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10.15.11

Links 15/10/2011: Fifteen Year Anniversary for KDE, Apache Reassures Commitment to OpenOffice.org

Posted in News Roundup at 11:40 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

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Contents

GNU/Linux

Free Software/Open Source

  • Events

  • SaaS

  • Oracle/Java/LibreOffice

    • Oracle v. Google – Google Gets Significant Win on Mitchell Report
    • Oracle v. Google – You Can’t Make This Stuff Up (or maybe you can)

      If it weren’t for the potentially serious economic and technological ramifications of this case, some of the filings would be worth their weight in gold with respect to their entertainment value. Such is the case when reading Google’s response (519 [PDF; text below]) to Oracle’s precis letter seeking leave to file a Daubert motion regarding the Google damage expert reports of Drs. Leonard and Cox (See document 511). As I said yesterday, we only read Oracle’s side of the story, and I expected Google’s to be quite different. It is.

      Oracle complained that Drs. Cox and Leonard have no technical background and, instead, relied upon Google employees for technical interpretations. As Google points out, this is the same thing Oracle has done. Pot, meet kettle.1 Google further points out that it intends to make all of those Google employees upon which Drs. Leonard and Cox relied available for questioning at trial before putting either of the doctors on the stand. So Oracle will have ample opportunity to question the merits of the technical observations.

    • Oracle v. Google – Google Continuing To Press Hard On Its Positions

      Google is continuing to press Oracle with further motion filings. This time Google attacks Oracle’s claim for past patent damages as outside the scope of the law. (521 [PDF; text below]) Oracle has asserted a claim for patent damages from the year 2007. Oracle, however, did not give notice of infringement to Google until much later, perhaps as late as July 2010. If Google is successful in obtaining leave to file its motion and is successful on the motion, it could preclude virtually all damage claims for past patent infringement. Damages would then only be due from the date of notice going forward, if at all.

    • LibreOffice Conference Announcements
    • The Apache Software Foundation Statement on Apache OpenOffice.org

      On 1 June 2011, Oracle Corporation submitted the OpenOffice.org code base to The Apache Software Foundation. That submission was accepted, and the project is now being developed as a podling in the Apache Incubator under the ASF’s meritocratic process informally dubbed “The Apache Way”.

      OpenOffice.org is now officially part of the Apache family.

      The project is known as Apache OpenOffice.org (incubating).

      Over its 12-year history, the ASF has welcomed contributions from individuals and organizations alike, but, as a policy, does not solicit code donations. The OpenOffice.org code base was not pursued by the ASF prior to its acceptance into the Apache Incubator.

    • Apache Asserts OpenOffice Stewardship

      Despite the growing momentum of the LibreOffice fork of OpenOffice, the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) is urging the community of volunteer developers to rally around the OpenOffice code base as the canonical version of the open source software suite.

    • The Document Foundation Thinking Beyond Desktop

      During the LibreOffice Conference in Paris yesterday, The Document Foundation made several interesting announcements. Among them, a new online version of LibreOffice and a port for smartphones are planned for next year or 2013.

      LibreOffice Online appears to be an online application of LibreOffice in the ilk of Microsoft 365 or Google Docs. The new browser-based app, developed by openSUSE’s Michael Meeks, “is based on GTK+ framework and HTML5′s canvas.” There isn’t a lot more detail available right now, but a demo video is available here (requires WebM support).

    • Apache vows to develop, protect OpenOffice

      Citing its success with other donated projects, the Apache Software Foundation vowed to protect OpenOffice.org and prevent fragmentation.

      In a lengthy statement issued to naysayers and concerned parties today, the ASF rejected claims that OpenOffice would be neglected and pointed to its success with other adopted open source projects such as SpamAssassin as proof that the “Apache Way” will grow and develop OpenOffice.

      The ASF also noted that the project would be known under the name Apache OpenOffice.org and is officially in incubation status.

    • LibreOffice gaining momentum, heading to Android, iOS, and the Web

  • CMS

  • Business

  • FSF/FSFE/GNU/SFLC

  • Project Releases

  • Public Services/Government

Leftovers

  • X11
  • Time zone database back online

    The time zone reference database used by all versions of Unix and Linux is back online in an updated version, reports Java developer Stephen Colebourne in his blog. Last week, the tz database was taken offline because of a copyright problem. Now, the data is available for downloadDirect download from a new server. Robert Elz will be maintaining the time zone information. The tz database will eventually be posted at the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), where the mailing list for the presentation and discussion of relevant information is already kept.

  • The computer is dead, long live the computer

    After six years of loyal service, I have retired my oldest desktop. Save for an occasional vacation and an unlucky power outage once a year or so, the machine worked 24/7, without any big problems or hiccups. But six years of age for a computer is like three million for a person, so all good things must end and better things come in their stead.

  • Finance

    • Delaware judge dismisses Goldman Sachs pay claims

      The New York investment bank Goldman Sachs is known for, among other things, paying its executives pretty well. CEO Lloyd Blankfein, for example, was awarded a $67.9 million bonus in 2007, the same year the firm set a Wall Street pay record.

    • Goldman Sachs Investor Lawsuit Over Pay Plan Dismissed

      Goldman Sachs Group Inc. persuaded a judge to throw out shareholders’ claims that the investment bank’s compensation system improperly rewarded employees for taking risks that hurt the firm’s stock price.

      Delaware Chancery Court Judge Sam Glasscock concluded yesterday that Goldman Sachs’s board acted properly in setting up a pay plan for the fifth-biggest U.S. bank. The judge dismissed a consolidated investor lawsuit claiming the plan wrongly awarded billions of dollars in bonuses to executives and employees, including Chairman Lloyd Blankfein, even as the firm’s market value declined by $50 billion since 1999.

  • ACTA

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