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Contents

GNU/Linux

Distributions

Devices/Embedded

Free Software/Open Source

Leftovers

GNU/Linux

A Linux-Powered Gun With Lasers And Wi-Fi

Everything’s getting smarter as computers get smaller. A company in Austin, Texas called TrackingPoint built a gun that runs Linux. It has lasers and Wi-Fi to connect with an app for precise shooting at long …

]]> http://techrights.org/2013/04/03/justice-department-versus-online-news/feed/ 0 Links 3/3/2010: CrossOver 9.0, Android 2.1 http://techrights.org/2010/03/03/crossover-9-0/ http://techrights.org/2010/03/03/crossover-9-0/#comments Wed, 03 Mar 2010 18:27:54 +0000 http://boycottnovell.com/?p=27930

GNOME bluefish

Contents

GNU/Linux

  • Nouveau, Pulseaudio and a critique of modern GNU/Linux distros

    A common critique I have of GNU/Linux distributions is the direction of core software packages that are seemingly replaced every few years for no other reason other than they are new. We only have to look at Pulseaudio and the mess that it has caused a what was once stable landscape of working soundcards to notice this trend. Back when Alsa ‘just worked’ for everyone, along came an over-engineered audio subsystem that acted as a network-capable sound server, a wrapper for Alsa, OSS and Esd and as a package that completely broke usable sound on a lot of people’s workstations.

  • Gentoo Optimizations Benchmarked – Part 2

    Gentoo is a source based distribution which lets the user decide how to optimize their system in many ways and includes building for a specific CPU architecture. Linux Magazine benchmarks four such options; i486, i686, pentium3, core2, and throws in Ubuntu for good measure.

  • Kernel Space

    • Finally, Reiser4 Benchmarks Against EXT4 & Btrfs

      There is no shortage of EXT4 benchmarks from comparing this evolutionary file-system’s performance on netbooks to how it battles the Btrfs file-system to its performance recession. We have even benchmarked it on USB flash drives and on high-end SSDs. We have also delivered numerous Btrfs benchmarks. In this article though we are finally delivering something that has long been requested and that is Reiser4 file-system benchmarks running directly against EXT4 and Btrfs. We have also thrown in the original ReiserFS file-system for comparison too.

    • The kernel column

      Last month saw the opening (and then closing) of the 2.6.33 merge window (the time during which Linus takes potentially ‘intrusive’ patches to the kernel, followed by a period of stabilisation) and with it a flood of patches intended for the 2.6.33 kernel release. There were the usual kinds of driver updates, but also a large amount of work on Big Kernel Lock (BKL) removal – more on that in a moment – and some controversy over graphics drivers. As usual, almost nothing is truly off limits in the kernel and even the venerable sysctl support had a sprucing up this time around. Meanwhile, outside of the merge process, there were a number of features proposed for the longer term – asynchronous page faults and power capping amongst them – and poetic verse in changelogs.

    • The Linux Foundation Launches Free Webinar Series With Big Names

      Starting this month, The Linux Foundation is offering free Linux Training webinars taught by well-known Linux developers and personalities.

    • Major Linux 2.6.34 Kernel GPU DRM Updates

      There’s already quite a bit of code that has been merged into the Linus 2.6 Git tree for the Linux 2.6.34 kernel tree, but the first pull request for the DRM (Direct Rendering Manager) code has went in this morning.

  • Applications

  • K Desktop Environment (KDE SC)

    • KDE Software Compilation 4.4.1 Out Now

      KDE has released an update to the 4.4 series of our Software Compilation. Among other improvements, this update includes a fix for KMail hanging when sending emails that just missed the deadline for 4.4.0 and a number of fixes in many gearheads’ favorite terminal emulator, Konsole.

    • KDE Software Compilation 4.4.1 Release Announcement

      KDE Community Ships First Translation and Service Release of the 4.4 Free Desktop, Containing Numerous Bugfixes, Performance Improvements and Translation Updates

    • The difficult choice of removing features

      Where does that leave photography ? Well clearly, it is out. And honestly, between Gimp (especially with their work on 2.8) and Digikam, there is not really much room for an other linux photography application to prosper. Since Krita was always more oriented toward drawing and painting, and photographic features were available mostly because “we can”, and there is no high-end application for drawing and painting on linux, the logical conclusion, for us, was to focus on where we can be the best, and the most useful.

  • GNOME Desktop

    • Thoughts about the current Zeitgeist situation (GNOME 3 and beyond)

      I would love to see Zeitgeist growing to be something like Telepathy in terms of providing a standard for event logging (even if its in python), and I hope we get there soon. And I hope Nokia and Intel could also make use of what we have and not reinvent the wheel if they like what we do….

  • Distributions

    • Live Hacking CD a Huge Success; Initial Download Figures for Ethical Hacking Linux Distribution Released

      Dr. Ali Jahangiri, the widely acclaimed security expert and author of Live Hacking: The Ultimate Guide to Hacking Techniques & Countermeasures for Ethical Hackers & IT Security Experts, is pleased to announce the initial download figures for the Live Hacking CD, a new Linux distribution designed for ethical hacking. In the first two weeks since its release the Live Hacking CD has been downloaded over 2400 times.

    • New Releases

      • Linux from Scratch 6.6 has arrived

        The Linux from Scratch (LFS) project has released version 6.6 of its building instructions for Linux. The project’s manual contains about 300 pages of instructions on how to compile a custom Linux system from the Linux sources. The LFS project aims to help people understand how Linux works internally and to enable them to build compact, flexible and secure Linux distributions of their own.

    • Fedora

    • Debian Family

      • CeBIT 2010: Knoppix 6.3 CeBIT Edition released

        At this year’s CeBIT Open Source Forum, Knoppix creator Klaus Knopper has announced the release of version 6.3 of his popular Live Linux distribution. Knoppix is a bootable CD, DVD or USB Flash drive distribution of Linux, incorporating automatic hardware detection. It can be used to demo Linux, as an educational CD, a rescue system, etc. Knoppix uses on-the-fly decompression, so it can have up to 2 GB of data and software installed on a distribution CD or up to 10 GB of data on a single layer DVD.

      • Ubuntu

        • Ubuntu for Beginners

          If I you decide to go with Ubuntu you need to pick which variation you want, There’s Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Edubuntu. Ubuntu is probably the most common; it uses the GNOME graphical user interface. Kubuntu uses the KDE environment, Xubuntu uses Xfce (it’s great for older computers), and Edubuntu designed to be used in classrooms or other education environments. They all basically do the same thing, just look at some screenshots and pick the one you think you would enjoy using more.

          [...]

          Here is a video comparing the Windows Vista Aero desktop to the Ubuntu desktop with Compiz enabled. Loading up your system with a lot of Compiz effects can cause it to slow you down if you don’t have a powerful machine. However, some people like to make things pretty so if that’s you then take a look at this video: Windows Vista Aero vs Ubuntu Compiz
          Besides the stuff you see in that video you can also draw on your screen with fire, you add rain drops to the screen, and much more.

