Editors • About the Site • Comes vs. Microsoft • Using This Web Site • Site Archives • Credibility Index • OOXML • OpenDocument • Patents • Novell • News Digest • Site News • RSS

07.14.11

Links 14/7/2011: More Linux in Cars, Wine 1.3.24

Posted in News Roundup at 6:12 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNOME bluefish

Contents

GNU/Linux

Free Software/Open Source

  • Teaching open source in South Africa: Part I

    Africa is the world’s second-least developed continent–after Antarctica. If you look at a world map of computer science and open source contributions, you will be struck by the blank canvas that is Africa. We are quite isolated over here and don’t really have the habit of open source participation. A few dedicated souls spend inordinate amounts of time in basements and campus computer labs adding their efforts to the open source community, but the distance that separates us from the developed world is one that is as much about technology and access to technology as it is about physical distance and finances.

  • Is Open Source Driven Forward By Pragmatists or Purists?
  • Waiting for Outlook and Blackboard. Let’s have lunch?

    Open Source is so utterly opposite of proprietary software that corporations have to go to great lengths to pretend that the buyer is getting any value at all. Typically, government and other high-profile contracts, usually a result of bribery AKA lobbying, are what seals the deal for these big companies. Yet, after 20+ years of iron-fisted control of software patents, government regulations, and suing the hades out of everyone it can, Microsoft couldn’t stop Open Source from stomping it to the ground. Android is about to become the most widely used Operating System in the world, and is already far ahead of Redmond based MSFT.

  • I was talking about something a little different

    SOS Open Source analyzed Zarafa, the open-source alternative to Microsoft Exchange, maintained by the homonymous company headquartered in the Netherlands (Delft) with offices in Germany and Brasil. The Zarafa Summer Camp 2011was the perfect venue to share our findings around Zarafa (presentation), if you missed our keynote read below to know more this open source messaging and collaboration platform.

  • Where Did All the Idealism Go?

    As a writer, I am more comfortable reporting the news than making the news. For that reason, I’m reluctant to encourage the discussion started by my article, “Tech Pundits Surrender: The Retreat from Free Software and Open Standards” about the use of proprietary software when it’s convenient. At the same time, I can’t help wondering when idealism became a dirty word in free and open source software (FOSS).

  • A Telecom Service Provider Handles Huge Volumes of Data Using FOSS

    Singh has had varied experiences having worked on Android application development, MySQL database, C++, and PHP / Apache / MySQL /PostgreSQL (LAMPP). He embraced PostgreSQL during his stint with Mavenir Systems, and was so impressed with it that he started using it extensively in other projects. The first project Singh used it on was for NextGen, a telecom services group.

  • 10 best (unknown) open source projects

    That’s right folks, another ten best! But this time I’ll wager you’re not familiar with any of them, or at best one or two. The free/open source software world is vast and full of excellent applications for all occasions. An interesting trend is the growth of large distributed projects such as OpenTox and AMEE. FOSS presents a natural platform for building large distributed projects because of the low barrier to entry– open code, open standards, and freely-available robust, high-quality high-performance software.

  • Mozilla

  • SaaS

    • Piston Cloud Computing Raises $4.5 Million For Open Source Cloud

      Piston Cloud Computing, Inc., a software company developing commercialized OpenStack software for businesses, has raised $4.5 million in funding. The round was led by Hummer Winblad and True Ventures, with Divergent Ventures and others participating. Lars Leckie from Hummer Winblad, and Puneet Agarwal from True Ventures will join Piston’s board of directors.

  • Databases

  • CMS

  • FSF/FSFE/GNU/SFLC

    • Introducing Jonathan Nadeau, FSF campaigns intern

      My name is Jonathan Nadeau and I’m a husband, a father of three, and a blind GNU/Linux user. I’m also the host of three podcasts about free software. I interview project leaders of free software and GNU/Linux distributions. This summer I’m interning with the FSF’s campaigns team.

      [...]

      Once I started using a free screen reader with a free operating system, I had freedom in my own computing, and realized the importance of free software for accessibility — it is important for people who depend on accessible software to understand the freedoms that come with using free software, and no longer be stuck in a world of relying on nonfree accessibility software.

  • Project Releases

    • CUBRID 8.4.0 GA is now available for download

      About two month ago we have released a beta version of the new CUBRID 8.4.0 which proved once again that it is a powerful database with great optimization for Web applications. It featured twice faster database engine and over 90% MySQL SQL syntax compatibility. We had greatly

    • Fresh PuTTY

      PuTTY developer Simon Tatham has announced the release of version 0.61 of his cross-platform, open source Telnet and SSH client. The latest version comes more than four years after PuTTY 0.60: Tatham says that the project has received “quite a lot of email asking if PuTTY was still under development, and occasionally asking if we were even still alive. Well, we are, and it has been! Sorry about the long wait.”

  • Public Services/Government

    • Canary Islands – Open source software to forecast and manage forest fires

      Capaware is an open source 3D geographical multilayer framework which allows to obtain realistic images of land and to navigate a given area virtually. Based on the environmental conditions of the area (humidity, vegetation and wind, among others), Capaware “gives a real-time forecast which allows to know the evolution and intensity of a fire.” said José Pablo Suárez, Professor at the Department of Cartography and Engineering Graphic Design, University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.

  • Licensing

    • Out Of Tune With Community

      Controversial in certain circles, the work of a loose grouping of people to create a set of standardised contributor agreements for open source projects at “Project Harmony” has reached its 1.0 milestone. At the website you’ll find a release version of the agreements.

      Contributor agreements are used to accumulate copyrights into the hands of a single organisation. They are especially associated with open source projects like MySQL which use a “dual license” or an “open core” business model, but are also used by projects like Apache to provide flexibility and by the FSF to allow them to prosecute companies who fail to abide by the license.

  • Openness/Sharing

  • Programming

  • Standards/Consortia

    • 6th ODF Plugfest

      The sixth ODF plugfest will take place in Berlin on July 14/15 2011, and will be hosted by the German Federal Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Economy & Technology.

    • ODF Symposium

      The conference is about the results of an R&D project “Developing a software quality assurance service package for applications of OpenDocument Format”. The project is supported by the Hungarian National Techology Program and its main objective is to establish sound quality assurance procedures for ODF applications.

Leftovers

  • Cablegate

    • Wired publishes the full Manning-Lamo chat logs

      Yesterday — more than a full year after it first released selected portions of purported chat logs between Bradley Manning and government informant Adrian Lamo (representing roughly 25% of the logs) — Wired finally published the full logs (with a few redactions). From the start, Wired had the full chat logs and was under no constraints from its source (Lamo) about what it could publish; it was free to publish all of it but chose on its own to withhold most of what it received.

