01.16.09

IRC: #boycottnovell @ FreeNode: January 15th, 2009 – Part 1

Posted in IRC Logs at 4:16 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Enter the IRC channel now

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01.15.09

Links 15/01/2009: GNU/Linux Tops Windows, OS X

Posted in News Roundup at 10:42 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNU/Linux

ES: Axarquía county administration moves all desktops to open source

The administration of the Spanish county of Axarquía is about to begin its move to open source desktops. About seven hundred PCs in all county government offices and in town halls in Rincón de la Victoria, Periana, Totalan, Moclinejo and Almáchar are the first to be fitted with open source software
How windows anti Linux strategy will backfire in 2009

Microsoft has a strategy aimed at converting Linux/Unix users to windows, this is obvious because they are creating the tools and extensions to windows that resemble Linux.

[...]

Microsoft likes to see open source coming to windows, they rather have people using apache and gimp on windows than having them use it on any other OS. But the open source software will start eating windows from the inside, firefox, open office, the gimp, you name it. People I know are not using Linux, mainly because they don’t know how to use the programs.
DECT Forum Responds To Security Questions

According to published reports, researchers at the 25th annual Chaos Communications Congress demonstrated the security breaches using a Linux laptop. The breaches reportedly would occur with either the current DECT standard and the forthcoming CAT-iq update.
X Input 2.0 Protocol Draft Specification

Peter Hutterer, the mastermind behind Multi-Pointer X, has released the draft specification for the X Input 2.0 protocol.
Beta Vista 7
- Why Linux will crush Windows 7
  
  Desktop Linux is moving forward. All the major computer vendors are now selling at least one PC, laptop or netbook with Linux. Many, if not most, PCs and netbooks will have SplashTop Linux soldiered right on their motherboard in 2009. Netbooks, the new hot computer model, often have Linux running on them. And, oh yeah, some company named Google seems to be making some interesting moves with Android Linux on netbooks. Oh, and have I mentioned that Windows’ market share has actually dropped below 90% of the desktop market.
- Mortal OS Kombat: Linux versus Windows 7
  
  My take: Linux
  
  There’s no doubt that Windows 7 will make more headway into the netbook market than its failed attempts at capitalizing on this emerging sector in 2008. But the ultimate factor in the netbook space isn’t the feature-set of the operating system. It’s the cost. When two similar notebooks exist at a hundred dollar price gap, we can’t envision a consumer adopting the pricier model just for the Windows 7 experience. The hype can’t possibly be that much of a selling point… right? Consumers might be having a trickier time adopting Linux, but in a worsening economy, they might have a more difficult time sacrificing that extra cash.
- 7 reasons why Windows 7 will not wreck Ubuntu
  
  # Ubuntu has an entrepreneur at the helm. Microsoft beat IBM because it had Bill Gates up against a bunch of suits. Now Microsoft is a bunch of suits and Ubuntu has Mark Shuttleworth.
  # Ubuntu has more server compatibility. Linux continues to beat Windows on the server, and servers (in the form of clouds) are becoming dominant over clients.
  # Ubuntu’s friends will not desert it. HP and Dell have gotten a taste of freedom from Microsoft tyranny. They won’t give that up easily. They will continue seeking product line niches where Ubuntu can succeed.
  # The Netbook will continue to evolve. The “no moving parts” PC is still at Version 1.0. There is a niche for a cheap, profitable “online machine” that can be used in Airports, hotel rooms and sandy deserts.
Apple
- Switching
  
  You might have gathered from some of my more recent posts that I’ve switched platform. My main machine is now a Dell laptop, running Ubuntu 8.10.
  
  [...]
  
  Apple doesn’t produce a less-powerful 15in machine, but plenty of other vendors do. It’s understandable from a supply-line and product simplicity perspective for Apple to keep its product lines as tight as possible. But at the end of the day it also means that it doesn’t make a machine which matches my needs.
- The end of my love affair with Apple?
  
  I, for one, have become reacquainted with Linux and its incredible flexibility on a wide variety of hardware. Linux allows me to have a “real computer” inside some very inexpensive hardware, whether netbooks or extremely cheap desktops. Even if Apple starts dumping their remaining white MacBooks on educational institutions, we’re still going to be looking at $800 a pop. Their more interesting products climb quickly.
  
  [...]
  
  Apple is losing its luster for me. I’ll always feel warm and fuzzy inside walking into an Apple Store, but the other night we were talking about how to meet the computing needs of our family of six. Three out of four kids are using computers all the time for school now (and are far more likely to pop onto a computer than watch TV, a trend that I welcome happily). My youngest rarely “needs” a computer for school, but can easily make use of one (and is frequently bumped from a computer by his older brothers who actually need them to type papers, create presentations, conduct research, etc.).
- Apple fanboy defects to Linux
  
  SELF-CONFESSED Apple fanboy Christopher Dawson has decided that it is too expensive keeping his addiction to the hi-tech toys going and has defected to Linux.
- Apple Urges Wired To Remove Hackintosh Video, Article
  
  It appears that Apple is not just going after Psystar when it comes to running Mac OS X on non-Apple branded computers. Wired’s gadget blog was running a story, accompanied by a video, demonstrating how to install Mac OS X on a non-Apple netbook. After Apple contacted Wired, the website took down the video.
- Open Source Alternatives to iTunes: Your Favorite?
  
  While it’s true that Apple iTunes has some compelling services, such as their TV/music/movie store, the media player itself leaves many power users yearning for something more.
  
