data with a personal quote from Kyle from 2DBoy in my blog but that wouldn’t have proven much. The fact that Linux Users absolutely destroyed all previous first-day sales of World Of Goo by 40% is a powerful indicator.
-
K Desktop Environment
-
There are a ton of features in KDE 4.3, more than I could possibly mention in one article. It seems that there are improvements all over the place.
-
KDM (KDE Display Manager) is the default graphical login interface of the K Desktop Environment. Anyone who uses KDE should know that KDM is highly customizable and can be easily configured.
-
-
It looks like Linux Mint will be making their next release, 7 or “Gloria”, in the next few days, according to the Linux Mint Blog. This is good news, because the new release is based on Ubuntu 9.04 “Jaunty Jackalope”, which means you will get OpenOffice 3, and quite a few other nice updates. Of course, there are lots of Mint-specific updates as well, many of which look very nice. I’ve been running the Release Candidate for a couple of weeks now, and it is very good.
-
8. Working on virtualization must be awfully time consuming and involved. Do you enjoy it? What do you do to get away from the pressures of hacking?
Working on open source virtualization technology is a great experience because it is a really interesting and challenging field, having plenty of talented developers to work with and learn from. There is plenty of work still to be done at all levels of the stack from kernel/hypervisor right through to end user applications and not nearly enough time to do it all. I’m fortunate to be able to spread my work between upstream projects, the Fedora community and RHEL releases and maintenance.
-
Ubuntu
-
The following is only an idea, but it could become reality in one of the next releases of the popular Ubuntu operating system. Back in August 2005, Matthew Paul Thomas submitted, on the Ubuntu wiki page, an idea and design of a piece of software that would unify all the existing package managers in the Ubuntu distribution. At the moment, the software is called AppCenter, and it was recently brought into spotlight. If you look at the mockup below, it pretty much looks like the Add/Remove application that is already an important part of the Ubuntu OS, but… if you look closer, you can notice that it also includes the ability to retrieve security and software updates.
-
As Android’s platform gains a stronger following and attracts commercial software vendors, the ability to use Android software on a conventional Linux distro could be a significant asset for users and hardware vendors. It would also boost the inherent portability of Android applications, potentially making Android a more palatable target for some third-party application developers.
-
Hacking pays off. I can now run the Android stack on Ubuntu with applications and the launcher running full-screen.
-
It seems every man plus dog is trying to build an AppStore to mirror Apple’s success. The latest comes from Open Source outfit Canonical which makes the user-friendly Linux OS Ubuntu. Of course the Linux fanbois claim that they had the idea first as Apple’s AppStore is very similar to their idea of Linux repositories. However there is no doubt that the AppStore does things a lot better with an awful lot of software.
-
Dell have certainly been showing Ubuntu some much needed attention over the last few months, and now they have decided to offer a Linux-based operating system on their new Dell Studio XPS 13 notebook, this is one of their hottest items at the moment.
-
-
Ubicom is shipping a OpenWRT Linux-based router platform and reference design using the company’s new Ubicom IP7100 Router Gateway Evaluation board. The Ubicom board incorporates its StreamEngine IP7100 series network RISC processor, and includes a gigabit WAN port and four gigabit LAN ports, says the company.
-
Phones
-
For a holiday, it’s been an eventful day in the world of HTC-Android-phone news. First came those leaked internal AT&T documents that showed, among other things, a new HTC Android device called the Lancaster that’s supposedly targeted for an August U.S. launch. Now comes word of HTC’s plans, starting next month, to sell an Android-powered smartphone in China, the world’s largest wireless market.
-
Also consider this: For a few months, now, analysts have been calling for flexible open source platforms to fuel sales of smartphones, which some say will double their share of the entire cell phone market by 2013.
[...]
Officials at the international firm, whose U.S. headquarters are in Boston, say support from developers, vendors and operators is driving adoption of the open source devices.
-
Great now I can run Android, right? Not yet. I came to find out that there are many things in the Android code that rely on specific hardware features. For example, is the device powered on? Of course it is on — we are a computer 
-
Sub-notebooks
-
Data Ltd announced a ruggedized UMPC (ultra-mobile PC) claimed to survive multiple four-foot drops onto concrete. The Linux-compatible “DLI 8400″ uses a 1.6GHz Atom processor, has hard disk or SSD (solid state disk) storage, and operates for nine hours via two hot-swappable batteries, the company says.
