Summary: Ubuntu GNU/Linux follows the footsteps of projects like Fedora and sweeps Novell’s Mono aside
BY “Mono cleanup” we are not referring to the latestrefinements from Microsoft MVP de Icaza and his team. And actually, there is not much news from Mono anymore, with the exception of the MeeGo issue [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]; it has been months since we last heard anything about Moonlight.
“Have these pro-Microsoft projects been neglected?”Is it possible that amid negotiations of a sale Novell just doesn’t put much effort into .NET? Have these pro-Microsoft projects been neglected? We do hope so. It will also be interesting to see what happens to UNIX now that SCO is in the gutter [1, 2, 3] and there is legal certainty that Novell owns UNIX.
Over the weekend Slashdot gave room to the story about Shotwell [1, 2, 3]. Then, many blogs started reciting old news about the removal of F-Spot from Ubuntu (examples of new coverage in here). To cite more examples we have just found:
Ubuntu’s next version will switch out the F-Spot photo manager for Shotwell, a young but promising tool. Want a better tool than either of them? Try gThumb, which does well at importing, viewing, organizing, and lightly editing your shots.
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gThumb is a free download for Linux systems running GNOME desktops, and is available in most major Linux repositories. Ubuntu users, in fact, can install gThumb with one click from the app’s home page.
Update: This has also been detailed by Rick Spencer, engineering manager for the Ubuntu desktop team.
The decision will please the growing anti-Mono crowd which is keen to rid Ubuntu of it. Mono is an open source implementation of Microsoft’s .Net platform founded by Novell’s Miguel De Icaza. Mono is used to run applications such as F-Spot and Tomboy notes on Ubuntu but there is a distinct movement towards removing Mono-based applications from Ubuntu releases, particularly UNR in which space is at a premium.
The decision will also please the users that complain F-Spot is unstable and unreliable as an image organiser. F-Spot has been the default image organiser in Ubuntu since the Edgy Eft (6.10) in October 2006.
[...]
With F-Spot being shown the door Tomboy could be next. Tomboy is the last remaining Mono-based app included in Ubuntu by default and could well be replaced with something like GNote to remove the last signs of Mono-dependency.
Actually, there is gbrainy too [1, 2, 3, 4], but it’s just a little game that would not justify leaving the whole bloat of Mono on the Ubuntu CD (space constraints and possibly performance).
“I’ve been thinking long and hard about this, and the only conclusion I can come to is that this is ethically indistinguishable from bribery. Even if no quid-pro-quo is formally required, the gift creates a social obligation of reciprocity. This is best explained in Cialdini’s book Influence (a summary is here). The blogger will feel some obligation to return the favor to Microsoft.”
Summary: Microsoft gives very expensive gifts to many journalists with the expectation that positive coverage will follow; developers too are being paid to target Windows
Short on shocking moments and big reveals, Microsoft pulled the trump card at the end of its E3 press conference on Monday: Everyone in attendance would get a brand new, redesigned Xbox 360 for free. For all the journalists in the audience, it was time to make an ethical decision. For the rest of us, it was suddenly clear why Microsoft chose a small venue for the event, forcing many reporters, myself included, to watch via live video feed.
“Microsoft reminds me of the joke about the ugly kid,” writes Chips B Malroy, “whose parents had to tie a pork chop to the kid’s neck, so that the dog would play with him. Unless they give away Xbox 360, no one will write nice[ly] about it?”
According to another report, “Microsoft is paying developers to port iPhone games to Windows Phone 7″ and Information Weekcaught this item.
Microsoft has been throwing around cash lately to help bolster the application offerings for Windows Phone 7. Compared to Android and iPhone application stores. Windows Mobile’s library is at best anemic. To make matters worse, everything has to be rewritten for WP7. Microsoft seems to be taking the “if you want things done right, do it yourself” approach to filling the library.
[...]
PocketGamer is now reporting that Microsoft has been contacting “successful iPhone developers” to front them cash and get their iPhone app in the WP7 Marketplace.
Microsoft cannot pay to have 100,000+ applications ported to a platform whose present is depressing and whose future is uncertain. One of the reasons Microsoft has a stranglehold on the desktop is the abundance of Windows applications; after starting from scratch in the mobile arena, Microsoft put itself in the very opposite position. Those bribe simply won’t save Microsoft, whose history of bribery is partly documented in the posts below (like bribes to vote for OOXML in Sweden). █
Summary: As Steve Ballmer takes more operations to India and receives flak for poor leadership, a German magazine foresees/predicts major change
“Ballmer’s departure seems to be imminent,” wrote to us a reader from Germany last night. “A major German business & management magazine has already published a “funeral” eulogy about Microsoft and Ballmer. Right on their cover: http://www.wiwo.de/”
A few days ago, amid a lot of disdain such as this, Ballmer was defended by Bill Gates, but it might not be enough now that Microsoft performs poorly and takes additional debt.
