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Links 9/9/2011: NASA and Linux, Samsung Not Buying MeeGo





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Contents





GNU/Linux



Free Software/Open Source



  • Web Browsers



  • Oracle/Java/LibreOffice

    • Oracle v. Google - Google's Expert Report and a Jury Issue
      In our article from September 2nd on the Oracle/Google copyright issues, we included a number of declarations, including that of Prof. Owen Astrachan of Duke University. There were two exhibits identified in the Astrachan declaration, but neither of the exhibits were available at that time. Now Exhibit 3, Astrachan's Rebuttal Expert Report 391 [PDF] is available in redacted form, and we have reproduced it below.


    • How Open is Oracle?
      Oracle's history with Sun's open source projects is one that did not start out well. The openSolaris project was killed off, Apache has left the executive committee of the Java Community Process and multiple projects have been forked including OpenOffice (with LibreOffice), Hudson (with Jenkins) and MySQL (with MariaDB). Oracle has also launched legal action against Google over Java in Android.




  • BSD

    • The New Installer Of FreeBSD 9.0
      FreeBSD 9.0 Beta 2 was officially released yesterday, about one month's late, but it comes with several new features. One of the new features to FreeBSD 9.0 is a new installer (pc-sysinstall) for this BSD operating system, which the developers have requested that it be put through its paces.




  • Openness/Sharing

    • UniPro: Open Source Bioinformatics Business with UGENE
      Unipro: Unipro is a small company with about 60-70 software engineers. The company expertise is focused on the following areas: compilers and low-level optimizations development, virtual machines development, quality testing, parallel and cloud-based computing.




  • Standards/Consortia

    • Google adds offline support to Docs
      Google Docs is a popular tool for collaboration and web-based document creation: boasting compatibility with common file types including Microsoft Office and the Open Document Format, a generous helping of free storage space, and easy to use web-based tools, it's proving a tempting move for those unwilling to shell out for the latest iteration of Microsoft's offering.






Leftovers



  • Cablegate





  • Finance

    • "Fraud As a Business Model"
      There were many factors that contributed to our recent financial bubble: deregulation, cheap money from the Fed, failure to enforce remaining regulations, crony capitalism, hubris, speculation, leverage, and fraud among other problems. While fraud wasn't the only issue, it was and is a significant contributor to the credit bubble. Restraining fraud is a necessary but not sufficient condition for a sound financial system. Congressional investigations in recent years have put ample evidence of fraud in the public domain.


    • Goldman Sachs: More Than A Travesty Of A Mockery Of A Sham
      Goldman Sachs isn’t the only bank to rip-off its clients and America. But because it is the best at what it does it is the most profitable bank in the world, for now.

      Regular, old everyday trading is the key to Goldman’s success.What does that mean? I’m not talking about Goldman’s “big short” and how it bet massively against the subprime mortgage market while simultaneously selling huge quantities of designed-to-fail mortgage securities to its own customers.




  • Privacy

    • No, technology is not going to destroy your privacy in the future


    • Hurt Locker File Sharing Suits Come North: Federal Court Orders ISPs to Disclose Subscriber Info
      File sharing lawsuits involving the movie the Hurt Locker have been big news in the United States for months as tens of thousands of lawsuits have been filed. It now appears that the lawsuits are coming to Canada as the Federal Court of Canada has paved the way for the identification of subscribers at Bell Canada, Cogeco, and Videotron who are alleged to have copied the movie. Late last month the court ordered the three ISPs to disclose the names and addresses of subscribers linked to IP addresses alleged to have copied the movie. The ISPs were given two weeks to respond and are entitled to be reimbursed for their expenses. In reaching its decision, the court cited the BMG Canada v. Doe case, the last major Canadian case involving peer-to-peer file sharing lawsuits. That case opened the door to further lawsuits, though it established some privacy safeguards. In this instance, the court cited PIPEDA as evidence that the personal information can be disclosed as well as federal court rules for the legitimacy of the claim and the necessity of acquiring the information for the lawsuit to proceed. There is no indication that the ISPs challenged the order or that there was an opportunity for a public interest intervention as was the case in the earlier CRIA lawsuits.