        • Good for the goose but not for the gander.

          So some people like windows. So what! I personally think that it is a badly designed pain in the rear end which only serves as a monetary black hole for a company who is trying its best to be a financial singularity. I like Linux. I think it is the best thing since sliced bread. What was that? So what if I use Gentoo. I don’t care that it is not Ubuntu or Redhat. Whatever floats your boat.

        • Ubuntu One Music Store is Coming to Rock Your World

          The news has been confirmed. Ubuntu One Music Store is how it is going to be called. And it will be there by default in Rythmbox Music Player in Ubuntu Lucid 10.04. And that is NOT welcome because most of us don’t use Rythmbox at all. But hold on, Ubuntu One Music Store is going to have a plug-in support as well. That is sweet!

        • An open letter to Dell regarding Ubuntu, or “go big or go home”

          Well let’s see here. You bury it on your site. You offer nothing but garbage for computers available with Ubuntu — as compared to ones available with Windows.

          I guess I can’t say I’m surprised if your Ubuntu sales are slow. In fact, I’d be surprised if you sell anything at all, the way you’re going about it.

        • Advene – Annotate Digital Video, Exchange on the net
        • Panel power in Ubuntu
        • Call for Artist: Lucid Lynx

          Would you like to see your Lucid Lynx illustration in the pages of Ubuntu User magazine? To have your art considered for Ubuntu User issue #5, submit two sample drawings of a “Lucid Lynx” by March 22, 2010, 5pm CST (GMT -6).

          In one illustration, the Lucid Lynx critter should illustrate the theme “Networking,” and in the other it should illustrate “Security.”

        • Linux Mint

          • Minting the Girlfriend

            Is Vista gone from her laptop? Not yet, but maybe someday (Move Media Player not installing on Linux or through Wine is the last hangup). She is booted in Mint more often than not and has found her way around the Ubuntu Software Center to install Frostwire (among other things). She also used the Linux answer machine to hunt down the driver for her Cannon MP190 printer when it was not auto-found by the printer installer on Mint.

            All in all I must say though, the best part about installing Mint on her laptop is that now when I use it to check my email I no longer have to use Vista :)

  • Devices/Embedded

    • Phones

      • LiMo Foundation Seeks Alliance With WAC

        The LiMo Foundation wants to partner with the Wholesale Applications Community, as both mobile trade associations try to cut into Apple’s overwhelming dominance of the mobile applications world.

      • WebOS 1.4 adds video capture

        Sprint and Verizon Wireless have released Palm’s upgraded 1.4 version of the Linux-based WebOS for Palm Pre and Palm Pixi smartphones. Ofering much-anticipated video capture and editing functionality plus improved messaging features, WebOS 1.4 arrives shortly after Palm announced lowered investment guidance due to disappointing smartphone sales.

      • Nokia to launch Linux-powered N900 tomorrow

        The N900 will be Nokia’s first and last Maemo 5 smartphone, with the next version due to run the new MeeGo Linux mobile OS created as a joint venture between Nokia and Intel.

    • Android

      • Android 2.1 to be available everywhere?

        All Android phones sold in the U.S. will be eligible for an Android 2.1 update, although some older phones may need to be wiped first, says an industry report. Meanwhile another report says Google’s Nexus One is heading to Verizon on Mar. 23, and an AdMob study explores Android users.

    • Tablets

      • Sub $200 Android tablets arrives: is the iPad doomed?

        The $179 Archos 7 vs the $ 499 iPad

        The Archos 5 inch tablet has never really been a competitor to the iPad, as the screen size did put it more in the MID / media player category than the tablet category. The new 7 Inch Archos tablet running Android on the other hand is clearly aiming at the iPad crowd. Its major selling point: the price, with some models going for as low as $179 (for the 2GB version), less than half the price of the iPad. Spec-wize the Archos tablet is somewhat inferior to the iPad: it uses an older ARM 9 processor (but then the iPad A4 processor is not very fast either), has less storage (but allows for an SD card to be used), has a lower resolution screen and a more limited choice of application, but on the other hand it has a better media player (more formats are supported), do offer a browsing experience on par with the iPad and may support flash lite (flash 10.1 won’t be possible however). You probably will not get an integration as good as between the iPad and iTunes, but then you won’t have to deal with Apple censorship (you can install ANY working application just by downloading the apk file) and Linux is officially supported as your desktop OS.

        [...]

        When you add to that the recent shenanigans concerning “sexy apps” (not so much a problem in the US, but much more here in Europe where we are not used to that kind of censorship) I can see Android tablets winning the tablet war on the long term.

Free Software/Open Source

  • VLC is used in Formula One

    I read a blog post of Jean-Paul Saman, a VLC developer, about the use of VLC in the most popular motorsport of the World, Formula One. According to the blog, a big VLC fan, Dan Dectis, posted a message on the vlc mailing list mentioning this picture from the Formula One Photography. This is indeed one of the examples showing the power and extent of VLC media player.

  • CeBIT Open Source Forum 2010

    For the second time in a row, CeBIT will be devoting an entire section to the topic of open source. The event will be supported by international industry associations and representative bodies such as the Linux Foundation, Linux International, the Free Software Foundation Europe and the LIVE Linux Association. The Open Source Forum will serve as the lively hub of the exhibition, which in turn features a diverse range of open source companies and independent projects.

  • Anti-FOSS Lobby

    • An Open Letter to The United States Trade Representative

      Recently it was reported in the Guardian, an on-line newspaper, that the International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) is requesting that the United States Trade Representative put Indonesia, Brazil and India on the “Special 301 Watchlist” specifically because those countries advocate the use of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) in their economies.

      I have been in the software industry for over forty years, as a programmer, businessman, educator, author and entrepreneur. I have worked in some of the largest companies, both as a supplier of software and a customer of software.

      I have traveled to two of these three countries, and while I have not been to Indonesia, I helped formulate the FOSS policies of Malaysia, have worked with the government of Brazil, and presented many times in India. I know their cultures and their way of doing business.

    • Open-Source Software: Bad, Evil and Un-American

      That’s the view of the International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA), a group of trade bodies that includes such notables as the Business Software Alliance, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The IIPA recently submitted its Orwellian-sounding “2010 Special 301 Report on Copyright Protection & Enforcement,” an annual review of intellectual property protection and market access practices in foreign countries, to the U.S. Trade Representative. Ten countries make the “priority watch list” of naughty boys this year (down from 13 last year), including Indonesia.