      Last June — roughly a week after Wired’s publication of the handpicked portions — I reviewed the long and complex history between Lamo and Wired Editor Kevin Poulsen, documented the multiple, serious inconsistencies in Lamo’s public claims (including ones in a lengthy interview with me), and argued that Wired should “either publish all of the chat logs, or be far more diligent about withholding only those parts which truly pertain only to Manning’s private and personal matters and/or which would reveal national security secrets.” Six months later, in December, I documented that numerous media reports about Manning and WikiLeaks were based on Lamo’s claims about what Manning told him in these chats — claims that could not be verified or disputed because Wired continued to conceal the relevant parts of the chat logs — and again called for “as much pressure as possible be applied to Wired to release those chat logs or, at the very least, to release the portions about which Lamo is making public claims or, in the alternative, confirm that they do not exist.”

  • Finance

    • America for Sale: Does Goldman Sachs Own Your City…Yet?

      In Chicago, it’s the sale of parking meters to the sovereign wealth fund of Abu Dhabi. In Indiana, it’s the sale of the northern toll road to a Spanish and Australian joint venture. In Wisconsin it’s public health and food programs, in California it’s libraries. It’s water treatment plants, schools, toll roads, airports, and power plants. It’s Amtrak. There are revolving doors of corrupt politicians, big banks, and rating agencies. There are conflicts of interest. It’s bipartisan.

    • Want to Solve All Your Problems, Rupert Murdoch? Become a Banker.

      Rupert Murdoch’s got problems. His employees are being arrested, he’s losing his latest acquisition, and he’s just been called to testify before Parliament. But there’s an easy way for Mr. Murdoch to protect himself from these inquiries and save his company at the same time: Turn the News Corporation into a Wall Street bank. There won’t be any prosecutions, and the government will even sweeten the deal with billions of dollars in easy money. And if Murdoch follows the trail blazed by bankers like Jamie Dimon at JPMorgan Chase, soon they’ll be begging him to acquire more companies.

      Murdoch and Dimon. One runs an organization that, as we now know, broke the law so many times it could be called a criminal syndicate. And the other is Rupert Murdoch. Yet Murdoch’s fighting for his corporation’s future while Dimon’s name is being floated as a possible Treasury Secretary. Murdoch’s losing his chance to expand market share, while our government helped Dimon’s bank become more too-big-to-fail than ever by grabbing up Morgan Stanley.

      Now that’s juice. Murdoch’s been a power broker on three continents and his Fox empire has reshaped this country’s political landscape, but Dimon’s taken the power game to a whole ‘nother level.

  • Intellectual Monopolies

Novell Business is Lost Following the Staff Loss

Posted in Mail, Microsoft, Novell at 4:15 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Novell goes down the drain

Sink drain

Summary: GroupWise abandoned while staff associated with it abandons the company; not only Microsoft gains from it as GNU/Linux companies too capitalise on Novell’s erosion

A lot of Novell staff fled or got canned. Well, now the business is lost, as expected. Hardly any boycott is needed at this stage; Novell is in a free fall and Attachmate seems apathetic about it.

Ken Muir left some days ago (well, the announcement at least came then) and almost everyone else at A- B- and C-level management already left. Muir was a key GroupWise person.

“NSW Health to dump Novell GroupWise,” tells us a pro-FOSS journalists whose reporting we typically enjoy. Sadly, as he explains, it’s Microsoft which gains here and:

Who knows what treasures can be found buried there [GroupWise], amongst the musty trappings of the past covered in dust? What glories await? What ghosts of the past?

This can also be found here and the original report is here. Attachmate remains quiet on GroupWise, which competes against Microsoft.

In other news from Australia, Novell continues to market the ZENworks product line (proprietary) and a lot of the news was flooded by the marketing PR Novell had paid some firm to generate. There are new faces in Novell’s PR blog, Michele Hudnall and Kim Lorusso, both promoting proprietary software

The importance and relevance of all this is that Novell gets punished for a bad strategy and for Boycott Novell the plan was to have Novell’s GNU/Linux business shifted to companies that do not help Microsoft. The site hopes that it is benefiting companies that do not pay Microsoft for Linux and thus provides an incentive to antagonise the patent extortion. Watch what bankers say about Red Hat right now:

The firm notes Linux shipments are expected to outpace both Windows and UNIX in CY2011 and the acquisition of Novell by Attachmate in November 2010 could help Red Hat increase its market share.

That is a good thing because Red Hat does not pay anything to Microsoft. █

Xamarin and Mono a Dead End

Posted in Mono, Novell, OpenSUSE at 3:45 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Path

Summary: No apparent activity from the company behind Mono (for almost a week now)

Xamarin has already lost staff and also implicitly acknowledged trademark issues (never mind the copyrights and patent issues). Our reader “xjasonx” has asked in IRC: “how long do you think that mono company will last w/o funding? I’m thinking to the end of the month max. According to their github, they’ve only got 2 projects and neither have gotten any commits in at least 5 days

“Might even already be dead,” he remarks, “and they haven’t been in the news in a while either [...] it’s pretty pathetic that they can’t get any funding [...] even twitter can get funding”

MinceR responded by saying that “twitter’s business model isn’t based on “we hope MS and attachmate don’t sue” (probably the former).

Speaking of ‘ownership’ issues, despite Novell being sold and SUSE allegedly becoming separate, the bottom of all pages in the OpenSUSE sites states: “© 2010 Novell, Inc. All rights reserved. Novell is a registered trademark and openSUSE and SUSE are trademarks of Novell, Inc. in the United States and other countries.”

2010? Novell? Either Way, Marcus Hüwe helps SUSE at Google’s expense and Jos has a success story to tell along with Novell’s publicists. This whole thing does not look entirely promising for the project, which is still dependent and orphaned at the same time (from Novell). Attachmate has been killing whatever was FOSS in Novell (i.e. not much), but some of the proprietary dies too. More on that in the next post. █

Sale of Linspire to Xandros Gets the Unofficial OK After Years in Court, Xandros Sells Scalix

Posted in Linspire, Microsoft, Patents, Scalix, Xandros at 3:26 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Imitating Microsoft Windows and paying Microsoft for GNU/Linux a poor strategy

Green hill

Summary: The companies that want to be like Windows die together, along with the lawsuit surrounding their merger/acquisition (as well as the sale of Scalix!)