-
Moblin, though, is different. It’s not a boiler. It’s sleek, it’s slick, it’s almost sexy.
So naturally, somebody’s going to bugger it up. Of course they will. It’s Linux!
Instead of a single version of Moblin, there’s going to be loads, and netbook firms are going to muck around with it, and we’re going to end up with the same old confusion that stops Linux from breaking through and becoming the OS your mum, dad and grandparents use.
-
-
Many vendors are jumping on the open source bandwagon and trying to make a ‘quick buck’ out of an emerging trend. Skewed versions of the definition of open source can largely be attributed to these vendors and it is recommended that companies seek out only certified and reputable open source vendors.
Open source technology is by nature practical and pristine. Reputable vendors will not boast that their software and hardware have new and sexy features; they will not use alterable code as a selling point or claim to be absolutely “free”.
Open source can only be considered to be so if it has a strong open source community backing. Anything less is something else entirely.
-
Enthusiasts have had a central role developing the Web and open-source software, often doing what they loved doing without wondering whether they would make money at it. At O’Reilly, we’ve been following enthusiasts to learn more about the technologies they’re playing with. Tim O’Reilly calls them “alpha geeks.” (See “Where Real Innovation Happens.”)
[...]
Most importantly, he saw that users benefit from their own innovations. This insight speaks to the motivation of enthusiasts: They are doing it for themselves. Innovation results from making something you want to use yourself. It’s the same idea that Eric S. Raymond described when he remarked that open-source projects were started by developers who were “scratching their own itch.”
-
Browsers
-
Dion Almaer is a name you will find 80,700 results for when searching on Google, so it is clear that people know how Dion Almaer is however, let’s kick this interview of with, like the shower scene in a slasher movie, the obligatory first question, who is Dion Almaer?
Haha, yeah, I guess people could find a lot about me if they wanted huh? I am a Brit who moved to the US many moons ago and now live in the bay area, California. Some may know my work at Ajaxian.com, which is a blog discussing Ajax technology. I founded that blog with my partner in crime, Ben Galbraith, and we recently had a chance to join forces at Mozilla to startup a new Developer Tools Lab together. Bespin is the first experiment out from that lab.
-
It’s been a long time in coming, but with the 2.5 release, the Flock folks have pulled all of the pieces together to deliver a cohesive “Social Web Browser.” The 2.5 release of Flock, coupled with the increasing mainstream interest in social media, might just be enough to make Flock more than a niche browser for Web 2.0 junkies.
-
Business
-
OpenX Technologies, an open source advertising community that helps online publishers make money, has just announced a $10.4 million third round of venture funding, bringing total investment in the company to nearly $31 million since mid-2007.
-
Now, it has raised $10 million in its third round of funding, which brings the total investment in OpenX to $31 million. DAG Ventures led the new investment round and was joined by existing investors Accel, Index Ventures, Mangrove Capital, First Round Capital and Jonathan Miller, chairman of OpenX and the new digital head of News Corp.
-
Programming
-
SourceForge, the open-source project host, has removed the pages of the rtmpdump stream-recording software from its network in response to a cease-and-desist notice from Adobe. The program uses the Real-Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP) to record not only streamed Flash media but also encrypted streams. Adobe added encryption to its proprietary protocol on introducing Flash Media Server 3 in order to prevent the recording of Flash content, and defined RTMPE (RMTP encrypted) for the purpose. Adobe takes the view that its copy protection can be circumvented by the RTMPE support incorporated in rtmpdump and, in its cease-and-desist notice, invokes the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to prevent the distribution of the software.
-
Applications
-
click2try(TM) (http://www.click2try.com) today announced that it has added XOOPS Dynamic Web CMS version 2.3.3 (http://www.xoops.org) to its online catalog of virtualized Open Source applications. A Community site, click2try enables users to try applications for free and use by subscription.
