Resumen: A través de asociaciones y entrismo, Microsoft se convierte en un riesgo importante para la privacidad de las personas.
En las últimas conexiones diarias[http://techrights.org/2011/06/28/silver-lake-and-skype-theory/] que resume una investigación de Groklaw, básicamente muestra que Microsoft había sacado un truco barato para comprar Skype y robar a sus propietarios. Esto también fue mencionado ayer por la noche en el IRC[http://techrights.org/2011/06/28/irc-log-27062011/], después de algunos artículos clave que se están haciendo olas. Skype es otro ejemplo de una empresa (como Danger, TellMe, y muchos más), cuyos fundadores están huyendo de Microsoft después de una adquisición. Ellos no están contentos y, a veces se sienten traicionados hasta el extremo. Hemos dado un montón de ejemplos en los últimos años.
“Microsoft puede agregar espionaje a Skype”, dice[http://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/06/27/1553216/Microsoft-May-Add-Eavesdropping-To-Skype] Slashdot (el artículo correspondiente[http://www.conceivablytech.com/8108/products/microsoft-may-add-eavesdropping-to-skype] pueden aumentar preocupaciones nacionales[http://digitizor.com/2011/06/28/us-congress-skype/]), señalando que “La Oficina de Patentes y Marcas de los EE.UU. publicó una solicitud de patente de Microsoft que se remonta a diciembre de 2009 y describe los agentes de la grabación “para interceptar legalmente las llamadas de teléfono de VoIP. La aplicación de la “Intercepción legal de patentes es uno de los documentos más elaborado y detallados de Microsoft de patentes, que es lo suficientemente amplio como para hacerte pensar dos veces sobre el uso de VoIP de audio y vídeo. El documento se presenta la idea de Microsoft sobre el conjunto de la naturaleza, posición y función de grabación de los agentes que en silencio registran la comunicación entre dos o más partes.”
Cuando Microsoft prácticamente se hizo cargo de Nokia[http://techrights.org/2011/04/15/swpats-and-hardware-patents-at-nokia/] un montón de gente clave renunció. ¿Quién puede culparlos? Su empresa fue robada por un agresor, cuyo nuevo director general (un topo de Microsoft que todavía está es el octavo mayor accionista de Microsoft!) “Habría dicho que el Nokia N9 será el último teléfono MeeGo, INCLUSO SI ES EXITOSO”, (las mayúsculas son nuestras), de acuerdo con IDG. Se titula “La reacción en contra del CEO de Nokia eclipso ‘Sea Ray”. Nokia se metió otra Belluzzo[http://techrights.org/2011/05/04/stephen-elop-and-richard-belluzzo/] y un lector de Finlandia nos escribió sólo para decir que “Nokia no será capaz de deshacer el daño causado, en nombre de Microsoft por Elop.” El artículo anterior “en realidad pone sobre la mesa lo que su movimiento se trata de ideología y no de negocios.”
Hay otro problema aquí, del que casi nadie habla. Con Nokia, Microsoft será capaz de rastrear a muchas personas, al igual Apple lo hizo con el iPhone[http://techrights.org/2011/04/22/eavesdropping-on-users/]. Esta invasión de la privacidad, además de la adquisición de Skype Elop se refieró hace aproximadamente hace un mes (probablemente coordinó con su compañía, Microsoft), es un escenario de pesadilla. Añadir el hecho de que Microsoft es dueña de parte de Facebook y tiene acceso especial a los datos de Facebook[http://techrights.org/wiki/index.php/Facebook], ahora que el sitio recibe más tráfico que los sitios de Microsoft en el Reino Unido[http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/06/27/facebook_750_million_overtakes_microsoft_in_uk/]. Y hablando de lo que ven a ver este último escándalo:
* Facebook Prohíbe las Aplicaciones de KDE, Elimina Fotos de los Usuarios[http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/75598]
Los usuarios de KDE ha recibido una sorpresa bastante desagradable de Facebook: No sólo es el sitio bloquea aplicaciones de KDE como Gwenview para cargar fotos, el gigante de los medios de comunicación social, también ha bajado fotos subidas con los plugins de KDE. Sin embargo, otra razón por la que los usuarios podrían pensar dos veces antes de depender de Facebook para el almacenamiento de fotos.
Me tropecé con este medio, por supuesto, Facebook. Un amigo mío había publicado que el “KIPI” (KDE plug-ins) que se encarga de subir a Facebook había sido prohibido. Eso es molesto, pero no es un problema importante – pero el problema real es que el sitio tiene al parecer también se deshizo de fotos que ya habia cargado con las aplicaciones de KDE que dependen de la extensión. Me gustaría señalar que el error, pero al parecer bugs.kde.org no está acostumbrado a la cantidad de interés que el error está recibiendo. (Tal vez al momento de leer esto este funcionando de nuevo sin embargo.)
* Facebook Prohíbe Cargador KDE de fotos, Todo el Contenido Cargado Es Inaccesible[http://lizards.opensuse.org/2011/06/27/facebook-bans-kdes-photo-uploaded-all-uploaded-content-inaccessible/].
* Facebook Prohibe las Aplicaciones KDE, Elimina Subida de Fotos[http://techrights.org/2011/06/28/privacy-risk-at-microsoft/]
Facebook ha prohibido las aplicaciones de KDE para la carga de imágenes a los perfiles de los usuarios – sin ninguna razón clara de por qué.