IT HAS BEEN almost years since we regularly mentioned the second and third GNU/Linux vendors that agreed to pay Microsoft for patents. One bought the other, but this was followed by a long and ugly dispute between employees/managers of Linspire. Ever since then the court proceedings received little attention and the companies got mentioned as an historical reference in articles such as this one which mentions Linspire. Xandros vanished after Presto, although it got mentioned a lot in relation to ASUS returning to Linux, e.g. here and dozens of other publications in many languages. For the curious, we still have our Linspire/Xandros pages, which go all the way back to the time Kevin Carmony sold out to Ballmer, right after he had insulted GNU/Linux and used the “piracy” word. Anyway, the good news is that Carmony lost the legal case (plus legal expenses) in his attempt to defeat his former boss. According to a new report:

San Diego entrepreneur Michael Robertson claims he has scored a win in a lawsuit against the former CEO and CFO of Linspire. According to legal documents released by Robertson, former CEO Kevin Carmony and former CFO Chad Olson are liable for fraud, conspiracy, breach of fiduciary duty, and other counts in a spat over disagreements after Linspire was sold to Xandros.

And in other news, Scalix gets out of Xandros just years after Xandros bought it. Not a good sign for Xandros, eh?

Sebring Software Inc. (symbol: SMXI) acquired the Scalix Email and Calendaring Platform from Xandros Inc., a New York-based firm, for $12 million.

To complete the acquisition, Sebring will pay Xandros $5.75 million in cash over six months, plus 6.25 million shares of Sebring’s common stock, being valued at $1 per share, a release says.

There is more information about it in [1, 2]. █

Google- -

Posted in Google at 3:02 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Summary: Google+ and Facebook need to be avoided for being proprietary software traps with understated dangers

GOOGLE PLUS has been spamming people in order to gain subscribers. Moreover, it has lied to the public in order to create an illusion of scarcity (invites) and in many ways it remains similar to Facebook. Both are proprietary and running on a LAMP stack. Suffice to say, the main advantage we see in having Google+ is that it increases competition and reminds people that just flipping over a boolean flag to indicate one of hundreds of millions is a ‘friend’ only applies to one of several (potentially many) databases.

Techrights does not typically deal with social science and the attention whores that flock to Facebook despite its many abuses.

We have been more interested in Facebbook’s bad business practices, which include AstroTurfing, lock-in, patent aggression, privacy violations, censorship, and much more.

Not so long ago we wrote about Facebook’s insult to Free software. We are seeing it again:

After just a few days of operation, Facebook has already slammed the door for Open-Xchange’s OX.IO export tool. According to Facebook, the app violates its terms of service — but the company says “we are not violating anything.”

So here’s the scoop: Last week, Open-Xchange (a company that provides an Exchange-compatible email and collaboration suite) launched OX.IO. The new service is supposed to help users consolidate contact data, and worked with Facebook, but also works with GMail, GMX.de, LinkedIn, Yahoo!, SugarCRM, and a few others.

Recall what Facebook did to products associated with KDE. The way it just blocked software for competitive reasons provides insight into the danger of relying on third-part platforms, including Google. It wasn’t long ago that Google withdrew APIs it implicitly promised to support.

As we wrote several months ago, the only ‘social network’ Techrights is willing to endorse is Identi.ca (accounts named here). █

Microsoft Did Sponsor the World’s Biggest Patent Troll (More Lawsuits Come), Paul/Troll Allen Loses Case

Posted in Microsoft, Patents at 2:58 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Nathan Myhrvold

Summary: How bigwigs from Microsoft continue to turn into patent trolls and attack the industry (including Linux), sometimes in vain

ONE of our readers found and sent over evidence suggesting that Bill Gates’ buddy (whom Gates financed) is suing some more companies, leaving no doubt about his status as the world's biggest patent troll, not just Microsoft’s former CTO. It is operations like his which help show how brutal and corrupt the patent system has become. He lobbies politicians, however, to keep it as broken as it is and thereby enrich himself and Bill. It is possible that even Torvalds’ patents are now being used by this patent troll and Groklaw adds: “Maybe it’s time for Silicon Valley to figure out that patents are the problem.” The same reader also found this pointer about “The National Association of Patent Practitioners (NAPP),” which is a euphemism for patent trolls. We have more of these stories in yesterday's daily links.

While on the subject of patent trolls from Microsoft (with Microsoft financial ties), how about Interval from Microsoft’s co-founder? It seems like it’s going down for Paul Allen:

Allen v. World – RECONSIDERATION DENIED! Interval Down in Flames

[...]

When you see a judge being that critical of a party and using words later in the order like “quibbles,” it is a sign the judge is losing patience.

So this action is now officially (even after reconsideration) stayed pending the outcome of the reexaminations.

The patent trolls still cost a lot in terms of legal fees, even if they lose, and the Against Monopoly people urge to put an end to this, including business method patents, which as we showed recently have some of the biggest lobbyists (bankers, not just patent trolls funded by Microsoft) doing whatever it takes to make matters worse. We wrote about this recently. █

Android/Linux FUD is Calming Down, Microsoft Sympathisers Fantasise About Patents as Cash Cow

Posted in Apple, GNU/Linux, Google, Microsoft, Patents at 2:30 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Free

Summary: An analysis by reference, occurring shortly after the major news regarding Nortel’s patents and Oracle’s latest setback

ANOTHER day goes by and the level of patent FUD has decreased somewhat, which is good news. Tom Krazit wrote this article which we missed some days ago. He suggests for Google “Plan B—It’s perhaps a bit of a stretch to call this a “plan,” but Google is essentially throwing open its arms to the intellectual property community, willing to listen to just about anyone with mobile patents for sale or rent. It’s going to have to get patent coverage somehow, and it doesn’t seem to care if that’s through one-off deals with small companies, large acquisitions, or even patent licensing deals with its foes. It’s also hoping that federal regulators change the terms of the deal while they review it, similar to how a patent sale involving Novell was altered by the Department of Justice following complaints, and has a pipe dream that Congress may stop playing chicken with the debt ceiling and embrace real patent reform.

“Those who really pay for Nortel’s patent is all of us.”“This is a crucial summer for Android. It rose to prominence as the anti-iPhone, but has managed to unite Apple, Microsoft, and Research in Motion in a consortium of competitors who are trying to hit Google in its most vulnerable spot.”

It’s not a great piece at all, but it does get across the point about anti-competitive aspects.

Those who really pay for Nortel’s patent is all of us. It’s just a major tax on everything, as explained here:

The real losers here were us consumers who will pay more for things produced under the patents. We will also see less inter-company competition and less innovation. This further cements the already long standing position of the incumbents, which will also restrict innovation.

Still think patents promote innovation?