  To be sure, the alternatives don’t have Apple’s muscle with the media industry. This translates into a lack of a movie/TV download service to be seriously competitive with the likes of what iTunes can provide. Despite this drawback, there are still some great open source alternatives to iTunes for those who are more interested in software freedom than software convenience.
Guides
- How To Migrate Your Desktop From Windows To Linux
  
  Moving from Windows to Linux is a big decision, and actually making the leap can be challenging and intimidating. By understanding the planning and preparation process for migrating to Linux, business owners and IT staff will know what to expect during installation so they can make the move manageable and straightforward.
- Step-By-Step: Migrating Your Desktop From Windows To Linux
  
  You can make the move from Windows to Linux in no time at all by following the steps in this hands-on guide where you’ll learn how to migrate your desktop PC to Ubuntu Linux.
- Free Ways to approach Ubuntu from Windows
  
  For Windows Users: Apart the rhetoric that Linux is not Windows, how can one gradually get used to this different way of conceiving an operating system? Ubuntu has many killer applications Windows users can benefit from. If you’re stuck in your Windows sphere and do not intend moving out – no problem, it is understandable, but you can still improve your productivity by running Ubuntu and many of its indispensable applications on your Windows OS.
Shows
- Interview: Dann Washko, The Linux Link Tech Show
  
  After being a guest on The Linux Link Tech Show back in December I asked Dann Washko if I he would be interested in allowing me to conduct an email interview with him for MontanaLinux.org. He kindly agreed. If you aren’t familiar with The Linux Link Tech Show… pull your head out of the sand and check out their wikipedia page. I hope to add a picture or two of Dann and his co-hosts if he can come up with some in the not too distant future.
- Ubuntu Podcast Episode #17
Channel/OEM
- The Gatekeepers of our technology
  
  The Linux Community is having an on-again off-again love affair with Dell. It’s been a rocky affair since Dell decided it would bump the positive side of their ledger by offering the Linux Operating System on their products.
  
  There have been some embarrassing public displays of affection and there have been equally public spats, with a few pots and pans thrown…
  
  So it goes with passionate couples. A word of advice is always welcome though and I might offer one of the afore-mentioned parties a bit of it now…
- Red Hat Nearly Doubles Its Partner Channel
  
  More proof open source is infiltrating (and redefining) the IT channel: Red Hat’s partner network now exceeds 1,300 companies — up 84 percent from 713 companies in January 2008, according to The VAR Guy’s Open Source 50 report. Of course, “more partners” doesn’t always mean “better partners.” But Red Hat’s ability to recruit channel partners to back Linux and now JBoss middleware proves the company has learned a few key lessons from Microsoft.
- Investing in Penguins and Fedoras
  
  With the current recessionary environment, perhaps it’s not such a bad time to take a look at investing in penguins and fedoras. When I say penguins, I mean Tux, the official mascot of the Linux kernel and when I say fedoras, I mean Red Hat, the Raleigh, NC-based provider of open source enterprise solutions.
  Red Hat’s a fairly unique company; one that prides itself on a corporate culture that promotes openness and creativity. That’s not surprising given the company’s position in the world of open source software. Open source contrasts itself with proprietary software, where the terms of use are limited by licensing agreements and the source code is not available to the user.
- How to Create a Profitable Desktop Business for Linux
  
  Does this sound a lot like Google’s (GOOG) Android model? Yep. And as far as reports go thus far, they don’t even seem to be concerned with making money on the Android Market itself. Android is such a great vehicle for mobile search, location based services, content delivery etc — apparently that’s plenty. And by the way, Android is founded on a Linux kernel, and there’s a lot of buzz about it pushing up into netbooks and higher food-chain devices. I would think Android will end up being a highly profitable proposition for Google, just not in the conventional Linux distro business type of way. That’s the mentality I believe will make a Linux desktop profitable.
KDE
- KDE: Linux Format’s Free Software Project of the Year
  
  recognizes stand out projects and members of the Free software world with their Reader Awards. The readers of the magazine send in their votes, Linux Format (LF) tallies them up and then publishes the results.
- Plasmoid prognostication
  
  Plasmoids and maybe Plasma (or derivatives) itself on everything from 3′ phone screens to 30′ LCD panels, with every size of netbook and laptop inbetween. This, gentle readers, is why you stay forward thinking on technology (Plasma framework decisions) and keep your usability experts happy. This can and will be massive.
- KOffice 2.0 Beta 5 Released
  
  Moving towards the 2.0 release with almost monthly beta releases, the KOffice team has once more honoured its promise to bring out beta releases of KOffice until the time is right for a release candidate. So today we bring you this beta with many, many improvements across the board. Incremental as it is, this beta is an important step towards a final release. So here it is: full announcement and changelog.
Ubuntu
- Fun With Linux
  
  Finally, finally, here I am. Ubuntu installed on son’s computer, check. Ubuntu installed on my (first) old computer, check (still need graphics card). Ubuntu installed on my (second) old computer, check.
- Why we need Edubuntu to succeed
  
  This evening I had a great chat with a guy named David. He’s a 9th grade science teacher in Minnesota. He’s working on a project called Growing Communities Of Scientists in his school. He plans to use a set of “computer enabled science classrooms” which embed thin clients into a student group workspace. David’s also got a great blog where he’s been journalling his experience. This means students have access to computers without interfering with they’re normal learning/social area. A common sight I’ve seen in most computer labs is individual students with hardly any working space and fairly isolated from each other and the instructor. It’s sort of like a cubicle effect. For sciences were you’re trying to get a lot of hands on instruction it’s rather difficult.
- Ubuntu Faster on My Internet Than Windows XP
  
  Then I tested my Time Warner cable connection on my primary work machine running Ubuntu 8.04. My cable modem connection is always much faster than my DSL by a factor of 10 on the download speeds. I forget what Time Warner’s latest promises are for download speeds, but I think it’s 10 mega bits per second to 12 mbps. Upload speeds are throttled down to 1mbps.
  
  My Ubuntu machine returned a rating from the Bandwidth.com test of 22-25mbps over several tests. That’s darn fast today, faster than normal. Then I did the same test from a Windows XP PC and got results from 12-14mbps. Still fast, but not nearly as fast as the Ubuntu machine.
- Ubuntu 9.04′s blazing boot times
  
  …Linux kernel 2.6.28, released on Christmas Eve 2008, delivered a stable implementation of the ext4 filesystem, and this is now included in Ubuntu’s daily development builds. It’s this filesystem which is getting geeks worldwide all steamy under their collar.
- The New Ubuntu Brainstorm
  
  The new and much improved version of Ubuntu Brainstorm, Ubuntu’s site for receiving ideas from users and allowing other users to vote on those ideas, was launched today.
Devices/Embedded
- “BeagleBot” cruises on Linux
  
  A Linux-powered robot project has won the first monthly design contest sponsored by “BeagleBoard.org,” a group promoting a low-cost, Linux-friendly single board computer (SBC) with an ARM Cortex-A8-based processor. Antti Seppanen’s “BeagleBot” is a partially autonomous, WiFi-enabled robot with servos, sensor, and webcam.
- Imaging vendor goes cross-platform
  
  The acquisition will also help it to expand to support Linux, Unix, Mac, and mobile device platforms, says the company.
- Security gateway runs Linux on Cortex-A8 SoC
  
  M2M Solution announced a security gateway reference design based on the Texas Instruments (TI) OMAP3503 system-on-chip (SoC). The Homebox runs Linux, enables remote monitoring of real-time video and security sensors, and will soon be sold by MYXYTY under the name MyHome, says M2M.
- Why Pre is the right move for Palm
  
  Foleo, a Linux-based Netbook that perhaps arrived ahead of its time. When it was introduced in mid-2007, reactions were mixed. It was one of the first devices from a reputable and established company to fill the gap between smartphones and laptops, but critics weren’t receptive to its $500 price tag and lack of compatibility with third-party software.
  