“Steve Ballmer and the (Gloomy) Future of Microsoft” is the title of another new post which quotes:
…Not everyone buys this BS. One blogger, Horace Dediu, offers what many believe is the right explanation: Robbie Bach was fired because he lost the HP account. As the largest PC maker, HP is a hugely important Microsoft customer. A few weeks ago, HP acquired Palm for its WebOS smartphone software platform. The slap in Microsoft’s face still resonates; it’s a verdict on the failed Windows Mobile offering and a negative prognosis on its upcoming Windows Phone 7 Series operating system for smartphones. Days after the acquisition, Mark Hurd, HP’s CEO, let it be known that WebOS will be used in connected printers. As a final blow, HP’s (future) Slate Tablet, once held high as a Windows 7 device, will also use Palm’s WebOS.
Even though Indian CIOs are largely sceptical about the “revolutionising” cloud computing, Microsoft boss, Steve Ballmer has taken an attempt to silence the critics of cloud computing in India.
The Microsoft CEO has ranked India’s prospects over Silicon valley’s in terms of growth in cloud computing. Ballmer firmly believes India would become the global hub for cloud computing which might take the world by storm.
This is part of an ongoing trend we’ve been covering for months if not years. Ballmer’s behaviour has made a lot of people angry (see video below) and he became a PR disaster for Microsoft; in a way, it’ll better for GNU/Linux if he stays. █
Linux doesn’t have a CEO. Consequently, there’s no annual keynote hosted by a charismatic alpha male. But if it did, and if there were a conference covering the first half of this year, the first speech would start with three words: ‘Linux is winning’.
I know it sounds crazy but the Linux Desktop isn’t dead, it’s just pining. It’s pining for the correct platform–a tablet computer. And, I’m not referring to some cheap imitation tablet that will merely satisfy a few observers and nerdlets who use Linux. I’m thinking of a tablet computer for hardcore Linux moguls. You know, the kind of Linux person who is so into Linux that he tries to carry an egg on his feet through the winter. The kind of Linux fan who carries a wallet-sized photo of Linus Torvalds in her wallet. Linux pines for a true tablet platform that will do Linux justice and vice versa. Does one exist? Not yet.
I’ve been thinking lately that there are actually certain types of people out there that should be using Linux instead of Windows.
Types of people who should be using Linux
Geeks and people who enjoy tinkering with computers
If you enjoy psychically building computers, chances are you’ll like tinkering with the operating system once your machine is running. There is no better operating system to tinker with than Linux.
As a result, “Linux needs to more effectively compete with Steve Jobs and the magic of Apple,” Zemlin added. “It’s important that open-source products add more value for users than simply being free. Open-source software also needs to be fabulous.”
Funny that Mark Shuttleworth was making similar comments about the desktop back in 2008!
Stickfish, a leading specialist in VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure) technologies, introduces a new version of the multiplatform virtual desktop environment, Raydesk. It brings improvements in system functionality and a significantly better user experience. One of the new functions is, for example, the Menu Driven Desktop which enables users to drag & drop menu items to the desktop or to a designated area on the panel.
This year, Lynn Bender; the organizer of Linux Against Poverty has arranged for some pretty cool prizes to be raffled off to equipment donors. First prize is a pass to next year’s SXSW Interactive event. Make sure you or your company registers for the drawing….
The open source project TurnKey Linux has launched a private beta of the TurnKey Hub, a service that makes it easy to launch and manage the project’s Ubuntu-based virtual appliances in the Amazon EC2 cloud.
There are currently about 40 software bundles in Turkey Linux’s virtual library, including Joomla, WordPress, and Moodle. According to TurnKey Linux, these virtual appliances are optimized for easy deployment and maintenance. And as the name implies, launching an instance with one of the virtual appliances is very simple. Custom passwords and authentication, as well as automatic setup for EBS devices and Elastic IPs, are part of the setup process.
In this podcast Mitchell Ashley and Alan Shimel are joined by Mike Murray and Aaron Cohen, of The Hacker Academy. The Hacker Academy is a continuing information security training and education program fostering a community of security professionals interested in keeping their skill sets up to date.