  • Samba

    • Samba 3.5 release includes experimental SMB2 support

      The Samba project has released version 3.5 of its open source SMB protocol implementation. Major changes include implementation of SMB2 (used in Windows Vista and Windows 7) and support for Windows’ 100 ns resolution timestamps, where supported by the kernel and system libraries. The 100ns resolution timestamps will therefore work with Linux kernels later than 2.6.22 using glibc 2.6 or later.

    • Watching the Sun Set

      I joined Sun in 1989, fresh from a System Administration job at Manchester University. I was so excited. Finally, I was going to get the chance to see the inside of “real” UNIX ! No more Minix hacking for me, I was finally going to get the chance to see and work on the source code for a real UNIX operating system. I wasn’t disappointed. It was incredibly sophisticated, with a virtual memory system, a working network file system (NFS) and a state of the art graphical user interface (SunView). It was one of the most advanced systems available at the time.

  • Government

    • Vermont Adopts Open Source Software Policy

      The policy says the Vermont Department of Information and Innovation and other departments should look at open source solutions as part of the procurement process, and are directed to calculate the total cost of ownership for an open source system, including “fixed costs (direct purchases and licensing) and operational costs for support, testing, upgrades, maintenance and training,” as part of the procurement process.

      Tucker told Government Technology that the idea for a policy began last summer, when as deputy CIO he originated a process for examining open source because there weren’t any existing guidelines. So when Tucker became CIO late last year, he convened a council that met several times and gave input on the new policy.

    • Are we about to lose?

      I don’t have the expertise to fully comprehend these NPRMs that were recently issued, but did spend the last few hours reading large chunks of all three. The area they cover is huge, and I fear open source and small EHRs are about to lose big, and big corporate EHRs are about to get total lock-in courtesy of our government.

Leftovers

  • Keep Your Cloud, I’m a Customer Not a Consumer

    The cloud hype is getting thicker and smellier every day. All the cloud excitement is coming from those who hope to profit from it, the vendors and breathless tech journalists who can’t think of anything worthwhile to write about. They’re working very hard to make it sound like a wonderful thing, a miracle of rare device that will transform life as we know it.

    In related news, Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, Sasquatch, Yeti, and Elvis are all throwing a fabulous party at Graceland and everyone is invited. If you don’t live in Memphis they’ll send a private jet to pick you up.

    The Cloud is Nonsense

    The problem with all this cloud nonsense is it’s exactly that–nonsense. Hosted services are nothing new. What would be new and radical and transformative are attractive products reasonably-priced, and good customer service. Those are the missing pieces, and I predict they will always be the missing pieces. Because it seems that among the big players in tech, research and development are devoted entirely to inventing new buzzwords. If it weren’t for the small independents we would have nowhere to turn.

  • Security

  • Finance

  • Intellectual Monopolies/Copyrights

    • US Trade Rep serves drug companies, publishers and pushes anti-consumer agenda

      Today the Senate Finance Committee will hold a hearing on the 2010 Trade Agenda. The single witness is Ambassador Ron Kirk, the United States Trade Representative. (The agency Kirk runs is known by the same name — USTR for short.) This is a busy week. A few blocks away, at the International Trade Commission (ITC), USTR is holding a day long hearing on something called the Special 301 list — which is a program to pressure trading partners on intellectual property rights. On Monday, in Geneva, the USTR blocked a request by developing countries to hold a workshop at the World Trade Organization (WTO) on access to patented medicine. The USTR is also doing damage control to defend a controversial new trade agreement on the enforcement of intellectual property rights that is being negotiated in secret, and trying to block a new treaty at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) for persons who are blind or have other disabilities.

    • ACTA

      • New ACTA leak shows major resistance to US-style DRM rules

        The leaks keep coming for the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). A new leak from Europe has revealed the inner workings of the negotiating process through a 40+ page document showing each country’s positions on key provisions of the treaty.

        While most of the negotiating is quite technical, what stands out most sharply is the international resistance to the US-drafted proposals on DRM “anticircumvention” rules. Let’s take a look at some of the key differences among parties.

      • Updated: New Zealand seeks to restrain ACTA

        New Zealand appears to be at odds with the US in the secret international Anti Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) talks.

        According to Canadian internet law specialist Michael Geist a new leak from the negotiations has revealed a “significant disagreement on a range of issues” among the countries involved.

        “For example, on the issue of anti-circumvention legislation and access controls, the US wants it included per the DMCA [Digital Millenium Copyright Act], but many other countries, including the EU, Japan, and New Zealand do not, noting that the WIPO [World Intellectual Property Organisation] internet treaties do not require it.”

Linux Survey Answers

Linux Survey Answers

]]> http://techrights.org/2010/03/03/crossover-9-0/feed/ 0 Links 31/12/2009: Great Year for Mobile Linux http://techrights.org/2009/12/31/mobile-linux-tribute/ http://techrights.org/2009/12/31/mobile-linux-tribute/#comments Thu, 31 Dec 2009 21:33:21 +0000 http://boycottnovell.com/?p=24641

Boycott Novell in 2010

GNOME bluefish

Contents

GNU/Linux

  • Still Livin’ La Vida Linux

    It’s been over a year since I wrote about my conversion to a Linux based digital media environment, and since it’s the holiday season (or just after) I thought it was time to update the story, and describe some new Linux based devices I’m using that others might find useful.

    In the original essay I spoke about converting all my physical CD’s to digital files into the patent-free FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) format. At the time I was looking at the Sonos multi-room music system to play the files. I took the plunge and ended up buying a four room system last year. They aren’t cheap, but they’re the most robust devices I own. They never crash (and for a device as sophisticated as this that’s a real pleasure). I’ve owned televisions that fail more often than the Sonos boxes.

  • Linux and windows people are the same.

    Linux is, for the average user, no easier nor harder to use than windows. It is more configurable and flexible than windows will ever be and this gives power users more of an opportunity to tweak and twiddle than their windows brethren. Those who don’t tweak and twiddle have the same computing experience with Linux that they have with windows. The caveat here is, of course, that they must use the operating system as it is designed to be used. You don’t drive a manual car like an automatic so to speak.

  • Linux 2019

    What does that tell us? That the trend toward mobile computer devices — smartphones, netbooks, etc. — is going to continue, and that the traditional PC desktop will be a niche technology by 2019. By 2005, computer vendors were making more money from laptops than desktops. In the last year, more laptops were being sold than desktops.

    It won’t stop there though. Google, with its Linux-based Chrome OS, is pointing the way not just to making the traditional Windows desktop obsolete, but putting the whole concept of desktop-based computing in the junk pile. Google is taking a lightweight operating system, adding cloud-based applications and storage, and creating a world where any netbook or smartphone can do 95% of what most people do every day with a Windows-powered desktop.

    It’s not just that this kind of Internet mobile computing is going to displace older-style desktops and bring entertainment to anyone, anywhere on any device. No — there’s a whole new set of services that will be taken for granted by 2019 that no current static computing device can duplicate. It will be a combination of LBS (Location-Based Services) and AR (Augmented Reality) that will transform how we use computers.