Compare that to shamelss Microsoft boosters like Ina Fried who say things like “Microsoft Could Make More From Android Licensing Than From Software” (other Microsoft boosters go with the same talking point these days). To quote an accurate observation: “This past week, Microsoft announced four deals with smaller Android device makers Onkyo, Wistron, Velocity Micro and General Dynamics Itronix.

“There are some differences between the current approach with Android and the one Microsoft took vis-à-vis Linux. With Linux, Microsoft generally avoided going the litigation route.”
      –Ina Fried“There are some differences between the current approach with Android and the one Microsoft took vis-à-vis Linux. With Linux, Microsoft generally avoided going the litigation route. It wasn’t until years after it started licensing Linux that it filed its first suit involving Linux-related claims — a suit against GPS maker TomTom that was quickly settled.”

Yes, this is quite true, but Fried played along with Microsoft for several years in CNET, giving a platform to Microsoft’s patent racketeers and justifying these abusive actions. Fried should be utterly ashamed of it.

Companies like Novell were giving up without a fight or in Novell’s particular case actually approaching Microsoft for a deal. So in some sense, Fried’s quoted observation is correct. Based on reports we accumulated, Melco — not HTC — was probably the first company to cave at gunpoint. It is hard to tell for sure, however, due to NDAs.

Microsoft is not the only company in a position of offence against Android and we recognise that Oracle too needs to be watched. Based on more information from Groklaw, Google is doing quite alright trashing Oracle’s patents and Pogson adds:

If Google’s motion to include the new defences is accepted, Oracle’s case grows some huge holes a jury will be hard pressed to ignore. If Google’s motion is denied, Google will have excellent grounds to appeal a negative decision. There is no indication here that Google will take the easy way out and settle. There is indication that software patents will have another nail in their coffin. Google has the resources to find prior art and are experts at search.

The ’702 patent is about virtual machines, something IBM has been working with since the 1960s to divide up the resources of the System 360 mainframe. I remember that machine with its walk-in compartments and blinking incandescent lights. This all predated UCSD p system and Java by many years. IBM currently uses that history to sell its virtual solutions to customers. I am sure the judge will enjoy the reading. I am sure a fair judge will want the whole story to be told in court.

Here is one new report on the subject (from a trusted source). It says that the USPTO “has provisionally rejected, partially or in full, five of the seven Java patents over whose alleged infringement Oracle has taken Google to court. However, Oracle has refused to accept this rejection. In a response to the USPTO, the software vendor explains why it thinks that the reference to “prior art” does not apply.”

Apple and Oracle are connected through their CEOs, Ellison and Jobs. We wrote a lot about this.

“One Finger OK, But Only Steve Jobs Can Use Two,” reads this headline

Roughly speaking, Apple seems to be claiming that if you use more than one finger to do something on a touchscreen, you’re infringing on their intellectual property.

Apple will probably try to use such patents against Android tablets. For shame. █

07.13.11

Links 13/7/2011: KDE 4.7 RC2, Pardus Linux 2011.1 Out With KDE SC 4.6.5

Posted in News Roundup at 5:51 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNOME bluefish

Contents

GNU/Linux

  • FOSS advocate who’s free, frank and fearless

    Journalist, FOSS advocate, feminist – Carla Schroder is all these and more. But more than anything it is her straight talking that marks her out – when she takes a stand on issues she is driven by conviction.

  • Lots of Support for One Percent!

    Why do you think so many offer support for a platform that is supposed to be so under used?

  • BootMed Teaches You How to Save Ailing PCs

    I’m sure the idea of using Linux to help teach Windows users how to recover their files has invoked a few chuckles amongst the Linux community as well as grimaces from Microsoft, though it’s nothing radically new: I use Slax and Parted Magic all the time to recover data from Windows PCs. BootMed is not dead-simple–you must at least understand the concepts involved and be fairly proficient at navigating a file system–but it’s a boon for less experienced users that want to learn the basic processes of recovery and of course, recover things.

  • Desktop

    • Slow?

      This is because Linux is immune to Windows viruses and spyware. Linux doesn’t require all that extra antivirus software. These Windows anti-virus programs run constantly in the background and eat up valuable processing resources.

      Plus, with Linux, you can choose from a number of desktop environments to run. These can be feature rich (Like KDE and Gnome) or streamlined and light weight (Like LXDE or XFCE).

    • Schneier on USB sticks

      I can plug an unknown USB stick into my computer, because all my Linux computer will do is open a File Manager window to show me what’s on the USB stick. There is no “autorun” function — one of the stupider ideas to come from the Microsoft brain-trust. If I want to run a program from a USB stick, I have to specifically request it.

  • Kernel Space

  • Applications

  • Desktop Environments

    • I finally found you Xfce and I am not going to let you go!

      When I first installed Fedora 15 to try GNOME3 was fascinated by it’s look and differences from the older versions, I still like it but after a couple weeks using it started to work very slow and crashed many times, now finally decided to move to Xfce but not removing GNOME 3 because maybe one day I will come back but not until I upgrade my computer. Applications start very fast, don’t crash, it’s simpler and reminds me the ClearLooks of Gnome 2.6 from F13 and F14.

    • The idea behind Contour
    • Creating the Perfect Fluxbox Desktop on Linux

      Fluxbox is a fast, lightweight, very customizable window manager for X. Fluxbox is a great choice for Linux users who favor speed and efficiency, and setting up their working environment just the way they like. Today we’ll look at some super-saver speed tricks such as grouping applications with tabs, tear-off menus, sticky buttons, the infamous slit, and more.

    • Choosing the Best Linux Desktop: KDE, Unity, GNOME

      The perfect desktop would be the one you design yourself. Failing that, which of the main Linux desktops is right for you?

      A few months ago, this question came to a choice between GNOME and KDE. Now, with the introduction of GNOME 3 and Ubuntu’s Unity, the question has become more complex.

      Should you accept the latest innovation, or go with a desktop that proves itself? A simple desktop, or a complex one with all sorts of customization? One that doesn’t change, regardless of whether you are using a mobile device or a workstation, or one that changes to fit the limitations or advantages of each computing device?

    • K Desktop Environment/KDE SC)

      • KDE SC 4.7 approaches with RC2 release

        The KDE.org developers have issued a second release candidate (RC2) of version 4.7 of the KDE Software Compilation (KDE SC). The development team is now focused on finding and addressing any last-minute “show stopper” (major) bugs, as well as completing translations and documentation. Users are asked to test the release and report any bugs that they find. The final release of KDE SC 4.7.0 is scheduled for 27 July 2011.

      • KDE Software Compilation 4.7 RC2 Released

        The KDE team has announced on July 11th the second Release Candidate version for the upcoming KDE Software Compilation 4.7 environment.