  But Palm was also quietly tuning a version of Linux for its next-gen handsets. Last week at CES, Palm announced a new operating system, called Web OS, and the first device to run it, the Pre. It also announced an application store, called Pre Catalog. And that’s when things got very interesting: the Pre blew everyone away.
- Android
  - What Did 2008 Innovate?
    
    For now, Android hasn’t picked up all that much steam, but 2009 will see the introduction of several more Android-powered smartphones. Given the open source nature of the mobile OS, we could see a rapid maturation of the platform, ushering in new and improved functionality in just about every way imaginable. It’s arguable that this is already the case with Mobile Linux, but Linux doesn’t have the same industry backing as the Open Handset Alliance and Google Android.
  - Wind River announces Android support for Qualcomm chipset
    
    Wind River, the embedded software specialist, has announced an Android support package for Qualcomm’s Snapdragon mobile phone chipset. Qualcomm and Wind River presented the technology at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) a week ago.
- Sub-notebooks
  - Netbook adventures
    
    I got it installed. Wow. It’s even smaller then Eeebuntu Base, and yet includes more stuff. It’s also faster, since instead of the heavyweight GNOME desktop, it uses Openbox, which is much more streamlined. I think we’ve got a winner here.
  - Installing Ubuntu EEE with Compiz on the EEE PC
    
    Today we have a guest blogger on One Click Linux. Michael Szorady is a recent graduate of Bowling Green State University with a degree in Computer Science. His computer expertise covers multiple platforms and computing languages. A Linux fan and advocate, his article discusses the installation of an Ubuntu distribution to his own Asus 701 netbook. We hope you find the information a helpful guide for customizing your own Asus netbook.
  - Review: Sylvania’s g Netbook Meso
    
    Although traditionally known for its electrical and lighting products, Sylvania has also licensed its name to other manufacturers to expand its product lines. The latest entry is in the rapidly growing market of netbooks.
    
    Produced by Digital Gadgets, which previously specialized in various mobile electronics and accessories, Sylvania’s g Netbook Meso is similar in many ways to its more well-known competitors. Measuring 9-x-7-x-1.25 inches, it weighs approximately 2.2 pounds without battery.
    
    [...]
    
    Our test unit was loaded with Ubuntu Netbook Remix, but Windows XP Home Edition is available as an option. The interface of the operating system is nicely laid out and easy to navigate, even for Linux novices.
  - Every child in Portugal and Venezuela will have open source
    
    The Magelhaes (Magellan) initiative of the Portuguese government is giving every child in the country an Intel Classmate PC for 50 euros – and they are dual-boot machines running XP and a local Linux called Caixa Magica.
  - Netbook market looking at major price cuts
    
    Netbook pricing has been slowly creeping up over the last year as buyers looked for bigger hard drives, better performance, roomier keyboards, and larger screens. That feature creep means it’s not uncommon to see prices well above $400 for entry-level devices. The folks at Freescale Semiconductor want to turn that trend around, offering a low-power chip designed to sip electricity while letting netbook makers offer devices for less than $200.

F/OSS

Suite freedom: a review of GIMP 2.6.4

Free, but high-end

This is the first time that I’m reviewing GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program), and it’s definitely long overdue. As the open-source image editor of choice, the feature list of GIMP 2.6 is very long, and despite its status as a free application, it’s as feature-packed as any commercial application. GIMP is loaded with the up-to-date tools many demanding professionals need: Bézier path editing with brush stroking, tablet support, Heal Tool, alpha channels, multiple-undo History, area-averaged eyedropper, PSD file compatibility, and a wackload of other high-end tools that are impressive in their attention to detail.
OpenSplice DDS Real-time Integration Software Now Available as Open Source

PrismTech™, an acknowledged leader in advanced software integration and infrastructure solutions, announced today that it is releasing its OpenSplice™ DDS low-latency data distribution software as Open Source software licensed under LGPL licensing. This Open Source code base is supported by a range of optional subscription packages from PrismTech that include professional support, productivity and optimization tools, connectors, and other advanced product options.

PrismTech is one of the pioneers and leading vendors of ‘packaged Open Source’ middleware and has a long and successful track record of providing CORBA solutions using this model. This initiative will leverage all of PrismTech’s expertise in this area to provide a superior DDS solution.
Semantic Technologies, Web 2.x, Cloud Computing, and Open Source

Looking back on 2008, we’ve seen several trends in the web space. The web has transformed from a place to look for information to a place to share information.
Harmonic Software Systems releases open source tool to unlock the power of the PLAYSTATION 3

Harmonic Software Systems has released the Cell/BE Execution Framework (CEF) to the open source community, allowing industry and academia to unlock the massive computing power, which is within the PLAYSTATION 3’s Cell processor.

Crawley, UK. January 13, 2009. Harmonic Software Systems announced today the availability of the Cell Execution Framework (CEF), as a free download under the BSD open source license. The CEF has been designed to unlock the power of the Cell Broadband Engine™ (Cell), so that software engineers can start to use the power of the Cell straightaway.
What happened to the GPL Project Watch List

We started tracking GPLv3 information as of June 29, 2007, and continued to do so for 15 months. Our team included over 50 research interns from schools throughout our country, the project managers and me. We successfully provided clear and objective information regarding the acceptance and use of the new GPLv3 license, and extended the scope of our interest to report news and trends as well.
Joyent Buys Reasonably Smart to Create Open-source Cloud

Joyent today announced it has agreed to acquire Reasonably Smart, a fledgling cloud startup based on JavaScript and Git, for an undisclosed amount. While on the surface it might look like simple industry consolidation, Reasonably Smart’s technology will in fact help Joyent compete with emerging service-centric clouds while retaining an open model that makes developers comfortable.
Stock Markets
- Bringing Open Source Software to Trading Desks
  
  Marketcetera, a Silicon Valley-based start-up, has developed open-source trading software that it says will make the creation of custom financial trading systems easier and cheaper. Rather than creating their own products, financial services firms, hedge funds and others can pick up the Marketcetera Platform software and use it as a basic framework for their operations. The financial companies just plug their algorithms and trading policies into the system and let it handle the demanding processing jobs required to obtain and analyze financial data.
- Trading Up to Open Source
  
  The new code that has been added to these established projects is released under the GNU GPL v2. That’s welcome, but there’s a slightly misleading statement on the home page regarding downloads…
Enterprise
- Bringing Up Open Source, Part 1: Enterprise Edition
  
  Using open source instead of proprietary technology can help keep costs down. Here are three startups making headway in the enterprise Linux space.
  