-
But, you have folks at the NY Times who seem to think that it’s a bad thing, because the producers of the TV show aren’t making any advertising revenue from the clip being on YouTube. No, but they’ve created a huge singing sensation that is getting attention from millions of people. If they can’t figure out how to make money off of that in the long run, they don’t deserve to be in business.
Kendall Dawson, Linspire Community Liaison 04 (2005)
Digital Tipping Point is a Free software-like project where the raw videos are code. You can assist by participating.
Permalink
Send this to a friend
Posted in News Roundup at 11:19 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Contents
-
According to the police, who couldn’t even identify Windows, much less Linux, calling it “not the regular B.C. operating system,” Calixte was suspected of — as are all citizens being smacked around with the CFAA — “obtaining computer services by fraud or misrepresentation” and obtaining “unauthorized access to a computer system,” because the emails — if they were from him — were sent anonymously.
-
Peter De Wachter has created a Debian source code search engine for developers. It lets them find out quickly what files contain, for example, the usb_device structure required for accessing USB devices.
-
Open source programs, which started to gain currency around the dot-com boom in the late 1990s, initially had difficulty attracting mainstream users because volunteer-maintained software was thought to be less reliable and less secure than products from blue chip technology providers like IBM and Microsoft. But over the past 10 years, as such open source programs as Apache, Linux, and MySql have been integrated into mainstream corporate technology settings, acceptance has steadily increased.
-
IBM
-
LAST WEEK, IBM released research which showed that Linux desktops were easier to implement than IT staff expected
That said, however, techies had to target the “right groups” of users, such as those who have moderate and predictable use of e-mail and office tools
-
And where better than to make your dent in a newly developing economy than in its universities? IBM is doing just that by teaming up with the University of Technology in Ho Chi Minh City and the College of Technology in Hanoi, to tap young minds for free on subjects from cloud computing to service science research. The firm says university students can also help develop a local language version of IBM’s Developerworks technical resource site while they’re at it.
-
Kernel Space
-
With the release of X Server 1.7 as part of X.Org 7.5 hopefully coming in July, X Input 2 will finally be entering the limelight after being long in development. This updated X Input Extension is critical in allowing Multi-Pointer X support in this next X Server release.
-
Applications
-
BitTorrent is an open source peer-to-peer file protocol for sharing large software and media files. It is a well established protocol which accounts for a significant proportion of internet traffic.
-
Linux data backup products are adding new capabilities and becoming even more mainstream. Today most major storage management vendors such as Hewlett-Packard (HP) Co. and Symantec Corp. have Linux versions of their storage management tools. In some Linux data backup software, vendors are offering the ability to back up to the cloud, handle virtualized systems and deduplicate data. Clearly there are more choices, and more sophisticated capabilities for users looking to back up their Linux systems.
-
A clear win for GTK and Emesene here, because of its simplicity, speed and looks. KMess is a close second though, and even in beta looks like a better, easier chat client than the dinosaur Kopete.
-
As cloud backups are becoming more popular, Linux backup vendors such as Zmanda are adding Linux cloud backup to their repertoires. In Zmanda’s case, its Zmanda Enterprise backup product allows backing up to Amazon’s S3 (Simple Storage Service) cloud from Linux devices.
-
-
These are tough but fair questions to ask. It’s great that we already have a national Linux distribution. It would be greater still if a thriving community of developers and end-users formed around that distribution. After all, that’s what the concept of bayanihan, the spirit of communal unity, is all about.
-
-
RoweBots Research, Inc., has launched two ultra-tiny embedded-Linux compatible RTOSes that for the first time enable Linux and POSIX compatible development of Renesas’ R8C, M16C and R32C/100 microcontroller (MCU) families.
-
I enjoy using the Nokia N810 device from time to time to surf, use some old Palm apps with GarnetVM, and watch movies. I do find it to be a bit laggy at times though so it isn’t always with me. MobileCrunch posted some rumored news on the next Nokia Internet Tablet referred to as the N900, Rover, and Maemo Flagship. It is very similar to the Nokia N97, but with a higher resolution display and Maemo OS rather than S60.