Acer has long been wrapped up in rumor surrounding the forthcoming wave of Chrome OS tablets that are to be released this year. Recently implicated Dell and HP might just round off the first hardware partners that Google is planning to work with.
On the Chromium OS website, files were found that pointed to those three companies already having specific configurations for the operating system in place to allow for coding to meet those specifications. It could be nothing more than corporations covering their bases to allow for possible future work, but at the same time, this is just too much together to write it off as complete happenstance.
So which virtualization solution is best for the Ubuntu desktop? For the time being–and this is to say nothing of the various options which I’ve not discussed, such as VMware’s products and Xen–VirtualBox is probably the better choice for users who want a simple application for running mainstream operating systems without ever having to touch a configuration file or open a terminal.
For those interested in cutting-edge virtualization functionality, or who actually prefer the command-line, however, KVM has a lot to offer. At the least, although its developers are clearly focused on the enterprise, it should not be ruled out as a virtualization solution for normal desktop users, especially when it’s combined with GUI management tools.
Our advice: don’t apt-get remove VirtualBox from your Ubuntu desktop yet, but keep your eye on KVM as it continues to develop.
Dock applications is really cool way to get quicker access to your installed applications, directories, or files, it’s fully customized with different desktop and window managers. you will find a lot of docks available to use with different features for extra plugins, docks applets, and themes. here will list 7 of the best docks available so far for linux desktops.
digiKam is an immensely powerful photo application, so learning all its features requires time and effort. But this capable photo management application also offers a few easy to use features which you can use to instantly improve your shots.
Bob Young is a self-confessed contrarian with a strong desire to change the world by allowing people to share and collaborate. The approach has served him well and has helped turn the Canadian into a multi-millionaire.
From the outset, his software company Red Hat bucked the trend set by the big players like Microsoft which stubbornly guarded every line of code and charged whopping fees to maintain it.
When you put it that way Red Hat’s success becomes even more remarkable. No one has to pay an open source software company for its code. If a pure open source company is only one that depends on voluntary code payments for its bread, then getting $800 million of such payments a year is pretty amazing.
Welcome to this year’s fifth issue of DPN, the newsletter for the Debian community. Topics covered in this issue include:
* Debian Community Poll
* Automatic installation of hardware-specific packages
* Desktop artwork and themes for Debian “Squeeze”
* Debian Installer string freeze coming up
* Provisional list of talks for DebConf10
* License usage in Debian
It’s not just UbuntuOne, it’s the new SocialMe desktop, the switching window buttons, the ever-changing selection of default applications. Each new release of Ubuntu brings with it new tools, new ways of doing things and new challenges.
Change is necessary and one of the things I most value about Ubuntu is the ever-present push to innovate. UbuntuOne, SocialMe and others are great examples of how Ubuntu is innovating.
The thing is that as Ubuntu grows it begins to attract new users, and the quickest way to alienate new users is to make it hard for them to do what they want to do. Or worse, promise something but not do it. Users are more likely to stick with something that works well than something that mostly works but has lots of potential.
Looking for a cheap DIY Linux robot? This is the Linux PC robot project.
The objective of LinuxPCRobot is to build a fully functional robotic development platform for $500 or less using linux, commonly available components, a little skill, and some good old fashioned scrounging.
The answer is the first NEC Android tablet, despite it’s incredible similarity to the Nintendo DS. Pictured to the left is the NEC LifeTouch, and Android 2.1 based tablet with a 7 inch touch screen that will respond to both finger and stylus input.
Google’s new Android treat has been named “Froyo” after frozen yogurt, and it’s nearly every bit as sweet as it sounds. I’ve been running a leaked Android 2.2 ROM on my Droid for a week now. Here’s a few impressions and what VARs, SMBs and anyone in general using Android phones has to look forward to with the upcoming update…
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Even though I’m running a leaked ROM, it’s very stable. I can only see this getting better. Whispers around the ‘net are that Google is going to slow down their releases of Android updates, and focus on some solid polish before unleashing 2.3 (Gingerbread) to the world. But coming from a Droid which once ran Android 2.0, with no multi-touch and an unresponsive home screen? Android 2.2 is a breath a fresh air, especially for those with iOS 4 envy.
One Laptop Per Child announced an update to the XO-1.5 which enables both Sugar Labs’ Sugar Learning Platform and the GNOME free desktop. The Sugar Learning Platform has been featured on OLPC laptops since the original XO-1. The recent update introduces a more sophisticated interface for older students. Toggling between the two environments can be done with a single-click.
* It was never intended to be a replacement for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, or any of the Linux/UNIX -based distributions.
