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11.24.12

Links 24/11/2012: DreamWorks Open Source Release, LibreOffice 4.0 Alpha

Posted in News Roundup at 12:29 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNOME bluefish

Contents

GNU/Linux

  • Big Swing in PC Shipments in Malaysia

    “Distracted”? Uh, no. Consumers have little need of a over-powered/huge/clumsy/expensive big box PC or a burdensome notebook either. They can do it all with a smart phone running */Linux. The fall of 29% includes the end of a government procurement (of notebooks running “7″). This is not just a shift to less Wintel but a shift to more GNU/Linux and more Android/Linux. It puts the lie to the saying that folks “choose” Wintel when that’s all that was on retail shelves. There’s more choice on retail shelves today and more real choices are being made. This is not a blip but the new way of IT. Get used to it.

  • LPI Recognizes Linux Essentials’ Volunteers

  • Desktop

    • The Linux Setup – Max Bernstein, Programmer
    • Ubuntu ‘Black Friday’ Bargains

      It’s so-called “Black Friday” today, an annual US event in which adults gather en-mass at retail stores to fight each other for discounted electric whisks, George Foreman grills, and plasma TVs.

    • What Linux Users Need To Know When Holiday Shopping For PC Hardware

      If you plan to upgrade your Linux desktop hardware in the near future or will be shopping for new PC hardware this holiday season, here’s a few words of advice on recommended components and manufacturers to go with for the best Linux hardware experience.

    • Running Linux on the Series 3 Chromebook

      Last month Google and Samsung released the first commercially available product using the ARM® Cortex™-A15 SoC design: the new Series 3 Chromebook. Not only does the Chromebook have the new Samsung Exynos 5250 providing the core compute power, but it also has the new ARM Mali™-T604 providing the power to move all those pixels around. As with previous Chromebooks, it uses a custom operating system known as ChromeOS (which is based loosely on Gentoo Linux). If you’ve ever used either the Chrome or Chromium browser from Google you’ll have no issues, as everything is orientated around the browser.

  • Audiocasts/Shows

  • Kernel Space

    • Systemd 196 Brings New Features

      A new version of systemd was released today by Lennart Poettering. The systemd 196 release brings many new features.

    • Kernel Log – Coming in 3.7 (Part 3): Infrastructure

      Linux 3.7 can use signatures to verify the integrity of kernel modules, while the new integrity appraisal extension helps to detect malicious software from a third party. The new kernel loads firmware files without udev and includes important container improvements.

    • Intel Driver Changes Building Up For Linux 3.8 Kernel

      The Intel DRM graphics driver in the Linux 3.8 kernel will feature a number of user-facing changes.

      We’re still a few days out from the Linux 3.7 kernel but already we know a lot of what to expect from the Linux 3.8 kernel, including the open-source GPU driver improvements for Linux 3.8.

      Among the Intel DRM driver work you will find merged during the Linux 3.8 merge window when it’s open around early December include:

    • Graphics Stack

      • AMD’s New Catalyst Linux Driver Isn’t Too Good

        Last week marked the release of a new AMD Catalyst Linux driver beta that was intended to improve the AMD Radeon OpenGL performance. AMD said this updated closed-source Linux graphics driver would bring “significant performance improvements” for Valve’s recently ported Left 4 Dead 2 Linux game. Curious about AMD Linux OpenGL performance improvements elsewhere, I ran some benchmarks of this new driver on several different graphics cards. Unfortunately, the performance improvements aren’t too widespread and there’s other problems making this beta driver not appealing.

  • Applications

  • Desktop Environments

    • New E17 Release: ALPHA4

    • K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

      • Calligra 2.5.4 Released
      • Google Trends prediction,No future for KDE

        While i was messing around with the tool i noticed two check boxes at the top right hand side. One is labelled “New Headlines” and other “Forecast”. The Headlines check box is turned ON by default and the tool seems to try and correlate news headlines with search trends. I at once thought that this feature has a lot of hidden potential. I noticed that when i turn ON the other check box the graph extrapolates into the future along x axis(years) probably based on past data of searches made in Google search engine. Future trends are plotted in dotted lines whereas past data is in the form of a contiguous line.

    • GNOME Desktop

      • A Screenshot Tour to Gnome Shell 3.7.2+Git

        I was very optimistic about the potential of Gnome3 since the beginning ..but I couldn’t never imagine all these things that are happening in 3.8. Gnome 3.8 is above any expectation and that has mostly to do with the refreshed Shell and Gnome Control Center we will get.

        If Gnome Shell 3.6 was a good release, Gnome Shell 3.8 will be more than amazing!

        There is a number of huge changes like the integrated search or the re-worked notification API (and maybe a Privacy Section – work in progress), but I’ ll just go with the visuals for the moment. And not all of them. This is just the second release of Gnome Shell (3.7.2) towards the stable 3.8 (next March), many many patches are under review and they’ll be pushed in master in next releases.

      • Gnome is the most active OS project inside 550k others!
      • Calling For A Fork Of GNOME 3′s Fallback/Panel Mode

        GNOME’s Vincent Untz has written about the recent decision to remove the GNOME3 fall-back mode with the forthcoming GNOME 3.8 release. He thinks the situation will improve but he basically calls for the community to fork and maintain the GNOME fall-back (gnome-panel, Metacity, etc) components assuming there is enough interest.

        GNOME developers decided to drop the fallback mode rather than maintain it since it was already a burden to take care of and not always well tested. For those without the GPU/driver support to handle GNOME Shell with Mutter, LLVMpipe will now be used instead for running the heavy GNOME desktop. However, LLVMpipe doesn’t work for everyone.

  • Distributions

    • Salix OS XFCE 14.0 RC3 Ditches GNU Privacy Assistant

      Salix, a GNU/Linux distribution based on Slackware, that is simple, fast, easy to use, and relying on XFCE desktop environment, is now at version 14.0 RC3.

    • Cinnarch 2012.11.22 is Looking Sharp

      Cinnarch is a new project coupling Linux Mint’s Cinnamon desktop with the popular Arch Linux. Like Arch, it’s technically a rolling release distribution, but with periodic snapshot releases. A new update, considered “in beta stage” by founder Alex Filgueira, was just released and it sounded ripe for a test drive.

      Cinnarch is an installable live system for i686 or x86_64 and offers your choice of several languages upon boot. The first stop is a selection dialog asking if you’d like to run as a live system or install Cinnarch. The installer is a console menu-based installer, but developers are working on a graphical version.

