11.26.09

Links 26/11/2009: US Military Goes with GNU/Linux on Cell (PS3)

Posted in News Roundup at 10:54 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Digital Tipping Point: Clip of the Day

Michael Shaw, community reporter for Assigment Zero 01 (2007)

Digital Tipping Point is a Free software-like project where the raw videos are code. You can assist by participating.

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11.25.09

Salivating Over Silverlight

Posted in GNU/Linux, Microsoft, Mono, Novell, Ubuntu at 11:33 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Summary: If Novell’s vice president is “droolingly” Microsoft’s, then how can Mono and Novell be trusted anymore?

SEVERAL days ago we wrote about GIMP getting the shaft for questionable reasons [1, 2, 3]. Rather than remove Mono, Ubuntu decided to demote a very key application.

This is good news for Microsoft. In his typical fashion^* Thom Holwerda is suggesting Paint.NET (or Paint.Mono) as a replacement. What an insult that would be. GIMP is actually in the process of adding a Photoshop-like user interface as an option in the main branch.

In other Mono news, “Docky Separates from GNOME Do” and GNOME Do, which is based on Mono, is still seen as a failure by some. From a new post:

Like every other Linux program, [GNOME] Do saves time and effort. Like every other Linux program, Do also costs time and effort in the bugs that it has. The most frustrating bug I’ve had so far is that Do simply disappears on a restart. It runs and in a manner it “exists” since I can resize it on my desktop, but I can’t actually see or use it. Apparently this is a known bug, and I haven’t been able to find a decent solution to it. It’s especially unfortunate because Do provides so much convenience that when it doesn’t work properly, I feel like I’m reverting to some primitive age where I’m dependent on my mouse (the horror!)

And yet, some people would recommend GNOME Do for inclusion by default. The same goes for Banshee, which only Novell customers are permitted to use “safely” [1, 2, 3, 4]. And then there is Moonlight, which is also tied to Mono and contains proprietary Microsoft codecs. Moonlight imitates a Microsoft product that is not cross-platform. From listening to this audiocast which includes Mary Jo Foley, I was able to gather that Silverlight may converge and merge with WPF, a desktop-side environment like AIR, but one which favours Windows and Internet Explorer. Silverlight has turned Miguel de Icaza into a "drooling" fan, to use his own verbal descriptions (where he labels disagreement as “Microsoft haters” [1, 2]). Some find it so appalling that entire posts/articles are composed about it. The latest of which says:

Miguel, Microsoft and the drool factor

[..]

When he writes about Microsoft, it resembles the kind of writing that a kid does when he gets a shiny, new toy. De Icaza drools over technology announcements from the big M – and he ensures that people know he is in that state by signing off “droolingly yours.”

“At Microsoft I learned the truth about ActiveX and COM and I got very interested in it inmediately [sic].”

–Miguel de Icaza

Novell’s de Icaza does not learn from the fact that Microsoft uses APIs to discriminate against the competition, Novell included. Groklaw has just posted some more Comes vs Microsoft exhibits, showing how Microsoft used APIs to leave Novell out in the cold. As for XAML, it is already made clear that there will be platform discrimination, so why is de Icaza running into this trap? Quite frankly, his evangelism for Microsoft^** makes him suitable to become a Microsoft employee.

Microsoft is taking away Novell’s customers anyway. Published a few days ago:

Finally, Trammell said they plan to upgrade the entire district’s servers, probably going from a Novell system to a Windows system.

“After that point, we’re basically going to see how much money’s left,” Trammell said.

According to this news report, another district is “probably going from a Novell system to a Windows system.” So does de Icaza. He abandons the roots of SUSE and dresses up the desktop with everything from Windows. Who benefits from this? █
_____
^* Holwerda has been promoting the Microsoft party line for quite a while. We last gave an example just two weeks ago.
^** A few days ago Miguel de Icaza wrote: “OMG OMG OMG OMG #silverligh4 has everything I wanted on it: full desktop apps with full system access”

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Microsoft May Have Failed to Comply With the GNU GPL (Again)

Posted in Deception, Free/Libre Software, GPL, Microsoft, Vista 7, Windows at 10:25 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Summary: No compliance after GPL violation from Microsoft; the exploited project is meanwhile unpublished by its author

MICROSOFT’S latest GPL violation [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] is one among several [1, 2, 3] and those who give Microsoft credit for merely complying with the law after getting caught red-handed [1, 2] ought to consider the fact that Microsoft offered promises but no compliance. There is still no GPL-licensed tool for Vista 7, but then again, this operating system is scarcely used anyway.

