11.12.09
Posted in Europe, Free/Libre Software, GNU/Linux, Java, Microsoft, Novell, Oracle, SLES/SLED, SUN at 6:21 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Microsoft’s business partner and ally SAP lobbies against Oracle and then issues demands for Java, pretending to be a friend of the very same thing it is attacking
Microsoft and SAP have reasons to celebrate this week because their lobbying against Oracle and Sun [1, 2] has apparently paid off. Java would most likely suffer as a result and Microsoft’s partner in lobbying against Free software, against open standards, and for software patents [1, 2] is now hypocritically pressuring for Java to be liberated. As a reminder, SAP and Microsoft almost merged and the only GNU/Linux SAP seems to be touching these days is tainted by Microsoft tax, thanks to Novell.
Glyn Moody has written this response to SAP’s shameless request, which shows quite a nerve given that it’s coming from one of the most vehemently anti-Free software companies out there (the comments from Shai Agassi, for example, are almost impossible to forget).
The real reason SAP’s call is hypocritical is this document [.pdf], essentially a love-letter to software patents, submitted as an amicus curiae brief to the European Patent Office. Software patents are simply incompatible with free software, because they are government-granted monopolies designed to *stop* people sharing stuff. They also prevent hackers from writing new code because they represent an ever-present digital sword of Damocles hanging over them.
SAP simply cannot claim to be a true friend of openness while it also supports software patents in any jurisdiction, in any form – the same applies to other companies, too, I should note. They can share as much code as they like, but until they repudiate software patents – for example, by placing their patent portfolios in the public domain – that’s little more than window-dressing.
Moody has seen the leaked documents which reveal SAP lobbying for software patents, against standards, and against Free software in procurement. SAP is also working with Novell so that it can please Microsoft and pay ‘patent tax’ on GNU/Linux (unprecedented in many cases). Here is another analysis of what truly goes on in SAP’s mind.
SAP has been trying to get the influential SAP Mentor group onside with open source. That’s probably one of the easiest tasks it has. Geeks love open source and care little for commercial issues. And the Mentors are extremely good geek advocates for what SAP does. Marketing wise it’s an internal SAP community slam dunk for SAP. But…SAP has also made clear that IT doesn’t believe open source means ‘free.’ Mentors may not be concerned about that from a development viewpoint but I’m pretty darned sure they’d get antsy if the license bills came at deployment time.
As an aside, I have practical experience of running the SAP IP gauntlet. If SAP is truly committed to open source then this will relieve a lot of the pressure on developer groups. However, that’s not a certainty.
For the betterment of Free software, companies like SAP should really embrace Free software or simply cease to exist. Another proprietary software company that causes great trouble (although it opposes software patents) is Adobe, which has just laid off 10% of its staff.
The software firm, best known for Photoshop, Flash and Acrobat, said the cuts were necessary to cut costs.
We wrote about the problem with Adobe just a few weeks ago. █
Permalink
Send this to a friend
Posted in Deception, Free/Libre Software, GNU/Linux, GPL, Law, Microsoft at 5:42 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Is Orchard just Ox **ite?
Summary: Orchard/Oxite rejected by developers; Microsoft violations of copyright law reported more widely
EARLIER THIS week we shared some notes about Microsoft's attempt to replace LAMP-based content management systems with something that uses the entire Microsoft stack, which is proprietary, expensive, virus-prone, inferior when it comes to performance, and basically just a trap for Microsoft dependency. We wrote about Orchard and Oxite (which are nothing new) only because Mary Jo Foley keeps mentioning them. At least someone set the record straight:
Update: As one reader (thanks, @karlseguin) noted, Oxite was anything but a big hit with developers, including many of those in Microsoft’s own .Net community. There have been many complaints about Oxite, from the development process, to the scope of the project, to the quality of the code and the way Microsoft explained the concept/product. Perhaps that’s one reason why Microsoft is starting over with a new codename and claiming this is not a Microsoft project…
Oxite was apparently a failure (it has hardly been mentioned for the past year), so Microsoft does the switcheroo, probably avoiding jokes about it being an “Ox **ite”, just like a lot of Microsoft software in general. It just doesn’t smell right.
“…Microsoft is a repeat offender when it comes to GPL violations.”To Microsoft, this is yet another miserable attempt to sell the illusion that the company does “open source” (no matter the prerequisites, all of which are proprietary).
Microsoft’s record when it comes to “open source” is rather abysmal and to make matters worse, Microsoft is a repeat offender when it comes to GPL violations. We have mentioned this 3 times so far this week [1, 2, 3] and the news eventually made it into some notable Web sites. To give just a sample:
• Did Microsoft violate the GPL?
What’s quite sad about this is that the tool in question wasn’t being sold for money, and was just there to help people upgrade to a new Microsoft operating system. Were Microsoft to release the source code of the tool under the GPL, it wouldn’t lose any money, since it’s not asking for any. It might even gain some new Windows 7 users, as people hack the code to make it support a wider range of hardware. Dogma is preventing everyone from gaining in this situation.