    • Arch’s Dirty Little Not-So-Secret

      A reader of my blog recently made a comment about Arch’s lack of package signing, and this got me looking into the issue more carefully. What I found has left me deeply concerned with a number of aspects of Arch.

    • Cinnarch: Arch Linux with Mint’s Cinnamon desktop

    • New Releases

    • Red Hat Family

    • Debian Family

      • Derivatives

        • Canonical/Ubuntu

          • Ubuntu 12.10 Quantal Quetzal review

            It’s not just Windows 8 that’s been criticised for expecting users to swallow an unpopular and ill-suited new interface. When Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu Linux, moved its default desktop OS interface to Unity in April 2012, it also alienated many loyal followers.

          • New community-announce mailing list!

          • Flavours and Variants

            • Seven fresh reasons to try Linux Mint 14 ‘Nadia’

              It seems like the shiny new Linux releases are coming fast and furious this fall, and this week has been no exception.

            • Linux Mint 14 Screenshots
            • Linux Mint 14 Out Now
            • Kubuntu 12.10 review – Improving somewhat

              Kubuntu is almost like Ubuntu, and then not at all. It is amazing how much difference there can be between two operating system releasing sharing so much DNA. As you probably recall, I was utterly disappointed with Quetzal, on two occasions. The first time, on a generic laptop with SSD and Intel graphics, where it blossomed with bugs and glitches. And then, the second time around, when it utterly failed me on my high-end laptop with its Nvidia card.

              For this very reason, I will be testing Kubuntu 12.10 Quantal Quetzal on the said laptop first, to see whether the Nvidia issues are strictly related to Ubuntu and its unity desktop and who knows what else, or perhaps a much bigger, more serious phenomenon. So we will begin with a dandy setup, 4GB RAM, Nvidia GT 320M 1GB VRAM card, with two operating systems installed on the internal disk, and booting a handsome new bunch from an external USB disk. Sounds glorious, and as real as it gets.

            • Mint Linux gifts Unity haters with ‘Nadia’ … plus her Mate

              Ubuntu users with a hankering for Gnome can take comfort: the latest version of Linux distro Mint has been released.

              Mint 14, codenamed Nadia, is based on Ubuntu 12.10 comes with Mate 1.4, an updated version of the Mint user interface with greater stability and bug fixes.

            • Linux Mint 14 Unleashed
            • Linux Mint 14 Cinnamon Screenshots

  • Devices/Embedded

Free Software/Open Source

  • GCHQ aims to tackle open source security clearance problem

    UK security services have begun bridging the gap that has stopped open source software getting security clearance for use in government systems.

    The initiative has come too late to stop the first big contract wins delivered under the government’s flagship G-Cloud procurement vehicle going to a supplier that shunned open source products because they did not have security accreditation.

  • DreamWorks Releases Software Used in ‘Guardians’
  • Dreamworks Animation releases OpenVDB 0.99

    Dreamworks Animation has released a new version of its OpenVDB library. The animation production company open sourced the project in August and has now released version 0.99.0. OpenVDB has been used for some time within Dreamworks for features such as Puss in Boots, Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted and the just released Rise of the Guardians.

  • DreamWorks releases an open source software
  • DevOps must be Developer-first, not Operations

    The rise of social enterprise tools intended to facilitate workplace collaboration have naturally impacted the software application development function in terms of user interconnectivity and integration.

    Specifically here we see the popularised term “DevOps” coming to the fore. Used to express the orchestration of both the ‘developer’ and the ‘operations’ functions responsible for the building and subsequent deployment of software as it is.

  • Web Browsers

    • Mozilla

      • Firefox 17 Wraps in Facebook Features And Better Extension Handling

        This week, Mozilla released version 17 of the Firefox browser, and if you’ve been increasingly married to Google Chrome or another browser, there are some new features in the latest Firefox to take note of. They include new integration with Facebook, and more protection from Firefox extensions that may cause performance problems. Here are the details.

        Firefox 17 is available for the Mac, Windows and Linux, and you can find system requirements for it here. There is also an updated post from Mozilla on extensions and their compatibility with the new version.

      • Mozilla to Drop 64-bit Firefox for Windows Nightly Builds

        Plans for 64-bit Firefox for Windows have been put on hold by Mozilla in a bid to concentrate more on the 32-bit versions it has been found.

      • Mozilla puts 64-bit Firefox for Windows on hold

  • Oracle/Java/LibreOffice

    • LibreOffice 4.0 Alpha1 Arrives For Testing

      Bjoern Michaelsen from Canonical, the parent company of Ubuntu, who works on LibreOffice has announced the alpha1 of LibreOffice 4.0. Michaelsen writes on his blog, “Its a pre-release, an alpha — essentially just a named daily build — and will kill your dog and eat your children.”

  • BSD

    • Crowding out OpenBSD

      Unix as a whole predates Linux by many years, and even the rather younger BSD variant was well into its teens by the time Linus released his first kernel. BSD networking defined and enabled the Internet. This illustrious history notwithstanding, BSD has long since ceded the spotlight to Linux in most settings. As Linux has come to dominate the free software development world, the result has been some occasional pain for other operating system distributions. Now, as a recent discussion on an OpenBSD mailing list shows, BSD developers are feeling that pain in a heightened manner. This situation has some serious implications.

  • Public Services/Government

    • LiMux Project Has Saved Munich €10m So Far
    • A Tale of Two Cities

      So which is “dog bites man” and which is “man bites dog”? A look at the press coverage tells us:

      * Leipzig OpenOffice coverage == 2 hits
      * Freiburg OpenOffice coverage == 1150 hits

      The larger migration away from Microsoft Office in Leipzig was barely covered in the press. But the Freiburg story has had enormous press uptake. By this I take it that moving from Microsoft Office to open source alternatives like OpenOffice is normal, the expected, the non-newsworthy common occurrence. It is “dog bites man”. Moving in the opposite direction, from free software to proprietary is newsworthy because it is so rare. It is “man bites dog”.

    • Fallout From Migrations of Office Suite

      Isn’t it the truth? There was a wave of huge migrations to FLOSS in the period of 2003-2005 which made headlines but far larger migrations recently barely are noticed in the noise. We now have several governments of large nations moving to GNU/Linux and FLOSS, huge corporations like Google too and countless millions of individuals. It’s not news any longer but I still enjoy reading about it when it does break through.