Microsoft fails to open source Windows 7 USB tool

A posting on Microsoft’s Port 25 blog last week revealed that the company had failed to release the code of the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool. Microsoft had admitted that the tool contained code from a GPL licensed application, ImageMaster, which was hosted on Microsoft’s CodePlex project hosting site. Peter Galli, Microsoft’s Open Source Community Manager, said “While we worked extremely hard to try and get the code ready for release by today, we still need to test and localise it”. The plan is now to release the code “in the next few weeks”.

Our reader Yuhong shares this new link, quoting a part which says “definitely in the sense that the culture at Microsoft still – after all these years – still emphasizes exigency over fair play,” then adding that Port 25′s response is here. Another reader of ours noticed that Microsoft’s Sara Ford is there in the comments too, having recently appeared with Miguel de Icaza (they are both in Microsoft’s CodePlex). We mentioned her before [1, 2] and now she says: “I’m the Program Manager for CodePlex. The project was unpublished at the project owner’s request. The owner can republish the project at any time.”

What? No code? Epic fail. █

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Boycott Google, Says Microsoft to Publishers

Posted in Free/Libre Software, GNU/Linux, Google, Java, Microsoft, Oracle, SCO, SUN at 9:42 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

“…Microsoft wished to promote SCO and its pending lawsuit against IBM and the Linux operating system. But Microsoft did not want to be seen as attacking IBM or Linux.”

–Larry Goldfarb, Baystar, key investor in SCO

Summary: Microsoft is using companies against other companies that pose a threat to Microsoft’s revenue

Those among Microsoft evangelists who want to boycott Firefox and Opera may actually feel comfortable with Microsoft’s scheme to boycott Google through publishers. According to new reports, Microsoft’s plan may gain more members for this boycott. Will they be paid by Microsoft for this? Or will the bad publicity for Google be sufficiently worthwhile? As it stands, many people are sympathetic towards Google and disgusted by Microsoft’s strategy which leads to this service degradation:

MediaNews Group Inc., the Post’s publisher, will block Google News when it starts charging readers in Pennsylvania and California for online content next year, Chief Executive Officer Dean Singleton said in an interview. Morning News owner A.H. Belo Corp. may introduce online subscription fees and also block Google, Executive Vice President James Moroney said.

As a little bit of background, see:

• Microsoft Colludes Against Google
• Microsoft’s Search Endeavours: Resorting to Bribery, Deception, and Intimidation
• Microsoft’s Use of Bribes for Search, Only 4% of Microsoft/Razorfish Clients Used Microsoft Search
• Mainstream Media Finally Discovers Microsoft’s Anti-Google AstroTurf
• Microsoft’s Anti-Google Whisper Campaign
• What Makes Mr. Murdoch Tick
• Spoof: Behind the Google Scenes
• Google’s (Staff) Index Poisoned by Microsoft
• Confirmed: Murdoch Waves Goodbye to Google in Order to Please Ballmer

This whole idea of using companies to attack your main rival is rather familiar. Microsoft also paid SCO a lot of money when it attacked Linux. Here is another nice refresher:

First you had to convince the United States Department of Justice that you were not being monopolistic when it comes to the desktop operating system and web browser. You sited Apple, Linux, and Netscape as competitors in this space. Lost but later you settled with the Unitied States while litigating Netscape to death. Your 750 million settlement with AOL/Netscape bought you browser market share. Even though you supposedly out of court by 2003, you were funding SCO in hopes of killing Linux. Now that SCO is bankrupt, you are busy defending your office suite in court with the Word patent suit and Novell is still suing you over Word Perfect. Do you still find it profitable to sue smaller companies that use Linux in their talking-devices based on the Linux kernel like the TomTom?

