Bonum Certa Men Certa

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





GNOME bluefish

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





Recent Techrights' Posts

The Right to Punch People (Apparently)
At Brett Wilson, Brett's job title is "Head of Crime" and Wilson normalises calls for violence
Brett Wilson LLP Seem to Have Had Only One Litigation Client in 2025, He Was Previously Charged, Just Like the Serial Strangler From Microsoft (Whom They Now Represent)
Karma is superstition, regulators are not
Project 2030 to Cover How "Project 2025"-Styled Anti-Media Zealots From America Targeted Techrights and Tux Machines
The common denominator is also their attacks on women
Brett Wilson LLP Failed to Meet Deadlines Set by Judge 7 Months Earlier, Tried to Ruin Our Holiday, Then Had the Audacity to Ask Us for Over 3,000 Pounds for Its Own Lateness
As a matter of principle we will never respond to assassin while we are on holiday
Americans Attacking British Sites Only Months After They Leave America
We find it kind of funny if not ironic that this site, originally an American site, got legal harassment only from Americans and only months after it had moved to the UK
Despite Losing Over a Quarter Million Dollars a Year Software in the Public Interest (SPI) Gives Helping Hand to Libreboot
SPI's financial state depends a lot on its public image or its reputation
If You Want to Know the Future, Listen to the Free Software Foundation (FSF) and Andy Farnell
We're sure the FSF will have plenty of its own output
 
Links 19/09/2025: Media Freedom Ceases to Exist in US, "Consider Dropping Twitter/X"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 19/09/2025: Thinking and Insect Bites
Links for the day
Microsoft E.E.E.: Git Will Now (or Very Soon) Fully Depend on Rust, Which is Controlled by Microsoft
Microsoft now makes Git dependent on Rust, or making Git dependent on GitHub, which is proprietary
Slop or Fake Articles Have Turned Linux Journal From a Pioneering/Trailblazing "Linux" Magazine Into a Nuisance
some sites with former reputation - good reputation - turn into cesspools
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, September 18, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, September 18, 2025
On Claims That After Bluewashing Red Hat Will Increasingly Become an Indian Company
Discussed this week (long and detailed)
Slopwatch: Google Helps Plagiarism and Sends Traffic to Ripoff Artists
That Google as a company helps spamfarms is noteworthy
Links 18/09/2025: A Taliban Ban on Internet Access and Troubled US Job Market
Links for the day
Gemini Links 18/09/2025: Computer Literacy and Accessing Alhena's Database
Links for the day
Links 18/09/2025: US War on Media (Truth Banned, Cancel Culture by the Hard Right), NYT Chief Executive Warns Cheeto is Deploying ‘Anti-press Playbook'
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, September 17, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, September 17, 2025
Slopwatch: Fake Articles, Fake Text, Fake Images, Negative Slant on "Linux"
Google News has lost its value; the signal-to-noise ratio has fallen off a cliff
Gemini Links 17/09/2025: Relax-and-Recover on Proxmox and New Smolweb File Transfer Service
Links for the day
Fact: EFF Got Corrupted by Corporate Money. Microsoft Lunduke (Political Noise): The Issue With EFF is, It Kills Babies.
Microsoft Lunduke - as usual - finds a way to make it about abortions
Pacing Publication Up a Bit
The news cycles have gotten rather light and slow
Links 17/09/2025: Power Outages, Digital Controls, and Attacks on the Mainstream Media (by Insecure and Corrupt Dictators)
Links for the day
Gemini Links 17/09/2025: Flashing LineageOS and ROOPHLOCH
Links for the day
Links 17/09/2025: Long COVID Study, "Exposing Pegasus", and Chatbots Exposing Sensitive Data
Links for the day
Links 17/09/2025: Secret Settlement for Internet Archive and Google’s LLM Slop Summaries Attracting Lawsuits
Links for the day
The True Cost of 'Generative Models'
Funded and promoted by the companies that profit from the waste
'Big Slop' Attacks Contemporary Information/Knowledge and Creative Works, 'Big Copyright' (Cartel) Attacks the Old
Someone at IA will hopefully "blow the whistle" on what they actually agreed
Why We Find It Difficult to Trust Rust
A comparison between C/C++ and Rust
Slop Nihilism is Funded by Big Oil
Eventually human civilisation will destroy itself
Watching the OSI: Our Series Will Carry on Irrespective of the Chief's 'Resignation'
the OSI isn't even the real guardian of the term "Open Source"
Professor Eben Moglen Recovering From Open Heart Surgery
From his public pages (this is not secret)
Just What LibreOffice Needs? Another Language? (Rust)
what's all this concern about memory safety?
Many Microsoft Managers Are Leaving
"Hey hi" chaff or chaff about "hey hi" cannot eternally distract from the difficulties inside the company
There Are Red Hat (IBM) Layoffs, But Google News is Infested With Slopfarms
It contributes a lot to misinformation and it encourages plagiarism
Tomorrow, Microsoft's Tim Anderson's 'The Register MS' Offshoot Will Have Been Inactive for 2 Months (There's Also a Slop Problem)
We've already caught The Register MS using LLM slop for articles
Microsoft's Chief Legal Officer Leaves Microsoft After Nearly 30 Years
And not retiring
Even Windows Users Are Having Problems With "Secure Boot"
When it comes to security - Microsoft strives for the very opposite
Another Competition Crime of Microsoft, Long Facilitated and Advocated by a Bad Actor, Who is Funded by a Third Party to Commit Extortion Against People Who Have Correctly and Repeatedly Warned About It for Over 13 Year
We must always go back to the core issues
3 More Reasons to Replace Mozilla Firefox With LibreWolf
Thankfully there are de-enshittified versions of Firefox
USA Not a Place for Free Speech
In America, as in the US, the attacks seem more enhanced or advanced these days
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, September 16, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, September 16, 2025
Links 17/09/2025: Google Layoffs in "Hey Hi" (AI), Perplexity Hit With More "Hey Hi" (Plagiarism) Lawsuits
Links for the day
Gemini Links 17/09/2025: Reclaiming Things in a Digital Age and Moon Phases in CGI
Links for the day