      M$ has some tenets about mindshare for technology. One of them is that you only win when the status quo becomes thinking the competing technology works is a mental defect. Conversely, M$ must know it is losing because no one now believes using FLOSS (GNU/Linux, Android/Linux, FLOSS applications…) is irrational. FLOSS works for everyone who tries it. The few exceptions I have read are quite unusual, involving some constraint other than price/performance, like inability to run application X. When people consider “doing task X” instead of some lock-in they suddenly find themselves doing IT the right way, the way that works for them.

  • Licensing

    • Left Wondering Why VLC Relicensed to LGPL

      I first met the original group of VLC developers at the Solutions GNU/Linux conference in 2001. I had been an employee of FSF for about a year at the time, and I recall they were excited to tell the FSF about the project, and very proud that they’d used FSF’s premier and preferred license (at the time): GPLv2-or-later.

      What a difference a decade makes. I’m admittedly sad that VLC has (mostly) finished its process of relicensing under LGPLv2.1-or-later. While I have occasionally supported relicensing from GPL to LGPL, every situation is different and I think it should be analyzed carefully. In this case, I don’t support VLC’s decision to relicense.

      [...]

      So, I’m left baffled: do the VLC community actually believes the LGPL would solve that problem?

  • Openness/Sharing

  • Programming

    • PyPy 2.0 Beta 1 supports ARM processors

      The first beta of version 2.0 of PyPy has been released with support for ARM CPUs and CFFI compatibility. PyPy is an alternative Python 2.x implementation with a just-in-time compiler, a stackless mode and a sandbox for untrusted code. It is described by its developers as faster and “almost a drop-in replacement for CPython 2.7.3″. The new version of the “very compliant” Python interpreter is the first version to officially support the ARM processor architecture. The software will work on soft-float ARM/Linux builds on ARMv7 or later CPUs that have a floating-point unit.

    • Rails::API strips the fat off Ruby on Rails

      A group of Ruby on Rails developers has announced Rails::API, a derivative of the original Rails project that provides a slimmed-down set of functions which are useful for developers using Rails to write applications that use a backend API-only server or servers. This new subset of the Ruby on Rails feature set has had ActionView and other rendering features removed; this makes it easier and quicker to use for developers who are not concerned with writing frontends of web services and also makes the platform more lightweight. Work on Rails::API has been ongoing for several months, but the developers have now decided to go public with the framework, which is currently at version 0.0.2.

  • Standards/Consortia

Leftovers

  • Google Staredown With FTC May Result In FTC Blinking

    Back in October, we wrote about a report that the FTC was preparing to file antitrust charges against Google. In trying to find out more, the story kept shifting. First, we heard it was all about “search manipulation” in putting Google-related info on top of search results (i.e., search for a location and a Google Map shows at the top of the page). Then, there was some talk about how it was going to focus on how recently-purchased-by-Google Motorola Mobility was abusing standards-essential patents. If it was the latter, that seemed like a weird way to go, since it was so unrelated to Google’s main business. Similarly, the whole “search manipulation” claim seemed odd. What kind of “harm” is it when someone searching on Google for an address is shown a Google map. It seems like it actually benefits consumers.

  • The Yes Men Are Revolting
  • INTERVIEW: Noam Chomsky on Government, Silicon Valley and the Internet
  • Wrench Inventor Claims Sears Stole His Idea, Took It to China

    This time last year, Brown’s factory was buzzing, with his employees working overtime to fulfill holiday orders. With the help of Sears, Brown’s company sold more than 200,000 wrenches at Christmas alone.

  • SurfTheChannel Founder Gets Extra Jail Time For Revealing Documents That Raised Questions About His Conviction

    You may recall that, earlier this year, we wrote about a very troubling ruling in the UK against the founder of SurfTheChannel, Anton Vickerman. STC was a linking site, no different than others that had been found perfectly legal in the UK. After the conviction, which resulted in Vickerman being put in jail for four years, some additional info came out that was really horrifying. First, there was the fact that this criminal case, including the investigation, was driven entirely by a private anti-piracy organization, FACT, which is financed by the Hollywood studios. Yes, a criminal case that was run by private interests. Actual law enforcement had refused to proceed with the case, saying that there wasn’t evidence of direct infringement. Furthermore, some “anonymous” notes from the court room suggested a judge was on a mission to put Vickerman away.

  • One Step Closer To Real Medical Tech Breakthrough… If Immigration Law Doesn’t Get In The Way

  • Health/Nutrition

    • Your Smartphone’s Dirty, Radioactive Secret

      IT’S A SWELTERING LATE FEBRUARY afternoon when I pull into the Esso gas station in the tiny town of Bukit Merah, Malaysia. My guide, a local butcher named Hew Yun Tat, warns me that the owner is known for his stinginess. “He’s going to ask you to buy him tea,” Hew says. “Even though he owns many businesses around here, he still can’t resist pinching pennies.”

      An older man emerges from the station office. His face and hands are mottled with white patches, his English broken.

      “I’ll talk to you,” the man says, “but only if you buy me tea.” He grins.

      “You should be ashamed of yourself,” says Hew, laughing. “A rich man like you.”

    • Ireland opens new probe into death of woman denied abortion

      Ireland has opened a new investigation into the death of a woman denied an abortion of her dying fetus, as the government scrambled to stem criticism of its handling of an incident that polarized the overwhelmingly Catholic country.

  • Defence/Police/Aggression

  • Environment/Energy/Wildlife

  • Finance

  • PR/AstroTurf/Lobbying

  • Privacy

    • Understanding The Importance of Privacy in The Networked World

      Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg has famously stated that his vision is to make the world more open, and that’s precisely what is happening. Through platforms such as Facebook and Twitter people are opening up to each other and the world more than ever. Everybody has something about themselves to say, and they seem quite eager to put it out there.

      [...]

      This is also the reason why the value of privacy is relative. An individual should be free to reveal or conceal as much or as little about themselves as they wish. If more people voluntarily share more about themselves, this fact alone doesn’t then necessarily represent any kind of a social problem. Of course, it is still possible for people to make arguably bad choices, but those are still their choices to make.The important thing is to promote personal responsibility, without demanding that some be responsible for the choices of others.

