12.30.08
IRC: #boycottnovell @ FreeNode: December 29th, 2008 – Part 1
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Links 30/12/2008: Mass Migrations to GNU/Linux in India, Russian Military
GNU/Linux
- Open source makes its way into educational institutions
Richard Stallman, the founder of the Free Software Foundation and GNU Project, will launch the e-Swecha initiative, on Wednesday, wherein about 21,000 computers will see migration from present OS to e-Swecha across the state in the next one-month, they said.
- LV: Minister: “Open standards improve efficiency and transparency”
Marat Guriev, a representative of IBM in Eastern Europe and Asia, gave an overview of developments on open source software and open standards in Russia. He described how the Russian military has been working on its own version of GNU/Linux, parts of which have recently been declassified by the All-Russian Scientific and Research Institute of Control Automation in the Non-Industrial Sphere (Vniins). According to Guriev, many specialised version of GNU/Linux distributions are produced, often in response to requests by local governments. In three Russian regions, most of the PCs in use in about a thousand schools have been switched over to GNU/Linux. Moreover, Russian science institutes are publishing their work on open source systems, he said, for example on the web site Linux Testing.
- The six-figure Linux job
A Savannah, Georgia-based job placement firm called Hot Linux Jobs works exclusively with companies seeking open source experts., and its director, Brent Marinaccio, says the positions they work for pay at least high five-figure and end up in the $150,000 base salary range. And the salary levels are rising due to supply and demand.
- One Bush who has designs on LCA2009
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Kernel
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2009
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KDE
- Look Back at 2008
- KDE Digest Issue 136 [Only Just Released]
Merge of the KMail Summer of Code project (including a reworked folder tree and a new message list) to trunk (in time for KDE 4.2). The alternative “QuickSand” interface is integrated into KRunner. Option to enable image support in Klipper, with the start of efforts to convert the utility to KConfigXT. Phonon intuitively responds to removal of internal (non-hotpluggable) sound devices. First version of scripted services for browsing content from BBC (with basic search ability) and NPR, and beginnings of a SongKick applet in Amarok 2. Use of Solid in Digikam to identify pictures already downloaded from cameras. RAW image support added to slideshows in kipi-plugins (used by Digikam, etc).
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Distributions
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Devices
- ReelTime Partners with Envizions on JV
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Sub-notebooks
- Lennon Speaks from the Grave for Laptop Charity
- TechRadar’s 10 favourite technologies of 2008
1. Open source software
2008 has done wonders for the image of open source software. In fact, you could argue that Linux had a breakthrough year. Although we’re now on Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex), version 8.04 (Hardy Heron) has done much to spit-and-polish Linux for a mainstream audience. Netbooks like the Asus Eee have the option of the Xandros distro, while the Acer Aspire One runs Linpus Linux Lite. Open source software has also made great strides into the mobile arena with Android, while Nokia bought out the Symbian OS this year and promptly announced it would make it free to developers. Nice. - Google Watchers Strike Down Google Netbook Notion
Now, I’ve already said I agreed with many who believe an Android netbook isn’t farfetched. Linux distributions such as Xandros and Ubuntu have proliferated on netbooks, causing some folks to opine that 2009 could be the year we see a crack in Microsoft’s Windows hegemony.
Well, if Xandros and Ubuntu can make it on netbooks, why can’t Android, as I asked Friday? Google Watchers have answered the call, doubting the appearance of Android on netbooks anytime soon.
F/OSS
- The HTML standards process grinds on
- Getting copies right: Open source gaming
- An open letter to Steve Mills – IBM Software Group
- Big Blue urged to open Notes and Domino
- Software product development moving beyond financial domains
- Open for business
- eWEEK Labs Walk-Through: Sun xVM VirtualBox 2.1
- FireTorrent Adds BitTorrent Powers to Firefox
Censorship
- Net filtering trial delay ‘another Govt bungle’
- UK.gov to push Obama for tougher rules online
- UK Culture Secretary Andy Burnham Wants Websites To Be Rated… To Protect The Children
MAFIAA
- RIAA Wins $8K Default Settlement Against Chronically Ill Teen
- MPAA Also Likes The Idea Of ISP Enforcers For File Sharing
Digital Tipping Point: Clip of the Day
Digital Tipping Point: Marcelo Marques, visionary security networks entrepreneur 01 (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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12.29.08
Windows Vista Left Vulnerable Over Christmas
AS WE POINTED OUT on Christmas day, Microsoft left its users/clients vulnerable over the holidays. But there’s actually more than we mentioned at the time. One of our readers points out that new flaws were found — accompanied by exploits — that can hijack Windows Vista and predecessors (Vista was never secure anyway).
The following exploit utilizes the XML vulnerability in Internet Explorer to execute arbitrary code under Vista.
Here is another new one:
A vulnerability was reported in Windows Media Player. A remote user can cause arbitrary code to be executed on the target user’s system.