        The KDE developers proudly announced that last evening, July 11th, the KDE Software Compilation 4.7 RC2 (Release Candidate), a version that is focusing on fixing last-minute bugs and finishing the required documentation and translations.

    • GNOME Desktop

      • GNOME 3: Bearable with GNOME Shell Frippery

        A while ago I read about this project, a small collection of scripts with the aim at creating a more GNOME 2 like user experience with the name of GNOME Shell frippery, so I had to try it out on my experimental install and took a few more screenshots to illustrate the effect. I’m also suspecting that many users are still unaware of it.

  • Distributions

    • New Releases

      • SMS version 1.6.1 Released!

        Superb Mini Server version 1.6.1 released (Linux kernel 2.6.39.3)

        This minor release upgrade brings the latest stable linux kernel version 2.6.39.3.
        SMS-1.6.1 features the latest stable releases of various packages, such as,
        perl-5.14.1, mysql-5.1.58, postfix-2.8.4, cups-1.4.7, httpd-2.2.19, samba-3.5.9 and gcc-4.5.3.

    • PCLinuxOS/Mageia/Mandrake/Mandriva Family

      • ALT Linux | Fame & Publicity Not their target

        I wrote few lines on AltLinux.com international community forum – in English
        back in 2007 showing a desire for little needed publicity for ALT Linux because whenever I talk about this distribution anywhere I am told they have never heard about it . Michael Shigorin replied in these words

      • Mandriva joins the CompatibleOne consortium

        French Linux provider, Mandriva, has announced that it has joined the industry consortium CompatibleOne – a research project working on the development of a free cloud infrastructure using open standards and interoperable open source technologies. Its members include companies such as Bull and Inria.

    • Gentoo Family

      • Pardus 2011.1 screenshot pre-review

        Pardus is a desktop-oriented Linux distribution with roots in the National Research Institute of Electronics and Cryptology (UEKAE), Turkey. The latest table version, Pardus 2011.1, was released just yesterday.

        Like Pardus 2011, Pardus 2011.1 is made available via DVD installation images, and also via Live DVD testing-only images. While a review is still in the works, here a few screenshots to whet your appetite.

      • Press Release: Sabayon Linux 6 XFCE, LXDE, E17

        We are happy to announce the immediate availability of E17, XFCE, LXDE, built on top of Sabayon “SpinBase” ISO images.
        Here we go again, this is the last set of Sabayon 6 releases, we have Sabayon 6 LXDE, a very lightweight Desktop Environment for elderly systems, that fits on a single 700Mb CD.
        Then there is Sabayon 6 XFCE, which has been turned into a valid GNOME alternative, breaking the 700Mb size barrier, provided with multimedia applications, office productivity apps, NVIDIA, AMD GPU drivers and much more.
        Last and probably least, there is the somewhat i-like-broken-stuff-and-not-being-able-to-change-wallpaper Sabayon 6 E17, well, it’s Enlightenment 17, subversion snapshot, for the braves.

      • Pardus Linux 2011.1 Has KDE SC 4.6.5 and Firefox 5

        Gökcen Eraslan proudly announced yesterday, July 12th, the immediate availability for download and upgrade of the popular Pardus 2011.1 Linux-based Turkish operating system.

        Dubbed Dama Dama, the final and stable version of Pardus 2011.1 is powered by Linux kernel 2.6.37.6 and it’s available as Live and Installation images for both 32-bit and 64-bit architectures.

    • Red Hat Family

    • Debian Family

      • Tax-on-web with Debian and Firefox

        In Belgium, we can fill out our tax form online on the Tax-on-web site using a smartcard reader and our electronic identity card. Unfortunately, things are rather complicated to set up, partly because the eID authentication is based on SSL renegotiation, a feature which is disabled by default in recent Firefox versions because it can be insecure. It is a bit disappointing that we have to rely on potentially vulnerable technologies to authenticate with our eID, but there is not much choice if you do not want to fill out the paper forms (or are too late, so that the electronic way is the only option).

      • Derivatives

        • Knoppix 6.4: can you spot the difference?

          Knoppix is Live CD (DVD) system based on Debian.
          Debian gives Knoppix very stable and large platform.
          What has changed in Knoppix since my last review? I’d say not much.
          Most of these changed are due to new version of Debian. Squeeze changed Lenny, and now Knoppix uses Squeeze as stable repository. Other that that? LibreOffice became official office manager. Then… Argh, to be honest, I can’t name any other difference. Can change of default wallpaper be the one? I doubt.
          From my perspective, Knoppix now simply follows the trend to update packages up to the latest version of those. Nothing significant happens in this part of Linux world.
          Somebody can call it stagnation. Somebody can call it stability.

        • Canonical/Ubuntu

          • Ubuntu Unity: A GUI for Beginners and Experts
          • Fantastic engineering management is…

            The art of software engineering management is so different from software engineering that it should be an entirely separate career track, with equal kudos and remuneration available on either path.

            This is because developing, and managing developers, are at opposite ends of the interrupt scale. Great engineering depends on deep, uninterrupted focus. But great management is all about handling interrupts efficiently so that engineers don’t have to. Companies need to recognise that difference, and create career paths on both sides of that scale, rather than expecting folk to leap from the one end to the other. It’s crazy to think that someone who loves deep focused thought should have to become a multithreaded interrupt driven manager to advance their career.

            Very occasionally someone is both a fantastic developer and a fantastic manager, but that’s the exception rather than the rule. In recognition of that, we should design our teams to work well without depending on a miracle each and every time we put one together.

          • Nuxeo DM added to Ubuntu
          • Top 5 Alternatives to Ubuntu Linux

            There is still a huge myth among Linux users that KDE 4 is unstable and hard-to-use. Well, that may be the belief of people who haven’t used KDE before, but for the ones who have already used it, there’s nothing like it. KDE4 is a stable desktop environment made purely for the masses with the average user in mind. What’s more, it comes with all the fancy effects that will make a Windows or Mac user jealous. In fact, ZDNet Australia even did a survey demonstrating a KDE 4 PC and telling the users that it is the next version of Windows. Guess what, almost everyone loved it. The survey simply proves the point that KDE4 is a modern interface that is ready for the masses.

            Bringing KDE to the Ubuntu fanatics comes Kubuntu, the KDE version of the world’s most popular Linux distribution. Kubuntu comes with a great set of applications like Amarok, Kopete and Gwenview. For the “newly switched” users, there are familiar applications like Libreoffice and Firefox. Kubuntu Natty includes the latest stable version of KDE 4 without much customization.