  [...]
  
  Being part of the LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) stack — and the adoption and the community momentum around that LAMP stack — instead of being a strictly commercial venture was something that Tuerk was key on leveraging.
- The enterprise value of modifying open source
  
  I spent some time with a large customer of Alfresco’s today, and heard an interesting reason for why choosing open source was critical to them. Granted, it’s a large media company, and so its needs may not fit those of most other enterprise customers.
- Alfresco and Remote-Learner.net Partner to Deliver Moodle eLearning Integration
  
  Alfresco Software Inc., the leader in open source enterprise content management (ECM), today announced an OEM partnership with Remote-Learner.net, the provider of open source solutions for online learning management, record keeping and learning object storage to corporate, academic and governmental clients. The partnership will deliver solutions to allow learning organizations using Moodle’s open source course management system (CMS) to access Alfresco’s robust open source ECM repository to support content development and reuse.
- Jaspersoft’s Strong December Attests to Popularity of Open Source BI
  
  It was an event-filled December for open source business intelligence (BI) specialist Jaspersoft Inc., which announced a new revision 3.1 release of its Jaspersoft Business Intelligence Suite and generated another $12.5 million in venture capital (VC) funding. The latter, of course, is no small feat in a climate in which credit markets are frozen and VC funding has tightened significantly.
- Presence Technology Tapped as Digium Open Source Solutions Partner
  
  As part of its mission to expand its partner universe and increase the number of value added applications available for their Asterisk (News – Alert) Business Edition, Huntsville, Alabama-based Digium, the creators of the open source telephony software Asterisk are always looking to innovative companies.
Administration
- Congress to inform about application of Open Source Software
  
  Open-Source-Software (OSS) is a software alternative to the software of traditional software manufacturers in particular for small and medium-sized entities and should therefore be taken into account by these. Furthermore, an always growing number of manufacturing businesses have recently turned to the OSS model. But is OSS suitable for business applications? This question is soon going to be discussed at the fourth “Open Source Meets Business“ congress in Nuremberg. In more than 100 talks given by OSS experts and businesses experienced in the use of OSS this question will be looked upon from several points of views.
- Humanitarian FOSS Project
  
  The Humanitarian FOSS Project is a collaborative, community-building project that was started by a group of computing faculty and open source proponents at Trinity College, Wesleyan University, and Connecticut College. Our goal is to build a community of academic computing departments, IT corporations, and local and global humanitarian and community organizations dedicated to building and using Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) to benefit humanity.
Sun
- Sun enhances VirtualBox with Version 2.1 updates
  
  With an impressive 25,000 downloads a day, and downloads up 120 percent over last quarter, Sun seems to be doing a good job at breaking through the noise of the desktop virtualization market.
- Java forks, rivers, and streams
  
  There are any number of very good reasons why Sun open-sourced Java, but there are always wrinkles. Among them is the loss of control for the central “authority” of the language — Sun, the JCP, what have you. At first blush, this is bad mostly for the control freaks at said central authority, and why should we care about their hang-ups, right? If they wanted to keep everything under control, they shouldn’t have open-sourced it.
- Can Sun Rise on Open Source Storage?
  
  At first glance, Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ: JAVA) appears to be having a bit of trouble: Big layoffs, a stock that is down 80 percent in the last year, and constant rumors about its demise or takeover. A brief look at the overall server and storage stats from IDC and Gartner doesn’t provide much evidence to the contrary, with Sun nowhere in the overall storage stats, and lagging further behind Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) in fourth place on the server side.
- Fact Vs. Friction: Picking The Right Open-Source Office Suite
  
  OxygenOffice bundles OOo with lots of extras, including a huge clip art and photo library, document templates, and additional font support. Like so many of the extras bundled with various OpenOffice.org variants (including Sun’s proprietary StarOffice suite), users can find most of this content elsewhere, although it can be more convenient to get it bundled as a complete package.
- CES 2009 Open-Source And Otherwise Free Doesn’t Adversely Confine
  
  For writing blog posts and web articles, I instead relied on OpenOffice v3. I was pretty impressed with its features and Word 2000 format compatibility (especially considering the price!), though I highly recommend disabling the Java runtime environment support (if you don’t need it) as a means of drastically reducing the application startup time. Web surfing was (as usual) the domain of Firefox for OS X, which (as usual) worked well. The browser-based blog publishing tool I use doesn’t require ActiveX (I unfortunately can’t say the same thing about many of my publishing company’s other online utilities) so I was able to directly pull material from OpenOffice into Firefox, then publish it from there.
Google
- Google house cleaning frees Jaiku
  
  Google has decided to clean house and close many services that are either redundant, not very successful or unrelated to Google’s core business. Most significantly for the open source community Google plans to release the Jaiku Engine as an Apache licensed project.
- Changes for Jaiku and Farewell to Dodgeball and Mashup Editor
  
  With the open source Jaiku Engine project, organizations, groups and individuals will be able to roll-their-own microblogging services and deploy them on Google App Engine. The new Jaiku Engine will include support for OAuth, and we’re excited about developers using this proven code as a starting point in creating a freely available and federated, open source microblogging platform.
- Gmail Grew 43 Percent Last Year. AOL Mail And Hotmail Need To Start Worrying.
  