It proceeds to showing why Microsoft has failed:

You lost…

* The kernel behind Google Android phones like the Droid is Linux.
* Netscape is now the open source browser Firefox. There have been over 400 million downloads since I made the bet with Nick in June 2009.
* Sun Microsystems, one your targets via SCO suits, is still sponsoring Open Office. In a few short months, you will have lost majority market share to the Open Office suite.
* The Google/Ubuntu hybrid web-optimized Linux system called ChromeOS will hit your operating system, browser, and office suite market share hard.

It may all be true, but Microsoft is now using SAP against OpenOffice.org and Java (the rivals of the main cash cow and Microsoft’s development universe, respectively). Microsoft is always finding someone who is corruptible or coercible enough to do its battles.

Matt Asay has just explained why Microsoft is so fearful of Free software and Google. It is a clear explanation:

Google makes money by making it easy to discover others’ content. So does Apple’s iTunes. Google can afford to give away lots of free software (and even free hardware) to nudge people into its advertising model.

That’s hugely disruptive.

In software, Microsoft doesn’t like competing with free Linux. Microsoft spends a lot of money developing Windows. It must seem unfair to have to compete with the rest of the industry, which increasingly coalesces around Linux (or Android, or MySQL, or…).

But that’s life in the open-source economy. Your core competence is always going to be someone else’s throwaway complement, and ripe for open-source commoditization.

Microsoft is still run by thugs, so the idea of using third parties to do the “dirty job” (like a mafia) is not far fetched, it’s already a reality. █

“[Microsoft's] Mr. Emerson and I discussed a variety of investment structures wherein Microsoft would ‘backstop,’ or guarantee in some way, BayStar’s investment…. Microsoft assured me that it would in some way guarantee BayStar’s investment in SCO.”

–Larry Goldfarb, Baystar, key investor in SCO

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Microsoft Fans Still Spread Microsoft’s Lies Against GNU/Linux

Posted in FUD, GNU/Linux, Microsoft, Windows at 9:07 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Summary: Statements from Microsoft that are already confirmed to be incorrect FUD keep surfacing through the Microsoft-faithful crowd

AS Dell (vendor) and analysts have both argued publicly, Microsoft is lying about sales of GNU/Linux on sub-notebooks and their return rates. That’s just what Microsoft does to compete — it lies.

The lies can stick if reiterated endlessly by malicious or unsuspecting “reporters” and a classic example of this involves the measuring of GNU/Linux desktop market share [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7].

An author who for quite a few months (relatively new) has been promoting Microsoft and bashing competitors in ZDNet UK has just spread Microsoft lies again and Jamie Watson (also a writer for ZDNet UK) rebuts:

Your article states:

would getting the OS for free be enough to tempt them back after the way Linux netbooks came flooding back as returns?

Do you have some valid proof of this unsubstantiated statement, or are you just regurgitating something that you heard or read somewhere once, because it serves the purposes of the Windows-centric world to keep repeating it until it is accepted as fact regardless of validity?

The FUDMeister then makes up some numbers and it backfires when Watson replies again:

Note: I have removed the links from this comment, to stop it from triggering the (very irritating) “spam filter”. If you want to read the original quoted articles, they are not difficult to find, just do a search on something terribly complex like “linux netbook returns”. The real information is out there, if you are interested enough to bother looking for it.

All right, first, my comment on your article related to the unsubstantiated statement about “Linux netbooks came flooding back as returns”. That has nothing to do with whether Windows is more popular than Linux on netbooks, or any possible reasons that might be the case. Of course, if you can’t substantiate a blanket statement, it is always a good strategy to change the subject.

Second, if you think there is any relationship between Linux and MacOS X, there is no point in continuing this conversation because one of us doesn’t know what we are talking about.

Third, I have personally been told by the CEO of every netbook manufacturer on the entire planet that returns of Linux netbooks have been running at about 10.736% of the return rate of Windows notebooks, but unfortunately they also requested that I not name them. Drat. I guess my “anonymous information” is every bit as valid as is yours. Nice try, though.

