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12.21.10

Why It’s Unlikely That Nokia Will Turn to Windows, Despite Microsoft Appointment

Posted in GNU/Linux, Microsoft, Windows at 3:40 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Xmas postcard

Summary: Nokia’s focus on Linux (MeeGo) is doubted by a rumour from Russia, but observations from various bloggers suggest that Windows is an unlikely option even to an Elop-run Nokia

A FEW MONTHS ago we wrote repeatedly about Elop joining Nokia as CEO. We called that entryism because with Steve Ballmer’s support Elop came from Microsoft, which is desperately trying to put some variant of Windows on other companies’ phones (a rapidly-growing market segment). We wrote about the subject in posts such as:

The rumours are back and the main claim is that Nokia is exploring Windows. Well, it’s similar to a rumour we heard a long time ago, so before labelling this “entryism” one ought to consider that there is little or no reason for Nokia to ever touch Vista Phony 7 [sic], which is doing very badly despite Christmas, according to the silence. Technically, it is a very bad platform which lacks basic functionality already inherent and found in Symbian, so writers doubt the rumours:

Nokia’s new leadership under ex-Microsoft executive Stephen Elop has reportedly met with Microsoft to plan a line of Nokia phones that would run the Windows Phone 7 software. This is according to Russian blogger Eldar Mutarzin, a noted tech writer with connections inside Nokia. The two sides may just be chatting, as all big companies do at some point (see Google and Nokia) but the prospect of Nokia hardware sporting a Microsoft OS is intriguing, because it would signal a major shift on Nokia’s part, suggesting it needs serious outside help in getting its smartphone business in order.

“We Don’t Buy It,” writes Laptop Magazine, which got a free laptop from Microsoft rather than buy one. But the remark refers to rumours that “Nokia [is] Hooking Up with Windows Phone 7″ (we heard this before, even months ago when nothing ever materialised).

The question remains whether this move will do much to blunt Nokia’s falling market position since it seems Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 OS hasn’t gained any real traction in terms of sales. In fact, according to online advertising company Chitika, for every one ad viewed on a Windows Phone 7, there are 110 Android and 172 iPhone impressions. While Microsoft has not released data regarding how well its WP7 units are moving, it’s clear that WP7′s reception hasn’t exactly been overwhelming.

So in summary, all we have is a rumour and it’s unlikely to be true or unlikely to be the case that Nokia will turn to Windows is principal path. Microsoft’s remaining mobile ‘products’ are patents and lawyers.

Fresh Allegations That Gartner is Corrupt and Magic Quadrant Positions Are ‘for Sale’

Posted in Deception, Marketing, Microsoft at 3:11 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Gartner Group logo redone

Summary: Gartner’s reputation is under fire again, after allegations that “Gartner’s views can be bought”

TECHRIGHTS is sceptical of so-called professional analysts, just as it sometimes distrusts the corporate press, which is selling bias and advertising. The “content” is the product and the pseudo-reporting often just the “fill”, which helps sell the content (be it bias or an advertised product). “Analysts sell out,” explained Microsoft [PDF], “that’s their business model” and we spent a lot of time writing about the Gartner Group, which sells a lot of products/services to Microsoft while gagging journalists. Last year and early this year we wrote about a lawsuit against Gartner. ZL alleged that Gartner offered positions in exchange for cash and took Gartner to court over it. Gartner is now being hit again:

Ferris Research, an analyst firm focused on messaging, compliance and collaboration, is asking IT vendors to let the firm know if Gartner has ever improved any of their magic quadrant positions in return for cash.

Gartner is currently battling a defamation and trade libel claim from an IT company which has not been ranked as well as it may have hoped.

Gartner is a prominent IT analyst company and regularly issues MQs, or Magic Quadrants, for a variety of IT disciplines, such as external controller-based storage.

The four-box MQ places suppliers in one of four boxes plotted against two axes. “Completeness of vision” runs from left to right, and “ability to execute” runs vertically. This provides a bottom left-hand box for niche players, an upper left-hand box for challengers, a lower right-hand box for visionaries and an upper right-hand one for leaders.

It is generally thought that a substantial proportion of customers will only buy IT products and services from suppliers in particular MQ boxes, such as the top-right leaders’ quadrant.

[...]

Ferris is asking vendors to tell him, openly or in confidence, if Gartner reps alluded to better Gartner reviews if clients bought Gartner services, if their MQ position changed for the better or worse after paying or not paying for services, and if they believe Gartner reports are pure opinion or fact.

He suggests Ferris Research:

may try to testify to the Federal Trade Commission. This in turn would likely trigger e-discovery at Gartner. If this confirms that Gartner’s views can be bought, this would confirm ZL’s assertions, and would be very damaging to Gartner. Your identity would be kept entirely anonymous and no one, including Gartner, will ever know you’ve testified.

Red Hat’s Harish Pillay wrote regarding the above: “No surprises with how these “ANALyst” companies work”.

It’s not much different at Forrester, IDC, and the Yankee Group. Just like patent lawyers, these people created a meta-market for themselves — one that acts as a tax (recommendation tax) and contributes merely nothing but ‘protection’ from itself.

[ES] Microsoft, Normas e Incompatibilidad: 1991-2011 – y Una Pistola Humeante de Novell

Posted in Microsoft, Novell, Office Suites, Open XML, OpenDocument, Patents at 8:21 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Xmas at Boycott Novell

(ODF | PDF | English/original)

Resumen: Spanish translation of a new Groklaw article exposing Novell’s ugliness

Eduardo Landaveri wrote to us last night (in English):

Groklaw & Boycott Novell were the only ones had the guts to declare MS goals & denounce Judas Novell openly. Many of those who attack PJ & yourself instead of focus on the message have tried to derail you both, but history & time brings everything to light. The trolls & paid MS mercenaries can’t and won’t be able to deny or rewrite history thanks to the Comes exibits. Many of them need to be translated to other languages so other peoples won’t be deceived.

Their Himmlerian tactics: “Lie, lie, lie something will remain” won’t be able to rewrite history. Please, people of Spain, Latin America & Brazil, join us in translating documents on this site as well on the Comes vs MS documents at:

http://www.groklaw.net/staticpages/index.php?page=2007021720190018

To the Latin American & European peoples Microsoft goal is: DIGITAL COLONIALISM. Do not let pass any legalization of software patents! Doing so will enslave your childrens future. Look up to India & Brazil.

Or in Spanish:

Groklaw y Boicot Novell fueron los únicos que tuvieron el coraje de declarar los objetivos de Microsoft y denunciar abiertamente a Judas Novell. Muchos de los que atacan a PJ y a usted mismo en vez de centrarse en el mensaje han tratado de descarrilarlos a ambos, pero la historia y el tiempo trae todo a la luz. Los trolls y mercenarios pagados de Microsoft no pueden ni se podrán negar o reescribir la historia gracias a la exibits de Comes vs Microsoft. Muchos de ellos necesitan ser traducidos a otros idiomas para los demás pueblos no seán engañados.

Sus tácticas Himmlerianas: “Miente, miente, miente que algo quedará” no será capaz de reescribir la historia. Por favor, la gente de España, América Latina y Brasil, únete a nosotros en la traducción de documentos en este sitio y de los documentos de Comes vs MS en:

http://www.groklaw.net/staticpages/index.php?page=2007021720190018

Para la región de América Latina y el objetivo de los pueblos europeos Microsoft es: COLONIALISMO DIGITAL. No dejen pasar cualquier legalización de las patentes de software! Si lo hace, esclavizaran el future de sus niños. Miren a la India y Brasil.

Here is the translation of the article from Groklaw:


Otra exhibición espantosa ha terminado en forma de texto en nuestra colección de exposiciones[http://www.groklaw.net/staticpages/index.php?page=2007021720190018] Comes v. Microsoft, prueba 1116[http://groklaw.net/pdf/iowa/www.iowaconsumercase.org/011607/1000/PX01116.pdf] [PDF].

Es un memorandum de Microsoft de 1991, con respecto a un plan de ataque sugerido para vencer al OS/2 de IBM, escrito por José Krawczak, actualmente director del programa de grupo de Outlook de Microsoft. Éstos son sólo tres sentencias condenatorias del memorandum confidencial:

Llevar a cabo una estrategia de desarrollo de productos que prevenga a IBM que puedan decir que tengan compatibilidad con Windows. Impedir que Windows las aplicaciones se ejecuten correctamente en OS/2 ….

Cambiar la posición de OS/2 como poco práctica e incompatible en la mente de los clientes.

Que bónito: Primero en silencio crear incompatibilidades para asegurarse de que las aplicaciones de Microsoft no trabajen correctamente en OS/2. A continuación, decirle al mundo que no debe comprar OS/2, ya que las aplicaciones de Microsoft no trabajan correctamente en OS/2.

Pero 1991 es hace mucho tiempo, he oído que algunos de ustedes dicen, y hay un nuevo Microsoft. Ah, sí? Vamos a ver si eso es así, poniendo de relieve una de las últimas presentaciones de Novell con la SEC (EE.UU. Comisión de Bolsa y Valores), su acuerdo de trabajo[http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/758004/000119312510279391/dex1068.htm] con Microsoft titulado “Mejora de la interoperabilidad entre Microsoft y Novell a través de Open XML” y fechado en marzo de este mismo año.

Es con respecto al trabajo que Microsoft estaba dispuesto a pagar Novell que hacer para que el CíNICAMENTE mal llamado Open XML de Microsoft pareciera que permite la interoperabilidad. Novell ha estado trabajando desde marzo para hacer la versión de Novell de OpenOffice.org interoperar, más o menos, pero como usted verá no completamente con Microsoft Office 2010 para que al menos pareciera que el “Open” XML es “abierto” y que alguien lo implementa.

¿Qué papel Novell acordo jugar. Hemos tenido nuestras sospechas durante años, desde que Microsoft y Novell entró en su acuerdo de paz de patentes y acuerdo de trabajo técnico, y ahora sabemos que todo lo que se sospechaba que Novell estaba haciendo con su versión de OpenOffice.org, lo fue. Así es. Esta es la pistola humeante. Y el acuerdo de trabajo se ejecuta hasta noviembre de 2011, por lo que esta historia no ha terminado todavía.