  • Civil Rights

    • Judge in case of alleged hacker, Jeremy Hammond, is married to Stratfor

      STATEMENT FROM THE FREE JEREMY HAMMOND SUPPORT NETWORK (https://www.facebook.com/supporthammond) This is what we know for certain surrounding the unfortunate circumstances of Jeremy Hammond’s ongoing prosecution. A time line published only days after Jeremy’s arrest suggests that Operation AntiSec was orchestrated by the FBI through the agency of FBI informant Hector Monsegur; http://www.scribd.com/doc/85351496/Timeline-of-ANTISEC-as-Created-and-Operated-Under-FBI-Supervision. As if this were not unfortunate enough, new evidence suggests that Loretta A. Preska, the federal judge currently presiding over Jeremy’s case, has an undisclosed conflict which could potentially influence her decisions regarding Jeremy’s trial. Loretta A. Preska is the Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York and a former nominee to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Preska is married to Thomas J. Kavaler, with whom she attended law school. Information leaked from the very hack Jeremy is being prosecuted for having committed show that Thomas J. Kavaler is affiliated with Stratfor; http://archive.org/details/Stratfor. Sensitive information belonging to Kavaler was leaked along with the sensitive information of more than eight hundred thousand other Stratfor users and millions of internal emails. We demand that Loretta A. Preska, Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, excuse herself from Jeremy case immediately. We demand that all previous rulings made by Chief Judge Preska be dismissed. We demand an investigation into the tactics used by law enforcement officials to entrap hacktivists. We demand an investigation into the circumstances which allowed for Chief Judge Preska to preside over Jeremy’s case. We demand a fair trial for Jeremy Hammond! We will not be silent in the presence of such great injustices. If those prosecuting Jeremy deny him a voice, they will hear ours!

    • 5 Reasons I’m Opting Out Of The TSA’s Scanners (And You Should Too)

      And I’m not alone. A group of activists who are concerned about the so-called “advanced” imaging technology are also urging air travelers to just say “no” next week.

      Opting out means agents will either give you an “enhanced” pat-down or wave you through the screening area (and when there’s a long line, it’s a safe bet it’ll be the latter). But the peaceful protest will also slow screenings to the point where the agency will have to reconsider the way it checks air travelers, as it did during a successful opt-out action two years ago.

    • Geoffrey McGann, Man With Strange Watch, Arrested At Oakland Airport
    • South Korea Arrests Man For Re-Tweeting Oppressive North Korean Government; Wins Ultimate Irony Award

      I have to admit, there are times when I find South Korea immensely confusing when it comes to technology. They appear to embrace the hell out of the more modern view of the music business. They’re heavily invested in their population’s internet connectivity. Yet they can also get goofy when it comes to intellectual property, such as when they decided patenting their military uniforms was a surefire way of keeping the North Korean military from dressing alike. They’ve also put in place a mildly enforced version of 3 strikes legislation to appease American entertainment companies.

      Admitting all that, however, my surprise has boiled over upon learning that a South Korean man was found guilty of “praising, encouraging or propagandizing” North Korea under their “National Security Law” for tweets associated with his account. His crime? Well, mostly retweeting North Korea’s official Twitter account, tweeting out a couple of links to North Korean propaganda songs, and tweeting nonsensical nonsense (is there any other kind?) about their neighbors to the north. Oh, and he also mercilessly mocked the hell out of this country he’s accused of supporting as well.

  • Internet/Net Neutrality

    • Prosecution of Anonymous activists highlights war for Internet control
    • Euro MPs: Do not let the ITU take control of the internet

      Euro MPs have opposed the idea of a UN organisation taking control of the internet away from US bodies, saying it would hurt the free flow of information online.

    • You are committing a crime right now

      That’s because I did not explicitly authorize you to access this site…

    • Google Asks People To Speak Out Against ITU’s Attempt To Takeover Internet Governance

      We’ve been covering how the UN’s International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has been moving forward with its plans next month to consider a number of proposals to takeover aspects of internet regulation and governance. There are, of course, a number of different proposals being submitted by different countries. The problem, of course, is that the setup of the ITU is not open to the public, and there are some special interests involved — mainly by countries with oppressive governments looking to use this as a way to gain control over the internet for the sake of censorship, as well as local (often state-run or state-associated) telcos using the process to see if they can divert money from successful internet companies to their own bank accounts. While the ITU likes to present itself as merely a neutral meeting place for all of these proposals, what’s been clear for a while is that the ITU leadership has taken an active role in encouraging, cultivating and supporting some of the more egregious proposals.

  • Intellectual Monopolies

    • Supplying The Missing Ingredient In Evidence-Based Policymaking: Evidence

      It seems extraordinary that in the area of copyright it is only recently that people have started to consider the evidence before formulating policy. Even now, there is still resistance to this idea in some quarters. Elsewhere, though, there is a growing recognition that policy-makers must have access to the data they need when considering how to achieve given goals.

    • Copyrights

      • Sobering lessons for the government from the latest Ofcom research on copyright infringement

        Reacting to Ofcom’s new research into online copyright infringement, Jim Killock, Executive Director of the Open Rights Group said:

        “Only 16% of respondents said they would stop unlawful file sharing if sent a letter by their ISP…”

      • “Anonymous” File-Sharing Darknet Ruled Illegal by German Court

        A court in Hamburg, Germany, has granted an injunction against a user of the anonymous and encrypted file-sharing network RetroShare . RetroShare users exchange data through encrypted transfers and the network setup ensures that the true sender of the file is always obfuscated. The court, however, has now ruled that RetroShare users who act as an exit node are liable for the encrypted traffic that’s sent by others.

      • Fixing Copyright: The Purpose Of Copyright

        Since the GOP decided to chicken out on holding the very necessary debate on copyright reform, let’s keep the debate going without them, and hope they join in. As we’ve discussed, the Republican Study Committee released a fantastic report from staffer Derek Khanna, and then retracted it under lobbyist pressure. The RSC wants to claim that the paper didn’t go through its full review process, but we’ve heard from multiple sources that this is simply not true, and that the RSC is pushing this story to appease angry lobbyists (apparently the US Chamber of Commerce has taken over as the leader of the cause on this one, following the initial complaints from the MPAA and RIAA). Either way, all this has done is draw much more attention to the report, which you can still read here.