    With LBS, your applications use GPS and related technologies to determine where you are at any given moment. Armed with this information, applications can tell such things as where the nearest subway or closest steak house is. The next step, which is already being taken, is to update that information in real time. So, for example, you’ll soon be able to know that your buddy is waiting for you at the coffeehouse two streets away.

    LBS is already changing how we get around, and AR will take it one step further. Instead of looking at a map, you’ll be able to look at the world through your smart device’s camera viewer to see a virtual golden brick road to where your friend is staying. You can already use it in applications like SPRXmobile’s Layar Reality Browser 3.0, which can already serve as virtual tour guides with your Android, and soon your iPhone 3Gs phones.

  • Best Linux software for new users

    This is a Live DVD – you simply place the DVD in the computer’s DVD drive and reboot the machine from it. When the machine comes up, you will be running Linux. Normally, the software won’t write to your computer’s hard drive unless you specifically ask it to.

  • Server

    • OEIPL releases new versions of SafeSquid: Content Filtering Internet Proxy, for Linux and Windows

      The latest SafeSquid Linux version – ntlm-RC2.0, now supports NTLM authentication, or Single Sign On. NTLM uses a challenge-response mechanism for authentication, in which clients are able to prove their identities without sending a password to the server. This allows access to clients using Windows Integrated Authentication in Microsoft-centric Networks, without an authentication pop-up.

  • Applications

    • Seven great Ubuntu applications

      Phatch

      (http://photobatch.stani.be/)

      Now how many time did you have couple of photos and needed to do the same editing on them. It could be just resize or something other, but you needed to open every single one and repeat that action. Now there is one cool program for photo and batch, Phatch. You can do: resizing, adding watermark, text, shadow, rotate pictire, … But there is no crop, I needed it couple of time but isn’t there.

      [...]

    • Announcing Acire

      After a wonderful week in England with family celebrating Christmas, Erica and I flew home to the East Bay. We were sat at Heathrow having a cup of coffee and I was thinking of what I occupy myself with on the plane ride over. Unfortunately, Lernid hacking was out of the question as I had no net connection on the plane, so I got to thinking of something else. After some busy hacking time at 35,000 feet I am proud to show of the results of my labor: a little program called Acire.

    • Instructionals

    • Games

      • Making a game with Ogre 3D

        This tutorial series steps you through the process of creating a 3D shoot’em’up game using the popular and powerful Ogre 3D engine.

      • Gifts for Gamers: Some End-of-Year Recommendations, Part 3

        OpenLieroX

        Free, 2D graphics, http://www.openlierox.net

        Players alternately take charge of an army of worms that are armed to the teeth in an unfriendly terrain. As in the game Worms, the surviving team wins.

        Puzzles

        Simon Tatham’s Portable Puzzle Collection

        MIT license, 2D graphics, http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/puzzles

        A good puzzle solver will find his collection rewarding. A number of good examples await.

  • GNOME Desktop

    • Theming GNOME

      I get a lot of questions as to how to make the GNOME desktop look better. This question can be approached from numerous angles: Compiz, Emerald, Metacity, Window borders, etc. I have covered Compiz here on Ghacks (see Compiz on Ghacks) as well as Emerald (see Emerald on Ghacks). But I have yet to cover the basic theming of the GNOME desktop. As of this tutorial, that will all change.

    • GNOME needs to get its act together

      To understand the significance of these links, one must go back to 1997 when GNOME was set up by Miguel de Icaza and Federico Mena Quintero. The only rationale that they had for setting up a project to create a second desktop environment for a small number of users – KDE was a thriving desktop by then but it used a non-free library for development – was that it would be totally free.

      GNOME was set up under the aegis of the GNU Project. The name says it all: the GNU Network Object Model Environment.

  • Distributions

    • What Is Ubuntu?

      Ubuntu is an easy version of Linux. It is not windows,but it is almost user friendly like windows. No all applications have graphical interface. Many applications force users to use commands to run them.Commands are mandatory to work with Linux and Ubuntu is not an exception.

  • Devices/Embedded

    • Linux drivers for Broadcom HD Video Accelerator

      The Broadcom Crystal HD video decoder is a card that you can slip into a netbook to enable HD video playback on computer with an Intel Atom processor and integrated graphics. Broadcom has supported Windows since day one, and the Broadcom BCM70012 and BCM70015 cards play well with Windows media Player 12, Adobe Flash Player 10.1 beta, ArcSoft TotalMedia Theatre and CyberLink PowerDVD. Linux, on the other hand, has been a different story… up until now.

    • welcome to the internet acceleration appliance blog

      As well as detailing my solution, I have also written some very basic general Linux/Networking guides – basically stuff that I learned whilst getting the Internet Acceleration Appliance working.

    • Logging on at Warp Speed

      I’ve been using one such program, HyperSpace from Phoenix Technologies, on a Samsung NC10 netbook for the last couple of weeks, and even starting up cold, the speed is impressive. Press the power button and in 15 seconds the Linux-based HyperSpace presents you with a customizable screen including a Web browser, a notepad application, and RealPlayer media software, along with news, weather, and stock information. I jotted a quick note, watched videos on YouTube (GOOG), and made calls using Skype, all without launching Windows.

    • Phones

      • 2009: A breakthrough year for mobile Linux

        In 2009, mobile consumer devices including netbooks, e-readers, tablets, MIDs, PMPs, and mobile phones were increasingly dominated by embedded Linux or the Linux-based Android. LinuxDevices presents four updated showcases of story summaries for netbooks, phones, and other portable devices, recalls 2009 highlights ranging from the Kindle to the Droid, and looks in on new rumors about the Google Nexus One and Chrome OS netbook design.

      • Root Google Nexus One on Android 2.1

        Paul over at Modaco forums has managed to successfully root his Nexus One, running the latest Android 2.1 version on the said device. He has cooked a custom ROM for Nexus One with the method, which he is referring to as Superboot.

    • Sub-notebooks

      • 2009: A year in review, November

        The hardware end of the netbook world was quiet, but the software side exploded with the release of the source code for Google’s forthcoming open-source, browser-based operating system Chrome OS. Within hours of release, enterprising hackers had managed to put together a working version that could be run in a virtualised window, so we had a play with it and found it to be a little lacking – just a browser window and nothing else. Hopefully Google can do a little better before it’s finally released in 2010.

Free Software/Open Source

  • Open Source 2010: New Year’s predictions.

    New Year predictions are of course a licence to speculate. What’s more the normal boundaries of sanity are loosened sufficiently to make the predictions fun rather than libellous.