Esta es la descripción de los objetivos del proyecto:

Descripción: El proyecto tiene tres objetivos principales:

a) El aumento de la interoperabilidad entre Microsoft Office y Novell OpenOffice Suites de Productividad a través de la portabilidad de datos mejorado habilitado a través de soporte nativo del estándar “Open” XML; (NOTA: todas las referencias en esta Declaración de trabajo a “OpenOffice de Novell” se hace referencia a “Novell OpenOffice Productos” tal como se define en el Acuerdo);

b) Un fuerte ecosistema “OPEN” XML como habilitada por implementaciones de proveedores de software múltiples, y,

c) Una mayor “calidad” de estándar “Abierto” XML como activado por una participación más activa en el manejo de defectos, mejoras y establecer la dirección estratégica. En este sentido, los objetivos del proyecto incluyen Novell ser un activo, participante ejecutor en el mantenimiento y evolución del estándar “Open” XML; Novell que participan en el estándar de evolución de una manera que sea consistente con las necesidades de las modernas suites de productividad (casos de compatibilidad hacia atrás, de medios suficientes para los ejecutores de innovación basado en las necesidades del cliente, el grado adecuado de estabilidad de la norma, etc), y Novell ser un ejecutor de primera clase del estándar “Open” XML y activamente compartiendo sus experiencias con el resto de la “comunidad” de “Open” XML .

No veo como la meta sea plenamente compatible. ¿Usted? Más bien, dice “mejorado” la compatibilidad entre Novell OpenOffice, sólo la versión de Novell con Microsoft Office, mejora pero NO COMPLETA, utilizando los bits de la norma, pero obviamente siguiendo a los productos de Microsoft, no la norma, como la elección se debe hacer. ¿Cómo podía ser completa, teniendo en cuenta las extensiones de Microsoft que no están en la norma y que Microsoft mantiene en su propio control proprietario? El objetivo real brilla a través de mí como este: hacer “Open” XML parezca legítimo haciéndolo lucir como “participación activa de ejecutores”. Esa es la función de Novell en esta triste foto.

Lo que Novell hizo aquí fue dejase contratar esencialmente para poner en práctica la “interoperabilidad” de productos, no la interoperabilidad de un “estándar”, por lo que Microsoft no tiene que hacer una norma que en realidad funcione como una norma se supone que, sea compatibles con todo el mundo por igual.

Aquí hay un par de párrafos del acuerdo técnico de 2006[http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/758004/000095013407012375/f26782exv10w33.htm] entre Novell y Microsoft ridículamente redactada para ser indescifrable antes de que fuera presentado ante la SEC (EE.UU. Comisión de Bolsa y Valore) la parte de “Open” XML:

(A) el ejercicio de sus *** *** *** a más tardar el *** que (i) el OpenOffice *** (versión 2 o posterior) *** *** se hace o Office “Open” XML formato (“Open XML”), y (ii) hará una *** *** *** Si no se *** *** dentro del mismo marco de tiempo que en el *** *** en una *** *** a XML abierto. *** Proporcionará a sus *** *** *** por lo menos antes de *** *** El será *** *** No se proporcionará en el *** *** se *** *** de ese término, incluyendo a través de *** en la *** se define en el Acuerdo de Colaboración Empresarial.

b) El apoyo de Novell de producto para Office Open XML. A más tardar *** después de que el proyecto Translator hace generalmente disponible una versión de su traductor para procesadores de texto, y después de eso todo el plazo, Novell (a no ser comercialmente factible) hacer prominente disponible *** para documentos de procesamiento de textos. El *** se puede hacer un lugar destacado a disposición de un usuario de *** a través de una descarga fácilmente, o mediante la distribución de la *** con cada copia de un ***. A más tardar *** después de que el proyecto de traducción libera una versión definitiva de su traductor para hojas de cálculo, Novell hará todos los esfuerzos comercialmente razonables para incluir en el apoyo *** para hojas de cálculo. A más tardar *** después de que el proyecto de traducción libera una versión definitiva de su traductor para las presentaciones, Novell hará todos los esfuerzos comercialmente razonables para incluir en el apoyo *** de documentos de presentación. Una vez liberado, Novell continuará haciendo la *** comercialmente disponibles para el período. Si durante el plazo, el Proyecto Traductor edite una versión actualizada de su traductor para reflejar una nueva versión de la correspondiente ODF o especificación Open XML, a continuación, a más tardar *** tales siguiente lanzamiento, Novell hará todos los esfuerzos comercialmente razonables para hacer un lugar destacado disponible una actualización correspondiente a ***.

Incomprensible en ese momento. Teníamos nuestras sospechas acerca de lo que fue hasta Novell. Pero ahora podemos llenar los espacios en blanco, por lo que sabemos. Todo lo que pensaba de Novell fue hasta con OpenOffice.org, lo eran. Si. Me da pena escribir esto. Pero yo soy una persona basada en la realidad. Y es lo que es.

Esto es POR LO QUE SE LE PAGO a NOVELL por hacer y ACCEDIO a hacerlo por dinero de Microsoft:

Participación Resultados:

* Novell participará en al menos tres Ecma TC45 conferencias telefónicas trimestrales al año para un período de dos años.

* Novell participará en al menos cuatro conferencias telefónicas JTC 1 SC34 GT4 por trimestre durante un período de dos años.

* Novell participará en al menos tres JTC 1 SC34 GT4 reuniones cara a cara al año durante un período de dos años.

* Novell participará en al menos tres DII o eventos similares al año durante un período de dos años.

Microsoft no deja nada al azar, según tengo entendido. Quiere que sus socios se muestren y ayuden, por lo que PAGA a la gente por participar en actividades normativas. La fecha de terminación del proyecto es de noviembre de 2011. Para entonces, Novell es previsible que se venda, pero sólo para que la comunidad sepa que la versión de Novell de OpenOffice.org será un trabajo en progreso a partir de entonces hasta que pase lo que pase suceda.

Tenga en cuenta este elemento de trabajo en el contrato de trabajo:

1. OpenOffice Novell actualización se salteará sobre desconocido contenido desconocidos de Microsoft Office 2010.

“Actualización” se saltarse “contenido desconocido de Microsoft Office 2010 específicos”. ¿Por qué? Debido a que Office 2010 tiene un contenido, las extensiones, que no están en la norma, es por eso. Así que aquí Novell está trabajando para hacer dos productos “compatibles”, porque en realidad no puede ser compatible con Microsoft Office 2010, siguiendo la llamada norma. Es una solución provisional. En lugar de fijar el estándar por el envío de las extensiones de Microsoft al cuerpo de estándares, Novell crea una demo, supongo que se podría decir, que Microsoft podría utilizar en lugar de mostrar al mundo la impresión de la interoperabilidad.

Recuerde que una de las grandes objeciones al OOXML convirtirse en un estándar en el primer lugar fue que se permitieron extensiones de propiedad de Microsoft, lo cual se señaló, sería difícil e incluso imposible para cualquiera, menos Microsoft y cualquiera de sus compañeros elegidos para interoperar con la “norma”. Y aquí lo vemos en la vida real. Ante las críticas, Microsoft contrata a Novell para ser un amigo de Microsoft y para tratar de encontrar una manera de hacer que Microsoft Office parezca que interactúa con OpenOffice.org hasta cierto punto, no una versión de ella, pero sólo la versión de Novell de OpenOffice.

No se supone que tiene que contratar a gente para encontrar una manera privada que sea compatible con un estándar de verdad.

Hay tanta agua [http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20051128191449853] bajo el puente de Microsoft de no real compatibilidad. ¡Qué historia la de esta empresa! ¿Hay alguna otra compañía que usted sabe de que actúa así? Si la hay, enviarme un correo electrónico. Va a ser una novedad para mí.

Tengo entendido que Microsoft quiere una demostración de la interoperabilidad de Novell cosas se le ocurre hacer como su supuesto estándar funciona. ¿Y por qué es este un secreto desde marzo? En marzo es cuando Groklaw se alojaba las noches que cubre el segundo juicio de SCO en Utah, por lo que recuerdo muy bien. Al igual que muchas de las empresas, Novell quiere los beneficios de ayuda de la comunidad, pero no la responsabilidad que viene con la ayuda.

Hay cinco etapas en el acuerdo, y todas ellas dicen que algunas funciones NO SON compatibles, es decir, las extensiones en el producto de Microsoft que no están en la norma. Este es el quinto hito:

HITO N º 5

* Novell OpenOffice puede abrir Microsoft Office 2007 generados archivos por “Open” XML sin fallos; características M3 y 4 apoyado; características no compatibles se pierden cuando los abres.

* Novell OpenOffice puede abrir Microsoft Office 2010-generados archivos “Open” XML sin fallos; características M3 y 4 apoyado; características no compatibles se pierden cuando los abres.

* Sólo Novell OpenOffice puede guardar los archivos que contienen características M5, con ámbito de las funciones admitidas en OpenOffice de Novell, utilizando el estándar “Open” XML.

* Sólo Novell OpenOffice puede guardar los archivos que contienen características y Novell específicas que utilizan el estándar “Open” XML.

“CARACTERISTICAS NO COMPATIBLES SE PIERDEN cuando las abres.” Esa es la versión de Microsoft de compatibilidad – sus cosas siempre funcionan mejor que la tuyas. Así que, como en el memorandum de ataque a OS/2, que puedaninformar a los compradores potenciales que deben atenerse a los productos de Microsoft porque la competencia no funciona bien. Ahora sabes por qué.

El resumen en el contrato de trabajo dice que es cierto:

Apertura de Oficina de Microsoft 2010 Archivos

1. OpenOffice Novell ha actualizado para admitir
características de M3 y saltease sobre desconocidos
Microsoft Office 2010 específicos contenido

2. OpenOffice Novell ha actualizado para admitir
características M4 y saltar sobre desconocidos
Microsoft Office 2010 específicos contenido

3. OpenOffice Novell ha actualizado para admitir
características M5 y saltar sobre desconocidos
Microsoft Office 2010 específicos contenido

Ahorro de archivos de Novell OpenOffice

4. Novell implementa nativo “Open” XML
guardar el apoyo a M5 conjunto de características.

5. Novell Novell instrumentos específicos
extensiones sin apoyo para su propia
características cuando se utiliza con “Open” XML

¡Oh, Novell. ¿En qué pensabas? ¿Por qué usted está de acuerdo con esto? Soy capaz de leer estas palabras, ¿por qué no pudiste? Dicen que se están utilizando para apuntalar la reputación de “Open” XML, aunque no es realmente compatible al final. ¿Qué tipo de objetivos son estos? Para una “estándar”? Para una empresa de venta de GNU/Linux?