          • Flavours and Variants

            • The Future of Various Linux Mint Editions

              Today, I was reading DistroWatch when I saw an interesting tidbit about how Linux Mint’s KDE Edition is moving to a Debian base, though the developers originally intended this KDE release to be based on Ubuntu as before. I think the reason why I felt as surprised as I did was because as opposed to the other editions (Xfce, Fluxbox) which were announced as moving to a Debian base without any previous statements regarding them, the developers did say the KDE edition of Linux Mint would be based on Ubuntu, and judging from the forum posts, this decision seems to have been rather abrupt, as opposed to being more carefully planned.

            • inux Mint 11 KDE to Be Based on Debian, Maybe

  • Devices/Embedded

    • PandaBoard first impressions

      This week I received a couple of PandaBoards, courtesy of our friends at Canonical by way of our friends around Kubuntu. The goal is to get Plasma Active running well on the platform.

    • Hi-res e-reader first to offer direct Google eBooks access

      Google announced that iRiver’s Story HD e-reader will be available July 17 at Target, and will be the first device to offer Google eBooks support via Wi-Fi. In related e-reader news, the Philadelphia Media Network will offer deeply discounted Android tablets to Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News subscribers, and e-reader/tablet vendor Augen appears to have gone under.

    • Phones

      • Android

        • Android leads U.S. smartphone race, says Pew

          Android took the top position among U.S. smartphone market share with 35 percent, followed by Apple’s iPhone and RIM’s BlackBerry, each with 24 percent, says a Pew Research study. Android is particularly strong among younger adults and African Americans, says the study.

          Some 35 percent of owners who call their phones a “smartphone” use an Android phone, estimates Pew Research. This is compared with 24 percent share each for users claiming to use Apple’s iPhones or Research in Motion’s BlackBerry handsets.

        • Harman adopts Android connectivity protocol for infotainment systems
        • Android mini-tablet integrates pico projector

          NionCom is preparing an Android 2.3 mini-tablet reference design that includes an embedded pico projector, capable of displaying content on a wall or screen sized up to 100 inches diagonal. The “MemoryKick Vision” offers a 4.3-inch capacitive WVGA display, 4GB flash memory, a 500GB hard disk drive (HDD), Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, plus HDMI in and out ports, according to a story in Picopros.

        • Google Android reference design uses mini joystick

          A mini joystick module from austriamicrosystems has been selected by Google for the new Android Open Accessory Development Kit (ADK).

          The kit is an open-source electronics prototyping platform and is aimed at developers, engineers, hobbyists and artists interested in creating interactive objects or environments.

        • It could have been different: Android, Google and all that

          If there’s one thing that is totally clear, is that Android is ravaging the smartphone market, and all those that are feeling the heat are trying to use the most innovative and transparent approach to stop it: sue Google and its partners out in the oblivion. Software patents, design patents, copyrights, plain trolling- anything goes if it can help in stop the Droid juggernaut. At the same time, Google is under attack for its delay in publishing the Honeycomb source code, attacked for the half-backed results that can be witnessed in some tablet products, all of this in an environment where Android phone makers are obtaining extraordinary revenues, in large part thanks to those contested products (Samsung comes to mind).

          Of course, hindsight is 20/20 as they say, and it’s easy to “predict” that the extraordinary success of Android would have generated such a defensive attack. It is however at least predictable, given the extreme litigation of software companies, that patents would have been used as a blunt instrument to fend off competitors. Could things have been different? I believe so, and I also believe that Google made some errors in its decision, especially in trying to create a control point (the “Google experience”) instead of favoring a more long-term vision.

    • Sub-notebooks/Tablets

      • Toshiba Thrive tablet offers Android 3.1, full-sized ports

        1280 x 800 display, and full-size HDMI, USB 2.0, and SD connections

      • Touching on the state of webOS

        HP may be taking the extraordinary step of actually licensing webOS to run on other manufacturers’ devices, despite earlier statements to the contrary. That stance seems to have gone by the wayside, as HP has come to the conclusion that in the mobile marketplace, it’s no Apple, and hanging on to an HP-only device channel may not be a great idea.

Free Software/Open Source

  • Time And Materials? – NOT!

    Recently I noted that people seem to think there is only one business philosophy for Free Software, and that is to charge for “time and materials”. In reality this is a fairly bad business philosophy, and will quickly drive the programming community to very low wages.

    I have known many business philosophies with Free Software, and I will discuss a few of them here. But first I would like to discuss the concept of “time and materials” usually associated with “Total Cost of Ownership” and the concept of “Return on Investment”
    or the value of the solution, which is where I feel that FOSS really shines.

    In the world of proprietary software you may be trying to fit a square “box” of software into the round “hole” of the business problem. You may put as many “square boxes” of software (which you can neither change the size nor shape of the solution) as you want, but there will always be a “business problem” that will show through, unaddressed, and forcing you to change the way your customer does business to fit the way the software works.

  • 63 Open Source Replacements for Popular Financial Software

    Whether you’re looking for financial software to manage your personal finances, your small business or for a large enterprise, the open source community offers a lot of options. The business-focused products are particularly robust, with a huge list of solutions, many of which offer commercial support and/or hosting.

    We last updated our list of open source replacements for popular financial software about a year ago. This year, we’ve revisited the list, updating links and details and adding quite a few projects that we haven’t featured before.

  • Open Source and the Democratization of IT

    How do enterprises face up to the generational shift to new and more empowered users? How can businesses react and exploit more applications and data resources and do so in a managed and governed fashion? We’re finding that modern, lightweight, and open source platforms that leverage modular architectures are a new and proven resource for the rapid and agile integration requirements.

  • Samba may consider accepting corporate-donated code … fixes only?

    Should Samba switch gears and accept corporate contributions for the first time?

    We’re not talking about funding. We’re talking about code.

    That’s the question Samba chief Jeremy Allison is asking his large open source community, which to date has only accepted code with personal copyrights.

  • Fairware: Supporting Open Source Projects
  • XBRL group offers $20K for best open source app
  • The Internet Archive Selects Kaltura Video Technology to Support HTML5

    The Internet Archive, a nonprofit repository of digital media assets, has implemented a video solution from Kaltura, a provider of the world’s first Open Source (News – Alert) Online Video Platform.

  • Why I (still) steer away from Microsoft products

    Recently I was reminded yet again of why I purposely avoid Microsoft products altogether. I wrote a while ago about migrating a relative from Windows 2000 to Fedora Linux 14. The migration went well, and they are still today happily using Fedora 14.

  • FLOSS: Accept no substitutes

    Free-as-in-freedom software is very often free-as-in-beer, too. This is normally a good thing. But one open source project developer is calling out a troubling problem with free software: counterfeit applications.