Pero si usted piensa que es una #fall en sí mismo, el sitio de redes sociales ha eliminado todos las fotos y álbumes que se han cargado con estas aplicaciones, ahora prohibidos, y los plugins.
Con Skype, Nokia y Facebook (todos en parte, por completo, y por asociación controlados por Microsoft), la empresa se está convirtiendo en una amenaza real por nuevos motivos. Poco a poco, Microsoft utiliza los topos y las ofertas “especiales” para perjudicar a la sociedad a través de otras empresas, que van desde trolls de patentes como IV de Nathan Myhrvold a los invasores de privacidad, como Facebook. No confíe en estos sociópatas. █
“El propósito de dar a conocer tempranamente estos anuncios es la congelación del mercado a nivel OEM e ISV. En este sentido, es igual que el original anuncio de Windows …”
“Uno podría pensar que esto va a ayudar a Sun ya que sólo tendremos vaporware, que la gente deje de comprar las máquinas 486, que habremos endorsado RISC pero no entregado … Por lo tanto, Scott, ¿usted realmente cree que puede luchar contra esa avalancha?” -Nathan Myhrvold, Microsoft
Resumen: Otra mirada a la queja en contra de MPEG-LA, el caso de Oracle contra el Android de Google, y el caso de Paul Allen contra el mundo.
La lucha contra la agresión con las patentes de software se encuentra con algún éxito temprano, pero es prematuro cantar victoria antes de las sentencias finales. Por otra parte, enfrentar el problema de patentes a patente sería ineficaz y poco práctico.
Las patentes están perjudicando a las normas y la FTC (Comisión Federal de Comercio) ha sido informada de eso[http://xiphmont.livejournal.com/56718.html] por la buena gente detrás de Ogg (EN[http://techrights.org/2011/06/20/xiph-vs-mpeg-cartel/] | ES[http://techrights.org/2011/06/23/xiph-vs-mpeg-cartel_es/]).
No fue hace tanto tiempo que hubo la intervención federal después de las malas prácticas de las patentes de Rambus, como hemos explicado en el momento [1[http://techrights.org/2008/05/25/making-and-writing-laws-for-fences/], 2[http://techrights.org/2008/04/24/ooxml-rambus-monopolisation/], 3[http://techrights.org/2008/04/22/ambush-reform-lobby/], 4[http://techrights.org/2008/03/27/sinking-me-slowly/], 5[http://techrights.org/2008/02/02/patent-abuse-royalties/], 6[http://techrights.org/2008/01/25/anti-competitive-software-patent-standard/], 7[http://techrights.org/2007/09/22/fear-trolling-abuse-threats-dismissal/], 8[http://techrights.org/2007/08/29/patent-abuse-news/], 9[http://techrights.org/2007/08/23/patent-abuse-stories/]]. Para el titular de la patente/s es bueno tener normas que prácticamente fuerzan a todos a pagar un impuesto, pero para todo el mundo es INJUSTO, IRRAZONABLE y DISCRIMINATORIO.
De acuerdo con Patently-O (blog a favor de las patentes), es posible que más resistencia a las patentes de software muy pronto tendrán que venir. Para citar a su conclusión[http://www.patentlyo.com/patent/2011/06/supreme-court-to-revisit-patentable-subject-matter-eligibility.html]:
Esa decisión Circut Federal se basó en las máquinas o a prueba de transformación de la corte que fue desacreditada posteriormente por el Tribunal Supremo en Bilski v. Kappos (2010). A raíz de su decisión Bilski, la Corte Suprema dejó vacante la decisión del Tribunal Federal de Circuito de Prometeo y devuelto para un nuevo dictamen. En suspensión preventiva, el Circuito Federal afirmó de nuevo que las demandas de Prometeo son eligilble para la protección de patentes.
La prueba de Bilski o caso Bilski[http://techrights.org/wiki/index.php/Bilski_Case] siguen llegando en ocasiones a veces se convierten en una base de éxito para invaliding patentes que llegan a la sala del tribunal[http://techrights.org/2009/07/11/in-re-bilski-vs-software-patent/]. Sin embargo, se necesita un paso más allá. Cualquier cosa por debajo de la eliminación de todas las patentes de software, simplemente dejaría al Software Libre en un estado dudoso, o un estado en el que se aprueba sólo una parte de él para su uso (pero no para su redistribución). En este momento, incluso Java, a pesar de ser software libre (se supone que no GPLv2, v3), está bajo un ataque de patentes de Oracle. Desde que Google está dispuesto a llegar muy lejos y el desafío de los alegatos, las patentes de Oracle [http://www.itworld.com/software/176653/oracles-patents-case-against-google-weakening](que se lo compró a Sun) son casi consideradas inaplicables (si es que dejan de ser válidas, lo que es cada vez más probable). Para citar a:
El caso de Oracle Java infracción contra Google no va excepcionalmente bien para el gigante de la base de datos en estos días, con un nuevo revés entregado por la Oficina de Patentes de los EE.UU. Oficina de Marcas (USPTO) en forma de un nuevo examen de patentes esta semana.
Históricamente, las cosas no han sido color de rosa para Oracle, ya que su demanda agosto 2010 se puso en marcha, acusando a Google de violar el software de Oracle Java.