Bueno, es una? Una norma, quiero decir. Si es así, que un estricto o de transición? Ni estricta ni de Transición describe correctamente lo que Microsoft Office en realidad escribe cuando se escribe un archivo DOCX, después de todo, por lo que no puede ser precisamente bien, ¿verdad? Pero Alex Brown, quien creyó las promesas de Microsoft alguna vez, o dice que lo hizo, escribió recientemente en su blog [http://www.adjb.net/post.aspx?id=35a6a853-281f-4d93-a530-459f4b589516] que Microsoft no pasó la prueba de las normas, no mantuvo las promesas hechas, e incluso él dice que es más de transición:

El paso clave del proceso de revisión fue la división de la especificación en dos versiones de la variante, llamada “estricta” y “de transición”. Los Organismos Nacionales de confinados de todas las tecnologías que se encuentran inaceptable para el formato de Transición y dictó el texto a ser incluido en la norma destinada a prohibir su uso posterior:

“La intención [...] es permitir un período transitorio durante el cual los documentos existentes binarios que se están migrando a DIS 29500 puede hacer uso de las características heredadas de conservar su fidelidad, al tiempo que observa que los nuevos documentos no deben usarlos. [...]

Este anexo es normativo para la edición actual de la norma, pero no garantiza que sea parte del estándar en futuras revisiones. La intención es permitir que el futuro DIS 29500 grupo de mantenimiento de elegir, en una fecha posterior, para quitar este conjunto de características de una versión revisada del DIS 29500. ”

Estaba convencido en aquel momento, y estando convencidos de hoy, que la división de OOXML en las variantes estrictas y durante la transición fue la innovación que permitió a la “norma” pasar. Basta que organismos nacionales podrían votar en buena conciencia de OOXML sabiendo que su preferida, la variante estricta, estaría bajo su control en el futuro mientras que la variante de Transición (que – recuerda – que había rechazado de manera efectiva en 2007) se mantendrán en el nivel con el fin de especificar con precisión los documentos antiguos: un objetivo útil en sí mismo.

Algun “gran avance” que resultó ser. Innovación, por cierto. Era un truco de la mano, que él y los que votaron por la norma llamada fuera poco ingenuo, o peor aún, a estar de acuerdo. Había Microsoft hecho promesas, señala, en una carta abierta [http://www.microsoft.com/interop/letters/ChrisCapOpenLetter.mspx] de Microsoft justo antes de la votación final, prometiendo lo que pasaría si todo el mundo votaría a favor de OOXML, que bastantes de ellos hicieron para ungir como norma presunta. Aquí hay una promesa:

“Hemos escuchado a la comunidad mundial y aprendido mucho, y estamos comprometidos a apoyar a la especificación Open XML que está aprobado por la ISO/IEC en nuestros productos.”

Microsoft siempre habla de que “Ay caramba” de estilo, cuando quiere algo. ¿Cuánto vale una promesa de Microsoft, sin embargo? Advertimos al mundo acerca de esto y en aquel entonces fuimos ignorados, difamados con snarkiness por los empleados de Microsoft y Brown en Twitter y en los blogs desde hace meses. Así que, ¿quién de nosotros tenía razón al final? Microsoft hizo cumplir sus promesas? Vamos a ver.

El Sr. Brown [http://www.adjb.net/post.aspx?id=35a6a853-281f-4d93-a530-459f4b589516] también:

En este recuento de Microsoft parece estar listo para el fracaso. En su forma de pre-lanzamiento de Office ™ 2010 no admite la variante aprobada estricta de OOXML, el formato, pero muy a la comunidad mundial rechazó en septiembre de 2007 y, posteriormente, como marca para su uso en nuevos documentos – la variante de Transición. Microsoft se están comportando como si el proceso de normalización JTC 1 nunca sucedió, y el uso de tecnologías (como VML) en un nuevo producto que incluso el texto de la norma se describe como “obsoleto” y “incluido [...] por razones único legado” (véase ISO/IEC 29500-1:2008, cláusula M.5.1).

Tal vez debería pedir disculpas por todas las cosas desagradables que él escribió sobre aquellos de nosotros tratando de advertirle, ¿no te parece?

¿Y qué acerca de este acuerdo de trabajo de Novell – ¿qué es lo que vemos en uso, estricto o de transición? En realidad, ni, en que Novell está trabajando para interactuar con un “producto” de Microsoft. No, la norma, pero es más estricta que la de Transición, si tuviera que elegir sólo uno, según un experto cuyo cerebro tomé. Y he aquí una pregunta para Brown: ¿El comité puede hacer algo proactivo, como la eliminación de Transición o la búsqueda de la armonización con ODF? ¿Se trata sólo de Microsoft que no pasó la prueba de las normas?

He aquí otra promesa de Microsoft hizo en aquel entonces:

“Estamos comprometidos con el mantenimiento saludable de la norma una vez que la ratificación se lleva a cabo de modo que seguirán siendo útiles y pertinentes para el creciente número de implementadores y usuarios de todo el mundo.”

Cruz su corazón y esperanza de morir. Pero, ¿que cumplir esa promesa, o tenían sus dedos cruzados con una mano detrás de su espalda mientras que el otro estaba en su corazón y ofrecer un compromiso sincero de sonido? Dejemos que el señor Brown nos dice:

Microsoft tiene muchos enemigos que, sin duda, ven el estado actual de cosas como la prueba de que Microsoft nunca tuvo siquiera la intención de ser ciudadanos de un buen nivel ….

Y si nos fijamos en otros lugares dentro de Microsoft se puede ver – por ejemplo de su compromiso con HTML 5 y trabajar en MSIE – que puede moverse en la dirección correcta cuando la voluntad está ahí.

¿Entonces por qué – habida cuenta de la conciencia Microsoft tiene en la parte superior, en la parte inferior, y alrededor de los bordes – ¿aún la gestión de comportarse como lo hace? Algo, tal vez, está mal en el centro – algún tipo de disfunción de las empresas derivados de la falla de la supervisión ejecutiva.

¿Eso crees? Disfunción o INCOMPATIBILIDAD DELIBERADA? ¿Cuántas extensiones de Office 2010, fueron enviados a la norma ISO, el Sr. Brown? Cero? En serio, cualquier trabajo real sucede allí nunca más? Brown escribió todos los que en marzo de 2010, curiosamente poco, el mismo mes, Microsoft contrató a Novell para “mejorar” la compatibilidad de Microsoft Office y la versión de Novell de OpenOffice.org. Por cierto, Microsoft no tiene enemigos. Cuenta la gente que ve cómo actúan y los que no lo hacen o fingir que no lo hacen.

Más recientemente, Brown se pregunta si Microsoft alguna vez puede redimirse [http://www.adjb.net/post.aspx?id=812e7af4-1471-4232-ac62-490d94961c7f]:

¿Puede haber redención para Microsoft, cuyo producto de Office 2010 tiene ahora llegó a las tiendas con la variante obsoleta de transición de OOXML y un montón de extensiones de Microsoft? Bueno, en el tiempo, tal vez …

Ha habido mucha discusión en el GT 4 cómo normalizar las extensiones de Microsoft que – a pesar de que el uso de los mecanismos de extensión descrita por el SI 29500 – no se describieron en cualquier estándar. Actualmente están documentados en MSDN. ¿Cómo deben ser normalizados? En una de varias partes estándar? en un registro? o qué? En última instancia WG 4 llegó a la conclusión que debemos hacer nada – que no están escuchando cualquier demanda del mercado para la normalización de las extensiones de Microsoft y por lo que se espera. Por supuesto, esto significa que como Microsoft agrega extensiones cada vez más a las versiones posteriores de la Oficina de la proporción de lo descrito en el texto de ES 29500 disminuirá. Tendremos que esperar y ver lo que el mercado piensa en eso. Personalmente, creo que es fundamental que los compradores de las suites de OOXML basado en prestar especial atención a este aspecto de MS Office y (he escrito esto antes) saben que MS Office 2007 – No 2010 – es la única versión que (módulo errores / defectos ) se ajusta a OOXML no prorrogado. Es mi suposición que los futuros compradores a gran escala de MS Office lo desea, puede especificar qué extensiones que quieres (quizá ninguno), y me gustaría ver a la lengua de conformidad de OOXML reforzado la hora de formular las especificaciones de tales adquisiciones más fácil.

No hacer nada. Esa es la respuesta. No han hecho nada acerca de Microsoft no cumplir sus promesas. Creyendo las promesas de Microsoft podría no ser el curso más sabio después de todo, entonces?

Entonces, ¿qué fue de Novell contratado para su uso en su trabajo sobre OpenXML, de transición o estricto? Vemos lo que está utilizando, sin embargo, tenga en cuenta que el Acuerdo de Trabajo astutamente ha dicho:

NOTA: todas las referencias en esta Declaración de trabajo a “ISO / IEC 29500″ se hace referencia a “la norma ISO / IEC 29500:2008″

Aquí está, la norma ISO / IEC 29500:2008 [http://www.iso.org/iso/pressrelease.htm?refid=Ref1181], si usted quisiera consultar libremente.

Algunas partes del documento de acuerdo de trabajo se han omitido por razones de confidencialidad, pero mira en los objetivos al comienzo si tiene alguna duda acerca de su propósito: “El aumento de la interoperabilidad entre Microsoft Office y OpenOffice Novell suites de productividad a través de la portabilidad de datos mejorado habilitado a través de nativos soporte del estándar “Open” XML “- en otras palabras, se trata de dos productos cada vez más interoperables, no aplicar una norma en el sentido habitual, o en realidad en ningún sentido que yo entiendo.