    The problem, according to VideoLAN developer Ludovic Fauvet, is this: VideoLAN’s highly regarded VLC Media Player, which is licensed under the GPL, is being redistributed by various organizations’ websites, some of which claim that VLC is actually their application to distribute. These websites attract users with paid Google AdWords ads that come up in various media-player related searches.

    Right off the bat, this would be a clear violation of VideoLAN’s intellectual property, but it gets worse. Many of the sites that redistribute VLC have wrapped the binary in installers that also install malware in the form of adware and spyware on unsuspecting user’s computers, too.

    “What bothers us the most is that many of them are bundling VLC with various crapware to monetize it in ways that mislead our users by thinking they’re downloading an original version. This is not acceptable. The result is a poor product that doesn’t work as intended, that can’t be uninstalled and that clearly abuses its users and their privacy,” Fauvet wrote in his blog.

  • Why I’m smarter than an Open Source surrender monkey

  • Web Browsers

  • Oracle/Java/LibreOffice

    • OpenOffice + Apache = Open Content Innovation

      I will let other people debate Oracle’s motivations, Apache vs. The Document Foundation (TDF), etc. but here are a few interesting facts: OpenOffice is one of the most successful and vast open source projects in the world (1.2 million downloads a week and 135 million known distributions). OpenOffice.org gets 10x the number of unique visitors as the Apache.org homepage itself, according to Compete. By measures of downloads and web traffic, OpenOffice is as relevant as ever.

    • AT: Department of Justice’s migration to OpenOffice a success story

      According to an online magazine aimed at users of the Linux Operating System, since 2008 the Austrian justice ministry has migrated several thousands of desktop PCs to OpenOffice, in a “complete success story” worth highlighting.

    • Status of Establishing the Foundation

      Thanks to the invaluable work of our lawyer, we now finally have a close-to-final draft of the legally binding statutes. The creation of these took a lot of time, because many of the ideas and processes we have outlined in our Community Bylaws are innovative, and implementing them in a legal framework is indeed a challenge. However, all of these ideas are important and show the values and roots of our community, so taking time for legally establishing them is very well spent.

  • CMS

    • Magid on Tech: WordPress still popular despite social networking

      Despite the rise in social networking sites — Facebook, Twitter and the new Google+ — blogs continue to flourish. For example, WordPress.com over the weekend announced that more than 50 million blogs are powered by WordPress.com’s open source software. About half of those blogs are hosted by WordPress.com, while the others are hosted on rented servers or the bloggers’ own servers.

      WordPress.com hosts sites for free, though there are features you can buy, including paying $30 a year to remove ads and fees to increase storage.

    • WordPress Now Powers 50 Million Blogs: How to Start Your Own

      WordPress.com announced that there are now more than 50 million blogs powered by WordPress’s open source software. About half of those blogs are hosted at WordPress.com while the others reside on blog owners own servers or server space rented from hosting providers.

    • The future of WordPress: Q&A with founder Matt Mullenweg

  • Business

  • Funding

  • FSF/FSFE/GNU/SFLC

    • A Status Update On GNU Hurd: Java, Debian, Money

      The Q2’2011 update for the long-in-development GNU Hurd operating system says that Java is coming to Hurd this summer as part of Google Summer of Code, but in the process of porting Java, the student is also filling in some parts of Hurd’s componentry in order to handle the Java run-time.

      Additionally, the first Debian GNU/Hurd spins with a graphical installer is now available. It’s publicly available here. Debian GNU/Hurd can run within a KVM/QEMU virtualized environment, but it’s hardware support is still shoddy (the network adapter support is limited to what was found in the Linux 2.0 kernel, for instance).

  • Project Releases

  • Public Services/Government

    • PT: Consensus among political parties on open source and open standards in the Public Administration

      Gonçalo Caseiro, Member of the Board of the Agency for the Public Services Reform (Agência para a Modernização Administrativa – AMA, in Portuguese), gave a presentation that addressed the issues of interoperability, open standards and open source in the PA, the AMA’s perspective on these issues, and provided examples of actions taken in recent years within the PA.

    • Kenya opens its books in revolutionary transparency drive

      When violence erupted after the 2007 Kenyan elections, a team of activists produced Ushahidi – a digital open-source platform to monitor crises in near real-time. Taking its name from the kiswahili word for testimony, or witness, Ushahidi has since been deployed to monitor unrest in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, track violence in Gaza, and gather global reports about the spread of Swine Flu. Around the same time, a partnership between Vodafone and Safaricom, Kenya’s largest mobile operator, produced M-PESA, the mobile banking system that has revolutionised the way many Kenyans manage their money.

    • Canberra’s open source policy stumbles on compliance

      The Australian Government’s latest commitment to open source software has been undermined by patchy compliance by the agencies it informs.

      While the Government’s revised guide urged agencies to consider cost, customisation, end-user training, reliability, lock-in and license obligations when choosing between proprietary and open source software options, already there are examples of non-compliance with the policy.

      Despite the guide instructing agencies “to insert a statement into any Request for Tender that they will consider open source software equally alongside proprietary software”, no such statement was published in Austrade’s recent request for tender (RFT) for an Online Recruitment System (C11/0403).

    • United Kingdom’s government to accelerate its use of open source software in public services

  • Licensing

    • AVM Denies GPL Violation Claims

      German router maker AVM says GPL campaigners are backing software which would break the Fritz!Box

      German router maker AVM has defended itself against claims that it is breaking the terms of the GPL licence on its Fritz!Box broadband routers, but GPL creator Richard Stallman has said the firm is in breach of the licence.

  • Openness/Sharing

    • News of the World dead, that’s OK – all press going open source online

      Truism #1 – Newsrooms to face tougher economic challenges and more challenging workflow issues than ever before.

      Truism #2 – Stories now need to be written for a more live, dynamic, potentially changeable publishing medium. So writing from the ground up for paper-based publication is not necessarily good sense.

      Truism #3 – Open source document management and content management tools now exist to bring tangible cost savings to bear.

    • Carnegie Launches Open-Source STEM Network

      Milgrom-Elcott says it’s an approach that worked for cystic fibrosis (CF) research and treatment practices. During the mid 1990s, CF patients at different clinics had wildly different life expectancies and lung capacities. As doctors began to share the best practices for treating patients, the life expectancy gap narrowed, and CF survival rates improved. 100kin10 hopes to mimic this transparency and openness.

    • Data

      • Open source storage is on the march

        From being the poor relation to deployment in pretty much every institution, public and private, open source software (OSS) in the shape of Linux and others has taken over a huge proportion of the world’s servers.

        It was quite a mountain to climb. At first, sceptics — a group that included me — struggled to see how the business model could work. Could the software developers sustain themselves by giving away the software? Could they keep up with commercial developers? Would enterprise users get the kinds of support they were used to? And would the software be robust and as feature-rich?