Oracle adquirió la tecnología de Sun Microsystems Java, cuando compró la compañía en 2010. En lugar de licenciar Java de Oracle para su uso en Android, Google ha desarrollado una “sala limpia” versión de la máquina virtual de Java, Dalvik, para Android. Oracle dice que Dalvik deliberadamente viola Java de todos modos, a pesar de los esfuerzos para construir Dalvik desde cero.
Otro caso en contra de Google y otros, esta vez del co-fundador Microsoft, se está debilitando[http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20110624160811958]. Groklaw revela que:
En un juicioso (nunca mejor dicho) movida, el tribunal ha considerado la petición de suspensión presentada por los acusados que buscan suspender el juicio hasta después de la USPTO complete la reexaminaciones de las patentes de Interval. Pese a la oposición de Interval a esta moción, el tribunal ha concedido la estancia [PDF], y el juicio ahora espera los resultados de las determinaciones de la USPTO.
Así que aquí tenemos otro caso en el momento de la presentación de una demanda, las patentes en cuestión se desafian y tal vez, sólo con suerte, podrían ser declarados nulas y la demanda que se giraba en torno a ellos se deseche.
En sus escapadas de extorsión de patentes, Microsoft (o Apple) por lo general gira alrededor de demandar a las empresas pequeñas o meros distribuidores que tienen pocos incentivos – a diferencia de Google – para seguir adelante e invalidar las patentes – un proceso tedioso y caro. █
Summary: The General Dynamics Itronix patent deal deciphered; Oracle — unlike Microsoft — takes the outrageous Android complaint to Google, which has good reasons to put up a fight; it also names actual patents
THE LATEST Microsoft extortion deal has just been announced and the coverage about it controlled to an extent. Rather than pay attention to the success of Android/Linux (“500,000 Android device activations per day”), the Microsoft boosters try to associate Android with patent lawsuits, malware, etc. Among the Microsoft tax-tainted Android devices we previously had Samsung, LG, HTC, and thankfully not the Nook, which unlike the Kindle (Amazon, not Android) is being defended by B&N. Notice the pattern though, as those extorted are located where the US pushes disgraceful treaties to force-feed software patents.
Free Android is still available from Sony, Motorola, ASUS, Dell, Acer, Cisco, Archos, Toshiba, Sharp, and many more. Companies to avoid for their payments to Microsoft (for unknown patents, allegedly relating to Linux) are Novell/SUSE/Attachmate, Xandros, Turbolinux LG, Fuji Xerox, Brother, Melco, Samsung, Kyocera Mita, I-O Data, and HTC. Motorola and B&N fought back, so there is an ongoing battle in court and Google should try to help those companies that attend the courtrooms. They are under fire because Microsoft is desperate to make Linux more expensive and also its own cash cow. Microsoft’s boosters play along with this outrageous plot. For example, the now-spineless (maybe for the safety of her job at ZDNet) Mary Jo Foley does nothing to promote justice in her shallow coverage of the news from Microsoft’s PR department:
On June 27, Microsoft announced that General Dynamics Itronix signed a patent agreement with Microsoft for Itronix devices running Android. Microsoft characterized the agreement as providing “broad coverage under Microsoft’s patent portfolio for General Dynamics Itronix devices running the Android platform.”
Some journalists asked me for comments about it. A press release broke the news (Microsoft probably pushed it to them early under embargo) with Microsoft boosters who were possibly briefed so as to cushion the extortion and play with talking points. For those who missed the news, Microsoft merely extorted another company which sells Linux. Microsoft uses software patents. As usual, out of the blue Florian had to jump right at my face (in Twitter), as though he was almost celebrating the extortion. He tends to sympathise with Microsoft’s racketeering [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7].
Here is the PR which the boosters are parroting. General Dynamics Itronix “devices running the Android platform” will be “covered”, says the PR, as if extortion has much to do with “coverage” (of one’s back maybe). The signing of a patent agreement is a case of putting a smile on something very hostile, as we explained before. Microsoft threatens to sue and then makes an escape route conditional upon “protection money” and pretense of the deal being amicable. To Microsoft is is important to say that “the contents of the agreement have not been disclosed” (more uncertainty) and “the parties indicate that Microsoft will receive royalties from General Dynamics Itronix under the agreement.” That’s extortion. Now watch what Microsoft’s lead extortionist says to promote further extortions: “We are pleased to have reached this agreement with General Dynamics Itronix, which is an example of how industry leaders address intellectual property.” Translations: those who do not agree to cough up “protection money” are disrespectful of the law.
This deal demonstrates Microsoft’s continued bullying and persistent attempts to get around Google and tax its Linux-based operating system, usually by intimidating distributors of Android with lawsuit threats. Microsoft knows that for such companies to fight the case in court there would be less incentive than for Google, which currently battles against Oracle to defend Android from software patents. This deal is yet another example of the harms of software patents, which seem to provide a sort of welfare system to former monopolies or monopolies on the decline. People must ask themselves whether the patent system promotes innovation or promotes litigation which merely raises the price of everything we buy and reduces incentives for developers, whose jobs are dropped to give way to patent lawyers.