• Microsoft yanks Windows 7 tool over open-source code swipe
Microsoft has yanked a tool it touted as a way for netbook owners to install Windows 7 without a DVD drive after a prominent blogger accused the company of using open-source code without acknowledging where it originated.
• Microsoft yanks Windows 7 tool over open-source code swipe
• Microsoft Yanks Windows 7 Download Tool
• Microsoft pulls download tool over GPL violation accusation
• Microsoft pulls Windows 7 tool after GPL violation claims
• Free Windows 7 RTM USB/DVD Download Tool Pulled Down
Microsoft seems to be causing trouble when it tries to handle “open source”; maybe time for another strategy? █
Permalink
Send this to a friend
Posted in Microsoft, Servers, Vista, Vista 7, Windows at 5:06 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Oslo gets folded, Vista 7 passed over by enterprises, Microsoft compared to General Motors, and Windows Home Server fails again
Microsoft’s league of dead divisions and products keeps growing and Mary Jo Foley reveals another item which is on the verge of death. When Microsoft folds a product into another or sometimes reassigns it to another division (e.g. WinFS) it means that something went wrong and Microsoft tries to salvage something out of the existing code. We have examples of this in the list of dead products. Oslo seems to be heading in the same direction:
Tomas Restrepo: Cynical thought of the day: Oslo == Longhorn. OK, could’ve been worse (i.e. Cairo).
James Hart: Any expectations anybody had for what Oslo might turn out to be came from their own imagination. Disappointment was inevitable.
Ryan Rinaldi: The Oslo story just got more confusing.
Steve Bohlen: good lord; Oslo follows in the footsteps of WinFS; big (if nebulous) idea degenerates into dull implementation w dubious value
To make matters worse, Vista 7 does not turn out to be much of a cash cow because businesses, as expected, are not adopting the operating system.
Peter Whatnell, CIO for Sunoco Inc., said the petroleum retailer won’t move to Windows 7 for at least two years.
It’s like Vista all over again. As a reminder, just over one year ago large companies like General Motors (GM) said that they would not adopt Vista.
General Motors (GM) may take a detour around Vista, the latest computer operating system from Microsoft (MSFT).
Based on this new CNN writeup, Microsoft may become the General Motors of software (and it is not a good thing).
The more I learn about the current situation in software, the more Microsoft’s position seems to mirror General Motors’ position in the auto industry a few decades ago. Like Microsoft (MSFT) today, GM was an icon in its industry, held a quasi-monopoly, produced eye-popping profits and was often distracted by antitrust lawsuits. When a company experiences this kind of environment over a couple of decades, it eventually loses its competitiveness.
Will Microsoft be virtually nationalised in the face of hardships?
This question was actually raised before, with such comparisons between General Motors and Microsoft being made at the beginning of the year.
How about this classic from 2007?
GM vs Microsoft
[...]
For all of us who feel only the deepest love and affection for the way computers have enhanced our lives, read on. At a recent computer expo (COMDEX), Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated, “If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25.00 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon.”
In response to Bill’s comments, General Motors issued a press release stating: “If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics…
Also in yesterday’s news we find the latest major failure of Windows Home Server. There were many other such failures.
Many Windows Home Server customers have been unable to access Microsoft’s Windows Live Custom Domains service since the weekend.
Tough times for Microsoft. █
Permalink
Send this to a friend
Posted in Free/Libre Software, GNU/Linux, Google, Microsoft, Mono, Novell at 1:33 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: An important reminder that Microsoft’s screwing with the competition — not those reacting to it — is the problem; Microsoft leads to further FOSS drain at Yahoo!
WE are always amused to find people who accuse us of harming FOSS. To them, such an accusation is typically a defence mechanism, especially when they themselves are part of the problem (promoters of Mono everywhere, to give just one example). One of our readers has just let us know that he too was dragged into the accusations and he responded with this lengthy post.
A slightly different approach today and I hope you can relate to some of the issues I cover here. I am looking at a claim thats usually made against many outspoken people in the FOSS, but often you see it when there is no counter in an debate/argument. When I first started writing this article little did I know I would get my own example of “killing the FOSS” directed at me and it was a sweet surprise in the middle of a rather vulgar tirade by the person concerned (more on that later) Without further ado lets look at some of the people who have been accused of “Killing the foss!!!!!!!”
What is actually “killing the FOSS” — to borrow the words as he puts them — are not Free software advocates; it is not those who denounce Microsoft, either. The problem is Microsoft and those who denounce Microsoft do so in a reactionary fashion, as a defence against blatant attacks on FOSS [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6].
To give just one new example where Microsoft is hurting FOSS, we previously showed that FOSS people were leaving Yahoo!, making the damage rather beneficial to Microsoft. It is by all means Microsoft's fault and now we find that the founder of PHP, who has worked at Yahoo! for quite some time, is finally leaving because of Microsoft.
When he first announced his departure, Cutting said it had nothing to do with the Microhoo! pact. “This has been in the works for awhile and is unrelated,” he told the New York Times.
So when people ask themselves what is hurting FOSS, they ought to think carefully at where the problem originates from, rather than become fixated on those who merely react and respond to the problem. █
“I’m going to f—ing bury that guy, I have done it before, and I will do it again. I’m going to f—ing kill Google.”
–Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO
Permalink
Send this to a friend
Posted in GNOME, GNU/Linux, Microsoft, Mono, Novell at 12:58 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Image contributed by Beranger
Summary: Novell still controls GNOME’s direction using staff appointments
LAST week we showed evidence of intent to saturate GNOME 3.0 with Mono, Novell’s crown jewel and “added value” that only Novell customers can use “safely”. GNOME 3.0 is scheduled to be released in September and yesterday we mentioned Zonker’s audiocast with his colleague Vincent Untz, who is also GNOME Foundation Director (Miguel de Icaza stepped down 2 years ago).
“As long as Novell depends on Microsoft for cash, its agenda remains suspect.”Considering the fact that this nonsense is what keeps Novell busy nowadays, what can possibly prevent Microsoft from using Novell to make GNU/Linux desktops dependent on “promises” and conditions from Microsoft while they also advance Microsoft APIs?
Microsoft already uses SUSE as a back door into HPC, with similar new deals showing that it is a consistent strategy of piggybacking. As long as Novell depends on Microsoft for cash, its agenda remains suspect.
So again, what prevents Novell from influencing GNOME into becoming more dependent on Mono? █
“There is a substantive effort in open source to bring such an implementation of .Net to market, known as Mono and being driven by Novell, and one of the attributes of the agreement we made with Novell is that the intellectual property associated with that is available to Novell customers.”
–Bob Muglia, Microsoft President
Permalink
Send this to a friend
Posted in Apple, GNOME, GNU/Linux, KDE, Microsoft, Vista, Vista 7, Windows at 12:37 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
“I’ve enclosed a screen shot from Lenn of using Spotlight against locally cached exchange data. (You can point the built in mail client against an exchange server. The mail is copied down locally, and then “spotlight” works against it wickedly fast).”
–Vic Gundotra, Microsoft, 2004
Summary: Vista 7 is the “the next version” of Windows Vista, inspired by competitors
A FORTNIGHT ago we raised the point that parts of Vista 7 look as though they were ‘inspired’ by KDE4. Many other elements, including visuals, have also existed in GNOME and Compiz for several years.
Well, at least Microsoft can still falsely claim credit for the GUI.
Fortunately, thanks to Comes vs Microsoft exhibits, we know for a fact that Microsoft copied Mac OS X when it created Windows Vista. Now we find out that Microsoft did the same with Vista 7:
Microsoft’s partner group manager Simon Aldous told PCR:
One of the things that people say an awful lot about the Apple Mac is that the OS is fantastic, that it’s very graphical and easy to use. What we’ve tried to do with Windows 7 – whether it’s traditional format or in a touch format – is create a Mac look and feel in terms of graphics. We’ve significantly improved the graphical user interface, but it’s built on that very stable core Vista technology, which is far more stable than the current Mac platform, for instance.
Aldous also described Windows 7 as “the next version” of Windows Vista, which took flack for copying Mac OS X with its use of Gadgets, mimicking Apple’s Widgets, and photo storage and editing software similar to Apple’s iPhoto.
Microsoft can deny this all it wants; it can even truly believe its own denials. It is interesting that Aldous also called Vista 7 (Windows 6.1 actually) “the next version”. Vista 7 is just Vista with enormous amounts of marketing, well-documented bribes, and some visual changes.
For those who do not believe that Microsoft developers are copying rival operating systems, the innovation lie is right there in Comes vs Microsoft exhibits, black upon white. Microsoft did not manage to bury the evidence with a secret settlement. █
“Our friends up north [Microsoft] spend over five billion dollars on research and development and all they seem to do is copy Google and Apple.”
–Steve Jobs, 2006
Permalink
Send this to a friend
Posted in Microsoft, Security, Servers, Vista 7, Windows at 12:11 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Vista 7 and Server 2008 R2 both suffer from a zero-day hole and there is no solution to it yet
VISTA 7 was never a secure operating system, not even when it was in beta. To give a sample of posts on that matter:
The reality of this matter is that Vista 7, as expected, has a very major new flaw, which is already being exploited
This bug is a real proof that SDL #FAIL
The bug trigger an infinite loop on smb{1,2}, pre-auth, no credential needed…
Can be trigered outside the lan via (IE*)
It sure sounds familiar and Microsoft does no deny it.
Microsoft probing Windows 7 zero-day hole
Microsoft said on Wednesday it is looking into a report of a vulnerability in Windows 7 and Server 2008 Release 2 that could be used by an attacker to remotely crash the computer.
[...]
Gaffié also posted proof-of-concept code for the “Windows 7, Server 2008R2 Remote Kernel Crash.”
“It is an error in the SMB protocol,” tells one person, “and it sends the machine into an infinite loop. Power cycle or reset time it is.”
A reader of ours asks: “Isn’t this a repeat of the teardrops-like exploit from this summer / fall?
“If so, then the reporters seem to think they can get away with [fooling] the public as to how long Microsoft is taking to patch their problems.” █
Update: The Windows kernel has just had critical holes addressed, but the above remains unpatched.