    ‘Predictions’ in the above context are merely extrapolations of what has occurred already, (genuine sight of the future is best left to the psychics), so it’s not really that hard to do if … you look closely at what is going on now. But, the other component of a prediction uses what I call ‘white space’ analysis which involves looking for gaps and silences. In other words looking for lack of information. This is important.

  • eyeOS and IBM – Working together

    We’re happy to present to the eyeOS community the result of more than six months of work together with the great IBM US team, where eyeOS will be the Sample Workload of the new System Z serie Solution Edition for Cloud Computing. System Z is the IBM brand used to produce their mainframe servers, used worldwide by governments, big companies and thousands of organizations.

  • Pixelize, create an image consisting of many small images

    Pixelize is a program that will use many scaled down images to try to duplicate, as closely as possible, another image.

    Pixelize works by splitting up the image you want rendered (or duplicated) into a grid of small rectangular areas. Each area is analyzed, and replaced with an image chosen from a large database of images. Pixelize tries to pick images that best match each area.

  • Open source in 2009

    Unlike in previous years where each new release of a Linux distribution or an application was met with expectations of it being the killer app, this years OSS developments were more low-key, more circumspect. The idea that Linux is suddenly going to hit a critical mass and turn into the Microsoft-killer is fading, to be replaced with a more rationale view that Linux, Mac OS X and Windows will co-exist, even if uncomfortably, for many years to come. Linux is not going to wipe out Microsoft’s dominance any time soon, just as Mac OS X is unlikely to turn the tables on Windows in the coming year.

    And yet, there was much progress in 2009 that open source fans can celebrate. It was a year in which open source software became even more deeply entrenched, even if users weren’t completely aware of the change. Even Microsoft started embracing open source software, albeit cautiously, with a few carefully thought out moves.

  • WSO2 Launches Business Activity Monitor

    Open source code firm WSO2 has launched WSO2 Business Activity Monitor to provide visibility into services oriented architecture-based services, transactions, and workflows.

  • How to Write a Client Proposal

    Anybody can use open source. You might depend on open source software if you’re responsible for IT in a large enterprise or as a consumer who prefers FOSS apps for her own personal computing needs. That’s true whether you’re simply a software developer contributing code to the open source project, a techie who customizes software that just-so-happens to be open source (such as a web developer building sites using Drupal), or an end user who appreciates the price (free!) and quality of FOSS apps.

    [...]

    The problem that techies have is that they want to talk about and use technology, and they hate having to “sell” anything — particularly themselves or their skills. Often, or at least to begin with, the work comes to them, either because they’ve developed a reputation for excellence (“My brother-in-law says you’re good at creating websites”) or because of a relationship with another techie who needs assistance (“A client asked me to take this on and I’m already busy; could you write the back-end code and I’ll deal with the company?”). That’s fine — and with the right connections you can make a living that way.

  • CMS

    • Queen Rania using Drupal

      More royal Drupal goodness. This time her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is using Drupal: see http://www.queenrania.jo. Queen Rania is well-known for talking about using social media to help change the world — follow her on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Flickr.

  • Openness

    • A New Firm Lures Brokers from Big Wall Street Houses

      Possibly the most compelling of the new opportunities for breakaway brokers is a Chicago firm called HighTower. It offers brokers with at least $100 million under management what it describes as an “open source” alternative to firms like Merrill and Morgan Stanley Smith Barney.

  • Programming

Leftovers

  • Top Storage Stories of 2009: RAID, Clouds, SSDs and Mergers

    In a year of dramatic change and mergers for the data storage industry, it should come as no surprise that the most-read stories on Enterprise Storage Forum this year were about … dramatic change and mergers.

  • AMD plans two six-cores in Q2 2010

    We don’t have many details, but we can confirm that AMD plans to launch two six-core desktop CPUs next year. This should happen in Q2 2010 and if AMD holds on to this date, it might come a bit later than Intel’s Core i7 980X.

  • Security

    • Further evidence of council CCTV failure

      When Big Brother Watch released our first report earlier this month – a study into the huge number of council controlled CCTV cameras – we condemned the enormous rise of almost 200% in 10 years for several reasons.

    • Innocent face postcode lottery over removal of records from DNA database

      Innocent people face a postcode lottery in the way police treat requests to remove their records from the national DNA database, according to figures published today.

      The huge difference in the way police forces across England and Wales deal with requests is described as a “shambles” by the Conservatives.

      Some police forces refuse to remove any records once a case is closed and the person declared innocent, while others comply with 80 per cent of requests for deletion.

      Damian Green, the Shadow Immigration Minister, said the huge disparities in the way police deal with requests showed that the system was in chaos.

  • Finance

    • Diet for fat-cat bankers an illusion

      On the surface, many of the moves undertaken by investment banking behemoth Goldman Sachs look respectable, but a bit more digging reveals some ulterior motives at play. While Goldman repaid the money it took from Uncle Sam as part of the TARP program, many taxpayers are still angry that the government’s taxpayer-funded bailout of AIG indirectly benefited Goldman, who had billions invested in complicated trading deals with the troubled insurer.

    • Regulators Probe Banks On Failed Securities

      The SEC and FINRA are investigating conduct by Wall Street investment banks, which bet against securities which they created ahead of the implosion of the housing market, according to reports from the New York Times.

    • Banks Probed for Betting Against Own Securities

      Congress and financial regulators are probing several Wall Street firms for bundling bad debt, selling it to clients, and then profiting from betting that those same securities would fail, insiders say. Clients at Goldman Sachs and other firms lost billions of dollars on the mortgage-related securities as the housing market collapsed. The firms and some hedge funds made billions from the negative bets.

    • Adams: Goldman’s Actions Cross Into Criminal Activity

      Thomas Adams, a lawyer at Paykin Krieg and Adams, LLP, and a former managing director at Ambac and FGIC is backing up the charges that Janet Tavakoli has been making against Goldman Sachs. In fact, he is taking her charges one step further and stating that the Federal Reserve and the Treasury aided and abetted Goldman Sachs in “committing financial and ethical crimes at an astounding level.”

    • small chinese firm gives goldman sachs the finger

      Goldman Sachs (GS.N) was one of the foreign banks, along with Citigroup (C.N), Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley (MS.N), blamed by the state assets watchdog for providing “extremely complicated” and difficult to understand derivatives products.

    • JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs Trillions Deep In Derivatives or Dumbed-Down Reporting?

      First, Kosman states and characterizes the institutions involved in these derivatives trades as “brokers” when, in fact, they participate as PRINCIPALS. The amount of risk involved when one trades as a principal is materially larger than when one acts as a broker or agent. Of course, if Kosman had bothered to read the rest of the Report, he would have known that these trade COULD NOT HAVE BEEN BROKERED because the report tells us there are empirically NO END USERS FOR THESE PRODUCTS…

    • How Goldman Sachs Made Tens Of Billions Of Dollars From The Economic Collapse Of America

      Step 1: Sell mortgage-related securities that are absolute junk to trusting clients at vastly overinflated prices.