Glyn Moody wrote about the subject of software patents that fail against Android. That was just hours before the above announcement and it basically said that software patents are clearly failing:
I’ve noted before that we are witnessing a classic patent thicket in the realm of smartphones, with everyone and his or her dog suing everyone else (and their dog.) But without doubt one of the more cynical applications of intellectual monopolies is Oracle suit against Google. This smacked entirely of the lovely Larry Ellison spotting a chance to extra some money without needing to do much other than point his legal department in the right direction.
[...]
Even assuming that Google has wilfully infringed on all the patents that Oracle claims – and that has still to be proved – it’s hard to see how Oracle has really lost “opportunities” as a result. If anything, the huge success of Android, based as it is on Java, is likely to increase the demand for Java programmers, and generally make the entire Java ecosystem more valuable – greatly to Oracle’s benefit.
So, irrespective of any royalties that may or may not be due, Oracle has in any case already gained from Google’s action, and will continue to benefit from the rise of Android as the leading smartphone operating system. Moreover, as Android is used in other areas – tablets, set-top boxes, TVs etc. – Oracle will again benefit from the vastly increased size of the Java ecosystem over which it has substantial control.
Of course, I am totally unsurprised to find Oracle doing this. But to be fair to the Larry Ellison and his company, this isn’t just about Oracle, but is also to do with the inherent problems of software patents, which encourage this kind of behaviour (not least by rewarding it handsomely, sometimes.)
Oracle could sue distributors of Android other than Google and then extort them. But Oracle does not play as dirty as Microsoft. Only SCO, given funding from Microsoft, could possibly use such a strategy, although even SCO did not go as far as Microsoft.
To Microsoft, being able to milk other people’s work may be essential for survival because the company has debt (and it didn’t actually pay billions for Skype as it may have journalists believe, for reasons we’ve covered separately). Microsoft’s cash cows are dying and as my co-host Tim put it:
Like a parasite, Microsoft feeds off another, yet can you blame them? Windows Phone 7 isn’t the Iphone killer that Microsoft PR would have you believe and that’s just one “cog” in its product catalogue. Microsoft has battles all across the board, its firing in all directions and all the while its competitors are coming out with products that people want to buy.
To me it’s very telling that Microsoft doesn’t go after Google directly. I wonder why that is? Could it be like the schoolyard bully they pick on those smaller than themselves, knowing full well that their patent claims won’t be tested in court? Could it be that Microsoft knows exactly how much “worth” there is in their claims and knows Google would fight back.
And Microsoft wonders why its name is mud with many in the tech world? To me these actions show Microsoft as a parasite and coward. If you feel you can justify Microsoft’s actions then I’d love to hear from you. If you can’t, then maybe you are as disgusted as me how Microsoft is allowed to carry on like this.
“Nessuno” in USENET writes: “Convinced ‘em, all right. ”Nice little family you have there. Be too bad if something happened to your little girl.”
“Of course they make more money from shaking down Linux than they make selling their own crap.”
Here is what a pro-Linux site had to say about the deal:
Last month, a Citi analyst said that Microsoft is receiving $5 per Android phone from HTC, and is aiming to squeeze $7.50 to $12.50 per device from other vendors. According to some observers, the $150 million per year sum from HTC is five times more income than Microsoft receives for its Windows Phone.
While many of the Linux device agreements appear to relate to patents Microsoft claims over the FAT filesystem, as was revealed in Microsoft’s successful lawsuit against TomTom, the Android claims could instead relate to UI techniques. At least this is what was revealed by Microsoft when Barnes & Noble refused to pay protection money to Microsoft over its Android-based Nook e-reader, and was sued by Redmond in March. Microsoft’s official statements in that case suggested that the cited UI techniques may be similar to those covered in the HTC case.
This settlement is good news for Microsoft Florian (he tried to push the abused into submission) and it is also validating the position of other lobbyists for software patents (and their own pockets), such as Steve Lundberg, who is still going at it.
Microsoft’s dream is a world where every device running just about any operating system will be a revenue source for Microsoft, due to software patents. That’s the vision they have — a vision where people write monopolies (patents), not code. Apple too is starting to lean that way now that Linux gives it a run for the money. Apple and Microsoft are part of the same problem and as we explained earlier, they try to impose US law (with USPTO monopolies) in Asian countries that actually make a lot of Linux-based devices. Apple Began pressuring Samsung with a patent lawsuit (they don’t go after Google) and “Apple’s long divorce from Samsung near final,” writes The Register. “The strained relationship between Apple and Samsung has moved a step closer to fracturing completely, with a report in the Chinese-language Commercial Times refreshing rumours that TSMC will become Cupertino’s new best friend.”
“Even if Apple jumped in 2012, its business would only represent about 2 percent of TSMC’s business,” explains the author.
“The rest probably goes to Android,” remarks “Homer” in USENET.
“Well I must say I’m shocked and amazed this happened after Apple shafted Samsung with a bogus looky-feely lawsuit.