La ironía está muerta. Aquí tienes una llamada norma que se utiliza para la exclusividad, por lo que Microsoft y Novell tienen interoperabilidad especial que otros no pueden disfrutar.

Y en cuanto a papel terrible de Novell, obviamente, nunca los ejecutivos de Novell captado la esencia de Linux o software libre. Eso explica muchas cosas, incluyendo la caída de la compañía al final, ¿no te parece? Vender a la comunidad en secreto, no crea un plan de negocios a largo plazo. Y a todos los que empujaron a favor o aceptaron la versión de Novell de OpenOffice.org, ¿Cuál es el plan ahora? En serio. Es hora de hacer realidad un plan. Microsoft lo hace. ¿Qué hay de la comunidad? ¿Es que somos estúpidos?

En septiembre, así como un punto de lado, Brown cuenta de esta comparación revela búsquedas de Google con Bing, un punto de lado, pero todavía sobre el tema de cómo Microsoft se comporta:

Tratando de descargar la última versión de OpenOffice.org™ escribimos “OpenOffice” en Bing, y se sorprendió al volver una página de resultados que no contienen el sitio oficial de OpenOffice.org. Google sin embargo, se obtiene como resultado superior.

Hmm, tal vez no lo suficientemente específica. Trato de entrar en “openoffice.org” en Bing. Es lo mismo. Google vuelve otra vez el sitio oficial de OpenOffice.org como el resultado de la parte superior.

Curioso ahora, entrar en “descarga gratuita de oficina” en Google y de nuevo obtener el sitio de OpenOffice.org. La ejecución de este con Bing me dan una página de descargas de Microsoft® Office™ y complementos.

La neutralidad de la búsqueda? bah – estos dos motores de búsqueda tienen una visión muy diferente de la web, lo que parece!

Microsoft no cambia. Nunca.

Y al final, de Novell, lo que pasó? La asociacion con Microsoft beneficio a Novell? La compañía, quiero decir, no la junta de directores y funcionarios ejecutivos, que reconocen en la declaración de poder preliminar que se beneficiarán personalmente de la venta a Attachmate:

Intereses de nuestros directores y ejecutivos en la fusión

Al considerar la recomendación del consejo de administración de Novell, debe tener en cuenta que los directores de Novell y ejecutivos tienen intereses en la fusión que no sean sus intereses como accionistas de Novell en general, como se describe a continuación. Estos intereses pueden ser diferentes, o en conflicto con sus intereses como accionista de Novell. Los miembros de nuestro consejo de administración son conscientes de estos intereses adicionales, y consideró que, cuando se aprobó el Acuerdo de Fusión. Estos intereses son los siguientes:

* Los pagos por despido y de beneficios a la terminación de calificación de empleo;
* De la consolidación acelerada y dinero en efectivo de compensaciones en acciones y el acelerado de consolidación de los acuerdos de compensación diferida, y
* Después de que el tiempo efectivo de la fusión, la empresa superviviente de la fusión de indemnizar continuó y los directores y oficiales de seguro de responsabilidad aplicable al período de antes de la hora efectiva de la fusión.

¿Hay, entonces, una gran diferencia entre Microsoft en 1991 y Microsoft en el 2010? A veces veo comentarios negar que Microsoft nunca hizo cosas tan terribles a OS/2 y que lo que realmente pasó con OS/2 fue que IBM no podía competir debido a que carecía de competencia o de alguna manera no sabía cómo hacer relaciones públicas o lo que sea, pero esta es la historia real, yo diría que, la verdadera historia se ve en este Anexo 1116. En primer lugar, dice la memorandum de la creación de incompatibilidad deliberada, el basureo de OS/2 a los compradores potenciales por ser incompatible, un plan de ataque deliberado. Sucio. La manera de Microsoft.

Decir que Microsoft supuestamente no estaba en asociación con IBM en OS/2? Estoy buscando ejemplos de asociarse con Microsoft dando sus frutos. Estaba pensando que me gustaría hacer una lista que muestre lo que sucede a las empresas que se han asociado con Microsoft. ¿No sería divertido? Si alguien tiene alguna, por favor envíelas a mí, porque todo lo que veo es IBM y Novell, y i4i y WordPerfect y DR DOS y ahora Yahoo y así muchos más. Creo que puede ser perdonado por la conclusión de que la asociación con Microsoft suele ser el beso de la muerte. Pero vamos a ver lo que muestran los datos, una vez que los recoja.

Espere. Me pregunto si i4i sabe que, si bien Microsoft eliminó la extensión que se considera que infringe la patente de i4i de su producto, esta aún en la norma? Si no, memorandum a i4i.

Un gran agradecimiento a los voluntarios de Groklaw, kattemann, que hizo este memorandum siempre y cuando el texto, y para todos ustedes tomarse el tiempo para hacer esta historia completa. Gracias a esta colección Comes, blanquear el comportamiento de Microsoft en el pasado es mucho más difícil para ellos. Y el nuevo acuerdo con Novell es la pieza que trajo todo al día de hoy.

Todavía estamos trabajando en la recolección Comes, así que si usted desea ayudar, basta con ir a esta página [http://www.groklaw.net/staticpages/index.php?page=ComesExhN01], coger una muestra en cualquier página que no está hecho todavía, a continuación, después de hacerlo en forma de texto, a ser posible con el HTML en el estilo que usted ve allí, me acaba de correo electrónico en un correo electrónico de texto plano con su trabajo o simplemente mensaje como un comentario sobre lo que es el artículo más reciente.

Por cierto, esto es autor de la memorandum, aún en Microsoft, trabajando en la interoperabilidad, natch. Krawczak es ahora gerente de Microsoft para Outlook grupo de programas, como ya he dicho, y mira lo que ha estado involucrado en:

Microsoft ha publicado un conjunto de herramientas de software de código abierto y la documentación técnica diseñada para mejorar la interoperabilidad y la flexibilidad de los datos de Outlook. En concreto, el material facilita la portabilidad de los datos en los archivos. Pst, permitiendo la “flexibilidad” del gobierno y los usuarios comerciales más en almacenar, compartir y manipular la información creada en Microsoft Outlook.

José Krawczak, gerente de grupo de programas Microsoft para Outlook, dijo que la compañía reconoce que sus clientes son cada vez más en entornos complejos y heterogéneos que requieren la capacidad de utilizar datos a través de una gama de plataformas y aplicaciones. En este contexto, la interoperabilidad es la capacidad de mover fácilmente los datos almacenados en Outlook. Pst a través de múltiples plataformas con programas y aplicaciones creadas por varios proveedores, y para el uso de cualquiera de estas aplicaciones.

Las nuevas herramientas y la documentación permitirá a los desarrolladores construir nuevas aplicaciones que interactúan con Microsoft Outlook y los datos que almacena. “Aunque pueda parecer contradictorio, creemos que la competencia y la elección de bienvenida que nos hará más éxito y creará nuevas oportunidades para nuestros clientes, socios y desarrolladores”, dijo.

Desde un punto de vista organizativo, la nueva oferta de Microsoft permite a las agencias del gobierno, o departamentos dentro de una agencia, para crear un marco para el intercambio de información. Según Krawczak, el material ofrece detalles técnicos sobre los protocolos para la comunicación con los datos almacenados en el formato de archivo. Pst, y proporciona información sobre la navegación jerarquías de carpetas y estructuras de datos de proveedores. Él dice que el proyecto de código abierto de Microsoft, proporciona a las agencias del gobierno con la capacidad de acceder fácilmente a los datos almacenados en los archivos. Pst en sus soluciones de software, sin tener que invertir en la construcción de estas mismas funciones.

¿Es aún necesario traducir eso para usted? Microsoft no puede cambiar, pero el mundo lo seguro. Por “fuente abierta” Microsoft quiere decir en sus propias licencias, que OSI era tan tonto como para aprobar, lo que permite a Microsoft a jugar a los juegos que lo hace. Yo, de la comunidad. Despierta. Para ser justos, que habían jugarlos de todos modos, pero ¿por qué ayudarlos?


Thanks to Eduardo for his translation. “I will reformat the exhibit itself as an ODF & PDF later in a way that it will be easier to read,” Eduardo added.

Links 21/12/2010: Unigine OilRush on GNU/Linux, WordPress Company Makes ~$10 Million in Revenue

Posted in News Roundup at 7:56 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNOME bluefish

Contents

GNU/Linux

  • Applications

    • Instructionals/Technical

    • Games

      • REVIEW: Zero Ballistics – Tank warfare for Linux!

        An observation was made recently that Linux was experiencing a wealth of new (and established titles) being made availabe or updated. This to me is a testament of the rising popularity of the Linux desktop (and subsequent demand for gaming).

        That debate though can wait until another day, as I have downloaded a copy of the latest version of Zero Ballistics, a generic Linux binary which is available now!

      • Here’s A Video Of Unigine OilRush On Linux

        Following yesterday’s holiday surprise and this morning’s exclusive preview of Unigine OilRush, we now have up an in-game video recording we made today of this forthcoming real-time strategy game.

        As said in today’s initial review of Unigine’s first game (for Linux, Windows, and PlayStation 3 platforms), in the coming weeks Unigine Corp will begin with pre-orders of the game and that will allow the public to gain access to the game’s beta. We just happened to get rare access to their latest development build that was used this weekend in Russia for their focus group testing.

      • Linux Gaming: Native vs. Wine vs. Windows 7 Performance

        From this first round of 2010 Wine vs. Ubuntu vs. Windows 7 testing it is tough to draw any conclusions. About the only conclusion to draw would be that you cannot draw any definitive conclusions about the Wine performance compared to the native performance on either Linux or Windows. With some of the least-demanding OpenGL games is where the performance under Wine took the biggest hit compared to Ubuntu 10.10 and Windows 7.

        [...]

        With Unigine Sanctuary and Unigine Tropics, the results were identical between Ubuntu, Windows 7, and Wine 1.2.1/1.3.9.

      • Warsow 0.6 Released With 6 New Maps, “Capture The Flag” Gametype

        Yet another game got a new version just in time for the holidays: Warsow – a futuristic cartoon-like first-person shooter – 0.6 was released yesterday featuring 6 new maps and a new gametype: the well known “Capture the Flag”.