Microsoft on Tuesday issued six security bulletins fixing 15 vulnerabilities, including a critical patch for holes in the Windows kernel and other Windows and Office components that could allow an attacker to take control of a computer.
One of our readers was unable to find out if the RBS disaster has Windows to blame. It’s too secretive.
Permalink
Send this to a friend
Posted in News Roundup at 8:52 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Contents
-
Multimedia
-
As for now I can say about the hardware that it’s “linux-friendly”. I’m also very positive surprised by the performance of the whole solution (as well in case of the graphics, as of the processor – more about this comes with the next article).
-
The MythTV hard disk recorder software is available in a new version that is based on Qt4 and supports new hardware and the VDPAU decoder.
-
I’ve been running Mythbuntu 9.10 on both my main MythTV box and frontend Zotac Ion box for a couple of weeks now.
-
The MythTV hard disk recorder software is available in a new version that is based on Qt4 and supports new hardware and the VDPAU decoder.
-
In this episode: Firefox turns 5, Microsoft allegedly borrows some GPL code and the Fat Elf is no more. We talk about what our perfect Linux distribution would look like and ask whether everyone should be compelled to contribute to free software projects.
-
Desktop
-
LC2210Si comes with a 14-inch screen and provides an optimal trade-off between mobility and power. The laptop come pre-configured with many of the common tools used by the technical users.
-
Our test system was running Ubuntu 9.10 (x86_64) with the GNOME 2.28.1 desktop, X Server 1.6.4, GCC 4.4.1, and the system’s main drive was formatted to EXT4. Rather than using the Linux 2.6.31 kernel that ships with Ubuntu 9.10, we had used the Linux 2.6.32-rc5 kernel, in order to pull in all of the latest work for the various file-systems. During our testing process, each file-system was formatted to occupy the entire 32GB flash drive and was then mounted with each file-system’s default options.
-
-
I now have Ubuntu 9.10 running on my MacBook Pro. Gnome-desktop, kubuntu-destop, xubuntu-desktop are all installed. I like desktop options, but prefer KDE 4. I can switch between apps, terminals, connect to the network and print. I have not seen one spinning beach ball. I am much more productive. I am so happy to have Amorok back to manage my music, and KDE to manage my desktop, and konsole as a terminal application, and, and, and… I am just so much happier.
[...]
Would I buy another Mac for myself, just for the hardware? No. While the trackpad is cool, other companies have caught up on the piece of hardware. The keyboard may be enough to make me come back to the hardware, but I doubt it.
-
The SimplicITy (see the IT, geddit?) is a simplified desktop with just six buttons for basic tasks such as email and chat. It’s set up with a Linux Mint based operating system and an Eldy.org linked email client.
-
Television presenter Valerie Singleton has teamed up with technology companies to develop a Linux-based PC designed specifically for the over 50s.
-
-
One is a version of Microsoft’s operating system like Windows XP. While the other is a version of freely downloadable Linux operating systems like Ubuntu.
“The viruses usually attack Windows applications and operating systems while Linux is resistant,” he said.
Wambugu says that once a user detects a virus on the Windows system, he can restart with the Linux OS which will enable him to locate the virus and delete it.
-
Server
-
Running a Web server on your Linux laptop is definitely something that doesn’t get much attention. You’ll be happy that you set up your public_html directory and familiarized yourself with starting up Apache the next time you need to transfer a huge file to one of your associates.
-
Kernel Space
-
If you have been running into problems with PulseAudio on your system, an update has been made available this morning that you may want to try. PulseAudio 0.9.20 was released and it carries bug-fixes and translation updates, but not much more. Among the PulseAudio fixes are for the Bluetooth audio support, core fixes, and many ALSA-related changes.
-
Given this context, it makes sense that the 2009 Kernel Summit went to Tokyo. Japan (and the Linux Foundation) did a great job of hosting this high-profile event; some developers were heard to suggest that the summit should be held there every year. But one also should not overlook the significance of the first Japan Linux Symposium which followed the Summit. JLS 2009 is the beginning of what is intended to be an annual, world-class Linux gathering. Your editor’s impression is that this event has gotten off to a good start.
-
Applications
-
Sun Microsystems had released VirtualBox 3.0 earlier this year with OpenGL 2.0 support for guests, long-awaited SMP guest support, and other improvements. This was a nice release for this virtualization platform, but VirtualBox 3.1 is now approaching. The first beta release of VirtualBox 3.1 has been released today and it brings a few key changes.
-
-
Even though I’m currently sick with H1N1, also known as swine flu, this morning I was feeling well enough to write an ebuild for an interesting media app I found: Tabu Audio Player. It’s an interesting player — while it still needs some translation work into English, it’s simple and has an appealing UI drawn by Cairo.
-
A screencast (also known as video screen capture) is a digital recording of computer screen output that usually contains audio narrations. So basically, an application that records a user’s screen activities and then saved them in video format is called screencasting software. The program is often used for training, demoing, documentation, and for assessing technical skills.