“Now it seems the shiny Samsung, er, I mean Apple iPhoney is set to become a considerably less shiny Korean iPhoney … made from only the finest plastic. The good news is it’ll also come with a free case made from dog fur, and a two feet tall antenna so you can actually get a signal.” █
Summary: Microsoft FUD in Peru (against GNU/Linux, as usual) and a move towards Free software on Windows hits an impasse
“Some FUD from some Peruvian MS minions” called it Eduardo Landaveri, a key member of this site, who shows that FUD is up to its older ‘mode’ again, which no good (we wrote about Peru before). We really ought to make a video roundup of the evolution of Microsoft FUD. “It’s an interview [with] Alejandro Raffaele,” explains the source, “director de marketing de Red Hat in that country. Of course he’s supporting his company’s views but you could see that some people especially on third world countries still believe old FUD, like GNU/Linux has higher TCO, less secure, and the like… It seems that the awareness is getting a foothold in those countries but still we have to engage in counter[ing] it and setting the facts straight.” Here is the Google translation of this article.
According to a pointer sent to us from India, Geneva too, having decide to put Free software only on top of Windows (a strategic mistake Bristol had made too), decided to withdraw from it:
The IT department of the city of Geneva in Switzerland is about to stop its four-year use of open source email clients and OpenOffice, an open source suite of office productivity tools, and revert to the previous, vendor dependent solutions, reports osor.eu.
Mathias Buschbeck, member of the the city council for the Greens, is submitting written questions to the mayor, arguing in favour of the current, vendor independent IT strategy and against the switch to proprietary solutions
To quote OSOR’s article about it, “Geneva [is] abandoning its open source email and office strategy” (on a proprietary platform). The yardsticks are already biased unless the software runs on its intended platform which Microsoft does not control and discriminate on, e.g. performance-wise.
I am currently working on IMAP patches (in C) that would add functionality public services may need. The problem is that they want to emulate what Microsoft is doing rather than adhere to standard Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), for example. █
Posted in Microsoft at 2:08 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: The ripoff of Java is no match for Java and for LAMP stacks in general
Abandoning some .NET developers did not help Microsoft as they are driven away and leaving Windows unloved. A lot of complaints about .NET were mentioned in USENET recently, quoting all sorts of people who are angry. One that caught our eye, from BusinessWeek, quotes: “Using .NET is like Fred Flintstone building a database,” says David Siminoff, whose company owns the dating website JDate, which struggled with a similar platform issue. “The flexibility is minimal. It is hated by the developer community.” █
Posted in Microsoft at 1:17 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Through partnerships and entryism, Microsoft becomes a major risk to people’s privacy
In the latest daily links we summarised some research from Groklaw, essentially showing that Microsoft had pulled a trick to buy Skype cheaply and rob its owners. This was also mentioned last night in IRC, following some key articles that are currently making waves. Skype is another example of a company (like Danger, TellMe,and many more) whose founders are fleeing Microsoft following a takeover. They are unhappy and sometimes betrayed to the extreme. We gave a lot of examples over the years.
“Microsoft May Add Eavesdropping To Skype,” saysSlashdot (corresponding article can raise national concerns), noting that the “U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published a Microsoft patent application that reaches back to December 2009 and describes ‘recording agents’ to legally intercept VoIP phone calls. The ‘Legal Intercept’ patent application is one of Microsoft’s more elaborate and detailed patent papers, which is comprehensive enough to make you think twice about the use of VoIP audio and video communications. The
document provides Microsoft’s idea about the nature, positioning and feature set of recording agents that silently record the communication between two or more parties.”
When Microsoft virtually took over Nokia a lot of key people left. Who can possibly blame them? Their company got stolen by an abuser, whose new CEO (a Microsoft mole who is still Microsoft’s eighth largest shareholder!) “reportedly said that the Nokia N9 will be the last MeeGo phone, EVEN IF IT’S SUCCESSFUL,” (emphases with all caps are ours), according to IDG. It is titled “Backlash Against Nokia CEO Overshadows ‘Sea Ray’ Excitement”. Nokia got itself another Belluzzo and a reader from Finland wrote to us just to say that “Nokia won’t be able to undo the damage caused on behalf of Microsoft by Elop.” The article above “really lays it on the table that his moved are about ideology and not about business.”
KDE users have gotten a rather unpleasant surprise from Facebook: Not only is the site blocking KDE apps like Gwenview from uploading, the social media giant has also taken down photos uploaded with the KDE plugins. Yet another reason that users might think twice before depending on Facebook for photo storage.
I stumbled on this via, of course, Facebook. A friend of mine had posted that the “kipi” (KDE Plug-Ins) that handles uploading to Facebook had been banned. That’s annoying, but not a major issue — but the real issue is that the site has also apparently zapped photos already uploaded using KDE applications that depend on the plugin. I would point you to the bug, but apparently bugs.kde.org is unaccustomed to the amount of interest that the bug is receiving. (Maybe it’s up by the time you read this, though.)
Facebook has banned KDE applications from uploading pictures to users profiles – with no clear reason as to why.
But if you think that’s a #fail in itself, the social-networking site has reportedly removed all photos and albums that were uploaded using the now-banned applications and plugins.
With Skype, Nokia and Facebook (all partly, entirely, and by association controlled by Microsoft) the company is becoming a real menace for new reasons. Little by little Microsoft uses moles and ‘special’ deals to harm society through other companies, ranging from patent trolls like Nathan Myhrvold’s IV to privacy invaders like Facebook. Don’t trust sociopaths. █
“The purpose of announcing early like this is to freeze the market at the OEM and ISV level. In this respect it is JUST like the original Windows announcement…
“One might worry that this will help Sun because we will just have vaporware, that people will stop buying 486 machines, that we will have endorsed RISC but not delivered… So, Scott, do you really think you can fight that avalanche?”