  • Distributions

    • A look at LinuxConsole 1.0.2010

      The LinuxConsole distribution was my dark horse of 2009. It was a small, French Linux distro which managed to be compact, fast and included an interesting approach to software management. Aside from some translation quirks in the distro’s text, I found it to be an enjoyable system to use. Fast forward about a year and I received a few e-mails informing me that a new LinuxConsole release was up on their website. This version, labelled 1.0.2010, was made available in mid-November and boasts improved module management and a new desktop in the form of LXDE. The project’s website maintains a fairly simple layout with a black & white theme and six translations (Dutch, English, French, German, Italian and Portuguese). There is a small forum for requesting support, reporting bugs and making suggestions. There is a link to frequently asked questions on the menu, but at time of writing it throws up an error saying the page could not be found. The site has links providing access to the project’s source code, a download page and a link to additional modules in a section of the site called the Jukebox.

      [...]

      Having played with LinuxConsole for a week, I find that it’s an interesting approach, but it probably isn’t a good choice for home users. At least not installed locally. As a light live CD it performs well, but the requirement of downloading Firefox each time the live disc boots puts a speed bump in the road. My biggest issue was with hardware support. It’s not often Linux refuses to run properly on both of my test machines leaving me to wonder where the problems lies and, to date, I haven’t had time to track down the issue. I think the idea of a small distro with an ISO builder and add-on modules is a good one, but this release just didn’t work gracefully for me.

    • Red Hat Family

      • Red Hat reaches for clouds with interesting Eucalyptus deal

        The pairing is also interesting since Eucalyptus Systems has long worked closely with Ubuntu Linux distributor Canonical, which relies on the open source Eucalyptus software for its Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud. While Canonical has not presented much of a threat to Red Hat and its RHEL in the overall enterprise server market, the same cannot be said for cloud computing, where Canonical was first to address cloud computing users and also benefits from the popularity of Ubuntu in both public and private clouds and among developers. So it will be intersting to see whether Eucalyptus Systems’ partnership with Red Hat has any impact on Canonical’s own partnership with Eucalyptus Systems or use of Eucalyptus software.

      • Red Hat reduces cost and complexity of building portal sites with JBoss Enterprise Portal Platform 5.1

        Today Red Hat is announcing the general availability of JBoss Enterprise Portal Platform 5.1 to it’s subscribers and partners via the Red Hat Customer Portal on December 22. With an intuitive, easy to manage user interface and a proven core infrastructure, JBoss Enterprise Portal Platform enables organizations to quickly build dynamic websites in a highly reusable way. Continuing the momentum from the JBoss Enterprise Portal Platform 5.0 release earlier this year, this new release incorporates numerous enhancements based directly upon feedback from customers who have already begun deploying the new JBoss Enterprise Portal Platform architecture. Key among these enhancements is the addition of support for WSRP 2.0 (Web Services for Remote Portlets) standards, improved integration with back-end directories, improved performance and broader certification for web browsers.

    • Debian Family

      • 5 reasons why Debian Unstable does not deserve its name

        1. It contains mainly stable versions of the software

        Yes, you read it right. Unstable is not full of development versions of the various software. It happens on some software but then it’s usually a conscious decision of the maintainer who believes that this specific version is already better than the previous one.

        The packages in sid are supposed to migrate to testing, the place where the next Debian stable release is prepared. So maintainers are advised to only upload stuff that is of release quality, the rest should be uploaded to experimental instead.

      • 5 Reasons why Debian Unstable is Not for End-Users

        Debian unstable is not conceived as a product for end-users, and for very good reasons. There seems to be some misunderstanding and people trying to push end-users to use unstable. This blog post tries to address the claims raised and put them into proper light.

      • Canonical/Ubuntu

  • Devices/Embedded

    • Software Leaders to Advise Linaro

      Following completion of its first major release in November, Linaro announces the expansion of its ecosystem to include Advisory Partners Canonical, GENIVI, HP, LiMo Foundation and MontaVista Software all of whom are involved in building complex Linux based software. The Advisors will help to guide the Linaro Technical Steering Committee (TSC) on critical industry needs, facilitating the alignment of requirements.

    • Sub-notebooks

      • The perfect distro for the Acer Aspire One?

        During this review, Ive looked at Kuki 2.8 (399mb download) , Jolicloud 1.1 (696mb download), #!CBL 10 (644mb download), Puppy 5.11 (129mb download), Salix 13.1 (670mb download), Peppermint Ice (latest Spin 429mb download). But the first question I had was – I wonder who’s idea it was to think that this machine loaded with XP is viable? If we believe Microsoft hype, Windows 7 is shipping on everything today and allegedly its suitable for “everything” but if XP (which was released around 2001) strains the specs of a piece of hardware released about 6 years later, then I shudder to consider the performance Windows 7 will give on even more recent netbooks.

    • Tablets

      • China-based white-box tablet PCs among Amazon top 20 selling models

        China-based white-box vendors Zenithink’s 10-inch tablet PC ePad and Anhub’s 7-inch model have ranked among the top 20 selling tablet PCs on Amazon, according to retail channels in Taiwan.

      • Intel’s Atom to ship in over 35 tablets next year

        Intel has been trying to cut itself a slice of the mobile market for years, and it seems the company is finally making some headway. During a conference yesterday, Intel CEO Paul Otellini revealed that the company’s Atom platform will ship in over 35 tablets starting early next year. The chipmaker has partnered with more than a dozen manufacturers who will launch slates running Windows, Android as well as Intel’s own MeeGo operating system.

      • Apple iPad to Lead Android in Tablet Market in 2012

        Google Android tablets will comprise 39 percent of the tablet market by 2012, nearing Apple’s 44 percent iPad share. The trend mirrors how Android handsets are catching the iPhone.

Free Software/Open Source

Leftovers

  • Pakistan Shuts the Door on Transparency

    On Sunday, Asian News International quoted Malik in a story accusing TI Pakistan, Transparency International’s local affiliate, of acting like a “detective agency.” Malik also made a not-so-veiled threat to kick the group out of the country.

  • Drugmaker Lays Off 1,700 Via Conference Call Ahead Of Holidays

    A.R., a Sanofi-Aventis sales representative in California who wished to remain anonymous, as her contract forbids publicly disparaging the company, said she and her coworkers each received one of the two mass emails the company sent out that Tuesday morning. Both emails contained a code, an 800-number and a call time, either 8:00 a.m. or 8:30 a.m. The employees who were instructed to call in at the earlier time were told they could keep their jobs, but the 1,700 employees who called in at 8:30 a.m. weren’t so lucky: They were laid off by a voice on the other line that told them to stop working immediately, and had no opportunity for question or comment.

  • Innovation Mandate: American Students Score ‘C’ In Math And Science

    There was widespread agreement among the 45 or 50 people we interviewed for our Innovation Mandate series of coverage that the U.S. needs to pay more attention to technical education and/or training to prepare tomorrow’s workforce. That’s not to say they all see eye to eye on this issue, however. Some called for more funding; others for a whole new approach to teaching science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) principles and skills; others for getting companies to carry more of the burden through employee training and learning programs.

  • 2010′s biggest stories: What’s your pick?
  • Fear

    At the conclusion of this message: “Spamhaus continues to warn Wikileaks readers to make sure they are viewing and downloading documents only from an official Wikileaks mirror site. We’re not saying ‘don’t go to Wikileaks’ we’re saying ‘Use the wikileaks.ch server instead.’” Here is Spamhaus’s full warning.

  • Facebook vs Twitter: By The Numbers [Infographic]
  • We can save Delicious, but probably not in the way you think

    I left Yahoo over two years ago, but prior to that I spent three years running product for Delicious. Since then I’ve remained a loyal user and supporter. To this day I keep in touch with former Delicious colleagues and consider many to be friends. And though I’ve felt that Delicious has been frustratingly slow to evolve in recent years, I’ve always wished the best for the product and the remaining team members.

  • Senate panel ban seen as double standard

    Gordon R. England’s appointment to a top Pentagon post in 2006 came at a high price. The Senate committee overseeing his confirmation demanded that he give up lucrative stocks and options he held in companies that do business with the military.

    England said he took a big hit on his taxes and lost out on more than $1 million in potential profits that year when he divested himself of interests in companies that included General Dynamics.

    If he had been a senator, he would not have had to sell anything.

  • Science’s Breakthrough of the Year: The First Quantum Machine

    Until this year, all human-made objects have moved according to the laws of classical mechanics. Back in March, however, a group of researchers designed a gadget that moves in ways that can only be described by quantum mechanics — the set of rules that governs the behavior of tiny things like molecules, atoms, and subatomic particles. In recognition of the conceptual ground their experiment breaks, the ingenuity behind it and its many potential applications, Science has called this discovery the most significant scientific advance of 2010.

  • IBM

    • Innovation in an Age of Austerity

      Given the current economic conditions in the UK, the US and a number of other countries, there is increased pressure to develop effective methods to measure the impact of research and innovation investments on the economy. He raised a number of critical questions. How do you best measure such an impact – at an individual project; at a larger group like a lab, department or university; or at the national level? Will such economic measurements lead to an over-emphasis on some disciplines at the expense of others?

    • Open innovation: some initial thoughts

      While it is true that some in the open source community propose that all software be 100% free and unfettered forever, there are others that focus more on the core idea that sharing is good but what people do with the software after that is up to them.

      Therefore if you are in another business that is considering working with people or a community outside your organization, be aware that there are many models for openness. Do the research on which is most appropriate for what you plan to do and how you want to engage.

  • Health/Nutrition

  • Security

  • Defence/Police/Aggression

    • All mass arrests during COP15 last year declared illegal by Copenhagen City Court

      The City Court of Copenhagen ruled today that the all the mass arrests during the Copenhagen Climate Summit in 2009 were illigal and the police have to pay 9.000 DKK in damages to the protestors, who have complaint so far. The verdict declares that all the preventive arrests from the 11th to the 16th of december 2009 were illegal, and so the actions of the police during the COP15 is not accepted by the court.

    • G20 conspiracy charges dropped against activist

      While out on bail on G20 conspiracy charges, accused ringleader Jaroslava Avila was allowed to attend university classes, but had to have her class schedule with her just in case police asked.