    • Open Access/Content

      • South Korean schools to go paperless

        But add Open Access/Open Source to the equation, and the long-term savings usually outweigh the costs (here’s an app that lets educational buyers calculate exactly what they stand to save). Clunky hardcover textbooks, constantly in need of repair or replacement, with built-in obsolescence, are a major expense for schools. As soon as decent, curriculum-connected free versions are online, they can be used anywhere. Once forward-thinking Canadian classes take the plunge, it’s unlikely they’ll ever go back.

  • Programming

    • static single assignment for functional programmers
    • Project Euler
    • Python 3.2.1 now available

      The Python developers have released Python 3.2.1, a bugfix release for February’s Python 3.2 with no new functionality. It fixes more than 120 bugs and regressions in the most recent release of the widely used dynamic scripting language, including a fix for a urllib and urllib2 medium severity security issue (CVE-2011-1521) which had been corrected in older versions of Python in recent months.

    • Ruby creator joins PaaS company Heroku

      The creator of the Ruby programming language, Yukihiro “Matz” Matsumoto, has joined Heroku, the cloud application platform provider, where he will work as the chief architect for Ruby. The news release states that Matsumoto will, in close collaboration with the Ruby open source community, continue his work on the Ruby scripting language he designed in the mid-90s. The creator of Ruby will keep his post at Japanese e-commerce company Rakuten’s Institute of Technology, and he will also continue to work as a researcher for the Network Applied Communications Laboratory.

    • Ruby daddy Matsumoto joins Heroku Rails crusade

  • Standards/Consortia

    • RDF in ODF: Abiword & Calligra

      RDF has been slowly making it’s way into Office applications. The ODF standard includes support for shipping RDF/XML file(s) inside the zip file that is an odt file. This RDF can also be linked to particular part(s) of the document text so that you and your computer both know where the RDF is most relevant. For example, if “Fred” in the document has his phone number, location, and cake preference in RDF, that can all be linked just to the four characters “Fred” so that it all makes sense. Strange as it might be, not everybody likes Baumkuchen, and it is fairly likely not to be relevant to a stock quote in another part of the document.

Leftovers

  • Microsoft to Windows XP diehards: Just under 3 more years’ support

    ‘Eventually, there comes a time to give us more money’

  • Health/Nutrition

  • Security

  • Defence/Police/Aggression

  • PR/AstroTurf/Lobbying

    • About ALEC Exposed

      In April 2011, some of the biggest corporations in the U.S. met behind closed doors in Cincinnati about their wish lists for changing state laws. This exchange was part of a series of corporate meetings nurtured and fueled by the Koch Industries family fortune and other corporate funding.

      At an extravagant hotel gilded just before the Great Depression, corporate executives from the tobacco giant R.J. Reynolds, State Farm Insurance, and other corporations were joined by their “task force” co-chairs — all Republican state legislators — to approve “model” legislation. They jointly head task forces of what is called the “American Legislative Exchange Council” (ALEC).

    • ALEC and “Tort Reform”

      The Regulatory Compliance Congruity with Liability Act is part of a set of “tort reform” bills from ALEC that limit corporate responsibility at the expense of average Americans. ALEC, the corporate-funded national organization that lets Big Business hand state legislators “model bills” to introduce in their state, has been pushing “tort reform” since about 1986 with the support of Big Tobacco, the insurance industry, and other major corporations.

  • Censorship

    • No Net Filtering in the Name of Consumer Protection!

      Having just pushed a draft executive order to establish total administrative censorship of the Internet, the French government is now attempting to extend Net filtering, this time through a bill on consumer protection. Tonight and tomorrow, the bill will go through the French Parliament’s Committee on Economic Affairs. The latter must absolutely reject this new attempt to control the Net. French citizens can help defend the Internet by calling the members of the Committee.

    • Open Internet: how to be open about how closed you are

      Today, the Broadband Stakeholder Group had the second meeting discussing what to do to protect the Open Internet: a process started after Ed vaizey’s meeting including Sir Tim Berners-Leee.

      Today was what should have been the easy part: talking about transparency of ISPs over network discrimination, or “traffic management”. You can see that all major ISPs have now published a standardized policy such as this from Sky or this (sigh) jpg from Virgin

    • Indian Govt Goes Open Source, America Should Learn From It

      Governments across the globe are going open source, other than those who are either close to Microsoft or who have been bought by them. Emerging economies such as India and Brazil know the value of open source It boosts local economy instead of filling the pockets of multi-national companies who have little or no interest in the development of the region.

      The government of India, despite desperate measures from companies like Microsoft has always been pro-free software or open source. The government has prepared a draft for the “Policy on Device Drivers for Procurement of Hardware for e-Governance”.

  • Intellectual Monopolies

    • Trademarks

    • Copyrights

      • IPRED: the European Commission Must Listen to the Citizens!

        Paris, July 11th, 2011 – The European Commission just published the synthesis of the responses to the consultation on the revision of the anti-sharing “IPRED” directive. Among these are a large number of responses from European citizens worried about the transformation of Internet technical intermediaries into a private copyright police. La Quadrature du Net congratulates all citizens for their watchfulness and their responses. The Commission can no longer ignore the citizens’ opposition to its project to reform the IPRED directive.

      • Lobbyists Ramp Up Pressure To Get PROTECT IP Passed

        The world’s largest lobbying organization, the US Chamber of Commerce (which thrives off the fact that many people mistake it for a US government body), along with the biggest lobbyists representing the recording and movie industry, have ramped up their efforts to get PROTECT IP approved as quickly as possible. The groups held a conference on Capitol Hill and then began visiting Senators to talk about how much they needed this protectionism, because they’re unable to adapt to a dynamic internet where they’re no longer the gatekeepers. Who’s doing this? Well, along with the Chamber of Commerce, we have NBC Universal, Sony Music and Pictures, Walt Disney Company, the MPAA, the RIAA, News Corp. (watch your voicemails, senators), the National Association of Theater Owners, Warner Music and the American Federation of Musicians.

Reader’s Picks

« Previous Page — « Previous entries « Previous Page · Next Page » Next entries » — Next Page »

RSS 64x64RSS Feed: subscribe to the RSS feed for regular updates

Home iconSite Wiki: You can improve this site by helping the extension of the site's content

Chat iconIRC Channels: Come and chat with us in real time

New to This Site? Here Are Some Introductory Resources

No

Mono

ODF

Samba logo






We support

End software patents

GPLv3

GNU project

BLAG

EFF bloggers

Comcast is Blocktastic? SavetheInternet.com



Recent Posts