* It is not going to cater to everybody’s style in computing.
* It will not necessarily bring everything that you are looking for in an OS (see previous statement).
In my last article on open source, I put together the reasons why shanzhai manufacturers favor open source platforms, and how they can enable them to initiate more legitimate business. The current technology trend of tablets makes me feel that 2010, the year of tablets is as much the year of open source, and the two combined may provide a breakthrough for shanzhai manufacturers.
[...]
4. Legitimate business: Google Android is shaping up to be the first widely accepted open source operating system that doesn’t have a fringe element tag associated with it. It’s a legitimate business option. Whilst in the past the motivation of a shanzhai manufacturer in offering a Linux option was more about offering an option that didn’t include a pirated Microsoft product, now their choice of an open source OS is totally mainstream and acceptable … legitimate.
[...]
In view of the fact that most computing services are shifting towards the cloud and with web-oriented handheld devices playing more of a role, light and resource efficient operating systems seem to be the future of the next generation of computing. Open source operating systems (especially Android) are becoming the prime choice of the shanzhai and I believe we’ll continue to see more in the future.
This is the Q7, a very nice mobile Internet device available running ubuntu or android. It has 1080p HD video playback and that could make it a top gadget. Sadly it’s missing one important feature I really think is a no-go for a device like this.
1) Find the people who bring ideas more often than opinions.
Whether on a mailing list, a conference call, or at a meeting or event, it is pretty easy to tell who is active in a community.
But activity is a red herring.
Simply because someone is an active participant does not mean they are a key influencer in the community. I tend to look not for the people who are talking or emailing the most, but for the people who are generating ideas.
In healthy communities, lots of folks are generating ideas. In unhealthy communities, a few people are generating ideas, and others are shooting them down.
In my favorite communities, those run the open source way, there is a meritocracy of ideas where the best ideas always have a chance to win. My good friend and business partner David Burney taught me that the best way to generate the best idea is to generate a lot of ideas.
Ever since it launched in late 2008, Twilio has a knack for making cool products. Its core service is a telephony API offering a set of commands that make it easy for developers to integrate phone and SMS services into their web-enabled applications. And today they’re releasing an open source platform based on that technology that has the potential to disrupt business-oriented call routing services in a big way — Twilio is describing it as a sort of Google Voice for businesses, with more flexibility. It’s called OpenVBX.
FOSSFA’s advocacy programme has seen unprecedented success in the past year. The FOSSWAY project (FOSS Advocacy in West Africa and Beyond) saw enormous buy-in. It has launched open source clubs, a regional FOSS study, four university roadshows, its own publications, hands-on trainings for at least 1 000 people in the use and deployment of FOSS.
To wrap up, we have Dana’s Tea Party Manifesto, Simon’s OSI reform campaign platform, and Neelie’s opening statement in the great EC Digital Agenda debate. Looks like a really interesting time in open source politics with many opportunities to get involved and a lot of horse-trading possibilities.
This past weekend I didn’t watch baseball, World Cup soccer, or basketball; instead I sponsored a hallway table in a Marriott hotel in Spartanburg, SC to meet, discuss, and argue over all things open source at the SouthEast LinuxFest.
As each new developmental cycle commences, there is an Ubuntu Developers Summit (UDS) – it’s a biannual event where many of the developers meet to plan, and create, the goals for the next release of Ubuntu. The attendees are a mixture of Canonical employees, community members (many sponsored by Canonical) and external project representatives.
The summit is always held in a different location, and usually switched between Europe and the USA each time. The latest one was held in La Hulpe (near Brussels), Belgium, to plan the next Ubuntu release Maverick Meerkat.
CUBRID plans to add the clustering support to its open source database by the end of this year, which will allow it to distribute the database across multiple servers and boost its reliability and availability.
Manatee County, Fla.’s IT team didn’t want to spend another year battling the arbitrary limits on the back end of the county’s website.
For five years, a patchwork mix of legacy systems turned simple Web IT tasks into time-consuming chores. With only 10 IT staff members working on the project, the county’s IT team had to create content and upload files to the content management system (CMS). But there were file size limitations so they had to hold files on a separate server. They couldn’t see front-end changes without publishing them, and sometimes edits just disappeared completely.
Google can afford to give away Android and a huge (and growing) array of open-source software, without having to gate access to it through a compiler or contract, because Google doesn’t monetize open-source software directly. This, to me, is a far superior model, and one much more likely to lead to good community dynamics. Google is never in competition with its community, but rather can afford to be a full partner.