Our reason for doing so… don’t have one. We set out to provide a service that was easy and inexpensive, we somehow overlooked the developers of these great GNU/Linux distributions. That e-mail opened our eyes to what kind of harm we might be causing, or more likely, what kind of good we easily could be doing but aren’t doing.
So we now donate 20% of every purchase back to the respective distribution’s project, foundation, company or developers, however donations for the distribution are handled. So now when you purchase a Live USB Flash Drive from InaTux you’re also supporting the development of your favorite distribution in the process.
Summary:
· Announced Distro: Porteus 1.0
· Announced Distro: Sabayon Linux 6.0
· In Other News: Mozilla Firefox 5, Top 10 Unity indicators, and more…
· Tutorial of the Week: Ubuntu 11.04 Desktop Customization Guide
· Review of the Week: Sweet Home 3D 3.2
· Video Clip of the Week: Mozilla Firefox 5 Final Review
· New Distributions: BlueOnyx 5.6-20110621, Semplice Linux 2.0 Alpha 1, Zorin OS Multimedia/Ultimate/Gaming 5, and more…
· Distributions Updated Last Week: Greenie Linux 9N, Fuduntu 14.10, Absolute Linux 13.38, SlimPup 2.8, and more…
· Development Releases: Parsix Linux 3.7 Test 2, openSUSE Linux 12.1 Milestone 2, Scientific Linux 6.1 Alpha 2, and more…
The IBM i platform and its bigger brother, the System z mainframe, take a lot of guff for being a legacy platform. But guess what? Solaris is turning 30 next year, as is HP-UX the year after that. AIX will be 25 this year, Windows server variants are almost 20 years old (remember Windows for Workgroups 3.1?), and Linux pretty much freeze-dried after a hectic 20 years of development. OS/400, of course, just turned 23 last week, but has deeper roots back into CPFon the System/38 in 1978 and SSP on the System/36 in 1983. They are all legacy environments as far as I am concerned.
“Mobile users are urged to seriously consider these results, and possibly even avoid the Natty Narwhal…I hate to say it, especially in an Ubuntu review, but the mobile edge goes to Windows for now…There are also compelling reasons for folks to avoid [Ubuntu 11.04] at all costs. Linux gamers should see substantial improvements, while mobile users suffer a dramatic loss in battery life,” were among the critical comments that Tom’s Hardware had in their Ubuntu 11.04 review as they were referencing the power regressions I discovered nearly two months ago within the mainline Linux kernel. As I mentioned on Sunday, the Phoronix Test Suite stack and I have now nailed this major power regression in the Linux 2.6.38 kernel that is affecting a significant number of mobile Linux users. Here is what is happening and a way that you should be able to workaround the serious regression should it affect your computer system(s).
Jesse Barnes, the maintainer of the PCI subsystem for the Linux kernel and one of the developers who signed-off on the patch that I discovered is causing the major Linux 2.6.38 kernel power regression, has commented on the matter.
When Jesse isn’t working on the Intel Linux graphics driver stack as part of Intel’s Open-Source Technology Center, he’s working on the Linux PCI subsystem. At the time the article was published last night that details the 2.6.38 power regression commit, there wasn’t any comment from the kernel developers due to being unable to reach them over the weekend.
The new and improved version of Miro 4 has been available to us for a couple of weeks now and it is time to see what is new in it and what has been improved from previous versions. Miro has a long history and as such it is quite a unique player which offers many interesting features.
If you’re having a small computer network at home or a huge office with hundreds of desktops, cyber security is something you can never compromise on. One thing that is a quintessential part of security is something we call a firewall.
A firewall is like the security guard at your door who keeps a watch on everyone who goes in and out. By allowing only legitimate connections to pass through and blocking connections based on a certain set of rules, the firewall secures the network from most kinds of threats that lurk around on the Internet.
While I wasn’t there from the very start of Linux. I was an early adopter. Even before Linux, though, I was a Unix desktop user ranging from the early character interfaces such as the Bourne shell to graphic Unix desktops such as SCO’s Open Desktop—better known back in the day as Open Deathtrap—and Solaris’s Looking Glass. In the last twenty years I’ve used almost every significant Linux desktop out there, and was the editor-in-chief for many years of Desktop Linux. In short, I know what I’m talking about.
Before giving you my list of favorites though, if you don’t know my work, you should know where I’m coming from. First, I’m a big believe in What Works. I use Linux on my desktop not because I find its free and open-source software foundations morally superior to the proprietary competition from Apple and Microsoft. I use it because it works better for me. When it comes to technology, I’m a pragmatist, not an idealist.
I enjoyed using Fedora 15 KDE; I think it has definitely arrived as a viable alternative to the GNOME version. Given all of the controversy and problems with GNOME 3, I can’t help but wonder if we’ll see an exodus of disgruntled users move from the GNOME version of Fedora to the KDE version. If so then I think they might find this release of Fedora KDE to be just what the doctor ordered.
In a previous article about Google Chromebooks, I talked about how these machines will compete with other non-Windows (that is, Linux) netbook options.