      Step 2: Bet against those same mortgage-related securities and make massive bets against the U.S. housing market so that your firm will make massive profits when the U.S. economy collapses.

      Step 3: Have ex-Goldman executives in key positions of power in the U.S. government so that bailout money can be funneled to entities such as AIG that Goldman has made these bets with so that they can get paid after they win their bets.

      Step 4: Collect the profits – Goldman Sachs is having their “most successful year” and will end up reporting approximately $50 billion in revenue for 2009.

    • Goldman Sachs Should Have Known Its Gun Was Loaded, And It Owes The Public Reparations

      The New York Times published a Christmas Eve expose of Goldman Sachs’s so-called “Abacus” synthetic collateralized debt obligations (CDOs). They were created with credit derivatives instead of cash securities. Goldman used credit derivatives to create short bets that gain in value when CDOs lose value. Goldman did this for both protection and profit and marketed the idea to hedge funds.

    • Goldman Sachs: Following God or the Devil?

      But certainly the economic damage to the USA that resulted from Lloyd Blankfein’s “work for God”, and that of his disciples, was much more than the economic damage inflicted on that country by the activities of Osama bin Laden.

    • Sell Junk, Short The Same Junk, Laugh Your Way To The Bank: Ethical?

      According to the New York Times, Congressional and SEC investigators are examining if these firms knowingly created disastrously performing securities, sold them to investors and then proceeded to short the same securities. Essentially collateralized debt obligations were sold to investors. Goldman, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche and other firms sold these securities and then proceeded to short the same securities, in effect hedging against a loss in the value of the securities.

    • Wall Street Crime Blockbuster: Goldman’s Lucrative Bets Against America

      Ace biz blogger Henry Blodget has a shrewd take on it, “The Goldman Housing Scandal Isn’t A Scandal: It’s Inevitable.” Blodget’s argument, as always, is that this is how business is done. And he’s right. And he should know. A dot-com bubblegummer, Blodget didn’t get banned for life from the securities industry for being stupid.

      Probes are supposedly under way, the NYT story says, but that won’t mean much. One of the smaller firms that peddled these CDOs and then bet against them was Tricadia, whose parent firm is controlled by Lewis Sachs, now a special counselor to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner.

  • Intellectual Monopolies/Copyrights

Digital Tipping Point: Clip of the Day

Joerg Heilig, Sun Microsystems Senior Engineering Director talks about OpenOffice.org 18 (2004)


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

]]> http://techrights.org/2009/12/31/mobile-linux-tribute/feed/ 0 Jeremy Allison on “Why Free Software” (as Ogg) http://techrights.org/2009/10/30/jeremy-allison-why-freedom-sw/ http://techrights.org/2009/10/30/jeremy-allison-why-freedom-sw/#comments Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:59:28 +0000 http://boycottnovell.com/?p=20882 Summary: New video from Jeremy Allison, Samba (transcoded and posted here because some people want Ogg Theora)


Direct link

Context:

Jeremy was asked to take part in the Free Software Foundation’s video campaign entitled “I use Free Software, and I support Free Software”, which launches on Monday, and decided to do something targeted at Windows users, and salesman-like :-).

Ellen Ko spent half a day coaching him through “about 20 bloody takes, most of which were disastrous and ended up with me screaming into the camera after screwing it up one way or another.”

]]> http://techrights.org/2009/10/30/jeremy-allison-why-freedom-sw/feed/ 1 Jeremy Allison Recommends Passing Mono Software to Basket of Proprietary Software http://techrights.org/2009/10/15/jeremy-allison-on-mono/ http://techrights.org/2009/10/15/jeremy-allison-on-mono/#comments Thu, 15 Oct 2009 22:14:02 +0000 http://boycottnovell.com/?p=20044 Jeremy Allison

Summary: Jeremy Allison from the Samba team argues that Mono and applications that depend on Mono should be put in “restricted” repositories

Jeremy Allison comes from Novell and so does Mono, which was acquired by the company along with Ximian. But as our interview with Allison shows, this man who worked for Novell (on Samba) was brave enough to make his voice heard and finally move to Google. He protested against the patent deal with Microsoft. Just as a reminder and a little bit of background, Novell issues have not been resolved yet*.

“A few days ago we also wrote about Git#, which is part of the trend of making GNU/Linux building blocks more closely tied to Microsoft APIs and/or programming languages.”Novell’s Banshee has a new release but little is said about the fact that the software uses parts of Mono that Microsoft explicitly excluded from its Community Promise, which means that the software is only “safe” for Novell customers to use.

A few days ago we also wrote about Git#, which is part of the trend of making GNU/Linux building blocks more closely tied to Microsoft APIs and/or programming languages. Here is some newer coverage of Git# from a source that typically promotes a lot of Microsoft tools.

GNU/Linux expert, distribution developer, and author Chris Smart has just added this to evidence that “Mono is a [Microsoft] trap.”

Still aren’t convinced that Mono is a trap which ultimately only benefits Microsoft?

Take a look at this “Highly Confidential” document from Microsoft (from Comes vs Microsoft case) entitled “Effective Evangelism” and decide for yourself. It exposes Microsoft’s game plan for dominating the market with their platforms (which we already know, but some choose to ignore).

To quote a memorable (and not out-of-date) quote from Microsoft President Bob Muglia: “There is a substantive effort in open source to bring such an implementation of .Net to market, known as Mono and being driven by Novell, and one of the attributes of the agreement we made with Novell is that the intellectual property associated with that is available to Novell customers.”

Next, this brings us to Jeremy Allison’s latest good columns where he politely approaches one problem with Mono.

But the problem is that Mono is dangerous for Free Software. The heart of the matter is, as usual, software patents. Microsoft have patents on the technology inside .NET, and since the Tom Tom lawsuit, Microsoft have shown they are not averse to attacking Free Software using patent infringement claims. Microsoft have tried to allay some fears by putting the .NET specification under their “Microsoft Community Promise” which you can read here:

http://www.microsoft.com/interop/cp/default.mspx

Miguel hailed this a the solution to all the patent problems with Mono. But this promise is simply not good enough to base a language environment implementation upon. After all, if the rug is pulled out from under that implementation by the threat of patent infringement you don’t just lose the implementation itself, you lose all the programs that depend upon it. That’s a really dangerous situation for Free Software programs to be in. The Free Software Foundation wrote a good analysis of the problems with this promise here:

http://www.fsf.org/news/2009-07-mscp-mono

But my basic issue with the Microsoft Community Promise is that Miguel doesn’t have to depend on it like everyone else does. Miguel’s employer, Novell, has a patent agreement with Microsoft that exempts Mono users from Microsoft patent aggression, so long as you get Mono from Novell.