  • Intellectual Monopolies



    • Copyrights

      • Canada to U.S.: please blacklist us!
        Hyper-vigilant Internet Law Prof Michael Geist seems to be the first to have combed through the latest batch of WikiLeaks diplomatic cables, searching for any document containing the words “Canada” and “copyright.”


      • Long-awaited copyright bill returns, but top court to wade in too
        Heritage Minister James Moore says he's hoping for long-languishing amendments to the Copyright Act to pass by Christmas, but the Supreme Court of Canada could wind up forcing more tinkering with the law.

        Canada's top court said Thursday it will rule on five separate intellectual property cases together as a bundle, and what it decides could directly impact the Act or at least its interpretation.








Recent Techrights' Posts

SLAPP Censorship - Part 148 Out of 200: The Manosphere
Those people don't just threaten our national sovereignty, press, democracy etc. They also endanger women everywhere.
GNU/Linux Reaches 10% "Market Share" in statCounter
As of this morning
Voluntary' Layoffs and 'Proper' Layoffs at IBM This Year
When will IBM management confess that 15% of staff is already marked for potential removal?
The Register MS Has Just Published Slop Spam for NVIDIA and HP, It Says "AI" 43 Times
As usual, The Register MS ought to be ashamed of itself for participating in it
The Slop Debt (Trillions of Dollars, Money That Does Not Exist) is Causing the Collapse of GAFAM et al
This slop hype will end up like "metaverse", except "metaverse" never ended up justifying trillions of dollars in "investment"
Social Control Media is the Opposite of Information
That says a lot about social control media
 