-
Nokia’s going to re-invigorate some life into its Internet Tablet market after a pretty successful stint with the N810. A successor is being planned to give the new Internet Tablet some new features, a more polished OS and it might actually become affordable.
-
Ethernet has emerged over the last decade as the dominant fabric for networking communication, but it’s not the only one. Infiniband, a technology that offers the promise of lower latency for high speed computing applications is making inroads according to analyst reports and the Infiniband Trade Association (IBTA).
-
Phones
-
In recent weeks, the Android operating system has seen tremendous, encouraging momentum. After the Mobile World Congress show took place earlier this year, with very little Android news of any kind there, some speculated that the open source operating system might be an outright failure. Now, though, there are signs of interest in Android from the number two personal computer manufacturer in the world, new forks of the operating system arriving, and lots of new Android smartphones on deck. GigaOm has a summary of the past week’s important Android headlines, including the possibility of a new Android tablet device, and we’ve been on the Android watch as well.
-
An unnamed source has told The Guardian that the network operator fought off fierce competition from the likes of Vodafone and Orange, and that the Pré will arrive here in time for Christmas.
-
Sub-notebooks
-
Once up, the desktop felt incredibly fast. If I didn’t know I was running it on 1.6GHz Aton equipped netbooks with 512MBs to 1 GB of RAM, I never would have guessed I was running it on such low-end hardware. Moblin is the anti-Vista. It runs great on minimal equipment instead of requiring the fastest possible hardware and still running at a snail’s pace.
-
Launched on the eve of his birthday, the Free Software and Open Source Foundation for Africa (FOSSFA) and the Advanced Information Technology Institute of the Ghana-India Kofi Annan Center for Excellence in ICT (AITI-KACE), have decided to join forces with the Sohne family to establish a Fellowship in memory and honour of the great work that Guido accomplished. So I was not worried to make the 15-hour road trip to get to Accra to be part of the event.
-
I recently learned about the fact that the Berkman Center for Internet and Society is using Drupal.
-
Openness
-
PWS: The way I think about it is this — just like software, warfare is going open source. That is, we’re starting to use more and more systems that are commercial, off-the-shelf — some of it is even DIY. You can build your own version of the Raven drone, which is a widely used military drone, for about $1,000 dollars. So we have a flattening of the landscape of war and technology that is just like what happened in software. A wide variety of actors can utilize these systems.
-
Imagine that you are in a world where people are starving. Imagine you have some bread, and you were confronted with starving people: most would feel a compulsion to share that bread. But imagine now that you had RMS’s special kind of bread that could be eaten once or a million times: how much greater would the duty to share that bread with the hungry be? And how much more despicable would the person who refused to share that bread be?
Translate this now to the realm of ideas. We are surrounded by people hungry for knowledge, and we do possess that magic bread – digital copies of knowledge that can be shared infinitely without diminishing it. Do we not have a similar moral duty to share that magic bread of digital knowledge with all those that hunger for it?
-
Programming
-
Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz says the company will launch an application store for Java software. Sun hopes to cash in on its large Java install base by making the store accessible through the Java update system, but it needs to attract more popular software first.
-
We are now in the process of landing a few refreshed icons for the Firefox 3.5 themes.
Kendall Dawson, Linspire Community Liaison 03 (2005)
Digital Tipping Point is a Free software-like project where the raw videos are code. You can assist by participating.
Permalink
Send this to a friend
Posted in GNOME, GNU/Linux at 10:49 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Gnote continues to earn good feedback and Hubert Figuiere puts his name down for a place in GNOME’s board
Gnote may be a young project, but it is already superior to Tomboy in some ways and it has entered most of the ‘big’ GNU/Linux distributions by now [1, 2, 3, 4]. This program has just gotten another public endorsement, which is great.
What is a big deal is that Gnote does what I need it to do. The controvery surrounding it be hanged (and you can use your favourite search engine to learn about the controversy). I like Gnote. It’s useful. And until something better comes along, it’s going to be my note application of choice
GNOME elections are coming and the developer of Gnote is among the listed candidates.
Below you will find a list of candidates who are running for the GNOME Foundation Board of Directors. A short summary statement from each candidate and a link to their full candidacy announcement is provided to help you learn more about them.
[...]