Make no mistake: Red Hat is an impressive company, run by people of quality, intelligence, and integrity. Just listening to how Red Hat uses Salesforce to optimize the sales process is impressive.
But Red Hat is the beginning, not the end, of the story on how to make $1 billion in open-source sales. Google offers far better clues as to where open-source entrepreneurs should look for inspiration, because Google reflects the reality of what “services” means in the Internet age. “Services,” in Google’s world, are far more scalable and potent than in Red Hat’s.
Wikipedia will roll out the latest changes to its editing policy later tonight, called Pending Changes. The constant struggle to find a way to limit vandalism without a chilling effect on legitimate editing will take a more permissive turn with the change.
As a result of the presentations and the discussions within the panel it seemed to me that there was a serious lack of Openness in the Climate Research community. It is important not to judge from just one meeting but given the enormous public reporting and discussion I was disappointed to find that there were still parochial and entrenched attitudes about ownership and use of data.
The UK’s coalition government has followed up on its promises of a general Right To Public Data, with sweeping and fast-moving measures to open up whole sectors of public sector information, from the salaries of senior civil servants to spending by local councils.
OCWSearch, the search engine for OpenCourseWare classes, reached a milestone today, now indexing the OpenCourseWare content from ten major universities: the School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins, MIT, Notre Dame, The Open University UK, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Stanford Engineering Everywhere, Delft University of Technology, University of Massachusets Boston, the University of Tokyo, and Yale University. These universities all offer courses online for free, under the OpenCourseWare Initiative.
Python 2.7, the last in the legacy Python 2.x dynamic language line, moved closer to general availability earlier this month when developers of the language put out a release candidate. The finished version of Python 2.7 is scheduled to be available July 3, after a second release candidate is offered on July 19, said Steve Holden, chairman of the Python Software Foundation.
The Khronos Group today announced OpenCL 1.1, a backwards compatible update that boosts performance in the parallel programming standard. OpenCL 1.1 efficiently shares images and buffers by linking event objects and fence sync objects, features memory object destructor callbacks and now allows for OpenCL commands to be enqueued from additional hosts.
The non-profit Charity Navigator Web site tracks such expenses via charities’ disclosure statements to the IRS to provide donors with an assessment of how well charities run themselves. Looking only at the supply side for the more than 5,500 charities that it tracks, the organization does not evaluate the impact on the recipients of funds, since that impact is often a subjective appraisal of “effectiveness.”
A strapping Idahoan, Brandon (who doesn’t want his full name used) enlisted as a teenager when he got his girlfriend pregnant and needed a stable job, stat. (She lost the baby and they split, but he’s still glad he signed up.) Unlike his friend, he doesn’t think the United Nations must be dismantled, although he does agree that it represents the New World Order, and he suspects that concentration camps are being readied in the off-limits section of Fort Drum. He sends 500 rounds of ammunition home to Idaho each month.
The BP oil spill is the first major national event where the bad guy in question is subject to lampooning not just from a satirical elite but by anyone with the material and the gumption to set up a Twitter account, or hell, create a funny hashtag. Democratizing the news was a step forward. Democratizing our skepticism towards all form of power is an even greater step.
The head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Rajendra Pachauri, says he welcomes “the development of a vigorous debate” on climate science.
In an article for the BBC’s Green Room series, he says those on the side of “consensus” must remember that debate drives the evolution of knowledge.
The panel and its chairman have been much criticised in recent months over errors in its landmark 2007 report.
The release of the Chinese government’s first-ever White Paper on the Internet in China provoked some head-scratching here in the Western world. Part Three of the six-part document is titled “Guaranteeing Citizens’ Freedom of Speech on the Internet.” I’ve heard from several journalists and policy analysts (not people based in China, for whom such cognitive dissonance is normal) who at first glance thought they were reading The Onion or some kind of parody site. How, people asked me, can a government that so blatantly censors the Internet claim with a straight face to be protecting and upholding freedom of speech on the Internet? The answer of course is that China’s netizens are free to do everything… except for the things they’re not free to do.
Written declaration 2010/29 is a Written Declaration according to Rule 123 of the Rules of Procedure of the EU parliament, the stated aim an ‘early warning system’ for child sexual abuse. However, a thorough reading shows that it also includes a clause about extending the Data Retention Directive to cover search engines. This is not mentioned in any of the material given to MEPs, or even in the declaration itself. Instead, the DRD is only mentioned using its referral code of 2006/24/EC. This may very well be a sneaky way of getting the Parliament to take a strong stance on Data Retention where no such stance actually exists among the MEPs.