      House arrest limited almost everything the 23-year-old did.

      She couldn’t use a cellphone and, except for attending school, could only go out when accompanied by someone over 18 — and if she had a note from her mother. And she couldn’t participate in any public demonstrations.

    • Public Money May Fund European Arms: “a hugely misdirected allocation of taxpayers’ money”

      Arms traders are seeking to convince the European Union that publicly-funded scientific research grants should help develop weapons for future wars.

    • Washington subway police to begin random bag checks

      Officers will start random bag inspections on the sprawling Washington subway system, the Washington Metro Transit Police said on Thursday, a week after a man was arrested for making bomb threats to the rail system.

      Metrorail police officers plan to randomly select bags before passengers enter subway stations and they will swab them or have an explosives-sniffing dog check the bags, according to the Metro police.

    • Monitoring America

      Nine years after the terrorist attacks of 2001, the United States is assembling a vast domestic intelligence apparatus to collect information about Americans, using the FBI, local police, state homeland security offices and military criminal investigators.

      The system, by far the largest and most technologically sophisticated in the nation’s history, collects, stores and analyzes information about thousands of U.S. citizens and residents, many of whom have not been accused of any wrongdoing.

      The government’s goal is to have every state and local law enforcement agency in the country feed information to Washington to buttress the work of the FBI, which is in charge of terrorism investigations in the United States.

  • Cablegate

    • US embassy cables: Wiki witch-hunt

      More insidious than that was the complacent yawn emanating from from sections of the liberal commentariat for which freedom of information is a given. So what’s new about the Gulf Arab Sunnis wanting America or Israel to bomb Iran, or Colonel Gaddafi’s taste for blonde Ukrainian nurses, or Nicolas Sarkozy being described as mercurial and authoritarian, they sneer. Maybe for them, nothing is new. Would that we all could be so wise. But for large areas of the world which do not have the luxury of being able to criticise their governments, the revelations about the private thoughts of their own leaders are important.

      The yawners from Primrose Hill or inside the Beltway forget that when WikiLeaks exposed high-level corruption in Kenya, toxic waste in Africa and all manner of nefarious deeds in the former Soviet bloc, they applauded it. They hailed the whistleblowers as brave democrats. But when the alleged leaker comes from within their own ranks – in this case a 23-year-old US military intelligence analyst, Bradley Manning, who now faces 52 years in prison – then it is a different matter: it is treason, a threat to national security. Close WikiLeaks down, run it off the internet, the cry goes up. All it takes is one call from Joe Lieberman, the chairman of the Senate committee on homeland security, and internet hosting providers buckle at the knees. Yesterday the French joined in. Viewed from China, which has been lectured for censoring the internet, this reaction must seem … very Chinese. Let’s face it. In these cold December days, there is nothing more warming than a witch-hunt.

    • WikiLeaks cables: Conservatives promised to run ‘pro-American regime’

      Conservative party politicians lined up before the general election to promise that they would run a “pro-American regime” and buy more arms from the US if they came to power this year, the leaked American embassy cables show.

    • Why I Love WikiLeaks
    • WikiLeaks cables reveal how US manipulated climate accord
    • WikiLeaks: The man who kicked the hornet’s nest
    • Wikileaks are not terrorists [PDF]
    • Brad Manning Has Rights!

      Charged but not convicted of any crime, American PFC Brad Manning is being held largely incommunicado at Quantico, without bedding or permission to exercise in his cell. He is purposely deprived of human contact. His current treatment – based on unproven charges – is far harsher than the treatment and sentences of four famous and convicted US federal-level spies.

      Former FBI agent Robert Hanssen was arrested in early 2001, and charged with selling secrets to the Soviets during the preceding two decades. Upon arrest, Hanssen confessed and was able to hire as an attorney the extremely competent Plato Cacheris, who negotiated a plea bargain. After an entire career spent profiting from the sale of classified information to the Soviets and later the Russian Federation, he is held at Supermax in isolation. Well, not exactly like Brad Manning – Hanssen has bedding, books, and exercise.

    • China pays Nepal police to catch Tibet refugees: WikiLeaks

      China pays Nepalese police to arrest Tibetan refugees as they cross over the border to escape persecution, according to US embassy cables released by WikiLeaks.

      One cable, sent by an unnamed officer at the New Delhi embassy in February, quoted a source saying that China “rewards (Nepali forces) by providing financial incentives to officers who hand over Tibetans attempting to exit China.”

      “Beijing has asked Kathmandu to step up patrols… and make it more difficult for Tibetans to enter Nepal,” one of the embassy’s sources said in a cable released Sunday.

    • Cablegate: The Game
    • SNL: Julian Assange Hacks Into Mark Zuckerberg’s ‘Person Of The Year’ Thank-You Message

      Julian Assange has been maligned in the press, thrown in jail, had his name dragged through the mud, but now he has a real reason to be furious with the United States:

      Time chose Mark Zuckerberg as ‘Person of the Year’ over him!

    • ‘WikiLeaks Is Annoying, But Not a Threat’

      De Maizière: WikiLeaks is irritating and annoying for Germany, but not a threat. From an international perspective, I see their actions as totally irresponsible. One might also ask, however, if a government is acting intelligently when it organizes its entire diplomatic correspondence on a network that can be accessed by 2.5 million people. I have my doubts, though, about total transparency being a basic human right. Governments also have to be able to communicate confidentially. Confidentiality and transparency are not mutually exclusive, but rather two sides of the same coin.

      SPIEGEL: WikiLeaks is ultimately part of the system of checks and balances that exist in a democratic society. What do you see as the difference between it and media players such as SPIEGEL?

      De Maizière: The media do not demand total access and total transparency. They are delighted, of course, when they get hold of classified documents. But journalists would not argue on the basis of political theory that there should be no more government secrets whatsoever. That is not even what SPIEGEL advocates — but WikiLeaks does, and that is wrong. I think it is disquieting that those who live in a shadowy cyber world, of all people, demand total transparency from others.

    • Secrecy conference: In countries like Romania and Cambodia, illegal leaks can be transparency’s only hope

      While, in the United States, WikiLeaks has caused a furor for its journalism-by-data-dump, similar leaks abroad are a major source of reporting on government operations — occasionally providing the only transparency available, as journalists struggle against secretive governments, corrupt media, and threatened or actual violence. At the first morning panel of the Nieman Foundation’s secrecy and journalism conference, international reporters and editors drew connections and contrasts between the situation here and abroad.
      When media is part of the problem

      Stefan Candea, a Nieman Fellow and founder of the Romanian Centre for Investigative Journalism, was 11 when communist rule collapsed in his home country, ending 50 years of media as propaganda tool. Today, however, the media is still far from being without fear or favor.

    • WikiLeaks finds friends with Pirate Party of Canada

      Other Canadians have chosen to support the controversial WikiLeaks Web site by providing hosting services and mirror sites, but now Elections Canada will have to decide if a federal political party can host the site. The Canadian government is involved in some of the recent diplomatic cables released in the latest batch of leaks to news organizations and the Internet at large.

    • Feds Seek Computer Firewall to Block WikiLeaks ‘Pollution’

      Among the more striking aspects of the still unfolding WikiLeaks controversy are government demands that their workers — and even federal contractors — refrain from reading leaked classified documents, even though they are in the public domain.

      Now, according to one network security company, the government wants to install a system that can block unclassified computers from accessing WikiLeaks documents no matter where they originate.

  • Environment/Energy/Wildlife

    • Indonesia’s Billion-Dollar Climate Experiment

      His definition of success is simple: lower emissions. But when I asked whether the government would reconsider concessions such as the one near Sungai Tohor, Kuntoro turned vague. “It all depends on where the concession is,” he said. “We are going to limit development on peat land; there are a number of factors that we have to consider before making a decision to review or not to review.” He would not elaborate.

    • Coral reefs ‘could disappear in our children’s lifetime’

      Over the past decades, there have dozens of articles in the media describing dire futures for coral reefs. In the 1960s and ’70s, we were informed that many reefs were being consumed by a voracious coral predator, the crown-of-thorns starfish. In the 1980s and ’90s, although these starfish still reared their thorny heads from time to time, the principal threats had moved on — to sediment runoff, nutrients, overfishing, and general habitat destruction.

    • Cancún: From mangrove paradise to polluted megasprawl

      He fears that climate change and accompanying sea level rises, together with more frequent storm surges, will devastate the reef completely, and lead to more damage on land. This year has seen major coral bleaching along much of the reef as sea tenmperatures rose to some of their highest-ever temperatures. Scientists expect wholesale die-offs in the future.

    • Wild chimps make their own ‘dolls’

      That’s remarkable in itself, but Sonya Kahlenberg of Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, and Richard Wrangham of Harvard University, found that juvenile chimps in this population play with sticks like children play with dolls, cradling them and even making nests for them to sleep in at night – and they found that the behaviour is more common in females.

  • Finance

    • How the Oligarchs Took America

      The right wing won the opening battle. In the 2010 midterm elections, shadowy outside organizations (who didn’t have to disclose their donors until well after Election Day, if at all) backing Republican candidates doled out $190 million, outspending their adversaries by a more than two-to-one margin, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. American Action Network, operated by Republican consultant Fred Malek and former Republican Senator Norm Coleman, spent $26 million; the US Chamber of Commerce plunked down $33 million; and Karl Rove’s American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS shelled out a combined $38.6 million. Their investments in conservative candidates across the country paid off: the 62 House seats and six Senate seats claimed by Republicans were the most in the postwar era—literally, a historic victory.

    • Iceland exits recession

      Iceland’s decision two years ago to force bondholders to pay for the banking system’s collapse appeared to pay off after official figures showed the country exited recession in the third quarter.

      The Icelandic economy, which contracted for seven consecutive quarters until the summer, grew by 1.2% in the three months to the end of September.

    • The deficit hawks’ scare stories

      First, they got the Fed to bail out Wall Street banks with taxpayer dollars. Now they want us to believe it’s time to cut vital spending

    • Spencer Bachus finally gets his chairmanship

      It’s taken 18 years of accumulating seniority, backbench toiling on policy issues large and small, generous cam­paign donations to fellow Republi­cans and a GOP takeover of the U.S. House, but Rep. Spencer Bachus will finally get the gavel he’s always wanted.