'Cancel Culture' Isn't About Empathy, It's About Making Good People Homeless
Seeing what they did to RMS, remember that those "concern trolls" are about everything other than ethics and morals
Daniel Pocock in The Nerve
Lots of publicity owning to the enrollment
Why Support Daniel Pocock
Our readers who come from IBM and the EPO are certainly familiar with the tactics of censorship and what that sort of censorship leads to
Gemini Links 13/08/2026: Health, Partial Eclipse Sketches, and Guilelessness
Links for the day
15% of IBM Marked for Potential Termination, PIPs are the "New Layoffs" (or RAs) at IBM
IBM is a dying company, but it does not want the press to say this or for people to understand that
Links 13/08/2026: "The Rise of the Measles-Industrial Complex" and Spotify Curbs Slop
Links for the day
Daniel Pocock on Australia's 9News (Nine Entertainment)
This gives visibility to software and technology issues
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, August 12, 2026
IRC logs for Wednesday, August 12, 2026
Gemini Links 12/08/2026: Losing a Child, "The OpenWeb Needs Diversity", and Gmail Woes
Links for the day
Links 12/08/2026: Trouble in Proprietary Chaffbot Company 'Open' 'AI' and Slop "Investors Are Suddenly Quaking in Their Boots"
Links for the day
Daniel Pocock in National News in Australia the Day of the Election
"Posted 20m ago" (Thursday in Australia), it's timed nicely to help illuminate Pocock and give him last-minute exposure
Simpler Means More Reliable
The simple old way of local storage and local backups is still the best
Clownflare and statCounter See GNU/Linux at ~8% in Norway
Norway has long championed GNU/Linux compared to the rest of Europe
Clacton manifesto: Reform UK hacking, leaks, raw sewage & 8GB Swiss Archive
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
statCounter Today: ChromeOS + GNU/Linux Measured at 10.98% Globally (Desktops and Laptops)
Clownflare does not quite refute this
The Register MS Has Just Published Fake Article About Replacing Linux With Proprietary Google System, "Sponsored by ASUS."
All of those things are proprietary GAFAMware
Links 12/08/2026: "X’s Advertising Business Continues to Tank", "Stop Feeding the Billionaires"
Links for the day
Lack of Empathy Rampant in the Sector
Sociopaths are sociopaths. They cannot help themselves
Before the "Big Tech" (That Almost Everybody is Forced to Use) Was Controlled by Men Who Hate Women
Such rejection and even hatred of women qualifies/enshrines oneself as an "incel"- a dangerous and violent online cult
In Defence of Hoarding CDs, More So When Digital Restrictions (DRM) Come to More 'Content' and Even Offline/Physical Media Won't Work When Some Remote Server Says "No" (or Goes Offline)
made to serve and entertain owners, not to allow companies like Sony and Microsoft subjugate owners
Clownflare: In Finland, Birthplace of Linux Kernel, GNU/Linux Now Bigger Than Apple's MacOS
It's not just in Finland where we see such trends
More Mass Layoffs Due to Monumental Debt Excused as "Investment" (in Slop)
They're maxing up the private debt and their country is already insolvent
METRO Interviews Daniel Pocock a Day Before Election
The article is behind a wall that blocks people who block ads
Enshittification More Than a Century Ago
Is enshittification more than a century old?
GNU in 1991 (35 Years Ago): Compiler and Lots More Ready, Linux Now Becoming 'Vibe Heap' (Slop Replaces Real Code)
Without curbs in place, many Linux developers will flee
Company-Wide 'Reorg' ('Redundancies') at IBM, Mark October 1st 2026 in the Calendar
Is Oct 1 the new Apr 1?
SLAPP Censorship - Part 147 Out of 200: The SLAPP Series is 'Slow' Because Timing Matters
It is important to stress that after this series is finished there will be many more series, with some of them showing raw evidence of what we've been illuminating and telling
Even ZDNet Accepts That "Market Share" of GNU/Linux May Have Doubled on Desktops and Laptops
GNU/Linux is definitely growing, and quite quickly in fact
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, August 11, 2026
IRC logs for Tuesday, August 11, 2026
Microsoft Layoffs and Shutdowns Continue This August, Morale Low, Employees Set Up Giant Inflatable Rat to Protest Against CEO
nothing demonstrates their anger better than what they did to the CEO
Gemini Links 12/08/2026: Sophomore Slump, Mandatory Phone Addiction, and Vintage Web Game Gallery
Links for the day
Summer Layoffs and 'Redundancies' (Cost-Cutting) at Microsoft and IBM
IBM is merely buying its revenue - an unsustainable strategy that aims to hide the company's rapid decline
Links 11/08/2026: Tensions South of China and Stingy "YouTube Doubles the Eligibility Requirements" (to Get Paid)
Links for the day
The Independent (UK) Today: "Independent candidate Daniel Pocock is concerned about media issues."
Let's see what results say around Friday
Gemini Links 11/08/2026: Stargate, Stargazer, Air-gapped Environments, and SystemVerilog Simulator
Links for the day
The Slop ('Linux') Foundation Celebrates 35 'Linux' Years a Week After GNU/Linux Turns 43
they'll keep on trying to change history
Keumars Afifi-Sabet Produces Useful, Informative Coverage Regarding Privacy
And it's good for Richard Stallman
Confirmed: Microsoft Layoffs in August 2026, Entire Operations Shut Down Too
Microsoft is just bleeding
Paying With Cash in 2026
Cash isn't going away. Not any time soon.
Blocking Tor Is Not a Solution, It's Paranoia
Tor is not a crime
Oligarchs and Their Footsoldiers Are Most Enthusiastically Loud About the Things They're Attacking
Like "Microsoft loves Linux"
FOSSY (SFC) Platforming GAFAM, Sells Endorsement
Houston, we have a problem here
Not Allowing Misogyny and Misogynists to Run the World
We stand with (and for) equality, justice, and freedom
"SPONSORED EXPLAINER" at The Register MS is Just More SPAM "Sponsored by HPE."
This is a great example of crap 'journalism'
IBM Won't Hire (or Hardly Hire) This Year
IBM is bluffing with buzzwords while shrinking out of existence and reducing salaries
SLAPP Censorship - Part 146 Out of 200: An Industry of Plagiarism, 'Normalised'
they pursue personal enrichment by stealing from Free software developers
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, August 10, 2026
IRC logs for Monday, August 10, 2026
5.1k Capsules Known to Lupa, Gemini Protocol Crawler
If no limits (e.g. 10k max per capsule) were imposed on crawling, there would likely be millions of pages in the database
Gemini Links 11/08/2026: Waking Up Earlier, Whining About LLMs as Destructive Plagiarism
Links for the day
Links 11/08/2026: "The Enemy Is the Platform" and 'Vibe' 'Coding' Shown to be Little But Plagiarism
Links for the day