  Google launched Gmail only four years ago, and it is now the fourth most popular e-mail service on the Web after Yahoo Mail, AOL Mail, and Windows Live Hotmail. In 2008, it saw some serious growth in the U.S. Google doesn’t break out the number of Gmail users, but comScore estimates unique monthly visitors. According to the latest stats, the number of people visiting Gmail grew 43 percent last year to 29.6 million. In contrast, the much more massive Yahoo Mail grew 11 percent to 91.9 million uniques. AOL Mail finished in second place for the year with 46.6 million uniques (plus another 7.2 million visitors to AIM Mail), while Hotmail actually declined 5 percent to 43.5 million.
- Google’s Microsoft Complex
  
  Just because Microsoft and Google share a strategy doesn’t mean they’re similar companies in other respects. Google differs from Microsoft in at least one fundamental way. The ends that Microsoft has pursued are commercial ends. For the most part, it’s been in it for the money. Google, as Grimmelman notes, has a strong messianic bent. Google is not just out to make oodles of dough; it’s on a crusade – to liberate information for the masses – and is convinced of its righteousness in pursuing its cause. Depending on your point of view as you look forward to the next ten years, or even the next 300 years, you’ll find Google’s crusade either comforting or frightening. It’s worth remembering that Google’s chokepoint is not just an economic chokepoint. It’s also a cultural chokepoint.
Grid
- The Globus Alliance’s First Google Summer of Code
  
  The Globus Alliance is a community of organizations and individuals developing fundamental technologies behind the “Grid,” which lets people share computing power, databases, instruments, and other on-line tools securely across corporate, institutional, and geographic boundaries without sacrificing local autonomy. Globus currently hosts more than 20 projects, actively developed by a community of more than 100 committers, and spanning a variety of technology concerns on grid systems.
- Grid.org HPC Community Hits Growth Milestone
  
  Grid.org, the online community for open source cluster and grid software, announced today that the site garnered over 100,000 unique visitors in 2008, with the highest traffic generating from the UniCluster, Amazon EC2 and HPC Thought Leadership discussion groups.
Funding
- Seneca College gets $50,000 grant to work on Eclipse WTP
  
  Computer science students will get to contribute code to the open source Eclipse Web Tools Platform project. Why the open source approach recalls academia of days gone by
- Identi.ca Gets Funding to Make Open-source Twitter Variant
  
  Identi.ca’s plans to build an open-source alternative to Twitter got a vote of confidence this week with an investment from the VCs at Montreal Start Up. While the amount of the financing wasn’t disclosed, Montreal Start Up Managing Partner John Stokes said the firm invests between C$150,000 ($120,135) and C$400,000 ($320,329) per deal.
Mozilla
- Quo Vadis, Mozilla?: 3-Point Plan for World Domination
  
  Mitchell Baker, chairperson of the Mozilla Foundation, has presented a plan in her blog whereby Mozilla will have Web world domination by 2010.
  
  This past weekend Mitchell Baker “proposed a set of goals for the next two years… to move the Mozilla mission forward.” Her proposal wasn’t meant as a technical spec but more a set of ideas. In fact, the details of her plan encompass three points.
- about:mozilla – Final 2010 goals, Firebug, add-ons, Labs, Snowl, Community theme, Camino, and more…
  
  In this issue…
  
  * Mozilla 2010 goals finalized
  * Firebug 1.3.0 final released
  * Time to update your add-ons for Firefox 3.1
  * Labs update: December 2008
  * Snowl: new release and blog posts
  * Mozilla community theme

Digital Tipping Point: Clip of the Day

Digital Tipping Point: Dirk-Willem van Gulik, road builder for the Information Super-highway 02 (2004)

Digital Tipping Point is a Free software-like project where the raw videos are code. You can assist by participating.

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Wall Street Journal on Microsoft Layoffs

Posted in Asia, Free/Libre Software, Microsoft at 5:52 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

It’s not unofficial reports anymore. Even the Wall Street Journal writes about it right now.

Microsoft Corp. is seriously exploring significant work force reductions that could be announced as early as next week, in a sign that the weak economy is prompting tough decisions even at one of the steadiest ships in the technology industry.

One must remember that Microsoft not only took companies out of business using crime, but it also targeted individuals whom it had tossed out of their jobs for not bowing to Microsoft’s desires. According to this new report from India [hat tip: Anivar], Microsoft is not only suspected to have done this in Kerala but in other ‘disobedient’ countries too. People begin to confess as an increasing amount of antitrust material shows what Microsoft did in India and similar experiences are publicly shared in the media.

It is not only in Kerala that free software exponents are seeing red signal in government. Last year, similar developments took place in Brazil and Argentina, the Latin American countries where free software movement has made a major headway.

The ouster of M. Arun, special officer for International Centre for Free and Open Source Software (ICFOSS) and Joseph C Mathew, IT advisor to the Chief Minister, from their positions can be read along with the ousters of free software exponents from Brazilian and Argentinian governments. There were allegations that the expulsion of free software proponents in those countries was at the instance of Microsoft.

In March last year, Carlos Achiary, director of the National Office of Tecnologia Inform tica (ONTI), and Jose Carllinni, coordinator of the Forum of Computer Science People, were asked to resign from their posts by the Argentinian Government. Both of them were doing a commendable service in Argentina to propagate free software.

Those who call for sympathy for Microsoft must remember what this company has done to other companies (and individual people) for decade. With gradual decline of unethical jobs and unethical operations that harm society, there is hope that the industry — and society as a whole — will noticeably improve. █

“I have lost my sleep and peace of mind for last two months over these distasteful activities by Microsoft.”

–Professor Deepak Phatak

Related posts (reverse chronological:

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Patents Roundup: Software Patents vs. Microsoft, Novell (And Others)

Posted in Africa, Europe, Free/Libre Software, IBM, Intellectual Monopoly, Law, Microsoft, Novell, Patents, Standard, Videos at 1:34 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Software Patents vs. Microsoft, Novell

IN A CASE that we mentioned at the end of last week, Novell and Microsoft were among those sued by a patent troll. There is lots more information about it out there and Ars Technica offers decent coverage.

Microsoft, Symantec, and 20 other companies have been sued by a small Texas firm for patent infringement. The firm was granted patents in the mid-’90s over systems for governing application and data permissions, as well as ensuring application integrity, and is now seeking to bar the companies from making use of the patents. And some monetary damages would be nice, too.

The firm, Information Protection and Authentication of Texas (IPAT), owns two patents cited in its complaint, the latest of which is US patent 5,412,717, which was filed in May 1992 and granted on May 2, 1995. This is a continuation of a previous patent, US number 5,311,591, granted in May, 1994.

Here is some more information.

A Texas company has filed a patent infringement suit against 22 companies for violating patents issued in the mid-1990s regarding application integrity and security.