The emphasis above is not ours. Allison knew about the Novell deal and also saw it from the inside ahead of journalists. Allison also proposes a solution:

Microsoft isn’t playing games any more by merely threatening to assert patents. Real lawsuits have now occurred and the gloves are off against Free Software. Moving Mono and its applications to the “restricted” repositories is now just plain common sense.

That would include applications like Tomboy and F-Spot.

“Mono is a problem for many reasons, the main of which is the fact that it promotes Microsoft, the company which attacks Free software more than many other companies combined.”There are many comments on this new article (lots more to come), which include: “Nasty stuff! In the meantime, RedHat keeps a strong leadership in the server, and I am starting to move my desktops to purely Qt/KDE installs (to avoid any Mono contamination).”

Why is Novell doing this to itself? Or is it doing it for Microsoft? Mono is a problem for many reasons, the main of which is the fact that it promotes Microsoft, the company which attacks Free software more than many other companies combined. Mono puts Microsoft in control of developers (as in “developers developers developers developers”) and on top of this there are software patents to tighten the grip.

Imitation is rarely the path to winning (or just winning over developers). In order to recruit new support for Free(dom) software, one needs to offer something unique; experience suggests that Mono failed to attract even Visual Studio people.

In Novell’s headquarters, what’s debated at the moment are issues of marketing, not necessarily freedom. A longtime apologist of the Novell/Microsoft relationship elaborates on this subject. █
_____
*This Web site’s goal remains to put pressure on Novell — using its customers — and to rectify its commitment to its suppliers, the Free software world which includes not just developers but also other companies (development peers), enthusiastic users, and people who spread the software. The main issue with the deal is a combination of software patents and an obligation from Novell to do all sorts of things which advance Microsoft’s own ecosystem. SUSE intervention was attempted as means of alleviating or annulling the deal. Attempts were made in the past to do so through negotiation and many people who were using SUSE got involved, myself included. Novell argued that the deal with Microsoft was “irrevocable”, so there was little left to do but to protest through explanation of the consequences and have Novell regret the path that it chose.

]]> http://techrights.org/2009/10/15/jeremy-allison-on-mono/feed/ 2 Links 03/08/2009: Carpet Cleaner Runs GNU/Linux, The-Source.com Born http://techrights.org/2009/08/03/carpet-cleaner-ubuntu/ http://techrights.org/2009/08/03/carpet-cleaner-ubuntu/#comments Mon, 03 Aug 2009 07:12:04 +0000 http://boycottnovell.com/?p=16009

GNOME bluefish

Contents

GNU/Linux

  • Carpet Cleaner Doubles as Ubuntu PC

    PC cases come in many form factors, but they’re all basically boxes that lack personality. This doesn’t have to be the case (pun intended), as my Carpet Cleaner PC very well proves. Yes, this is a working Ubuntu PC built out of an old Bissell Carpet Machine.

  • Why I built a Ubuntu PC out of an Old Carpet Cleaner

    PC cases come in many form factors, but they’re all basically boxes that lack personality. This doesn’t have to be the case (pun intended), as my Carpet Cleaner PC very well proves. Yes, this is a working Ubuntu PC built out of an old Bissell Carpet Machine.

  • Microsoft Hit by Open Source and Lawmakers

    Microsoft had to report a 30% slump in sales for the last quarter. Their report to the U.S. SEC includes a rundown of their risk and competition factors. Among their concerns are Linux and open source untertakings, but also their own partners HP and Intel.

  • Announcing The-Source.com!

    The basic idea is to promote and discuss FLOSS, with a bit more emphasis on the Free aspect. There’s been a downright anti-Free / anti-ideals trending in the FLOSS world for quite sometime, and some of us think the Freedom aspect of FLOSS could use a little positive promotion. I especially welcome feedback on topics you’d like to hear about, and suggestions on how to improve the site quality! I’ve also enjoyed writing a lot, and The Source represents a welcome chance for me to expand my focus and improve my writing. (Not that it kneads any improviment, but One trys to be modestly.)

  • Linux-related Crafts: Using Old Linux Shirts

    I want to make my own Tux plushie, based on the pattern I blogged about before. However, I am just a newbie when it comes to sewing using a sewing machine so curves are really not easy for me right now. Anyhow, I’ve been looking at some T-shirt surgery guides and I think that some of them are fairly easy to follow. There are two things I’d like to do with some of my shirts.

  • Linux Gazette: August 2009 (#165)

  • Desktop

    • Life with Linux: On the Road

      Since my last entry on this topic two weeks ago, I’ve had the chance to bring my work Lenovo Thinkpad T400 running Ubuntu Linux 9.04 on a few business trips. I’ve also done a few tweaks, added a few apps, subtracted a few apps, and generally lived with this environment as my primary working environment.

    • 10 Ways Google Is Trying To Kill Microsoft

      But Chrome OS — starting with cheap, mobility-focused netbooks — promises to be fast, simple, and — important — free to gadget makers, which are already facing paper-thin margins on netbooks, and pressure to cut costs. If Google can make a great user interface and link easily to cloud services like the Web, Google search, GMail, and Google chat, then the Windows juggernaut could be at risk.

  • Education

    • Advocating Linux in the Classroom

      Linux shirts, caps, etc. Just the presence of those items will make people more aware of its existence. And if you make a really awesome design, people will talk to you about it and ask what it’s all about. A conversation starter that could let someone know about Linux and maybe even get him/her interested to try it out.

    • FOSS and Education: iTalc and Moodle

      If you’re running a training center, whether it concerns distance education or not, you need tools to help you manage your classes and facilitate discussions, especially for those who are into distance education learning programs. Issues that need to be addressed include: course management as well as ensuring that the training room is managed well so that learners can focus on the lessons and not be distracted by other applications.

  • Server

  • Kernel Space

    • Virtualization, Gaming, Drivers & Gernlinden

      This week there were several interesting stories at Phoronix, if you happened to miss any of them. We started off by sharing that proper multi-seat support for Linux / X.Org is on the way with the new VGA arbitration code coming about. With this new implementation, multiple X Servers can be run side-by-side without needing to use Xephyr or any ugly hacks.

    • Why writing a Windows compatible file server is (still) hard

      I went into one of my colleague’s office and kicked the hell out of one of the much loved Google beanbags, all the while screaming obscenities into the air for a good five minutes. He looked on with bemused amusement. I finally calmed down enough to explain the problem. One packet being returned at the wrong time. One single mis-timed packet caused a ripple effect in the Windows client file system software that was seen all the way up in the complex user interface of only that particular version of Excel, when interacting with the “Offline Files” feature, only on Windows Vista.

      The remaining task was to add a regression test into our test suite, so that this specific bug is tested for before we release any new versions of Samba. The code isn’t done until it’s properly tested. But at least the user is now happy.