      • Megaupload Helped DOJ In NinjaVideo Prosecution; And DOJ Uses That Against Megaupload

        On Friday, we wrote about the unsealed seizure warrants against Megaupload, and noted that they showed how Megaupload had assisted in a criminal investigation, in which they were told not to interfere with the files, but then those very files were used as evidence against Megaupload itself. It’s now come out that this was part of the case against NinjaVideo, which we wrote about a few times.

      • Le Petit Prince artist Troy Gua on the cease and desist from Prince

        Somewhere deep down, we’re sure Seattle-based conceptual artist and serious Prince obsessive Troy Gua expected he’d someday have to face saying goodbye to the much-lauded miniature doll that was at the center of his art series, Le Petit Prince. This was no small project — Gua literally recreated many famous Prince moments with the little guy and even included detailed props like the Purple Rain motorcycle. Ironically, we were recently emailing with Gua to do a piece about the new calendar he was putting out featuring some of these photographs, but this week Gua sadly informed us the dream is over. He received a cease and desist letter from the real Prince’s people on Monday.

      • Is Malibu Media About To Become The Righthaven Of Porn Trolls?

        Last month we wrote about an interesting case in which a judge effectively called the bluff of Malibu Media, a copyright trolling operation that has filed 365 lawsuits, targeting about 6,000 people. And, of course, it’s never taken a single one to an actual trial, because that does not appear to be the goal. Instead, it’s all about getting people to settle, and it sounds like Malibu has been successful on that front. In the case we mentioned last month, the judge made it clear that he wanted Malibu Media to actually go through a trial, and highlighted four defendants who had claimed innocence, and wanted to use those as a “bellwether” trial, to effectively test Malibu’s theories. The judge, Michael Baylson, was pretty clear that he would not be happy if Malibu Media tried to squeeze out of the case.

      • Why Was It Poland That Led The European Revolt Against ACTA?

        In retrospect, it is now clear that the pivotal moment in the campaign against ACTA was last January, when thousands of people took to the streets in Poland despite the sub-zero temperatures there. A few weeks later, similar protests took place across the continent, especially in Eastern Europe, which then influenced politicians at all levels, culminating in the rejection of ACTA by the European Parliament on July 4.

      • Newly Independent Band To Fans: Don’t Just Remix Our Music, Please Try To Make Money From It Too

11.23.12

Microsoft Jack Back From Retirement to Save Vista 8

Posted in Microsoft, Vista 8, Windows at 6:04 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

ZDNet front page (and menu for all pages)

Vista 8 section

Summary: Microsoft’s troubled operating system monopoly necessitates some biased ‘coverage’ and Microsoft also allows people to get Vista 8 free of charge

The disaster which is Vista 8 is going to cost Microsoft dearly. Microsoft staff talks about it anonymously in the mini-Microsoft blog. Microsoft is buying fake endorsements again and it gave Microsoft Jack [1, 2, 3] some hardware. He’s not as retired as one might think (or as he wants us to think) based on this new article. ZDNet has a seemingly paid-for section again, but we cannot confirm; ZDNet managers don’t want to talk about it. We mentioned Jack’s 'advert' for Vista 8 from the other day; this time he is calling it “great”.

Some said that Microsoft would give Vista 8 for free to save itself. Well, check this out:

Microsoft is letting Windows 8 Pro users upgrade to Media Center for free until January 31st. Neat. But in so doing, it’s handed out a code that will fully activate any copy of Windows 8. Oops. The Verge has even tested it out and is confirming that it works.

Who said it’s a mistake? █

“It’s easier for our software to compete with Linux when there’s piracy than when there’s not.”

–Bill Gates

European Free Software Activists Fight Against Software Patents Loopholes: Unitary Patent and FRAND

Posted in Europe, Patents at 5:50 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Eiffel

Summary: Press coverage following worrisome action that jeopardises small software developers in the EU

“Unitary Patent,” say French Free software activists, is “a compromise that excludes the Parliament, the European law and its citizens” and their post says:

n Monday 12th of November, the Legal Affairs Committee (JURI) of the European Parliament held an extraordinary debate about the unitary patent, which was attended by Michel Barnier, the European Commissioner in charge of internal market. According to our sources, he has welcomed with the compromise found in the Council by the Cypriot Presidency. However, and as April highlighted it, this solution infringes the Union Law, and does not provide any democratic safeguard. These questions have been cleared out, even though the Commission is aware about the likely unlawfulness of this project.

Because of this, several MEPs demonstrated only a very limited support to this proposal. Some of the MEPs, such as Eva Lichtenberger (Greens/EFA) or Françoise Castex (Party of European Socialists), even opposed immediately the Council’s new version.

Still, it appears that the text will be submitted again during the next plenary session of the European Parliament on December 11th, 2012, following a vote from the Council of the European Union on December 10th.

The lack of public communication from the European Parliament shows furthermore its lack of haste on this matter: though the debates could not be broadcasted due to a technical difficulty – and on that point the content of the Council’s proposal was in fact not even released1, no official communication was issued by the European Parliament.

It seems like the unitary patent is moving forward, making ways for software patents in Europe. The Irish press wrote about it:

The European Union is readying a way to make the process of obtaining a patent simpler and less expensive, but it could also make it dangerously easy for litigants to block sales of their competitors’ products across the region, according to a French advocacy group.

There is concurrently a loophole called FRAND and it helps bring software patents from a back door. The founder of the FSFE spoke about it yesterday. His slides are online.

Presentation at Nov 22nd workshop at EC workshop on FRAND and Open Source by Kolab Systems AG.

FRAND is being promoted by Microsoft and proprietary software allies. We must fight back. █

USPTO and SCOTUS Abducted by Corporations

Posted in Patents at 5:36 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Factory scene

Summary: Complaints about the US patent systems rise to stage or press level because of nanotechnology and software professionals, as well as the arrogant words of the IBMer who oversees the USPTO; SCOTUS too is shown to have lost its objectivity

The words of Kappos are doing him no favours, just as we expected. One radio site says:

The director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office offered a forceful defense of his agency and of the patentability of software amid an ongoing debate over whether software ought to be entitled to patent protection.

While USPTO chief David Kappos acknowledged software is a challenging topic, critics need to let the system work as various updates to the nations’ patent laws come into effect, he said Tuesday in a speech at the Center for American Progress

“Stallman’s got company,” says another article as “researcher wants nanotech patent moratorium” (we covered this days ago). To quote the article:

Software patents have long been contentious things, but patents in other areas of science are also becoming frequent subjects of editorials and court cases, with biotech and genomics making it to the Supreme Court. Now, if an editorial in Nature is to be believed, nanotechnology is set to become the latest patent battleground.

