Links 19/05/2008: Important Windows Refund Precedence, Unbundling Near?
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2008-05-19 14:23:27 UTC
- Modified: 2008-05-19 14:23:27 UTC
GNU/Linux
- French court orders Windows refund [Not the first time]
In France, it is illegal to bundle software and to refuse to reimburse the customer for unwanted licences, under Article L.122-1 of the French Consumer Code. The Tribunal de Grande Instance ruled that offering an expensive refund option was tantamount to offering no refund option at all, hence finding for the consumer and requiring that Asus stump up.
- Uxi, a Cuban magazine dedicated to Free Software and Open Codes by the University of Information Sciences
- University of Havana Finally Switches to Free Software
- Avnet Electronics Marketing launches complete MicroBlaze Processor Linux Design Solution
- LM_Sensors 3.0.2 Released
- I swear, this is not another Unixfication post
Is Sun talking with Linus about moving ZFS to GPLv2, with the objective of fast tracking ZFS into a native Linux kernel implementation of the file system driver? Or is Linus considering moving the kernel to GPLv3, with Sun doing the same for OpenSolaris? Is Linux and Solaris DNA going to swap much quicker than previously thought?
- AMD FireGL V8600 On Linux
If we would have looked at the FireGL performance under Windows and Linux a year ago, the results would have been vastly different -- Linux would have lagged far behind the Windows driver. With the new OpenGL driver, however, these results are rather pleasing. In 3DS Max and UGS NX tests from SPECViewPerf, the Windows driver had a small performance lead over the Linux driver. However, in the CATIA, Maya, and Pro/Engineer tests, the Linux driver wound up on top.
- Mandriva 2008.1 KDE hits a sweet spot
Ubuntu
- Hate Ubuntu? It's normal!
The fact that many people dislike the top distribution is not really a problem. The problem is that many of these folks are extremely vocal on the Internet to express their opinions. While no intelligent reader will ever take them seriously, they do give the Linux community a bad name and discourage potential Linux users from joining us.
- [Ubuntu] Weekly Newsletter #91
F/OSS
User Security vs. Vendor 'Security'
- Microsoft confirms Windows adheres to broadcast flag
News that the world's largest software maker has voluntarily agreed to help broadcasters control the recording of their shows is bound to outrage enthusiasts of digital video recorders, as it represents the biggest threat to the practice known as time shifting since the FCC's attempt to require flag adherence.
- Microsoft Stockholder? Take Stock in This...
While we are passing along the subject of anti-virus and spyware, let me ask you this. While MS does offer a somewhat crippled product to protect Windows, they push me toward a subscription purchase to get the full monty. Why am I being cornered into purchasing a "fix" for a problem Microsoft created? Shouldn't the full application be offered as part of Windows? Let me ask you this as well. Why should I purchase and use a product that necessitates I purchase and use another product in order for the first product to work the way it is supposed to?
- Hackers compromise Red Cross earthquake relief site
- Spain arrests 'prolific' hackers
Law and Crime
Leftovers
Recent Techrights' Posts
- Growing Recognition Out There That Courts Must Abandon Microsoft or Have No Perception of Authority, Autonomy, Independence, Fairness, and More
- Imagine making a complaint about Microsoft to an agency that uses Microsoft
- The Next Talk of Richard Stallman (Father of GNU/Linux and the GPL) Advertised in the Media 3 Days in Advance
- He spoke in Italy earlier this year and also did some interviews
- Free Software as a Culture of Resistance
- Free software as a movement accomplished a lot in 40+ years
- The Microsofter Who Kept Sending Threatening Post and E-mail to My Wife Has Been Joking He'd Work on Code for "Sexual Favours"
- For one thing, for software professionals (like for landlords), this is outright illegal and you'd get arrested for it, and moreover it's no joking matter because there are many real victims of such sexual exploitation
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- If Your Bicycle Got Stolen, Then Open a Facebook Account and Send the US Lots of Personal Data to Get the Bicycle Back (or Try to)
- "No Help Unless You Open an Account at Facebook"
- Sometimes Legal Action is Imperative (Even if Recovering the Cost of the Litigation Itself is Infeasible)
- Sirius got sued, but the company has no money (large piles of debt)
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Friday, May 23, 2025
- IRC logs for Friday, May 23, 2025
- Simpler is Better
- Gemini Protocol turns 6 in exactly 4 weeks
- Slopwatch: Brian Fagioli, Brittany Day, and Other Plagiarists Who Rip Off Real Writers and Target Themes Around "Linux"
- Fagioli also prompted chatbots for some words diarrhoea
- Links 23/05/2025: Microsoft Openwashing at ZDNet, Signal Does It Wrong (DRM, Back Doors Still Intact)
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 23/05/2025: Clutter in Modern Interfaces and Dealing With DRM-Free Music
- Links for the day
- Links 23/05/2025: Tax Audits of Hong Kong's Independent as ‘Intimidation Tactics,’ Why "Regulating X Isn’t Censorship"
- Links for the day
- TecAdmin Took a Break From Linux to Push SPAM
- This happened hours ago, and it seems to have been posted directly by the site's "Admin" (Rahul)
- We Seem to Have Abandoned Science and Replaced Sound Policy With Private Patent Shareholders and College Dropouts Like Bill Epsteingate
- Because of what they did there are now many people out there who reject all vaccines
- Links 23/05/2025: Violent Attacks on the Press, VMware Price Hikes, Vista 11 Considered Unsuitable for Any Confidentiality
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 23/05/2025: Balkan Tourism, UK Polls, Reticulum and Meshtastic
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Thursday, May 22, 2025
- IRC logs for Thursday, May 22, 2025
- Back to Basics, Folks, "AI" (Plagiarism) is Symptom of a Dying Industry Looking for Whatever Prey It Can Devour
- lousy/sloppy imitations
- Liam Proven's Thoughts on "AI" Being a Scam No Different From Religions, Alternative Medicine, and More
- "Is there anywhere outside of retrocomputing that doesn't have AI in it?"