-
For long I’ve been trying to find something to create photo shows with Linux. So far Cinelerra has been the best choice but being.. well, not as simple as I’d hope it to be, I haven’t been able to create any photo shows. Then I found Smile – and here’s a result from playing maybe 10 minutes. Took some random photos from my travels.
-
K Desktop Environment
-
After two years and various attempts, Krita finally has a website of its own. And a really nice one, too. Thanks to Krita forum user Kubuntiac who did all the hard work and heavy lifting! Take a sneak peek at krita2d.org — soon we’ll point krita.org to the new location!
-
-
Elive is a debian based linux live cd that runs the beautiful Enlightenment window manager. Today we’re going to take you on a visual tour of the cd and discuss how it’s progressing. There are two versions available.. a stable version which must be purchased or a development version which can be downloaded for free. We chose the latter for the purposes of this review.
-
Finally Fabio gave me the pics of the server, and finally I’ve found some time to publish those pics! As we said on the website, thanks to your donations, the end of the fundraiser allowed us to buy the new servers. And now you can see how we spend your money to give you a better service and the best linux distro ever!
-
New Releases
-
Sidux
-
Later than originally planned, we now have the pleasure to announce the immediate availability of sidux 2009-03 “Μώμος”, shipping with kernel 2.6.31 and KDE 4.3.2 in the following flavours:
* KDE-lite, amd64, en/ de, ≈565 MB.
* KDE-lite, i686, en/ de, ≈560 MB.
* KDE-full, amd64+i686, en/ de (bg, da, el, es, fr, hr, hu, it, ja, nl, pt, pt_BR, ro, ru through liveapt) ≈2.1 GB.
* XFCE, amd64, en/ de, ≈495 MB.
* XFCE, i686, en/ de, ≈490 MB.
-
-
We decided to take the KDE Lite version of Sidux 2009-02 for a test spin and see how it fares amidst other debian based distributions.
[...]
Sidux is a debian based linux distribution that is based on the Sid branch. It features KDE and is, for the most part, normally not something I would recommend for beginning users. This is primarily due to it favoring text-based tools as opposed to GUI based for things such as package installation and the like. This makes it a great distribution for intermediate to expert users who are looking for an optimized debian with KDE 4.3.
-
Mandriva
-
For this review I picked the Mandriva Linux 2010 (Free) version. This version contains 100% free software and weighs in at a chunky 4.3GB when you download it. Now please understand that I am not a “free software fanatic” type at all. I have no problem using distros that have some proprietary software blended into them but I like to use one that doesn’t have that stuff every once in a while.
[...]
Summary: Mandriva Linux 2010 (Free) is a great desktop distro for certain Linux users who prefer a distro with only “free” software. Other folks should probably opt for Mandriva One or the Powerpack release which come bundled with Flash and other software.
Rating: 4/5
-
Mandriva Linux 2010 also contains “full hardware support for every currently-available Eee (PC) model”, boasts the Mandriva 2010 Tour.
“All the Mandriva configuration tools have been tested and tweaked where appropriate to fit into the lower resolution screens common on netbooks, and we have also tweaked some third-party applications for this restraint.”
-
Red Hat Family
-
Largest Municipal Electric Distribution Utility in Canada Deploys JBoss Enterprise SOA Platform to Eliminate Proprietary Lock-in and Cut Costs
-
Red Hat, Inc. (NYSE: RHT), the world’s leading provider of open source solutions, today announced that Standard & Poor’s (S&P) Rating Services raised Red Hat’s corporate credit rating from ‘BB’ to ‘BB+’ on Nov. 10, 2009. This upgrade reflects Red Hat’s strong performance and consistent growth during a challenging global economic environment.
-
-
Cathrow: The Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization 3.0 platform will be based on Java running on JBoss.
-
Int3s and Red Hat say Toronto Hydro Corp. has deployed the JBoss Enterprise SOA Platform and Red Hat Enterprise Linux technologies to support its smart metering program.
-
Debian Family
-
If you are thinking of installing Ubuntu Karmic but are being put off by the hue and cry you are reading all over the net, I can confidently say to you that go ahead and install it. It is a great release and your your system is likely to run smoothly with it. The bug issues you are hearing are the exception rather than the rule to the Ubuntu experience. Go on and enjoy real freedom.
-
In summary, my few weeks with Ubuntu 9.10 as my main OS have thrown up no major roadblocks that would cause me to look at moving elsewhere; Fedora would be tempting if that situation were to arise.
-
Ubuntu has come a long way in a few years and pulls together diverse strands of rapid progress in the wider Linux ecosystem. This is a breakthrough release presenting a new optimised kernel, an improved filesystem, solid progress in hardware compatibility and a better user interface as well as improvements in codec and plug-in installation and performance. It is a major step forward in terms of ease of use, performance and versatility.
-
Still, a free 2 GB is a nice enticement for any given cloud-backup service. And watching what Ubuntu One eventually becomes looks to be a popular sport among FOSS proponents. I’ll be one of them.
-
In a nutshell: Ubuntu’s under the hot lights. People expect more from it than they do from any other FOSS operating system. And it generally delivers more than any other, if not as much as people are counting on in their lofty expectations.