Joshua Pearce is a professor at Michigan Technological University, and he very explicitly argues for taking an open-source and open-access approach to nanotechnology research. But he also goes well beyond that, calling for a patent moratorium and a gutting of the law that governs tech transfers from government-funded university research. At stake, he argues, is the growth of a field that could be generating trillions of dollars of economic activity within a few years.

There is systemic corruption at the USPTO, which comes to sight in terms of revolving doors (Kappos came from IBM). The SCOTUS too [1, 2] got corrupted by corporate interests, as this look at history reveals:

On November 20, 1972, the Supreme Court handed down its first ruling on the patentability of software. In Gottschalk v. Benson, the Supreme Court invalidated a patent on a method for converting numbers from one binary format to another, “The mathematical formula involved here has no substantial practical application except in connection with a digital computer,” wrote Justice Douglas for a unanimous court. That, in his view, meant that the patent would “wholly pre-empt the mathematical formula and in practical effect would be a patent on the algorithm itself.” Mathematical algorithms are not eligible for patent protection, so the Supreme Court invalidated the patent.

Of course, a similar argument could be made about any software patent. A computer program is nothing more than a sequence of mathematical operations—a complex mathematical formula. Therefore, any patent that claims a method of solving a problem by programming a general-purpose computer is, like the patent the high court struck down 40 years ago, effectively a patent on a mathematical algorithm.

TechDirt wrote about it too:

Over at Forbes, Tim Lee has reminded us that it’s the 40th anniversary of the case in which the Supreme Court really banned software patents, arguing that they were really just math, and you can’t patent math. That case, Gottschalk v. Benson, had been seen to suggest that software programs, by themselves, could not be covered by patents.

We are not alone in pointing out that SCOTUS serves corporate interests now, and not just when it comes to patents. █

Microsoft Florian Deceives on Anti-Android Case Which is Being Derailed

Posted in Apple, FUD, GNU/Linux, Google at 5:21 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

A handshake

Summary: The largest patent case against Android (bar Oracle) is facing a setback as the judge orders Apple to undo an NDA, contrary to FUD from mobbyists

After some wrong speculations (FUD) about the HTC settlement with Apple we learn about Samsung’s attempt to look at the settlement:

There’s a hearing suddenly called by the magistrate judge, Hon. Paul Grewal, in the Apple v Samsung post-verdict trial. It’s about unsealing the Apple/HTC license agreement mostly — here’s Apple’s response [PDF] to that motion — but there are other requests to seal various filings and some disputes about things already filed as well. Samsung wants to do more depositions and more briefing in regard to Apple’s motion for a judgment as a matter of law, for example. The hearing is set for noon today, and the lawyers can do it by phone. So it’s likely going on right now as we speak.

Part of the reason for the hearing, aside from a speedier resolution, is that there is some question about why there is a motion to unseal the HTC agreement.

The liar for hire, Microsoft Florian, is wrong about it, saying it would not be possible while deceiving journalists to have them quote him.

Here is a response to his FUD:

That appears to be incorrect information, judging from the actual stipulation language filed in this US litigation between the parties. What might the explanation be? Maybe what he found is an authentic copy and, not being a lawyer or trained in US law in any way, he just misunderstood it? What else might be inaccurate in the account, then? Maybe it’s an earlier draft? Maybe the stipulation is wrong? (I doubt that very much, but I’m listing all the possibilities I can think of.) Maybe I’m misreading something? We’ll have to wait and see. Perhaps FOSSPatents can tell the world the source of the version he obtained, so we can get to the bottom of it.

Just trying to keep up with all the misinformation out there. Sooooo much of it. This is why I rarely get a day off and never got to actually retire. The misinformation seems to never quit, and with legal coverage — as opposed to propaganda, headline seeking or covering the Kardashians — accuracy is vital.

My advice is simple: rely on what you find on PACER or on checkable information. If you can’t check it yourself, how do you know it’s so? That is why I always give you a way to check.

If you wish to check the case, it’s docket number 1:11-cv-00785-GMS, the GMS standing for the judge’s initials.

Swapnil Bhartiya shows that Samsung succeeded:

Once you reach the peak of a mountain the only way to go is down. And bad news keeps coming for Apple. Samsung has now won a very important motion against the iPad maker which allows Android giant to see the patent agreement Apple recently signed with HTC.

It doesn’t mean you me or Samsung executives will get to see these documents. It’s highly confidential and its for the eyes of Samsung lawyers only.

Just to refresh your memory, Apple and HTC recently settled all their legal disputes and signed a “broad ten-year licensing agreement”. The details of the agreement were confidential.

Here is the original which everyone is citing:

The magistrate judge, the Hon. Paul Grewal, in Apple v. Samsung has ruled after today’s emergency hearing, and Samsung’s motion to compel Apple to turn over the agreement it just entered into with HTC was granted.

So the media articles that referenced FOSSPatents and wrote that the Samsung motion was mooted because Samsung had agreed to accept a redacted version were flat out wrong on the facts. The motion was not only not mooted, it went to oral argument today, and Samsung won. And that’s not all it won.

Samsung also strikes back hard:

What do you do when fate (and the legal system) deals you a cruel hand, and you’re seemingly proven an intellectual thief? Do you retreat, accept your defeat and move on, or do you try to strike back with the enemy’s own weapons?

That was Samsung’s dilemma back in August, after it was found guilty of infringing a number of Apple patents; the decision was easy – strong defense and then deadly counterattack.

We haven’t heard much lately about the status of Samsung’s defense (i.e. the appeal) in the California trial, but we’re getting more info about the counterattack. After last week we’ve seen the iPhone 5 included in the list of allegedly infringing Apple products, we’re now hearing about other devices added to the list.

It sure looks like Apple’s patent war on Android is not paying off. █

Kaspersky Complains About the Patent System

Posted in Patents, Security at 4:59 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Eugene Kaspersky

Summary: The CEO of an insecurity company says that patent trolls are hurting all of us

WE previously wrote about patent monopolies on medical treatments and ways to secure people’s systems. With patents, the priority is not the public, it’s private benefit for those who often just game the system.”I would much rather spend my time and money and energy finding ways to make the Internet safer and better than bickering over patents,” said Dean Drako, Barracuda’s CEO and Eugene Kaspersky, CEO of Kaspersky Lab has this to say today:

Patent trolls and their effect on security

[...]