People don’t like DRM in large part because it removes much of their control over things like e-books, music, and movies. Want to loan a DRMed song to a friend? You probably can’t, even though sharing a physical item like a CD remains trivial.
“They were suing us for more than $50,000 if we didn’t change our name,” she says. “We are a small business, and we don’t have a lot of money, so I didn’t think there was a good reason to fight them.” Edith, whose mother had brought hundreds of jarritos when she moved from El Salvador, still decorates her taqueria with the jars- but the sign over the door now read El Jarro Azul. “We thought if they’re located in Texas, they should let people have their own name. But I guess not,” she gives a rueful laugh. “They’re thinking we’re going to steal their name and start making sodas or something like that.”
For those unfamiliar with the practice, e-reserves takes its name from the traditional library “reserve” model, where a professor makes a limited number of physical copies of articles or a book chapter available for students. Those copies were generally subject to permission, and proper reproduction fees were paid to the publishers.
In the digital world, that’s all changed. Rather than make multiple physical copies, faculty now scan or download chapters or articles, create a single copy, and place that copy on a server where students can access it (and in some cases print, download, or share). Since the practice relies on fair use (creating a single digital copy, usually from a resource already paid for, for educational purposes), permission generally isn’t sought, and thus permission fees aren’t paid, making the price right for students strapped by the high cost of tuition and textbooks, as well as for libraries with budgets stretched thinner every year.
Not surprisingly, e-reserves are widely used and are immensely popular. Students and instructors love the convenience, ease of use, and accessibility. They are efficient and fit with the way teachers teach and students learn in the digital age. In addition, e-reserves facilitate innovations, like distance learning and collaboration.
In response to the country’s “3 strikes” Hadopi legislation, last week a French ISP began offering a service to block file-sharing on customer connections for ‘just’ 2 euros per month. It didn’t take long for awful vulnerabilities in the system to be found which breached not only the privacy of subscribers, but exposed them to new security threats.
It is perhaps an indication of how times have changed that the content industries have won some decisive legal battles in court against Limewire, isoHunt and the PirateBay, yet these have not prompted the same level of scrutiny that previous cases have.
The reason for this is quite simple. Whoever thinks that the legal victories against these services will dent P2P usage is seriously deluded. Limewire for example belongs to an era long gone in file-sharing terms, it was the client-based model of P2P which provided a centralised home for infringement, and therefore it was an easy target for litigation. isoHunt and the Pirate Bay are where the file-sharing action is, but these services are not at all similar to clients such as Limewire.
Well, this is nice. Fran Nevrkla, the CEO of PPL, the collection society for performance rights in the UK, recently gave a talk that shows the ridiculous extremes with which some folks in this industry view the very consumers they’re failing to serve. Last we checked in on PPL, it was trying to shake down charities for more money and had lost a massive ruling that said it had greatly overcharged multiple venues and owed them refunds. Towards the end of the talk, Nevrkla claims that he’s disappointed that capital punishment for file sharing isn’t available.
Only two weeks of plenary in Strasbourg are left for Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) to have a chance to sign Written Declaration 12 (WD12) on ACTA. 150 signatures are still missing, mostly from Germany, United Kingdom, Italy, and Poland. Every EU citizen is encouraged to call Strasbourg offices of non-signatories MEPs until thursday, 12:00, to urge them to sign WD12.
The European Parliament Written Declaration 12/2010 led by MEPs Françoise Castex, Zuzana Roithová, Alexander Alvaro, Stavros Lambrinidis receives backing from the Foundation of a Free Information Infrastructure (FFII), a European group for public education and consumer protection in the digital environment.
The FFII analysed the current Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) draft and found many unintended consequences. For instance, sanctions against unauthorized “file sharing” in the digital environment would also stifle common electronic software distribution methods of operating systems and essential security updates. So far the Commission has not delivered an ‘impact assessment’ for these potential regulatory side effects.
Summary: Apple’s misbehaviour not only attracts an antitrust probe but it also shows whose interests Apple is serving (other than its own)
Steve Jobs is against freedom. He just is. He redefines freedom by calling the banning of everything he does not endorse the “freedom” from this thing (be it competition, GPL-licensed software, or pornography). Skip to around 22 minutes from the start of this new video from Professor Larry Lessig. Lessig is a longtime Mac user, but he really gives it to Jobs in that talk. He also recognises that GNU/Linux (yes, he calls it “GNU Linux”) is the better way to go.