Two more cases of patent litigation have just cropped up:

1. Backup firm sues Intel, Microsoft, HP, Dell, Acer…

A computer backup recovery firm claims Intel, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Acer, and others have aped its patent for quickly restoring a PC after data corruption.

2. Yahoo’s Flickr.com Infringes Patent: IconFind

Law360, New York (January 14, 2009) — Yahoo Inc. is being sued for using technology in its online photo-sharing service that is allegedly protected by a patent belonging to IconFind Inc.

South Africa

An SA-based publication, ITWeb, has a series of articles on software patents and whether software should be patentable.

Application software, which is what most people think of first when the word software is mentioned, is commonly written using advanced programming software tools, which ease the task of converting a desired function into code. High-level human-readable code, whether produced in this way or written directly in a programming language, is known as source code and can be analysed by software programmers to understand the techniques used in the software. The source code must be compiled (converted to machine code) or interpreted to be run on a computer.

Microsoft is already breaking the (patent) law in South Africa. It’s similar to what it does in India [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12] along with its embattled close partners. They besiege the local population, in this case by depriving them of access to knowledge and its application.

Europe

Digital Majority has found this older, yet valuable, pointer to the UK-IPO situation.

The Intellectual Property Office had previously recognized inventions that either solve technical problems external to a computer or solve “a technical problem within the computer” as potentially patentable inventions. The sea change of Symbian is that

“improving the operation of a computer by solving a problem arising from the way the computer was programmed – for example, a tendency to crash due to conflicting library program calls – can also be regarded as solving “a technical problem within the computer” if it leads to a more reliable computer. Thus, a program that results in a computer running faster or more reliably may be considered to provide a technical contribution even if the invention solely addresses a problem in the programming.”

This is a subject that we initially covered in [1, 2] and to a lesser extent also explored in [1, 2].

The Microsoft pressure group known as ACT [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8] is meanwhile peddling a back door to software patents in Europe. The FFII’s president delivered the following public talk.

Direct link

The folks at OS/2 world are protesting against software patents in Europe and encouraging those who have not yet signed the petition to do so now.

All software patents I have read so far are worthless. Yet the government approved monopoly.
Especially when you live in Europe sign this petition:

http://stopsoftwarepatents.eu/

Yesterday we wrote about the complaints from TomTom's CEO. Here are some more.

Direct link

There was a lot more to see in this event. “The worst are the answer from the Commission and Alcatel people,” says Benjamin from FFII, who watched it quite closely.

In Re Bilski

It may seem like old news really [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14], but it’s not [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19]. This crucial court ruling is continuing to tear software patents apart. Here are several new examples from the Web:

1. Microsoft Seeks Pay-As-You-Go Computer Patent

I cannot see how this invention is one that ought to be patentable, particularly given the recent decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in In re Bilski, which dealt a significant blow to the patentability of software and computer processes. Those familiar with the Bilski decision will recall that the Federal Circuit has now required that in order to protect software and computer processes we revert to what was done before the State Street decision, which is to focus on the machine and treating software as if it is not the invention but to patent the machine itself that has unique functionality thanks to some black magic provided by the unpatentable product (i.e., software) whose name cannot be uttered. In truth, many patent practitioners were never quite comfortable with State Street and have been doing this all along to cover the bases, but for those clients who wanted cheap software patents rather than paying $25,000+ for an application, Bilski pretty much killed your patents and applications, but I digress.

2. Another bubble ready to burst!

Sadly most of our thinking around legal protection of knowledge has been “derivative” in nature, a shoddy cut and paste job from the “mature IP systems” of the West. However, as the Bilski case shows, even these “mature IP systems” are having second thoughts on how they treat knowledge, or in this specific case, software patents. As I have argued in my previous blog entry, “The Practical Problem with Software Patents,” the litigation-ridden path followed by US in granting software and business method patents is something we must avoid at all costs.

3. NPEs and Abstract Patents

For a process to be patentable, it must involve a physical transformation to a different state or thing, or must be tied to a particular machine.

What does that mean? The court gave examples indicating that software would be patentable if it represented physical objects undergoing physical transformation. However, it expressly reserved judgment on the alternative test: whether a general-purpose computer was “a particular machine.” If so, of course, all software processes would be patentable.

Not the brightest of lines, but the court didn’t flinch from trying to draw one, despite arguments that patent lawyers would manage to circumvent any court-imposed limitations. The Bilski decision leaves a lot up in the air, but it affirms that judges will draw limits, even around patentable subject matter, and it offers a modest deflating of the patent bubble. It eliminates some of the worst excesses spawned by State Street without provoking a backlash. And it has breathed new life into public debate of where the limits should be. For those who care about how and where the line should be drawn, some colleagues and I have organized a conference at the Brookings Institution on January 14, the Limits of Abstract Patents in an Intangible Economy.

Just as the debate has come alive in the U.S., it has also resurfaced in Europe three years after a proposed directive on software patents went down to defeat in the European Parliament. The President of the European Patent Office has asked the EPO’s Enlarged Board of Appeals to answer four questions about the patentability of computer programs. The European Patent Convention has always specifically precluded patents on certain abstract processes, including computer programs and business methods, but then in the next section it says that these exclusions only apply to computer programs, etc. “as such.” So decades have been spent trying to figure out what “as such” really means and what kind of “technical” contribution is needed to pass muster.

Although IBM deserves some credit for the Bilski ruling, it continues to support software patents. Rather than end this bubble, its employees continue to be its biggest feeder.

For the 16th year in a row, IBM has topped the annual list of patent-happy American tech companies. The list tanks high-tech vendors by the number of patents they were awarded in the United States over the previous year.

This is also covered here, here, and here

On the upside, IBM does not really intend to attack — neither by words nor action — Free software. This differentiates it from abrasive companies like Microsoft whose profitable products are rarely physical.

Gavin Baker offers some live blogging from a US-based event, TACD IP (Trans Atlantic Consumer Dialogue in Washington, DC), where patents are at times being criticised as well.

Rambus

The vicious company known as Rambus is responsible for patent ambush that got the wrath of the European Commission too. We covered the Rambus situation on several occasions last month [1, 2] and the company is losing it.

Rambus, a designer of high-speed memory chips, may not use 12 of its patents to demand royalties from Micron Technology, a federal judge ruled. Judge Sue L. Robinson of United States District Court in Wilmington, Del., said the patents were unenforceable because Rambus destroyed documents, and called Rambus’s conduct “obstructive at best, misleading at worst.”