Fourth, and most importantly, some direct quotes and relevant information:

- The Register published this quote from Open Source World in August 2009:

Todd Finch, Dell senior product marketing manager, said the number of Linux returns are approximately the same as those for Windows netbooks. He categorized the matter of returns as a “non-issue”. “They are making something of nothing,” he said of Microsoft’s claims.

- In an October 2008 interview with Laptop Magazine, the ASUS CEO was asked specifically about Linux/Windows return rates, and said this:

I think the return rate for the Eee PCs are low but I believe the Linux and Windows have similar return rates.

Ok, but what about the numerous claims that return rates are higher? Well, I found one totally unsubstantiated statement from the Microsoft “Chief Operating Officer” that Linux netbook returns were “like four or five times higher than Windows”. No proof. No attribution. No numbers. Honestly, I don’t believe a single word that comes out of the mouth of anyone at Microsoft, period. They could tell me that today is Wednesday, and I wouldn’t believe it until I checked the calendar. One thing they could say which I might find marginally interesting is the return rate on Vista netbooks, but I am under no delusions that they will ever do that, because the word Vista never passes the lips of anyone from Microsoft.

The only other documented reference to this that I could find was the quote from MIS’s Director of U.S. Sales in October 2008 that Linux netbooks were being returned at a rate 4 times higher than Windows netbooks. That sounds pretty convincing, until you find out that when he made that statement, MSI was not even shipping their first Linux-based system, and like everyone else making these statements, he provides no information about where he got that number.

So I say again, if anyone has any clear, concrete proof that netbooks loaded with Linux are, were or will be returned at a significantly higher rate than netbooks loaded with Windows, I would love to see it. I believe that this is nothing more than FUD originally sewn by Microsoft, and since then repeated, blindly, as gospel truth, by various uninformed industry executives, “pundits” and journalists, such as yourself. This is the way Microsoft works. If you state something as “fact”, and repeat it often enough, and get your minions to repeat it, even without any proof, it will eventually be generally accepted as “fact”.

The real “scandal” in the netbook market was Microsoft forcing manufacturers to use Windows Vista. Even after it was obvious that Vista was a stinking pile of garbage on typical netbook hardware (the primary problems were the Atom CPU and 945/950 graphics), very little was written about it. I personally own three netbooks which came with Vista: an HP 2133 Mini-Note, which was loaded with Vista Buisiness and included an XP Professional “downgrade” DVD; I literally couldn’t get it to boot Vista to a stable, usable state, so I ended up trashing Vista and loading XP (but of course Microsoft booked it as a Vista sale). An ASUS N10J that came preloaded with Vista Business and an XP Pro “downgrade” DVD. It will at least boot Vista, but it is so slow and prone to hanging, “White Window of Death” syndrome and various other instability that I only boot that partition when I need to look at something to help someone else. An HP Pavillion dv2-1010ez that came preloaded with Vista Home Premium, and is actually the most “usable” of the three, but then it has an AMD Athlon Neo CPU and Radeon HD graphics, so it doesn’t really fit in the classic “netbook” category. Oh, and in addition, when I let it try to install Vista SP2, it thrashes around for a couple of hours and then informs me that the installation failed. Excellent.

The point is, all three of those netbooks, which came with Vista, “should” have been returned as unusable, but in fact have been “saved” and made very useful by having Linux loaded on them. So while we are bandying about unsubstantiated numbers, let me add one more to the mix. My information, which was given directly to me by “a source who asked not to be named”, indicates that 36.82% of netbooks which are purchased with Windows, regardless of whether it was XP, Vista or Vista with Lipstick (Windows 7), have in fact been wiped and reloaded with Linux, and thus should be counted as Windows “returns”.

By the way, the nice term for “information from a source who asked not to be named” is unsubstantiated rumor. There are other more accurate, but less nice, names for it.

Have a nice day.