Not since Amazon removed digital copies of “1984″ from people’s Kindles while they slept has there been such a hilarious episode in the ongoing slapstick farce “Let’s See What Happens When Corporations Become Publishers.”
Apple has censored a “Ulysses” comic book app — just in time for “Bloomsday” — because of a picture of Buck Mulligan’s stately, plump cartoon penis.
There are many examples just like that. Apple is still controlling people’s phones, as a gatekeeper at least.
According to this article, Apple may be faking its sales figures (statistics being gamed).
During his WWDC 2010 keynote address, Apple CEO Steve Jobs boasted that the iPhone was currently number two behind RIM in smartphone sales. He quoted a Nielsen survey but there was a noticeable absentee in Apple’s stats – Symbian. So what’s the truth?
Apple’s fake or artificial hype is a subject that we covered here many times before. “Lies, damned lies, and technology hype” is the headline of this new article about Apple’s numbers.
Now we come to Apple’s latest anti-competitive practices. “Apple Wants to Kill Its Mobile Advertising Competitors,” says this article:
Apple (AAPL) seemed to relent on letting other advertising networks have access to iPhones and iPads. But that’s an illusion. The company’s actions, in context, show that Steve Jobs wants to completely lock down advertising and control all forms of revenue when it comes to iOS. The result is now an escalating level of federal scrutiny that should make any CEO nervous.
“Apple not only dishonours freedom but it also supports other companies that dishonour freedom.”Given that Google’s CEO used to serve in Apple, one would think that Apple should support Google but it is helping Microsoft in new ways [1, 2, 3] although only to an extent. According to more boosting from Todd Bishop, it’s not just Safari but hypePhone too where Apple links to Microsoft. This is not the first time that Apple helps Microsoft. They have a lot in common.
In conclusion, Apple cannot be trusted by Free software proponents. Apple not only dishonours freedom but it also supports other companies that dishonour freedom. Why pretend that this is not the case? █
In the previous post we showed that Microsoft FUD was targeting both Google and Linux (at the same time). Another new pattern of FUD has something to do with background images in Web pages. To clarify, search engine pages have had background pictures well before Microsoft. There is nothing new here, but Microsoft boosters are distorting it by claiming that Google ‘copied’ Bong [sic] by adding experimental background images one year after Microsoft. It ought to be obvious that images in the background are not “innovation”, so why spread FUD pieces like this one? There are rebuttals of sorts, but Tim of OpenBytessays that “Microsoft rejoices”:
Its been widely reported Google’s experiment of having a background picture for the front page of its search engine. I think its safe to say that the experiment was not well received and for most users I have spoken with it failed on two fronts, firstly because the simplistic “actually do the job” front page is exactly what users want and secondly because some people were reminded of Bing when opening their search engine of choice, Google. After lasting only 14 hours of the planned 24 period and It being reported that “Remove google background” was the 5th biggest trending topic for that period on Google
There is nothing to see here really. Microsoft did not ‘innovate’ rich background in a Web page, either. In SERPs it’s just too distracting, so there is little value in it at all (search bars and toolbars replace or complement the search query homepage).
“The media needs to ignore “Consumer Watchdog”, knowing based on evidence that it’s clearly an AstroTurfer pretending to be a consumer group.”Google’s own problems right not are nothing to do with wallpapers though. We wrote about this two weeks ago when Google received bad publicity and increasing levels of scrutiny from many directions (more and more countries and groups align against Google [1, 2]).
One particularly aggressive group is not really a group that’s a watchdog or even a consumer group. It’s just more provocation from the AstroTurfer called “Consumer Watchdog” [1, 2, 3]. It’s the same group that wants Google split and now it wants to portray Google as another Microsoft (or worse, despite lack of compelling evidence). Why is it quoted by The Hill? The media needs to ignore “Consumer Watchdog”, knowing based on evidence that it’s clearly an AstroTurfer pretending to be a consumer group. “Google is a bunch of criminals” is the type of headlines this AstroTurfer helps generate.
Google is “almost certain” to face prosecution for collecting data from unsecured wi-fi networks, according to Privacy International (PI).
Here is more coverage [1, 2] (the latter article says “Google Wi-Fi Data Capture Unethical, But Not Illegal”) and Google’s response. “Consumer Watchdog” is definitely an AstroTurfer (we gave proof), but we cannot show if/how Microsoft is funding it. These AstroTurfers are structured in complicated hierarchical ways that hide the flow of money. As for Privacy International, the group denied being an AstroTurfer and also accused Google of using smear campaigns after Google had alleged that Privacy International works for Microsoft.