The rise of the non-practicing entity (NPE) has been an especially troubling development. NPEs are firms that usually acquire patents from a range of different fields for the sole purpose of generating profit through either litigation or licensing through the threat of lawsuit.

The wide range of patents, the vague wording present in their descriptions, and the ease with which they may be applied makes it difficult for a company to defend its innovations. As a result, many companies have become more reticent toward development out of fear that they could become a target for costly lawsuits.

This anxiety has translated into a decreased desire to take the kind of risks necessary to facilitate technological breakthroughs. Technology, by its very definition, requires innovation. And without funding, the march toward new and improved products will be hindered.

Therein lays the problem: If companies and even governments can’t evolve their protective capabilities in line with the intensifying advances of cyber criminals, then the security of some of our most precious information will become increasingly vulnerable.

It is inevitable that companies that are forced to allocate more money to defending against often-spurious claims will have a decreased ability to invest in innovation. This is the opening that potential cyber terrorists need to pursue their reprehensible goals.

Cyber terrorists often don’t pursue material gains, and therefore are largely unaffected by the hindrances of cost and convention. The vastness of the internet also means that, like the mythical Hydra, the removal of one head will more than likely spawn two replacements. It then becomes a moral argument for those who wish to exploit patents without contributing to the very market from which they are benefiting.

This is not just a trolls problem, it is a patent problem. We wrote about Kaspersky before. █

Links 23/11/2012: Linux Mint 14 Released & Reviewed, Replicant 4.0

Posted in News Roundup at 10:50 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNOME bluefish

Contents

GNU/Linux

  • The history of Linux: how time has shaped the penguin
  • The Linux’s perception of my neighbours

    I’ve always presented myself as a Linux geek to my neighbours and it has been nice seeing how the Linux word evolved (with funny and surprising quotes) during the past ten years in their minds. A friend of mine (Aretha Battistutta) made a little comic strip out of the topic and the result is simply amazing.

  • Desktop

  • Audiocasts/Shows

    • Podcast Season 4 Episode 22

      In this episode: Linux Mint 14 has been released. Planet KDE does awesome work. There’s an OpenStreetMap map-a-thon. Australia’s government is TLD-shy. Red Hat invests in MongoDB, there may be life on Mars, Apple will have to reveal how much HTC is paying it, and the UEFI saga is turning nasty. Hear our non-audio related discoveries, and your own brains and opinions in the Open Ballot.

  • Kernel Space

  • Applications

  • Desktop Environments

    • K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

      • KDE 4.10 Beta 1 Released

        The KDE project has announced the release of first beta for its renewed Workspaces, Applications, and Development Platform 4.10.

        Post this release the team will now focus on bug fixing and further polishing new and old functionality as the API, dependency and feature freezes is already in place.

        So, what’s new in KDE SC 4.10?
        With this release KDE is introducing a brand new Screen Locker, a new screen locking mechanism, which is based on QtQuick brings and offers more flexibility and security to Plasma Desktop. It also introduces a new print manager which makes improves setting up of printers and monitoring jobs.

      • Archiving on Kmail
      • Let’s hear it for Konqueror

        My browser of choice on the desktop has been Firefox for many years. Firefox uses the Gecko rendering engine. As a backup Web browser I use Konqueror but configured to use WebKit, rather than KHTML, as the rendering engine. I’ve tried Chromium, Opera, Midori, rekonq, SeaMonkey and a bunch of others, but always found them lacking in some way in comparison to Firefox (I find Opera Mobile better than Firefox for Android on my mobile phone, though).

    • GNOME Desktop

      • GNOME 3 Fallback Makes a Comeback, of Sorts

        It was recently announced that GNOME 3.8 would not be including the GNOME 2 fallback mode. This had a lot of folks a bit concerned. Apparently it was used more than GNOME developers figured. Not wanting to go backwards, Matthias Clasen has thought of a way that may pacify users of the departing fallback mode.

        Clasen posted to a GNOME mailing list today that he thinks using some community extensions to bring back GNOME 2-like features is the answer. He said exactly, “we have a pretty awesome extension mechanism in gnome-shell (extensions.gnome.org), and there are a ton of extensions out there which allow users to bring back many of the ‘classic’ UX elements.”

      • GNOME Shell to support a “classic” mode
      • GNOME Proves It Can Listen

        I’m referring, of course, to Matthias Clasen’s announcement that, having dropped fallback mode, GNOME will support a core of extensions that will recreate the GNOME 2 interface.

        This announcement marks a major reversal of GNOME’s policy. For the past two years, the project has officially defended the radical redesign introduced by GNOME 3, making few — if any — acknowledgments of users’ complaints.

        In fact, eighteen months ago, influential members of GNOME were arguing against encouraging extensions for GNOME Shell at all. For instance, Allan Day, one of the leading designers of the GNOME 3, wrote in a discussion on the gnome-shell list:

      • GNOME Forums are coming!

        I can’t say much more than whats in the title just yet, but I thought I’d give everyone a heads up – forums for GNOME users, developers, etc are in the works! Hopefully soon we’ll be building a community of users, contributors and other interested folks to make GNOME better than ever! Stay tuned!

  • Distributions

  • Devices/Embedded

    • Phones

      • Jolla’s Sailfish Rises From MeeGo’s Ashes As Company Signs First Carrier Deal With DNA

        Jolla – the startup built by the team behind the smartphone OS that Nokia abandoned in favor of Windows Phone — revealed its first big smartphone customer deal today, the mobile operator DNA of Finland. Jolla also gave a first look at the UI of Sailfish, the mobile operating system they’ve created from the remnants of Nokia’s MeeGo project, and released an SDK.

      • Android

    • Sub-notebooks/Tablets

      • Best 7-inch tablets for Black Friday buyers

        I prefer the smaller tablets because I find them to simply fit me better. For me, tablets are primarily for consuming data. I watch videos on them, I read books on them, I use them for Web-browsing, and I use them for e-mail. If you want to use a tablet for a work, you really want a full-sized tablet such as the iPad 4, Nexus 10, or a Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1. Me? I’ll use a laptop. For sheer enjoyment though give me a mini-tablet any day of the week.