The AAI filed amicus brief re: Rambus and here is another opinion on this matter.

Patent misuse (or abuse) does not always pay off.

Intellectual Monopolies in General

There are many more interesting stories that we haven’t the time to cover properly. Here are some of the better ones:

1. Keeping the Czechs in Check

[Via Google Translate: The Czech EU presidency has opted for the next six months also in the areas of ICT and Citizens' lot. As regards the protection of "intellectual property" and the reorganization of the EU telecommunications market to the Czechs on the preparatory work of the French build.

The EU has 2009 at the European Year of Creativity exclaimed. That it will also ensure the protection of "intellectual property" goes, goes without saying

Thus, the Czech EU presidency in their list of priorities for the coming six months, under the item "Removal of trade barriers", the controversial anti-Piratierie ACTA agreement, which is currently behind closed doors of the EU Commission, U.S. negotiators and representatives of other major industrialized countries will be negotiated.]

More on the ACTA in [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18].

2. Can’t Compete? Sue For Patent Infringement!

It happens over and over again… if you can’t innovate to compete, why not litigate to compete? Broadband Reports points out that Charter Communications is now suing Verizon for patent infringement relating to Verizon’s FiOS fiber optic internet connections.

3. US ITC Initiates LCD Screen Patent Investigation

O2′s complaint accuses the five companies of importing products containing LCD (liquid crystal display) screens that violate a series of patents owned by the company, the ITC said in a news release.

4. Can You Trademark Awareness Of A Disease?

BoingBoing has the latest story of trademark insanity, where a “charity” focused on the rare, but apparently serious disease of Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia (CDH), is trying to trademark the phrase “Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia Awareness” and appears to be threatening other charities for using the phrase, and (according to this petition) has filed complaints to get fundraising stores shut down for using the phrase

The more “intellectual” human kind gets, the more insidious it seems. █

“Let me make my position on the patentability of software clear. I believe that software per se should not be allowed patent protection. […] We take this position because it is the best policy for maintaining a healthy software industry, where innovation can prosper.” —Douglas Brotz, Adobe Systems, Inc.

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Microsoft’s EDGI in India: Fighting GNU/Linux in Education

Posted in Antitrust, Asia, Bill Gates, Free/Libre Software, GNU/Linux, Microsoft, SUN at 11:17 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

And How Intel helps Microsoft fight GNU/Linux

Counting money

IN THIS SERIES of posts we have already covered relevant antitrust material such as:

Today we take a closer look at Comes vs Microsoft Exhibit PX08593 (September 2002) [PDF] and additionally we look at press coverage which appeared at the time. The journalists were not aware of what had been happening behind the scenes, but our recent posts about EDGI, as well as in the latest correspondence which we include in full in the Appendix, show what was negotiated. It explains why Sun and GNU/Linux were left out. Microsoft abused its monopoly and dumped software, then signed a memorandum of understanding which is essentially a competition-excluding contract.

Here are some important bits from the E-mails that reveal a country-wide EDGI. This was sent to the General Manager of Microsoft India.

Hi, Rajiv. Actually we are proceeding on another path for developing countries called a Country License, which is a concept that has been approved by Allchin, the board, the BLT etc, for more thinking and development with India as the first potential test case.

David Driftmier is there, as usual. This mentions StarOffice and Linux and it goes along the lines of “your country is so privileged to be part of our experiment” (Microsoft and Intel do the same in China and will try this against GNU/Linux in Russian schools).

Later it says:

We are aware of Billg’s plan to visit India and want to give him something smart and innovative to announce as part of a larger global education initiative. (Bill likes the free idea but he’s the only one I know of who does! :-))

We’ll come to this in a moment because it was covered by the press at the time.

Rajeev Kaul, the top man of Microsoft India at the time, writes:

Am in Redmond this week. Wanted to catch up with you, You might be aware of the work Bric team is doing on the proactive EDGI like proposal. Given the impact of Education market in India globally for us and the threats from Linux and piracy, I want to make this a big bet plan in India (post Novell – Sco and Trishul).

Novell – Sco???

One reader ponders, “[I] don’t know what the MS GM for India is referring to when he mentions Novell and SCO to Driftmier’s boss, Sherri Bealkowski.”

“It was about Microsoft India’s general manager, who was allegedly caught in colleague-girlfriend scandal.”Anivar tells us that “Rajeev Kaul was Microsoft India Managing Director at that time” and this is later confirmed in reports that we have assembled. An interesting side story about Microsoft India appeared about 2-3 months ago. It was about Microsoft India’s general manager, who was allegedly caught in colleague-girlfriend scandal.

One reader says that “buried in some of the 100-comment threads on Mini-Microsoft are stories that sound plausible from Microsoft India staff.” These were soon followed by the guy quitting and taking some people with him (including the rumored girlfriend).

This kind of gossip isn’t normally of any interest, but the point is that the commenters alleged financial wrongdoing too. If one searches the comments for “IDC”, there is an unsubstantiated allegation that the general manager for Microsoft India department (IDC) took the wife & kids to Mumbai on Microsoft’s dime to make use of a Microsoft vacation house Stateside, etc.

Coverage of all these things totally misses important tidbits that arrives from antitrust action (apparently invoked by Sun Microsystems, at least initially). For example, from May of the following year in the Indian media:

Kerala and Uttaranchal, they said, would be the first two beneficiary States of project Shiksha — its plan to accelerate computer literacy by inculcating IT skills to over 80,000 teachers and 35 lakh students. Kerala for its obvious high literacy rate and Uttaranchal for the pleasant experience of `Teach the future’ programme conducted jointly with Intel.

The number of States will gradually be brought to ten over a three-year period. The States will be selected on the basis of commitment (bureaucratic and political), basic infrastructure and previous experience. Asked to name the next two States, the Microsoft India Managing Director, Rajiv Kaul, said for the moment the focus would be on Kerala and Uttaranchal and the next lot “will depend on which ones we wrap up first”.

They then cite IDC which, as we’ll show shortly, is providing Microsoft "talking points" to accompany EDGI and other GNU/Linux-hostile initiatives. We’ll get around to covering IDC’s mischiefs and role in EDGI later on. They supply ammunition in exchange for money. A lot of money.