The bottom line is that there is more to the Google backlash than meets the eye. To Microsoft, it isn’t just about search. █
“Every time you use Google, you’re using a machine running the Linux kernel.”
Summary: Why the “fragmentation” slur against Free software no longer applies without the messenger being extremely hypocritical
APPLE’S platform is fragmented. Microsoft’s platform is fragmented. It all depends on the definition of “fragmentation” and this word has been abused by Microsoft for years in order to spread FUD against GNU/Linux. Currently it is used by Microsoft as FUD against Android (Microsoft apparently uses former employees and bloggers whom it bribes to spread such talking points). As this latest example ought to show, the “fragmentation” curse is still being spread by the Microsoft camp (even after Google refuted it). This time it’s done by Microsoft's buddy Harry McCracken.
“Fragmentation good for the user, says Nokia” is the headline of this fairly recent article. Linux is hardly fragmented at all. There is only one Linux (kernel.org). As for graphical user interface systems, most use X and the level where there is a lot of diversity is probably working environments (there are 2 dominant ones for the desktop, namely GNOME and KDE).
“iPhone Now as Fragmented as Android” is the title of this new blog post. Take that, Apple.
At Transpond, when we were building apps on the iPhone and Android platforms last year, all of our engineers were enamored with the iPhone and annoyed with the pesky Android devices.
The iPhone environment was remarkably consistent. There was a single 480×320 screen resolution and API consistency across iPhone, iPhone 3G, and iPhone 3GS. Even though the original iPhone doesn’t have GPS, it provided an approximation based on cell towers, and our customers like CBS and NBC are more interested in syndicating video and engaging users, so we did not need the 3D graphics of the newer generation iPhones. All in all, the iPhone platform presented a clean, wonderful experience for our engineers where they could write one piece of code and it would run beautifully on all of the iPhone and iPod Touch devices.
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This all changed in the first half of 2010. The engineers at Google, with backgrounds in Java and UNIX, recognized this problem and came up with a solution: the Nexus One. A lot of people thought that the Nexus One was Google’s entry into the handset market. This was actually far from the truth. The Nexus One is the equivalent of the Java Reference Implementation or UNIX POSIX and X/Open: a baseline of what handset manufacturers would have to support in order to create a real Android handset. If a developer wrote an app that ran well on the Nexus One, but it did not run well on a Motorola Droid or HTC EVO, the problem was clearly with Motorola or HTC, not with Android. In addition, Google obsoleted the 1.5/1.6 generation of handsets. So a developer could now target the Nexus One, adjust for various screen resolutions, test for hardware features such as a camera, and feel confident that their app would run on Android 2.0/2.1/2.2 devices. If a problem arose, it was a problem for Motorola or HTC to fix in their next patch, not for the developer or Android.
As we will show later on, Microsoft’s own mobile business is also heavily fragmented and confusing, especially following the failure of Windows Mobile. One thing that Microsoft and Apple phones have in common is lack of freedom. There is a lot of censorship and anti-competitive abuse by both Apple and Microsoft.
“Wandering eyes: Windows Mobile users show lack of commitment,” say the Microsoft boosters (pessimism from Microsoft proponents too).
A Nielsen Co. study about mobile phone usage got lots of attention over the weekend for its insights into the battle between Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android. But the report also includes some interesting data about the rest of the smartphone market. And once again, the news isn’t good for Microsoft’s mobile business.
Nielsen is actually close to Microsoft, so the excuse of “bias” would not work in this case. Here are more survey details. Windows Mobile faces a tough reality no matter what Microsoft renames it to. As shown in this new post, Microsoft’s mobile business is messy and fragmented. There are too many different products which try to achieve the same thing; it’s amusing because Microsoft apparently uses the separation between Chrome OS and Android as FUD against Google. Microsoft itself has at least 3 different operating systems for mobile phones (SideKick included). “Pressure is on for Microsoft and Windows Phone 7″ states the headline of this article from CNET as Microsoft is trying to push it into businesses. Linux is the key contender here and it’s down for Apple to determine if it can gain back its advantage. The best-selling mobile platform in the United States appears to be the Linux-based Android. Microsoft is just grasping at straws and uses MSNBC to promote its mobile products this month (at least it says in the article that “MSNBC is a Microsoft – NBC joint venture.”). This article can also be found in Wired Magazine and its original publication source.
Based on early numbers, Microsoft’s product is failing to sell and its managers are leaving. As phonesreview.co.ukput it: “Microsoft KIN Phones Prices Slash Coming Due to Poor Sales?”