    • New Committee Chair Gets Ready to Serve — the Banks
    • Will Cutting Taxes for the Rich Really Create Jobs?

      The White House and many Congressional Democrats recently caved to Republicans in a deal extending all of the Bush tax cuts for two years in exchange for a 13-month extension of unemployment benefits. The deal reverses stated opposition by many Democrats to an extension of tax cuts for the top income bracket, with 25% of the savings from the deal going to benefit the richest 1% of Americans. While Democrats who supported the bill claimed to do so begrudgingly, the plan has many avid supporters who justify its lopsided benefits by insisting that tax cuts for the rich and for businesses create jobs and benefit the economy. This is a big myth.

    • Regulatory Capture: What the Experts Have Found

      I thought it might be useful to begin constructing a compendium of quotes from various economists and political scientists who have studied the regulatory process throughout history and identified regulatory capture or client politics as a major problem.

  • PR/AstroTurf/Lobbying

    • Why is a former Greenpeace activist siding with Indonesia’s logging industry?

      In 1971 he was a young, idealistic PhD student with an afro and a Sgt Pepper moustache, fiercely opposed to US plans to test H-bombs in the Aleutian islands. He was chosen to join the inaugural voyage of a small group called The Don’t Make a Wave Committee. It planned to sail an old halibut boat to the test site. The crew renamed the boat the Greenpeace. When the committee changed its clunky title, it took the same name.

      Moore became one of Greenpeace’s most articulate and effective spokespeople, leading campaigns against nuclear warships, whaling and seal clubbing. He became head of the Greenpeace Foundation, which later turned into Greenpeace Canada, and he was a director of Greenpeace International. Then, in the 80s, it all went horribly wrong. Moore claims he fell out with Greenpeace over scientific issues. Greenpeace maintains that he left after his autocratic style lost him the votes he needed to stay on the board. In either case, in 1986 he left Greenpeace and started a fish-farming business on Vancouver Island. In 1991 he wound it up after the price of salmon halved. Moore then made two moves that came to define his later career. He joined the board of the Forest Alliance of British Columbia, a group set up by logging companies to fight the greens trying to prevent the clear-cutting of ancient forests; and he set up the first of his consultancy businesses. In 2001 he founded Greenspirit Strategies with two of the public relations experts he had worked with at the Forest Alliance.

    • Tea Party Nation President Says It ‘Makes A Lot Of Sense’ To Restrict Voting Only To Property Owners

      Every week, the Tea Party Nation hosts a weekly radio program, calling itself a “home for conservatives.” Two weeks ago, Tea Party Nation President Judson Phillips hosted the program and discussed changes that he felt should be made to voting rights in the United States. He explained that the founders of the country originally put “certain restrictions on who gets the right to vote.” He continued, “One of those was you had to be a property owner. And that makes a lot of sense, because if you’re a property owner you actually have a vested stake in the community. If you’re not a property owner, you know, I’m sorry but property owners have a little bit more of a vested interest in the community than non-property owners”…

    • Poll Finds Fox News Viewers Significantly Misinformed

      A poll conducted by WorldPublicOpinion.org has found that the higher amounts of money flowing to the 2010 elections led to a more poorly informed public. The poll, titled “Misinformation and the 2010 Election: A Study of the U.S. Electorate,” was the first conducted after a national election since the Supreme Court handed down its decision in Citizens United v. the Federal Elections Commission, which freed corporations and unions to spend unlimited money to influence U.S. elections.

    • Honduras’ PR Coup

      Wikileaks has recently published documents suggesting that PR spin helped determine the final outcome of the June 2009 Honduran coup. At the same time that a July 2009 diplomatic cable from the U.S. Ambassador in Honduras to top government officials confirmed that the Honduran president’s removal was illegal, professional lobbyists and political communicators were beginning a PR blitz, eventually managing to manipulate America into believing the coup was a constitutional act.

  • UK

    • Cabinet Office claims major savings on ICT

      The Cabinet Office has said that freezes on ICT and other spending have saved £500m since May.

      The department said it saved altogether £1bn through “efficiency and reform measures”, with half the sum saved through moratoria on ICT, consulting, recruitment, marketing and property spending.

    • DRUGS POLICY HAS FAILED

      There is a certain familiarity to the words used by Bob Ainsworth, the former Labour Home Office and latterly Defence Minister, who has announced his conversion to the belief that possession of all drugs should be decriminalised.

    • Lord Chief Justice allows Twitter in court
  • Censorship/Privacy/Civil Rights

    • Mark Zuckerberg is TIME Magazine’s Person of the Year? Where’s the “dislike” button?

      Unfortunately, the terms under which he claims to have done this set a terrible precedent for our future — for our control over the software we use to interact with each other, for control over our data, and for our privacy. The damage is not limited to Facebook users. Because so many sites — including TIME — use Facebook’s user-tracking “Like” button, Zuckerberg is able to collect information about people who aren’t even users of his site. These are precedents which hurt our ability to freely connect with each other.

    • Web filtering: Why a Great British Firewall will be useless

      Ed Vaizey, the Communications Minister, said yesterday that he wants UK internet service providers to filter sexually explicit content. By default, your internet connection would be restricted to only allow appropriate sites – unless you call your ISP and ask them to turn the filter off.

      There are many reasons why this is a bad idea.

      First, how do you define “explicit content”? Private web filtering companies have been struggling with that problem for years. Should advice pages for teenagers that have frank discussions about sex and sexual health be filtered?

      Then there’s the issue of free speech – sooner or later, someone will try to use this filter to block politically sensitive sites. Claire Perry, MP for Devizes, gave the most telling quote: “We just want to make sure our children aren’t stumbling across things we don’t want them to see.”

    • Is a UN Internet takeover looming? Not quite

      Perhaps you saw or heard the headlines last Friday or over the weekend: the United Nations could take over the Internet! (Or, as the Drudge Report put it, “UN PLANS INTERNET REGULATION.”) This, you may not be surprised to learn, isn’t quite accurate. A UN working group is currently talking about what, if anything, it could do to improve the operation of its Internet Governance Forum (IGF), a group devoted to dialogue but possessing no decision-making powers. But some are making plans to give the UN far more power.

    • Censorship – Won’t someone think of the adults?

      The Government, doubtless with the most honourable of intentions – for they are, all of them, honourable men – has decided that pressure should be put upon the UK’s internet suppliers to filter out pornography, to protect the children of the nation, amidst concern that British children are becoming too sexualised, too young.

      It’s, frankly, hard to know where to start with this absolutely insane, illiberal and impractical proposal. Let’s first start with the idea. Filtering of child porn works so well (in terms of stopping people seeing it; I doubt it does anything at all to stop actual child abuse), the theory goes. Some children see porn on the internet, and children seeing porn is a bad thing, so the filtering should be extended to all pornography, and anyone who wants to see porn should have to ‘opt in’ if they wish to have an uncensored (I’m sure the government would prefer the word “unfiltered”) internet connection.

    • Internet porn block ‘not possible’ say ISPs

      Government plans to block pornography “at source” are unlikely to prove effective, say ISPs.

      The proposal to cut off access to pornographic material was floated by Culture Minister Ed Vaizey in an interview with the Sunday Times.

      The government is talking to ISPs to set up a meeting at which the proposal will be discussed.

  • Intellectual Monopolies

    • State Department Spending Millions To ‘Train’ Foreign Judges About ‘Intellectual Property’

      The State Department has put out a press release announcing that it has approved spending $3.36 million next year to “train” foreign judges and other law enforcement officials about “intellectual property.” There are 15 different projects, which all come down to various training programs for judges, police, law enforcement in how to kowtow to American industry in dealing with infringement of copyrights, trademarks and patents.

    • Copyrights

      • Another Big Win Against Mass Copyright Lawsuits

        If you follow Slyck with any consistency, you’ve no doubt followed the extensive John and Jane Doe lawsuits clawing their ways through US court. These campaigns were designed similarly to the old way the RIAA used to do business; obtain thousands of suspected file-sharer’s IP addresses and send pre-litigation letters demanding monetary settlement. More often than not, people complied. The RIAA stopped doing business this way, but others took up the mantle.

      • How do you solve a problem like copyright?

        A few weeks ago Cooks Source, a small for-profit magazine, published a piece on medieval apple pie recipes by Monica Gaudio. They had picked up the piece from a website Gaudio had published it on and neglected to inform her that they were using her writing, or to compensate her. When the writer complained, the Cook’s Source editor responded with the claim that everything published on the Internet is in the public domain.

        The story caused what seemed the entire Internet to descend on Cooks Source and pretty much put them out of business. Of course, the editor’s assertion, that content published on the Internet is in the public domain, is manifestly untrue – it displays a profound lack of understanding of copyright law. And yet, chances are at least some of the people who were so outraged by the editor’s behaviour and comments are perhaps not quite so observant of copyright law when it comes to other matters, say the downloading of music and movies. The story illustrates some complex questions on the thorny relationship between copyright and digital content.

      • Major File-Sharing Sites Go Dark To Protest Anti-Download Law

        A coalition of file-sharing sites are voluntarily taking themselves offline to protest against the likely passing of new legislation tomorrow. The sites, which together are believed to generate up to 70% of Spain’s Internet traffic, will display a black page warning that if the so-called Sinde Act is approved, their sites could disappear forever. Earlier this month, cables leaked by Wikileaks showed that Spain had bowed to US pressure to introduce the law.

      • TorrentFlux.com is for sale!
      • On cookbooks, orphans, and out-of-print books
      • Homeland Security’s ‘Evidence’ For Domain Seizures Also Included Songs Sent By Labels

        We’ve already covered some of the serious problems with the “affidavit” filed by Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) unit, highlighting confusion about both how the internet works and the law itself. The affidavit was written by a recent college grad who appears to have little experience in the subject matter. What we had seen so far was only a partial version of the affidavit, covering the reasons for seizing Torrent Finder’s domain

      • DHS Seized Domains Based On Bad Evidence

        Four of them involved hiphop-related blogs — including ones that hiphop stars like Kanye West and others used to promote their own works, and the last one was a meta search engine that simply aggregated other search engines. Weeks went by without the owners of those sites even being told why their domains were seized, but the affidavit for the seizure of those five sites has recently come out, and it’s full of all sorts of problems. Not only was it put together by a recent college graduate, who claimed that merely linking to news and blog posts about file sharing constituted evidence of copyright infringement, it listed as evidence of infringement songs that labels specifically sent these blogs to promote. Also, what becomes clear is that the MPAA was instrumental in ‘guiding’ ICE’s rookie agent in going after these sites, as that appeared to be the only outside expertise relied on in determining if these sites should be seized.