5. Hubert Figuiere
Affiliation: None
Full statement at http://mail.gnome.org/archives/foundation-list/2009-May/msg00035.html
I have been involved with Free Software for a decade or so, mostly working on the application side: AbiWord, gnote, etc. I have attended several Free Software conferences as resources permitted and given talk on several occasion. I have a true faith in GNOME and what it brings to users of Free Software, and I truly believe that’s where the future is.
Richard Stallman has told me that he invites Gnote (and Hubert Figuiere) to come closer to GNU. This would have a positive effect when it comes to reducing Microsoft's impact. █
Permalink
Send this to a friend
Posted in Australia, DRM, Fraud, Free/Libre Software, Microsoft, Open XML at 10:33 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Comment: Did politicians and Microsoft just get scared of public uproar, or are Microsoft’s products really so bad that a renewed deal is outright rejected?
Microsoft has already tried to shove its DRM down the throats of taxpayers in New Zealand. The fight against the colossal OOXML corruption (trying to shove it down ISO’s throat) was also very heated down south in New Zealand [1, 2, 3, 4]. Thus, there is absolutely no reason to respect the company from Redmond over there, even if only for the things it did locally.
Attempts have been made by Microsoft to control just about any country around the globe, with recent examples that include Spain and Australia. We gave new examples from both this morning [1, 2].
Microsoft has been up to similar tricks in New Zealand, but this is no more, according to the new press release which we append at the bottom, in full.
The State Services Commission today announced the government has concluded negotiations with Microsoft on a pan-government agreement for the next three years.
It became apparent during discussions that a formal agreement with Microsoft is no longer appropriate.
This smells like the MOUs that we see in the UK, for example [1, 2, 3, 4]. As we wrote a couple of days ago, there is now precedence supporting legal action too. No country should be up for sale to a foreign corporation whose status includes crime and monopoly abuse in several continents (with convictions).
Here is an interesting new explanation of how Microsoft achieves (and maintains) monopoly.
It’s that their entire product line rests upon state enforcement of legal monopolies of duplication called “copyrights” (that’s what a copyright is: a monopoly on the duplication of an intangible such as software). And the most outrageous thing is that they outsource their costs of enforcement to you, the taxpayer.
Let’s go with an example here. Imagine you want to enter the potato business. You buy one potato, and you plant it. You invest time and energy of your own into multiplying said potato and making a huge-ass farm, and when time comes for harvest, you can pick them up and sell them in direct competition with the guy who sold you the first potato.
Now imagine you wanted to sell Windows instead of potatoes: you buy a copy of Windows, duplicate it N times (certainly a cheaper investment, but an investment in time and money nonetheless), and start selling it. Exactly like in the potato example above. What happens here is that armed dudes show up at your doorstep and yank you into a cell, and your assets are taken away from you, whether they were involved in the commission of this act, or not.
This ought to explain why we so regularly bring up issues that revolve around copyrights, DRM, and stifling of sharing of data over the Internet (censorship of sorts). These are all essential or at least relevant for suppression and repression of a free society. Microsoft is a major part of this problem. █
______
Outcome of G2009 Microsoft negotiations
The New Zealand Open Source Society — 26 May 2009 The State Services Commission today announced the government has concluded negotiations with Microsoft on a pan-government agreement for the next three years.
It became apparent during discussions that a formal agreement with Microsoft is no longer appropriate.
Microsoft have agreed to provide recommended retail price certainty for agencies as a basis for their individual negotiations, and the State Services Commission will be supporting agencies to explore how they can maximise their ICT investment and achieve greater value for money.
Since 2000 the government has negotiated a series of three-year agreements with Microsoft, enabling public sector agencies to purchase Microsoft products on an opt-in basis.
In late 2008 the State Services Commission commenced leading the re-negotiation of the G2006 Microsoft agreement on behalf of government agencies, and established an advisory steering committee comprised of senior executives from the largest IT purchasers in the public sector.
Contact: Marian Mortensen, State Services Commission: 04 495 6620 or 021 2441475
Permalink
Send this to a friend
« Previous Page — « Previous entries « Previous Page · Next Page » Next entries » — Next Page »