Over at The Register, it is being reported that Samsung picture frames are dangerous to Windows users (“The disc is needed to use the kit as a USB monitor on windows XP machines”). We’ve covered the follies of Samsung in the past because they stabbed Linux in the back by signing a patent deal with Microsoft.
The BBC labels 2008 an unprecedentedly bad year for security, but surely it won’t get any better in 2009, not when about 40% of all (Windows) machines are zombies and many people are out of work.
Criminal gangs generate so many viruses for two main reasons. Firstly, many variants of essentially the same malicious program can cause problems for anti-virus software which can only reliably defend against threats it is aware of.
Bearing in mind everything that people already know and witness, the BBC does write: “The vast majority of these malicious programs are aimed at Windows PCs. Viruses made their debut more than 20 years ago but the vast majority of that million plus total have been created in the last two-three years.” It later shows the Windows logo above a caption that says “Most attacks are aimed at PCs running the Windows operating system.” █
Sun Responds — Gently — to Novell’s OpenOffice.org FUD
SUN Microsystems’ OpenOffice.org team seems to be responding in a subtle fashion to Novell’s most recent strikes against OpenOffice.org [1, 2].
It is crucial to remember that quality assurance is nothing to sneeze at when it comes to software which stores information like medical data and people’s wages. Microsoft’s quality assurance — or lack thereof, especially in Microsoft Office — has already proven to be detrimental, so the last thing the world needs is a leading open source office suite which is equally buggy, to the point where it gets its mathematics wrong (that would be Microsoft Excel and Microsoft OOXML).
Those who favour negligence and are willing to accept no level of authority in the development can just hop onto the Go-OOXML Web site, whose opening words and introduction to the software go like this: “Go-oo has built in OpenXML import filters and it will import your Microsoft Works files.”
Yes, these are the very first words one finds in Novell’s fork [1, 2, 3, 4] of OpenOffice.org. It’s all about OOXML. Go, Go, OOXML. They even call it "OpenXML," thus lending credibility to the confusion which associates "OpenXML" with open source and OpenOffice (“Office Open OOXML”). It’s important to remember that Novell helped the standardisation of OOXML, which was a corrupt affair.
OpenOffice.org is no sinner. It is also valuable to bear in mind that Linux (the kernel) is built in a similar fashion because of the need for quality control. Patchmasters like Andrew Morton and Linus Torvalds do run a receptive cathedral, not a bazaar (Pamela Jones applied this same analogy to her work in Groklaw).
As people may recall, Con Kolivas abandoned Linux development because his admirable role was not wholeheartedly accepted, but should we fault Linux like Novell want us all to fault OpenOffice.org by poisoning our minds? This is not the first time that Novell slams Sun products out in the open [1, 2], which is uncalled for and counter productive. █
Microsoft and Jimmi Hugh: Wikipedia Censorship or Just Vandalism? (Corrected)
“In one piece of mail people were suggesting that Office had to work equally well with all browsers and that we shouldn’t force Office users to use our browser. This Is wrong and I wanted to correct this.”
–Bill Gates [PDF]
AS our regular readers may know, Microsoft was caught more or less sabotaging ACPI as a standard in order to make life miserable for GNU/Linux. It continues to this date in the sense that GNU/Linux users and developers must often wrestle with ACPI to make it work properly. Bill Gates was personally responsible for this, as shown more clearly than just implicitly in court evidence. He mentioned “Linux” by name and suggested the use of patents, too.
The Wikipedia article on ACPI had a link to an antitrust document (which is mirrored in several Web sites) regarding Bill Gates’ wish to make ACPI proprietary to Windows. This information is highly relevant to the article, since after all it is about a standard, and Microsoft were also part of the group responsible for that standard, therefore any corrupting influence on either the standard or its implementation should be a matter of public knowledge.
About a month ago we discussed Microsoft’s manipulation of Wikipedia, sometimes through hired professionals or PR agencies.
I recently noticed that the relevant part of the ACPI article which links to the antitrust exhibit has been removed, and even more insidiously the entire “Criticisms” section has completely gone. This is clearly a case of censorship.
There are two people responsible for this censorship and the details appear in the comments.
The person responsible for this censorship is a man by the name of Jimmi Hugh, whom I believe has a particularly infamous reputation on Wikipedia. One source describes him as “a shameless character with some kind of pro-Microsoft agenda.” █
“Another suggestion In this mail was that we can’t make our own unilateral extensions to HTML I was going to say this was wrong and correct this also.”
–Bill Gates [PDF]
Links 29/12/2008: Linux 2.6.28 Benchmark, TomTom Only Exploits Linux
GNU/Linux
- KDE Forum: Kourse 1 in Progress!
KDE Forum Klassroom Kourse 1 is in progress! This kourse is being led by msoeken & the topic for this is “Fixing KSnapshot bugs”. The Kourse started with 5 bugs as aim. Students would be required to fix them and will be guided by msoeken while doing so.