The FUD being addressed above came from a source of other FUD, Microsoft's Kevin Turner. One has to watch out for those who take a leading role in propaganda against GNU/Linux. This is done by seeding and disseminating lies. Here is an entirely new FUD piece intended just to smear Linux based on cost (the “TCO” talking point Microsoft always uses). Scroll down to the bottom and see the author’s disclosure. █

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Novell Ignored Staff’s Own Advice Before Selling Out to Microsoft

Posted in Audio/Video, Deals, GNU/Linux, Interview, Microsoft, Novell, Patents at 8:37 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Summary: An excellent new audiocast covers lesser known facts about Novell’s deal with Microsoft

JEREMY Allison, whom we interviewed shortly after he had left Novell in protest, has just done a session with the SFLC where he talks about events predating the Microsoft deal. According to the audio (playable below), Allison was sent an early copy of Novell’s deal with Microsoft, which he said was like passing a crayon over section 7 of the GPL (v2). Allison resisted it, but the lawyers ignored his feedback anyway and requested deletion of the trail.

Here is the original page, which includes in its index:

* Jeremy discussed that he resigned from Novell in protest over the Microsoft/Novell deal. (19:33)

The main new item there is Novell’s treatment of antagonism. The legal team patronised an expert advice, so what was it sharing a draft for? A pursuit for endorsement and “yes men”? Based on the bogus survey, that is a possibility. █

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Nicaragua is Moving to GNU/Linux for Independence

Posted in America, Free/Libre Software, GNU/Linux, Microsoft at 8:08 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Summary: Schools across Nicaragua are the latest part of this nation which is being digitally liberated

WE already know that Microsoft loves to sabotage migrations to GNU/Linux globally, but recent examples from South America might include Argentina [1, 2] and Brazil’s schools [1, 2]. One of the hottest growth regions for GNU/Linux has been central and southern America, but Microsoft keep planning a coup or two.

We finally learn that Nicaraguan schools are poised to go for GNU/Linux, much like some neighbouring countries. It’s looking very real and it already materialises to an extent.

20,000 laptops for teachers with Guardabarranco GNU/Linux pre-installed will be deployed in the first phase of this project, followed by the installation of the system in computer labs in public schools using LTSP.

There are some other migrations to GNU/Linux in Nicaragua, with English references from the past year or so at the bottom. █
____
[1] Nicaragua Builds An Innovative Agricultural Information System Using Open Source Software

An experiment in Nicaragua shows just how powerful Open Source software can be in leveling the playing field. The second poorest country of the Americas now has one of the best software solutions for displaying agricultural data in the western hemisphere.

[2] Flying on the wings of freedom

Guardabarranco is the national bird of Nicaragua. It’s also the name of a public school that migrated to GNU/Linux back in 2005.

[3] Nicaragua: Open Source Software in Public Institutions

The blogger LEOGG has been working with public institutions to take full advantage of these technologies in order to make them more efficient. In his post “Nicaragua Libre” (Free Nicaragua), LEOGG  explains how they helped Jalapa, a rural town near the border of Honduras in the north of the country how to develop and use Linux-based software.

[4] Mandriva Linux Community Newsletter #129

One of the strengths of Mandriva has long been its popularity and strong community base all around the world, in areas not always considered by the mainstream Linux press. Continuing this fine tradition, June 14th saw a Mandriva installfest and conference in Nicaragua, arranged by the Nicaraguan Mandriva user community. The event was well-attended, and even had press coverage in a popular Nicaraguan newspaper (link in Spanish). Many people brought their systems to have Mandriva Linux installed, and many copies of Mandriva Linux Free and One were distributed to those who couldn’t bring their systems to the event.

[5] Nicaragua is using mandriva!!

We would like to have support from our friends around the world. Thank you, it would be good if you visit us, help us with new material and tell latin users that we have a portal in Nicaragua.

[6] 2008 Linux Nicaragua Tour

While many today see Linux as a “just download it” or “just buy it” product, it hasn’t always been that way. Installfests were actually the norm. Well, that’s what is happening in Nicaragua. I received the following announcement in email—not from a geek mailing list but from the list of a social rights activists.

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IRC: #boycottnovell @ FreeNode: November 25th, 2009

Posted in IRC Logs at 7:50 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Read the log

Enter the IRC channel now

To use your own IRC client, join channel #boycottnovell in FreeNode.

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