        Let’s get the bad news out of the way first. No one is really offering “deals” on any of the top 7″ tablets except for the Amazon Kindle Fire HD. For all the rest, expect to pay full price. That said, you should look for bargains on such accessories as the microSD cards for more storage and cases.

      • Nook HD and HD+ Now on Sale in the UK

        The Nook HD and the HD+ can now be brought in the UK with prices starting at 159 English pounds. People who have pre-ordered can expect theirs any day now through the post.

      • Kobo Joins In With Black Friday

Free Software/Open Source

  • Saying thanks to the open source community
  • Open source developers Catalyst and Egressive combine forces

    Catalyst IT has taken over fellow open source developer, Christchurch-based Egressive.

    Egressive will formally become Catalyst’s South Island branch from the end of this month (November).

    The takeover is friendly, says Egressive director Dave Lane. “In fact it would be fair to say we initiated the process.” The company had grown its business to the point where its small staff had as much work as they could handle, he says, and it was limited by its location.

  • DreamWorks makes ‘Rise of the Guardians’ special effects tool open source

    Yesterday DreamWorks released its latest animated feature with the holiday-themed Rise of the Guardians. But for animators who watch the film and wish they could do something similar, there’s good news — one of the tools used on the project is free and open source. Called OpenVDB, the tool is used to create volumetric 3D effects like smoke, and DreamWorks previously used it on both Puss in Boots and Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted. The studio’s hope is that by making OpenVDB free, it will eventually become an industry standard. “That ends up benefiting us,” DreamWorks’ David Prescott told the Wall Street Journal.

  • Dreamworks open sources animation software
  • Open Source Virtualization

  • Events

  • SaaS

  • Databases

    • Teaching students to work on state of the art NoSQL databases

      In a recent post, I introduced an initiative, along with Dima Kassab, for teaching open source NoSQL databases. We collaborated to prepare course materials for three NoSQL databases to 22 students at the Informatics Department of SUNY Albany, and we made all those material available under a Creative Commons by Attribution License.

  • Funding

  • BSD

    • Upstream vendors can harm small projects: OpenBSD dev

      A senior OpenBSD developer has complained on a mailing list that upstream vendors of free and open source software are adding in changes without any thought of whether downstream users could adapt to the change.

  • Public Services/Government

    • Linux brings over €10 million savings for Munich

      Over €10 million (approximately £8 million or $12.8 million) has been saved by the city of Munich, thanks to its development and use of the city’s own Linux platform. The calculation of savings follows a question by the city council’s independent Free Voters (Freie Wähler) group, which led to Munich’s municipal LiMux project presenting a comparative budget calculation at the meeting of the city council’s IT committee on Wednesday. The calculation compares the current overall cost of the LiMux migration with that of two technologically equivalent Windows scenarios: Windows with Microsoft Office and Windows with OpenOffice. Reportedly, savings amount to over €10 million.

  • Openness/Sharing

    • Make Magazine editors demonstrate 21st century collaboration

      Collaboration is changing. Gone are the days of excuses for not collaborating, like “we work better in person,” or “we’re in different time zones.” Technology makes it easy to work together. It’s simple and it’s free (assuming you have a computer, webcam, and internet connection).

      The editors of Make Magazine are a good example of 21st century collaboration. They recently held their first public “editor hangout” using Google Hangout. The Make editors are scattered across the country, yet this Google Hangout brings all of them together. Google Hangouts are really cool because you can see all of the members at the bottom, and the person speaking is automatically highlighted in a larger video screen.

    • Open Access/Content

      • Dr. Fields At The Huffington Post Is Wrong On Open Access

        Dr. Douglas Fields penned an article at Huffington Post on open access. There are so many factual errors, false analogies and misleading statements in this article, that I need to highlight just few of the ‘wrongest’ statements

    • Open Hardware

  • Programming

    • Google announces open source contest for students

      Did you know how many times you use some open source software in a day? No clue? Each time you access a Web site, use an app (application) or play a game, you use one or more open source software.

      How about creating one? Google, the digital media and search engine company, has announced Google Code-in contest for students in the age group of 13 and 17 years.

      Beginning November 26, contests can work on 10 different open source organisations, taking part in certain online tasks to win prizes.

Leftovers

11.22.12

Vista 8 Endorsements Are Fake, Microsoft Decided to Break Rather Than Make

Posted in Vista 8, Windows at 7:01 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Oprah
Photo by Bill Ebbesen

Summary: The multi-billion-dollar astroturf campaign for Vista 8 and Microsoft’s UEFI-encumbered hardware are both failing, but for new hardware with UEFI there are still issues

Oprah is doing it again, offering fake endorsements for Microsoft, this time because Vista 8 is out. It is not just a fake endorsement because it is paid for; Oprah does not even use Vista 8.

Mr, Pogson and others say that Vista 8 might not get much love in the German public sector because hardware with UEFI is a no-go area based on the rules. To put it crudely:

As M$ insists OEMs ship UEFI “Secure Boot” enabled, the German government seemingly intends to ban M$’s OS from now on. That’s great. Trusting M$ with any IT is insane.

Sam Varghese, who has been actively against UEFI, shows how to install Vista 8 without UEFI while noting:

At the gates of Microsoft, there are numerous competing Windows versions now almost falling over each other as they strive for marketshare.

The Windows franchise is dying, so Microsoft plays hardball with hardware keys. As Sam Dean put it:

Linux users who have tracked each step in the endless saga surrounding the Windows 8 UEFI Secure Boot scheme may be disappointed to hear that a promised workaround is delayed. Last year, in the post “Will Windows 8 Lock Linux Out of PCs?,” I discussed a Microsoft methodology for ultra-fast booting of Windows 8 PC through a specification called Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI). Linux users cried foul over it, because UEFI makes it technically possible for a hardware manufacturer to deliver a Windows 8 machine that won’t boot an alternative operating system.

Finally, The Linux Foundation came up with a plan “to enable Linux (and indeed all Open Source based distributions) to continue operating as Secure Boot enabled systems roll out.” We covered plans for the workaround here, but now it is confirmed that it will be delayed.

In other words, Linux is being excluded. Just what Microsoft needed ahead of Christmas. Today in Birmingham I went to the Apple Store (inquiring about a gift for a friend who insisted on it) and it was flooded; it sure seems like Vista 8 has driven many people to alternatives. Let’s make sure that disgruntled Windows users choose to install GNU/Linux rather than buy Apple-branded PCs. █

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