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Kernel
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Distributions
- Hands-on Linux: New versions of Ubuntu, Fedora and openSUSE push the envelope
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New Releases
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Ubuntu/Debian
- “Random Developer” Interviews
- A Review of Linux Mint 6: Felicia
Linux Mint is a bit of a dark horse when compared with the big distros like Ubuntu, Debian, Red Hat or Gentoo. Don’t overlook it – it provides a great deal of polish that the Linux world has been looking for for a long time. I just put it my old desktop system, so here’s my impression.
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Devices
- Visa Takes a Ride on G1
- Linux vs Windows . . . TomTom GPS
So, here you go, TomTom. Get your PR department out of the Service department, and start thinking of where you get your money. Do you REALLY want to forego the income you could make by supporting the very operating system that you use?
[...]
TomTom uses Linux. But TomTom doesn’t want to acknowledge that, and therefore ignores potential customers. Or, perhaps it’s more than ignoring potential customers. For example, there is the publically demonstrated behavior of Microsoft. Microsoft is noted for its anti-competative contracts with companies, its “buying off” companies, organizations and even political entities, and its subversion of even standards organizations. (Oh, don’t believe me. Go see for yourself. Search for the lawsuit by the DOJ [such as http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Microsoft] and the record of what happened at ISO with their “Office Open XML”, or their behavior in third world countries with the advent of the XO computer.) Such behavior in an individual would be considered unethical at best and criminal at worst. But because Microsoft has money they manage to get away with it. If some combination of the above is the reason that TomTom has so ignored Linux as an operating system then their shame is complete, and they deserve to be known as “that navigation company that USED to be a contender in the market”.
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Sub-notebooks
- New toy or new best friend?
It also isn’t a speed demon, but so far with web browsing and using OpenOffice, I haven’t found myself waiting for anything. One thing to note is that I requested a Linux version of the netbook. It runs “Linpus Lite Linux”, a customized version of Fedora with a very useful dashboard for everyday applications.
- 2008 year in review: Netooks
- Larry Magid: Looking back on eventful year for tech
- New toy or new best friend?
F/OSS
- What’s in a Number?
The figure of less than 60% for Internet Explorer is certainly impressive, given the fact that it held close to 100% of the market a few years ago. One question is: what is the breakthrough point for Firefox? The current 30%? 50%? Something else? For me, an important psychological moment will be when Internet Explorer dips below 50%, and Firefox above 40%. At that point, both will be in the 40-50% range, and it will be clear that they are essentially on a par.
- Yo Frankie! – Free Open Source Platform Game
- The Year in Allies
- EFF’s 18th Birthday Party with DJ Spooky
Media
- Linux Outlaws 70 – The Year 2008 in Review (Everything’s Nineteen)
- After Newspapers – Who’s Next?
- BBC World Service: ‘jobs for the boys’
Digital Tipping Point: Clip of the Day
Markos Moulitsas, creator of the Daily Kos on-line political magazine 08 (2005)
Digital Tipping Point is a Free software-like project where the raw videos are code. You can assist by participating.
Microsoft and Cronies Create Another EU Lobby at Taxpayers’ Expense?
Theatre of cronyism
The following is a conversation from IRC that we haven’t time to summarise properly. Do not take it at face value (we have not the time to validate), but some observations are factual.
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Microsoft AstroTurfing, Part II
FOR CONTEXT, see this post about Microsoft’s AstroTurfing getting exposed. The following has just been released to the public domain.
I gather that new interest has emerged in the content of the internal
training seminars that I gave to Microsoft’s Technology Evangelists back
in the 1990’s.
As you know, I had planned to write a book on this subject back in 2003,
but so much of the core material was Microsoft Confidential that I was
at risk of prosecution had I revealed it. The entry of this material
into the public record eliminates that risk. I have recently found
myself with time on my hands, so I am now proceeding with the book.
I expect to detail the theory and practice of Technology Evangelism at
Microsoft in the 1990’s. While some may say that this is ancient
history, that can’t be entirely true, because the underlying theory
hasn’t changed. In markets that are dominated by network effects,
standards battles are still, inevitably, winner-take-all struggles to be
the first to achieve a critical mass of complementary goods. As to
whether Microsoft’s *practice* of evangelism has changed—well, you’ll be
able to judge that better than I.
The other thing that makes such a book timely is the emerging battle to
control the standards of cloud computing. This is likely to be the most
important standards battle since at least the Browser Wars, and perhaps
since the DOS Wars, because the winner will be in control of the entire
software stack from the hardware in its proprietary server farms right
through to the cloud application APIs. No part of the computing industry
will be unaffected by this outcome. For Microsoft, losing this battle
would be fatal, so it is likely to use every trick in the book. In my
book, that is.
If you’d like to help make this book available, I would welcome your
helping me find any material entered into the public record (in the Iowa
case or any other) that deals with Microsoft’s evangelism practices,
First Wave programs, etc.
Interested?
Thanks! 
James Plamondon
Stay tuned. A book on Microsoft AstroTurfing may be coming, thanks to James. █
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