But one area I did not touch on was the tablet computer market. In this market, Apple dominates. Others are left scrambling to gain a piece of whatever scraps happen to be left.
Unlike the desktop space, where Linux competes primarily with Windows, any Linux distribution in the tablet market faces existing options that already have iOS and Android heavily embedded.
The N9 and N950 clearly show that Nokia had good smartphones already in the development pipeline, but new CEO Stephen Elop never gave them a chance. He bet the company on Windows phone, which will be good for Microsoft but not so great for Nokia.
Right away ZaReason sets themselves apart from other computer vendors by including a screwdriver and encouraging you to tinker with your system. Since actually using your computer all but violates the warranty for most other computer vendors, this is a nice change of pace.
Their hardware policy is also different. ZaReason uses open hardware, so you get components that work with any Linux distribution, and they design their systems to be upgrade-friendly. They also stick with good hardware that you can depend on, rather than pinching pennies on substandard components.
There it is and XP is too dead to hold back GNU/Linux again. So is Vista. “7″ costs too much in these small, cheap computers. MeeGo is a GNU/Linux distro developed by Nokia and Intel. While Nokia has dropped MeeGo, Intel is still involved and ASUS will ship products.
Equally, it’s why I distrust proprietary software. I don’t know what it’s doing most of the time, and I assume the worst. I also don’t see the need to guard the software so closely.
An important element of open source is that is never gives up software copyright. All it does is gives me permission to view – and usually edit – the source code. (You also get “free” open source but it’s not as socialist as the proprietary software companies would have us believe.)
Proprietary software is like buying a car that comes with the bonnet welded shut. To check your oil or water levels would require a trip to the manufacturer, and a fee to go with it. Their biggest concern is that, should I see the engine, I would immediately go and create my own car from scratch.
To celebrate its 20th anniversary, Bungie, the American game developer now famous for its Halo franchise, has announced that it will release the source code for Marathon Infinity, the third game in its Marathon Trilogy. The company says that the move is something it “should have done a long time ago (but didn’t because our legal counsel ‘forgot’)”. This means that the entire Marathon franchise will now be available as open source.
I’ve noticed a disturbing trend occurring with software. Until recent months it was largely limited to closed source software such as iOS, but today we see it even in the FOSS world.
Over 2009, two women worked to bring more people into their programming language meet-up group. Their RailsBridge effort has lessons for community building in free software as a whole.
Even on the sunniest, most peaceful days here in the Linux blogosphere, it’s a pretty safe bet that the Great Browser Wars are still being waged somewhere, whether or not we can actually overhear the particular skirmish of the moment.
Last week, however, the din of the battle roared loud enough for all to hear as Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) and Mozilla come to blows.
There was Mozilla’s declaration that it doesn’t care about enterprise users, of course — which Microsoft seized with glee as an opportunity to promote Internet Explorer.
There has been a lot of FUD written in recent days about Firefox’s rapid release process and what that means to Enterprise IT.
The gist of the FUD is that Firefox 5 represents some kind of issue because it’s not called Firefox 4.
oooh Really?
So if I understand the argument correctly, a simple number change – Firefox 5 instead of say Firefox 4.0.2 is reason enough to cause concern for enterprise IT admins.
Cloud storage kicks ass for those situations were you can either use an online web service to view and edit your files, or where you want a service like Dropbox to sync your files across multiple PCs. You get the benefit of a single access point to your files, and (although you can’t assume this to be the case) your cloud storage provider should have a robust backup system in place to keep your files safe.
Where cloud storage fails is when you just need to get access to one or two files, and your local application does not have any functionality for accessing files stored online. I find myself in this situation all the time with a few OpenOffice documents that are synced with a Dropbox account, but the Dropbox account itself is not synced with all the devices I use. Editing files in this siutation is a case of logging into Dropbox, downloading the file, making some changes, and uploading it again. It’s a tedious process.
At L-3, Jaghori runs a mobile technologies practice that does iPhone and Android development for the government. It turns out the open source model of Google’s Linux-based Android mobile operating system is appealing to government agencies, Jaghori says.
“95% of all agencies that I’ve talked to have begun looking at Android,” Jaghori says. The agencies are intrigued by “the ability to bring an operating system like Android and really call it your own, develop around it.”
On March 29 & 30, NASA hosted its first Open Source Summit at Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California. The event brought engineers and policy makers from across NASA together with well-respected members of the open source community together to discuss current challenges with NASA’s open source policy framework, and propose modifications that would make it easier for NASA to develop, release, and use open source software.
The news that alleged Lulzsec member Mr Cleary being brought before the courts is widespread. Its very telling that this “growing industry” of crime is hitting the mainstream press and it also shows how completely unprepared and unskilled the UK is in dealing with it.
I am sure the government and its agencies will claim a great victory over the news that Lulzsec is disbanding, but lets look at this a little deeper and see how exactly it is alleged that the power of the UK Police and FBI were brought to the alleged hacker and asberges sufferer.
It is alleged by some that the person now charged with Computer Misuse Act offences was named by Anonymous some time before, which if true really makes a mockery of the involvement of two massive governmental agencies on an investigation which stretched accross the ocean.
Mounting evidence of outrageous behaviour and even more examples of outright FRAUD (committed by JP Morgan Chase?) has become so overwhelming & obvious, that soon, we’ll need “State Scorecards” to track the sheer volume and huge numbers …of lawsuits… being filed against JP Morgan Chase.