I use Ubuntu for many reasons: It seems to have the right balance between total “freedom” and the ability to play most multimedia, its developers are focused more on the desktop and less on the server (although Ubuntu is making a big play there), and its vast user base means that when there are problems, the community (including me in this blog) can often solve problems that benefit all users.
-
-
-
The Ubuntu development team has identified a couple of problems which could have been behind complaints from a small subset of users who found the upgrade from older releases to Karmic Koala (version 9.10) a difficult process.
-
-
-
Korenix Unveils JetBox 9430-w Embedded Linux Computer with -40~80℃ Operating Temperature – An Excellent Ruggedized Solution for Building High-Performance & Secure VPN Networks in Extreme Industrial Applications.
-
I saw a short video on YouTube about something called a Beagle Board, and it looked really interesting. It was this incredibly tiny board with plenty of ports. It even had an HDMI, which meant it would be easy to hook up to the LCD television in my living room. I put in my order to Digi-Key, and a few weeks later, it showed up. (I ordered it while Digi-Key was working on a new version, so your order should arrive faster.)
-
ZiiLabs is sampling a Cortex-A8 system-on-chip for HD-ready mobile devices that supports Android and ZiiLab’s Linux-based Plaszma OS. Like ZiiLabs’ ARM9-based ZMS-05 SoC, used in its Zii Egg PMP, the ZMS-08 supports 1080p H.264 decode and 720p videoconferencing, but it adds a 1GHz Cortex-A8 core and plus OpenGL ES 2.0 graphics.
-
Chipmaker Cavium Networks Inc (CAVM.O) agreed to acquire MontaVista Software for $50 million in cash and stock, to expand into embedded Linux support and services.
-
Semiconductor firm Cavium Networks announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire embedded Linux pioneer MontaVista Software for $50 million. After the acquisition wraps up in December, MontaVista will run as a separate operating unit, retain its own brand name, and support multiple architectures, MontaVista execs Jim Ready and Dan Cauchy told LinuxDevices.
-
-
Intel announced a Linux-based device with optical character recognition and text-to-speech technology. Designed for visually impaired or dyslexic users, the Atom-based Intel Reader is equipped with a five-megapixel camera for snapping photographs of text, which it then simultaneously displays and reads aloud, says Intel.
-
-
-
JK microsystems introduces its OmniEP controller, which provides an array of I/O devices supported by a pre-installed Linux 2.6 kernel.
-
Phones
-
Nokia’s The Way We Live Next event is intended less as a launch for new phones and more as a way of showing off the latest concepts and ideas from the Nokia camp. This year, the dominant themes were the company’s movement towards open source operating systems and the emerging commercial and social potential of phones in the developing world.
-
Android
-
Of course, content has always been important. Why the focus here? Why now? Simply because today’s mobile devices — starting with the iPhone — and now with newer, more capable devices including the Hero from HTC/Sprint, Droid from Motorola/Verizon, are simply awesome devices upon which to view content.
-
Google originally created the AOSP (Android Open Source Project) so that the community had full visibility into platform evolution and decision-making. This allowed anyone who was interested in exploring and contributing to Android to use the Android Open Source Project resources.
-
It’s true that Android doesn’t carry over many of the device compatibility and other types of plumbing in most Linux distros, but there is no doubt that its Linux roots saved Google engineers from lots of coding and gave them a sense of direction as they shaped their new operating system. Embedded versions of Linux don’t carry over lots of userspace components, either.
-
I just love company tie ups, and Asus – Garmin is one particular company I am interested in. I have yet to see any of their old devices first hand, though I am aware of the M20 and G60 by reputation. The G60 in particular got my attention when it launched as it used the Linux mobile operating system.
-
Despite the less than favourable reviews of the nuvifone G60 which was released in limited markets recently Garmin are determined to score a segment of the rapidly expanding smartphone market and the rising star that is Android OS seems like a much more sensible choice than Linux and Windows Mobile.
-
Gone is Archos’ own – not exactly super swish – Linux-based OS and in its place sits Google’s Linux-based mobile operating system, the first time that it’s been seen in an official capacity on a shipping product that’s not a phone.
However, it’s probably worth getting this out of the way early on: not all Android devices are created equal. Yes, Android is an open source operating system that any manufacturer can download and install onto its hardware without paying a fee. However, don’t expect it come with all the applications you’re accustomed to seeing on phones from the likes of HTC, for example. Specifically, you won’t find Google’s suit of apps on there by default since Google doesn’t give those away for free.
-
-
Verizon has joined the Android invasion. T-Mobile was the first to incorporate the Google open source operation system, but with Sprint and now Verizon on board, the Android is mounting a taciturn coup d’etat that could annihilate the iPhone OS and become the top dog of operating systems.
-
Sub-notebooks
-
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon platform combines a low power ARM-based processor with wireless connectivity including WiFi, 3G, GPS, and Bluetooth. There aren’t any details on the device that will be launched today, but it’s a good bet it runs some sort of Linux operating system since Windows XP, Vista, and 7 don’t run on ARM processors. Theoretically it could also run Windows CE, but all of the demos of Snapdragon devices I’ve seen have been machines running Linux.