      • ACTA

        • ACTA: Original Expectations and Future Implications

          On 15 November, a group of forty mostly industrialised countries released the text of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). This article looks at the treaty’s possible implications for the global intellectual property system, as well as its backers and the developing countries hostile to it.

          One way to determine the significance of ACTA is to assess whether it has lived up to the expectations expressed by the parties in 2007-2008 when it came first under consideration.

Clip of the Day

PHORONIX.COM: EARLY PRE-BETA BUILD OF UNIGINE OILRUSH


Credit: TinyOgg

IRC Proceedings: December 20th, 2010

Posted in IRC Logs at 2:55 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNOME Gedit

GNOME Gedit

GNOME Gedit

#techrights log

#boycottnovell log

#boycottnovell-social log

Enter the IRC channels now

12.20.10

TechBytes Episode 21: Copyright Abuses, Agitators and Trolls, Starting a New Site

Posted in TechBytes at 6:30 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

TechBytes

Direct download as Ogg (1:25:51, 25.6 MB) | Direct download as MP3 (39.3 MB)

Summary: Tim, Gordon, and Roy speak about many different topics including the show itself

TODAY’S show was covering many topics and OpenBytes has published the show notes.

RSS 64x64Today’s show ends with “Harold T Wilkins” by Fanfarlo (from SXSW 2009 Showcasing Artists). We hope you will join us for future shows and consider subscribing to the show via the RSS feed. You can also visit our archives for past shows. If you have an Identi.ca account, consider subscribing to TechBytes in order to keep up to date.

As embedded (HTML5):

Download:

Ogg Theora
(There is also an MP3 version)

Our past shows:

November 2010

Show overview Show title Date recorded
Episode 1: Brandon from Fedora TechBytes Episode 1: Apple, Microsoft, Bundling, and Fedora 14 (With Special Guest Brandon Lozza) 1/11/2010
Episode 2: No guests TechBytes Episode 2: Ubuntu’s One Way, Silverlight Goes Dark, and GNU Octave Discovered 7/11/2010
Episode 3: No guests TechBytes Episode 3: Games, Wayland, Xfce, Restrictive Application Stores, and Office Suites 8/11/2010
Episode 4: No guests TechBytes Episode 4: Fedora 14 Impressions, MPAA et al. Payday, and Emma Lee’s Magic 9/11/2010
Episode 5: No guests TechBytes Episode 5: Windows Loses to Linux in Phones, GNU/Linux Desktop Market Share Estimations, and Much More 12/11/2010
Episode 6: No guests TechBytes Episode 6: KINect a Cheapo Gadget, Sharing Perceptually Criminalised, Fedora and Fusion 14 in Review 13/11/2010
Episode 7: No guests TechBytes Episode 7: FUD From The Economist, New Releases, and Linux Eureka Moment at Netflix 14/11/2010
Episode 8: Gordon Sinclair on Linux Mint TechBytes Episode 8: Linux Mint Special With Gordon Sinclair (ThistleWeb) 15/11/2010
Episode 9: Gordon Sinclair returns TechBytes Episode 9: The Potentially Permanent Return of ThistleWeb 17/11/2010
Episode 10: Special show format TechBytes Episode 10: Microsoft FUD and Dirty Tactics Against GNU/Linux 19/11/2010
Episode 11: Part 2 of special show TechBytes Episode 11: Microsoft FUD and Dirty Tactics Against GNU/Linux – Part II 21/11/2010
Episode 12: Novell special TechBytes Episode 12: Novell Sold for Microsoft Gains 23/11/2010
Episode 13: No guests TechBytes Episode 13: Copyfight, Wikileaks, and Other Chat 28/11/2010
Episode 14: Patents special TechBytes Episode 14: Software Patents in Phones, Android, and in General 29/11/2010
Episode 15: No guests TechBytes Episode 15: Google Chrome OS, Windows Refund, and Side Topics Like Wikileaks 30/11/2010

December 2010

Show overview Show title Date recorded
Episode 16: No guests TechBytes Episode 16: Bribes for Reviews, GNU/Linux News, and Wikileaks Opinions 3/12/2010
Episode 17: No guests TechBytes Episode 17: Chrome OS Imminent, Wikileaks Spreads to Mirrors, ‘Open’ Microsoft 5/12/2010
Episode 18: No guests TechBytes Episode 18: Chrome OS, Sharing, Freedom, and Wikileaks 11/12/2010
Episode 19: No guests TechBytes Episode 19: GNU/Linux Market Share on Desktop at 4%, Microsoft Declining, and ChromeOS is Coming 16/12/2010
Episode 20: No guests TechBytes Episode 20: GNU/Linux Gamers Pay More for Games, Other Discussions 18/12/2010

LibreOffice Finds Some Patent Assurance in the OIN

Posted in Microsoft, OIN, OpenDocument, OpenOffice, Oracle, Patents at 3:50 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

“What we’re seeing though now can be loosely described as patent terrorism, where people are using their patent horde as a threat [...] It’s almost like a cold war stand over tactic; where I have these patents and if you breach these patents, I’m going to come after you and sue you.”

James Eagleton, systems product manager for Sun Microsystems

Summary: The Open Invention Network (OIN) gets the Document Foundation as a licensee; other patent news of interest

THE Document Foundation (TDF) and LibreOffice were covered here a couple of times before and this whole initiative does pretty well so far. Oracle is already in the OIN and following advice from Groklaw — although probably not related to it — TDF is joining too and makes this announcement:

The Document Foundation has joined the Open Invention Network (OIN), to further extend the free software ecosystems. By becoming a licensee, The Document Foundation – developer of LibreOffice, a free office suite for personal and corporate productivity – has joined the growing list of organizations that recognize the importance of participating in the Open Invention Network, in order to protect the free software ecosystem from the risks associated to software patents.“The Document Foundation is a major free software project, and LibreOffice a key office suite for creating, managing and sharing documents. By becoming a licensee of the Open Invention Network, we fight software patents – which stifle innovation and encourage predatory business practices – and at the same time we improve the protection of our software projects,” said Charles Schulz, Member of TDF Steering Committee.

Coincidentally, a lot of the TDF is European, which may help reduce the patent threat to it. Vis-à-vis Europe and patents, the “EU patent” [1, 2, 3, 4] had Italy dodge the rest of the pack (they are smart for avoiding such European problems which get falsely marketed) and then excluded as a result. Whilst European lawyers are excited, developers of software — no matter whether free/libre or proprietary — should be concerned. Even an aggressive/abrasive pro-software patents lawyer Gene Quinn seems to have had some Eureka moments given what he posted recently. A patent lawyer who focuses on games is contesting Groklaw’s position while streaming gaming content becomes a patent:

OnLive may not be offering a wide range of games at the moment, but the technology behind the service has proven impressive. The company now has another powerful weapon in its arsenal, as a patent on cloud-based gaming and the streaming of content has been granted to Steve Perlman, OnLive’s CEO.

Patents are a tax which is benefiting trolls and lawyers the most; can they be eliminated also for the sake of software Freedom? It’s Microsoft’s last resort now that it accepts more Office counterfeiting and sues companies using patents.

“Search engines be da**ed, it’s the OS that generates money – if the world switches to linux, it will switch to OpenOffice too.”

Motley Fool (heavily Microsoft influenced)

FFII and OFE Respond to Publication of European Interoperability Framework (EIF) Version 2

Posted in Europe, Free/Libre Software, Standard at 2:34 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Hungarian Parliament

Summary: The Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure (FFII) and Openforum Europe (OFE) add their own interpretations of EIFv2

DURING the weekend we attempted to put together all the notable feedback to EIFv2 [1, 2] (also in Spanish), which was just debated by a lot of people in Identi.ca shortly after it had been released. A day or so later (after some reading and consultation) came formal statements and most of them are positive on the face of it.

The FFII points out that FSFE’s statement (also in French) is “positive”:

#FSFE also positive about European Interoperability Framework

“So far only a single EIF “troll” + American stakeholders,” FFII wrote to Dana Blankenhorn, “apparently less relevant for European interoperability.” Here is the FFII’s own press release which starts as follows:

The European Commission adopted a communication “Towards interoperability for European public services”, introducing the second incarnation of the European Interoperability Framework (EIF) and the European Interoperability Strategy (EIS) [1]. This week the Commission also published fresh Horizontal Guidelines [2] which bloc-exempt patent cartels from competition enforcement.

“The European Interoperability Framework is a legend. It’s hard, indeed, to make impact that compares with the first EIF. Unfortunately the lobby watered European interoperability enforcement down. It’s amazing that EU-Commissioner Šefčovič overcame indecision, and presents their ‘wet’ documents.”, says FFII Vice-President Rene Mages.

Openforum Europe issued this press release:

OFE Press Release – After over two years of controversial debate and under intense scrutiny from the information and communication technology (ICT) industry, the European Commission has shown courage by adopting a bold set of guidelines to help national, regional and local governments throughout the European Union make their computer systems all work properly together.

The European Interoperability Framework (EIF) adopted by the Commission on Thursday is a landmark policy document because it attempts to draw a line under the accepted practices of the past and the present, and it ushers in a new era where governments can be contacted by their citizens and by each other without having to buy the same brand of software.

The European administration-backed OSOR covered the “Commission’s Communication on Interoperability” as follows:

On the 16th of December 2010, the European Commission has adopted the Communication “Towards interoperability for European public services”, to establish a common approach for Member States public administrations, to help citizens and businesses to profit fully from the EU’s Single Market.

Since it’s a European thing there’s not much room for more responses from other not-for-profit organisations.

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