Two and half years removed from the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, the investing public has grown increasingly frustrated with the lack of criminal prosecutions of, and absence of truly significant fines levied against, the senior executives and companies responsible for igniting the subprime meltdown. Pundits have criticized the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) and the Department of Justice (the “DOJ”) as capitulating to the interests of “big finance,” citing SEC settlements that have been characterized as mere “slaps on the wrist” and the DOJ’s failure to convict a single executive responsible for creating the “great recession” despite significant evidence of intentional misconduct.
For decades, the public’s trust in the integrity of U.S. capital markets was a source of economic stability and unparalleled prosperity. To maintain this trust, investors must believe that they compete on a relatively equal playing field and that the laws governing the markets will be strictly enforced. In furtherance of these goals, violators of federal rules face civil penalties from the SEC or criminal prosecution by the DOJ. In connection with previous corporate scandals, the government held a significant number of the principal wrongdoers civilly and criminally accountable for their misconduct. In the wake of the current financial crisis, however, many argue that the lack of such accountability has eroded the public’s faith in U.S. capital markets.
The Federal Reserve and the U.S. government injected trillions into the economy, yet the recovery has remained “moderate” at best for two years.
Instead of generating “shovel-ready jobs,” most of that money benefited financial companies that probably deserved to fail. So how are these companies doing? They’re laying off thousands of people, according to a report released last week by Challenger, Gray & Christmas, an employment consulting firm.
Layoffs are up 21% this year at banks, brokerage firms and insurance companies. Challenger expects the trend to accelerate through the year and become more or less permanent. So not even those employed at the national targets of bailout envy, such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, are safe.
The case, Arizona Free Enterprise Club’s Freedom Club PAC v. Bennett, was closely watched by advocates for reducing the role of money in politics. They feared that the high court, which has issued sweeping rulings striking down campaign finance restrictions as violations of free speech, would use the case to rule broadly on the constitutionality of programs that provide public money to candidates.
For the first time in a year, Americans have stopped spending more.
Consumer spending failed to budge from April to May, evidence that high gas prices and unemployment are squeezing household budgets. When adjusted for inflation, spending actually dropped 0.1 percent last month, the Commerce Department reported Monday.
President Barack Obama plunged into deadlocked negotiations to cut government deficits and raise the nation’s debt limit Monday, and the White House expressed confidence a “significant” deal with Republicans could be reached. But both sides only seemed to harden their positions as the day wore on, the administration insisting on higher taxes as part of the package but Republican leaders flatly rejecting the idea.
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A former Citigroup Inc vice president charged with embezzling $19 million from the bank’s accounts — an alleged fraud that went undiscovered for more than a year and a half — pleaded not guilty in Brooklyn federal court on Monday.
… ignorance across practice groups and offices is at the heart of the knowledge-management problem: “You already handled a case like that? If only I had known.” … A first-class knowledge-management program is now as central to a law firm’s success as a library once was.
This article uses the misleading term intellectual property” and the insulting term “content” when they mean business experience and specific documents. The author seems conflicted about the end of the associate exploitation model, outsourcing to foreign lawyers and other business model problems. The average lawfirm is mired in Microsoft desktops and Word, both of which are difficult to manage and hopelessly incapable of the type of management desired.
Abandoned oil infrastructure is a major problem in the Gulf of Mexico. It’s estimated that more than 27,000 abandoned oil and gas wells lie beneath the Gulf. Last year an Associated Press investigation found that many of the wells have gone unmonitored for decades — some as far back as the 1940s.
The article describes a new crude leak and has links to relaible monitoring organizations like Skytruth and Southwings.
“Asbestos is the greatest industrial killer the world has ever known. More people die from asbestos than all industrial causes combined, yet Canada continues to be one of the largest producers and exporters in the world. We are exporting human misery on a monumental scale,” said NDP MP Pat Martin. “Our position is morally and ethically reprehensible.”
massive flooding along the Missouri River has put Nebraska’s two nuclear plants, both near Omaha, on alert. … At Prairie Island, Minnesota, extreme heat caused the nuclear plant’s two emergency diesel generators to fail. Emergency generator failure was one of the key problems that led to the meltdowns at Fukushima.
the story of Yee Lee, who left Skype after a significant chunk of his options had already vested – and still didn’t get any money from them. … I simply don’t believe that Skype did all of this itself, without detailed input from Silver Lake.
Many people have explained the stupidity of this, search engines inherently filter results and where Google is careful to do things scientifically Microsoft brags about Bing as a “decision engine” that directs traffic to the highest bidder. The US Government is also negligent in tracking Microsoft’s judicial extortion of free software using companies.
groups funded and directed by Pope have openly called for putting the foundation completely out of business … JOHN W. POPE CIVITAS INSTITUTE … AMERICANS FOR PROSPERITY … JOHN LOCKE FOUNDATION … Pope personally hand-picks the lead staff of the groups his foundation funds.
Summary: Delays and procrastinations as the cause for TechBytes Video not being released more often
TechBytes Video has not produced anything due to difficulties associated with setting everything up. In this video, an explanation is informally given (no preparations made, so pardon the quality) as well as a teaser about another new show.
We hope you will join us for future shows and 