-
Among the 36 legendary software projects in InfoWorld’s Open Source Hall of Fame, these 10 top our list as the most important and valuable. It’s a rare software product that has no alternatives, but the software landscape would be far poorer without any one of these nearly indispensable tools.
-
The demo was shown first during the TED conference in California in February 09. The crowd were super awed by his technological breakthrough, which actually cost no more than 350 dollars.
-
A while back, Ivan Walsh put together a list of the top 50 tech writers on the Web. That list was an interesting mix of people we’d heard of and regularly read and a few new names.
-
Hippo has successfully employed Sonatype’s products for internal development and many implementations in the past. The partnership further strengthens the relationship between the two companies and provides Hippo’s customers with access to the Sonatype product suite and its expert knowledge, as well as ensures optimal synergy when building Hippo with Maven / Sonatype tools.
-
With over five million application downloads and over 500,000 users in 75 languages within the customer relationship management, or “CRM,” industry, open source CRM providerHowever, according to SugarCRM (News – Alert) CEO Larry Augustin, the company has a strong cloud story to pitch as well.
-
JBoss was an Open Source company providing free middleware software to it’s customers. By the end of 2003, JBoss had been downloaded 5 million times, and the company was doing about $1m a year in revenues, selling training, documentation and consulting. Around that time, Bob Bickel joined the company, and initiated a process to raise venture capital. The raising of VC funds was a trigger that was needed to hire a professional management team, and to enter a new growth phase. Together with Bob, the company had figured out that once an application migrated from development to production, they could charge their customers for a subscription based initially around support, that should result in a better monetization than the other revenue streams.
-
Broadcom is releasing its wideband and narrowband codes, in both floating-point and fixed-point C code, as open source software under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL), version 2.1, which is published by the Free Software Foundation.
-
-
Energy
-
But the benefits of open source for the smart grid could be significant. Of course not everything needs to be based on open source, but in areas like the home, where the power grid meets consumer electronics and broadband networks, having a open source platform could lead to much more innovation, interoperability between devices and networks, and low cost development, than a closed system.
-
Electricity monitoring startup People Power Company is creating open source technology that will allow its residential customers to automatically control their electrical appliance use and monitor it in real time.
-
Datacentre
-
The answer is a cluster-based analysis system, sometimes referred to loosely as a cloud database system. At the Cloud Computing Conference and Expo Nov. 3 in Santa Clara, Calif., representatives of Yahoo explained how they use Hadoop open source software, from the Apache Software Foundation, to analyze the Web.
-
Continuent, Inc., provider of solutions for continuous data availability, advanced database replication, backup and database performance scalability has announced availability of Continuent Tungsten Community Edition for MySQL.
-
Health
-
The Federal Government and healthcare industry bodies should abandon proprietary software and embrace open source software if Australia is to have a successful national e-health platform, argues e-health academic, Professor Jon Patrick.
-
With health care reform being all the rage, Open Source projects are becoming popular topics as alternatives to the incredibly expensive and complex software suites in use today. Smarter Technology has a great list of 10 open-source projects targeted at health and medicine, including a few great data visualization tools.
-
Copyrights
-
I have recently come to the realisation that copyright control is not just a part of each of the four elements, and not just a fifth additional element, but should perhaps be considered the central element which profoundly influences the other four.
Copyright control has a symbiotic relationship with both the open source software license (I’ll leave the copyright/left discussion for another day) and the development strategy, and is influential in determining both the end user license strategy and therefore the choice of revenue trigger.
This has become abundantly clear thanks to the discussion surrounding Oracle’s acquisition of Sun and MySQL.
-
This time around, your editor heard grumbles from a surprising number of people, all about the same topic: copyright assignment policies.
-
United Kingdom
-
The purchase comes after a government policy in February set out objectives for public sector IT that encouraged using free, open source software where possible.
-
The UK is fourth in a league table of adopters of open source across the world, according to a survey commissioned by the company, sitting behind France, Germany and the US. Yet there are challenges facing adoption.
-
An open source project run by a regional broadband consortium has been nominated for a prestigious national IT award. The National Digital Resource Bank (ndrb) is a finalist in the eGovernment National Awards’ Local e-Government excellence category because it has shown how affordable technology can be leveraged to give nationwide access to locally-funded educational resources. The North West Learning Grid and government-accredited open source provider Sirius Corporation plc have partnered with JANET, the UK’s education network, to make the ndrb a reality.
-
Mozilla
-
It’s been just under four months since Mozilla launched its pilot program for contributions, a way for users to donate to add-on developers for their time and effort.
The program was launched in tandem with a redesign of Mozilla’s add-ons site that gave developers their own profile pages. Many add-on makers were already running donation programs through their own sites, but wanted the option to show up in Mozilla’s catalog too.
-
Mozilla, racing to release Firefox 3.6 before the end of the year, has released a second beta of the open-source browser for Windows, Mac, and Linux.
-
CMS
-
The 2009 Open Source CMS market share report was released a couple of weeks ago. The report concludes that WordPress, Joomla! and Drupal maintain a large lead on the rest of the pack, and that they are the dominant players in the market.