- Many IBM Layoffs, Centred Around Expert Labs US in Atlanta (Offer of "Relocation" Where No Such Option Exists)
- So Techrights was assessing comments/gossip online and it was right about the Thursday cull
- Slopwatch: Slopfarms That 'Hallucinate' (Yield Falsehoods) Cited as Credible Sources and Microsoft Media Gaslighting Everybody
- Part of the problem is, Google News
- More Media Coverage and Photos From Richard Stallman's Presentation in Liberec (Czech Republic)
- Here are some photos
- The Microsofter Who Kept Sending Threatening Post and E-mail to My Wife Has Been Spooking Women for at Least Two Decades
- censorship was the ultimate goal
- Links 22/05/2025: Openwashing, Dumping Microsoft's Entrapment (Microsoft GitHub), and New Climate Disasters
- Links for the day
- Richard Stallman's Next Public Talk is in Milan, Italy Next Week
- Happy hacking
- Gemini Links 22/05/2025: Crimson Pro Font and CGI in Bash
- Links for the day
- IBM Goes to India, Fires People in the United States (Under the Guise of "Relocation" or Similar), Accusation of Bribery in the Company
- LLM slop sites (some are pure slopfarms) from India say the IBM layoffs result in hiring "AI" (the "I" stands for India)
- Why We'll Continue Covering EPO Abuses (Other Patent Offices as Well, as the Need Arises) for Many Years to Come
- We're basically becoming Russia
- Links 22/05/2025: TikTok Laying Off Again, Microsoft-Backed Builder.ai Set for Bankruptcy, Scam Altman Uses 'Funny Money' to 'Buy' (Hire) Company
- Links for the day
- These Feet Are Made for Walking
- Humans are apparently so very clever that they decided to form a "progressive" consensus: feet no more
- The Evolution of Microsoft's War on GNU/Linux
- 13 sins
- OFTC Has Just Culled About a Third of Its Online Users
- It's not the first time they purge or force offline many people/bots
- My New Desk Arrangement (and More Breaks From the Keyboard)
- all in all yesterday I devoted 4-5 hours to redoing and shuffling stuff
- Central Staff Committee of the EPO Opposes Abuses Against EPO Staff, Challenging SuccessFactors Stunts
- Europe became institutionally colonised
- Gemini Links 22/05/2025: "Conspirituality" and Visiting One's Old University
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, May 21, 2025
- IRC logs for Wednesday, May 21, 2025
Comments
fruit of the loon
2008-05-19 23:02:34
Roy Schestowitz
2008-05-19 23:09:41
So Fia lore Inn
2008-05-19 23:19:25
It should be argued, at least for PC gaming, they have a monopoly on the desktop with gaming, as most people need to use DirectX properly in order for the games to work. Sure Wine, Cedega, and other projects are making some progress and some games may work, and believe me I try every few weeks to see how it is coming along, but again Microsoft still continues its dirty deeds. They lie about Linux and Windows interoperability, "They said it couldn't be done!" Novell agreement bullshit just like the Corel agreement in 2000 or 2001, where Corel Linux was promptly spun off and money/support from Corel to Wine apparantly dried up. Time and time again they come in and either buy out or pollute the environment with thier proprietary crap, and we read another dismal Microsoft article after article every few weeks or more.
If Microsoft is so devoted to bringing Linux and Windows together, I don't see anything on their vast labrynth of shit at Microsoft.com indicating this. Where is the repository of interoperability Linux and Windows software on Microsoft.com? Oh, but you can still get their bullshit "Facts" on Windows and Linux, and that's about it. At least Google has a repository you can add to your Linux install for software from them. In my opinion, don't think Moonlight ("Ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight? I ask that of all my friends") will last much longer or work well for Linux users should Silverblight (Silverlight) suddenly become popular through payoffs and slight of hand corporate tricks.
If you ever want to have Microsoft come clean, no, I don't believe it would ever happen unless the DOJ finally came down hard and raided their offices, took their hardware and software and forced them to release the code and all of the various undiscovered backdoors waiting to be found, it just won't happen. IMO, Microsoft has demonstrated time and time again it will fight tooth and nail against any punishment against them.
We will all be cleansed if true justice were ever to prevail, but in the "United States of Advertising", most of the people in power are paid off, with big pharma and other corporate overlords always padding the handshakes and votes. It is a lost cause, you know it, I know it, but you'll still piss away your vote to one of the two parties who bend over for big pharma to slide in the money and the overpriced medications pop out the other end as we all struggle under the yoke of this dismal fucking world.
Come clean? Microsoft? The whole system is mired in filth.
Good luck.
We now return you to your normal life, ostrich head in the sand, millions of tokers/beer drinkers who raise their fist while watching Fight Club and return to their soap opera pitiful lives of slavery as the credits roll.
Vote for Wesley Snipes for President in 2008, neither one of the big parties will get anything done, they are a part of the problem.