Hyderabad will remain the focus for its development efforts — for products as well as the considerable internal applications development work. The India Development Centre in Hyderabad, set up in 1997 and the catalyst for more such centres by other companies, has added 75 more personnel to its 125 since Mr. Gates’ announcement. “We are on target to grow the IDC to 500 by the end of calendar year 2005″. The Internal IT applications development team will be hiring 150 internal application professionals who will focus on building, managing, testing and supporting leading edge strategic internal business applications.

“See this from 2003,” writes Anivar. “Microsoft announced [it would] invest 100 Crore In Project Shiksha.”

From January of the same year:

IT major Microsoft will invest Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion) in India in the next few years, of which a substantial amount would be in Kerala, a top company executive said on Saturday.

“It is from [the] Global Investors meet in Kerala,” according to Anivar, who also gave us some news clips from 2000 and 2001. “These are related to Microsoft’s involvement in the IT@school Project,” he writes. Microsoft succeeded in becoming a partner in this project by 2000 and later it became part of a Microsoft-Intel Collaboration Project (when left-wing parties were in power). It was called Project Shiksha (which means teaching) and it was implemented in Kerala & West Bengal (another CPIM-ruled state).

A state-wide campaign by the Free software Community and the Kerala school Teachers association (KSTA) succeeded in changing it to GNU/Linux.

“The following links substantiate our chronology (with relevant excerpts),” adds Anivar. He pulled the following reports which we present below.

From September 20, 2000:

Mr. Joseph said the Government had entered into an agreement with Microsoft for a project to introduce computer and IT-enabled education covering all the schools in the State. The first phase would cover all the 2,500 high schools. In the subsequent stages, all the 60 lakh students from Class I to Class X would be covered, he said.

The Minister said Microsoft had already trained 1,000 teachers in the first phase. He said the Government had set up a State Institute of Educational Training to undertake creation of computer-based educational tools, study materials and teaching aids.

From October 6, 2001:

The previous education minister, P J Joseph, had launched his pet IT@School programme about a year ago. He had envisaged a major role for the information technology heavyweights Microsoft and Intel in enabling around six million school children to be computer literate by 2010.

From March 12, 2001:

Similarly, we are working very closely with C-DAC and ER&DC, Trivandrum on local language development. In education, we have launched a major project entitled ‘IT@School’, which basically aims to introduce IT-facilitated education in about 1000 schools in the State. A number of agencies including Microsoft, Intel and Schoolnet are involved in this project for teacher training and content development.

The best-researched report is probably this one:

When Richard M. Stallman’s visit to India coincided with Bill Gates’ trip here in early November, there naturally were some fireworks. Although the big story was the money Gates pledged to donate to India, ideals from the Free/Libre and open-source software world have had an impact.

During his trip, Stallman maintained a low profile and took a largely volunteer-supported visit of India, even while the ideas he spends a lifetime to uphold kept getting bounced back and forth across this vast country.

Gates, meanwhile, hogged the headlines with his millions of dollars donation to battle AIDS. Mainstream journalists fell over each other to get a wide range of stories from different parts of the country about the doings and sayings of the world’s richest man.

Behind the scenes, however, a fascinating debate was underway. It came up mainly on the Internet, via mailing-lists, and from those who disagree strongly with the software path charted by Gates.

[...]

In India, the Microsoft Corporation chairman outlined a long list of monetary handouts.

* $20 million to develop India’s Shiksha edtech training programme (which has an ambitious target of training more than 80,000 teachers and 3.5 million students over several years);
* $1 million to MIT’s Media Lab Asia project;
* a $25 million, five-year grant for a children’s vaccine programme against Hepatitis B in the southern Andhra Pradesh state; and
* $100 million to battle AIDS in India.

[...]

That Gates’ approach is clearly linked to the growing GNU/Linux campaigns in India is more than clear. Rajesh Mahapatra, writing for the Associated Press, commented, “Hoping to stave off a rise in the popularity of free, open-source software, Microsoft Corp. chairman Bill Gates has announced a $400-million-US investment in India.” He went on to say, “The three-year initiative–part philanthropy, part business boost–seeks to entrench products of the world’s dominant software company in schools and among India’s multitude of talented programmers.”

During his trip, Gates sought to underplay India’s increased support for GNU/Linux. He argued that Microsoft’s Windows remains far ahead of its competition. But the Associated Press reports otherwise: “Indian software companies are increasingly opting for Linux. Users say they prefer the open-source system because its basic code is non-proprietary, can be freely modified and makes better sense for the developing world than Windows.”

“The LJ story [covers] FSF India’s works and its response to Gates’ visit,” says Anivar. “The same person mentioned in the report, Arun M (secretary of FSF India), is now thrown out from special officer Post of ICFOSS (International Center to Promote FOSS) in Kerala.” We’ve already covered this here.

From this 2003 article it turns out to officially be an MoU.

Microsoft India has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Uttaranchal government for the rollout of Project Shiksha.

Microsoft’s internal notes on memoranda of understanding (along with examples) can be found here.

“There is still more news,” writes Anivar, “Although I could not find an indiainfo.com news announcing Intel’s entry…”

House in India

Intel’s role in these programmes will certainly be explored in the future. These affairs against GNU/Linux ought to be recognised by those who buy Intel gear and are led to believe that Intel is a friend of Linux with its open source drivers.

“The people of Microsoft’s Project Shiksha partnered with another state Called andhra Pradesh in 2004,” says Anivar, who points to this article and quotes:

MICROSOFT Corporation India has entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Andhra Pradesh Government for Microsoft’s Project Shiksha to accelerate the IT literacy in the State. Under this a Microsoft IT Academy Centre in the State to provide teacher training is expected to be established.

There is some more information right here:

Launched in India in December 2003 by Bill Gates, Chairman, Microsoft Corporation, ‘Project Shiksha’ has a target of reaching out to 80,000 teachers by this year-end, a period of five years.

[...]

Under the project, run in partnership with state governments, Microsoft India currently has MoUs with 10 states for 11 academies, offering a spectrum of education resources, including tools, programmes, and practices with an aim to promote the use of IT in education

Anivar says that “the letter talks about Bill’s visit in November 2003.” It covers 10 states and the news is from 2008, so it’s not so easily forgotten.

“After reading through these documents, what’s most bothersome (to me) is that a lot of people will believe that the millions of dollars that Bill Gates donated to charity in India (and other countries) makes everything else (like EDGI) okay,” says another reader. That’s the irony of it all and this is also why Gates’ donations are often a shrewd scam. “I also wonder if all those charity dollars had conditions attached to them,” says the reader. █