-
The Packt award is really more of a popularity contest than a statement of fitness for a particular purpose, but it can serve to indicate where there is growing or waning energy around various open source projects. For a analysis of the top 20 most popular open source CMS, see the free 2009 Open Source Market Share report.
-
Funding
-
McMillan is best known for being involved in setting up New Zealand’s biggest open source company, Catalyst, in 1997. He recently retired after 11 years of working for the company. He’s also been a developer with the Debian GNU/Linux project since 2002. Whether by accident or design, the last six digits of his mobile number spell out DEBIAN.
-
Releases
-
Gorilla Logic, the enterprise application development services and consulting firm known for delivering resources capable of a 10X productivity increase, today announced the release of their Open Gorilla X-ecution Engine (OpenGXE). An open source application development tool, OpenGXE is designed to provide a mechanism for simulating the backend of applications, allowing for business requirement validation before any time or money is spent coding.
-
Intalio, Inc., the Enterprise Cloud Company, today announced the immediate availability of Jetty 7, the leading lightweight open source Java application server. The new release includes features and capabilities that extend Jetty’s reach into mission-critical environments, as well as support its deployment on top of cloud computing platforms.
-
Government
-
Daniel Risacher, Associate Director of Enterprise Services and Integration at the DoD’s Office of the Chief Information Officer, helped write a memo requiring all DoD agencies to evaluate open-source software on an equal basis with proprietary software. The reason is simple, according to Risacher: Software that goes through a process of peer review tends to be more reliable and secure than software that has not had the same level of scrutiny.
-
Openness
-
For webmasters and web designers, the question of where to find high quality images and other media to use on your sites can be complicated. It can be expensive to purchase photos, even if you stick to stock photography. If you run a blog or another site that requires lots of photos, you can go broke just by purchasing images. But there is a way that you can legally use photos, music and even text for free: Creative Commons.
-
Programming
-
CodeSourcery, a leading provider of tools for professional embedded C and C++ developers, announces the immediate availability of Sourcery G++™ 4.4 for ARM®, ColdFire®, IA32, MIPS®, Power Architecture® and SuperH® processors.
-
Google has added a new language, Go, to the programming linguistic landscape. Google says it combines aspects of Python with characteristics of compiled languages like C and C++. Though Go is still in its experimental stages, Google hopes developers will help build it into a language that makes programming faster and easier.
-
You should know that, even though there’s a perfectly reasonable – if slightly out of date – API for Digg, we’re going to create our own miniature one instead that does just what we need. If you want to go further you’ll find this an easy place to start, and it also gives you some good practice in working with XML.
-
The Foundation received unprecedented support and recognition as testament to the growing strength and influence of the global Apache community.
-
The U.S. has agreed to pay $3 million to a former government worker who accused officials with the CIA and State Department of spying on him with a bugged coffee table.
-
Hewlett-Packard is taking a swing at Cisco Systems by acquiring networking equipment maker 3Com for $2.7bn cash.
-
A Massachusetts man is appealing a $400 billion lawsuit against Bon Jovi, TBS, Time Warner, Major League Baseball, ASCAP, and others against all odds.
Yes, $400 billion.
-
The Treasury Department wants more than $500,000 to comply with a Freedom of Information Act request, a fee an attorney on the case suggested Tuesday might be one of the largest bills of its kind.
-
Intellectual Monopolies/Copyrights
-
But innovation is a dirty word at newspapers. When confronted with a potentially game-changing idea, the first question publishers always ask is, “Who else is doing it?” That phrase could well stand as the industry’s epitaph.
-
As Rupert Murdoch talks about how he wants to cut off Google, while claiming that aggregator sites are “parasites” and “stealing” from him — and that fair use would likely be barred by the courts, it seemed like a good time to examine at least some of the sites that are owned by Rupert Murdoch that appear to aggregate content from other sites and which rely on the very same fair use argument. We’ve mentioned a few in the past, but figured it wouldn’t hurt to explore them more thoroughly.
-
For years, Hollywood has pushed a totally ridiculous claim that Canada is somehow a den of copyright thieves, and it needs to make its copyright laws much more strict. This fantasy has worked on journalists and politicians, who insist that the movie industry is dying in Canada due to rampant piracy. Except someone forgot to inform the real world. An anonymous reader sends over the news that the owners of Cineplex in Canada are reporting record box office sales and revenue, even with the current economic downturn.
-
If your business model is to grow and sell oranges, then it’s no good picking the oranges, then leaving them on the footpath outside your house with a price tag on each one. It doesn’t matter how great your oranges are, or how hard you’ve toiled in your garden. Someone WILL take your oranges. Some will get kicked to the side of the road. Some will get stepped on. But it’s not because people are immoral and don’t understand or appreciate fruit properly.
-
Really, they’re pushing in favor of a new law, the The Federal Research Public Access Act of 2009, which seems to make a lot of sense. If the government is funding the research, the more widely available it is, the better.
Permalink
Send this to a friend
« Previous Page — « Previous entries « Previous Page · Next Page » Next entries » — Next Page »
Content is available under CC-BY-SA