      Interoperability with Windows is hard. But somebody has to do it. And if you’re going to do something, you might as well try and do it well (and try and have some fun at the same time) :-) .

  • File Systems

    • A short history of btrfs

      Btrfs is heading for 1.0, a little more than 2 years since the first announcement. This is much faster than many file systems veterans – including myself – expected, especially given that during most of that time, btrfs had only one full-time developer. Btrfs is not ready for production use – that is, storing and serving data you would be upset about losing – but it is ready for widespread testing – e.g., on your backed-up-nightly laptop, or your experimental netbook that you reinstall every few weeks anyway.

    • Choosing the right Linux File System Layout using a Top-Bottom Process

      As you may probably know, Linux supports various filesystems such as ext2, ext3, ext4, xfs, reiserfs, jfs among others. Few users really consider this part of a system, selecting default options of their distribution’s installer. In this article, I will give some reasons for a better consideration of the file-system and of its layout. I will suggest a top-bottom process for the design of a “smart” layout that remains as stable as possible over time for a given computer usage.

  • Applications

    • 8 of the Best Free Linux Compilers

      Typically, a programmer writes language statements in a language such as C or C++ using an editor. The programmer then runs the appropriate language compiler, which analyzes the language statements and turns them into machine code that the processor can execute.

    • A new application background in OOo

      Changing the application backgroud won’t change the world. Indeed it is a useless feature, and a very minor enhancement.

      But most people struggle with their computer. The software is too often a handicap they have to cope with to get things done.

  • Audio

  • Desktop Environments

    • Two weeks, still loving Fluxbox

      Two and a half weeks ago, I got a netbook and promptly installed Ubuntu, followed by Fluxbox (as already explained). And after two weeks of almost continued use, I like it even more than when I decided to use it. Some of the points I really enjoy (in no particular order).

    • Marble is a polished jewel

      Marble is a spectacular piece of software. It is beautiful, thorough, detailed, well laid out, fast, robust, and responsive. And you can enjoy it without any needs for a powerful graphics card. It runs well on modest hardware, which only makes it even more wondrous.

      For people who like geography, Marble is a great bonus. It also seems like an excellent tool for teaching people (and kids) the wonders of our Planet in a fun and exciting way. I wish I had something like this when I was growing up!

      Marble is simply great. You have to try it!

  • Distributions

    • Interview Gentoo Developer Robin H. Johnson (robbat2)

      Today I have the pleasure of introducing to all of you, Robin H. Johnson (robbat2) Gentoo Developer, Gentoo Trustee board member, head of the infrastructure, without it working smoothly there would not be Gentoo as we know it. Robin is also involved with helping out MySQL, LDAP, base-system, and lots more.

    • Mandriva Linux 2010 Alpha 2 is now available

      Mandriva Linux 2010 Alpha 2 is now available on public mirrors. This Alpha is available only through Free version, 32 and 64 bit DVDs.

    • Dell

    • Ubuntu

      • Amiga on Ubuntu

        There are two methods of getting Amiga on Ubuntu.

        Method two, is good old emulation using E-UAE. to emulate the Amiga. E-UAE is fantastic, and if you have an Amiga Rom and startup disks you can get a pretty good working version of the OS going. However, this defeats the whole purpose of trying to port Amiga games over to Ubuntu, and what one really wants is some form of Amiga emulation layer, or a binary library like WINE, so that Amiga apps can run on Ubuntu.

  • Devices/Embedded

    • Amazon US Refunds Windows License Fee, Too

      Today Amazon credited my card with $65.45. After ordering an Eee PC 1005 HA from amazon.com, I asked them for a refund for the cost of Windows XP via the ‘Contact us’ form. At first they told me to cancel any items on my order that I wanted a refund for, but after I explained that XP was pre-installed on the machine they got it. They asked what the cost of the OS was, and I answered that I had no idea but that Amazon UK refunded £40.00.

    • Dell Latitude 2100

      A bare-bones box with Ubuntu sells for $369 sporting the Intel 1.6GHz Atom N270 CPU, 512MB of RAM, and a 16GB solid-state drive. The fully loaded model we received (in tasteful playground-ball red, of course) runs Windows XP on 1GB of RAM (upgradable to 2GB) and a 80GB hard drive; it sells for $559 (as of 7/31/09). I know that education is expensive, but are you willing to drop that many ducats on your child’s netbook?

Free Software/Open Source

  • The “Value Proposition” of Open Source

    The Open Source brand has been successfully defined as providing freedom from vendor lock-in, establishing a community of users and developers, and enabling any user to be successful, regardless of the size of their wallet. The establishment of this regulated market makes the implicit statement about fairness: that playing in the world of cost-free products necessarily means agreeing to some restrictions that protect users and developers over the long-term.

  • Why Choose Open Source?

    Open source projects tend to be very agile. Bugs are often reported and fixed within days. The developers of the software generally make themselves available on mailing lists and discussion groups to help users of the software. If you are using proprietary software you are subject to the availability of the provider. Companies can go bankrupt and developers can flake out on you. If you’re using open source you already own the code and you can probably find another developer familiar with your technology without much difficulty.

  • Web Browsers

    • The Firefox Petra trip!

      So, as the name implies, we the Firefox fans in Jordan (specifically Jordan University for Science and Technology) have arranged a nice and humble gift for the FOSS society as a whole, and the Firefox community in specific:

      A cool trip to one of the world’s new seven wonders, The Ancient City of Petra!!

    • Firefox Jordan’s [Petra Trip/Party]
    • Replacing Firefox

      Arora seems to render pages much quicker and it certainly loads quicker. There is a sizable decrease in memory footprint – averaging at around 150 Mb. I’ve browsed for a few hours with several tabs open and not seen it go over 200Mb.

  • Government

  • Licensing

  • Openness

    • Open Source Cognitive Science

      A new site with the self-explanatory name of “Open source cognitive science” has an interesting opening post about Tools for Psychology and Neuroscience, pointing out that…

  • Programming

    • Real men program in C

      For today’s computer science students, learning C is like taking an elective class in Latin. But C is anything but history and not at all a dead language. And C remains the dominant language in the fast growing field of embedded software development. Figure 1 summarizes 13 years of relevant annual survey data collected by the publishers of Embedded Systems Design.

    • Qt for VxWorks and with XML Schema capability

      The cross-platform Qt GUI framework now runs on Wind River’s VxWorks real-time operating system, although it currently still requires a separate X11 server to be installed. The Qt developers point out that this version of Qt will probably never run without being customised for each respective version of VxWorks.

  • Standards/Consortia

    • What’s the Problem with Theora?

      Based on what we actually know, Theora looks good. It complies with the W3C patent policy and goals, and there haven’t been any patent claims that would indicate otherwise.

Leftovers

  • Censorship/Web Abuse

  • Intellectual Monopolies

    • What Would Fair Use Look Like in an Online Era?

      Summary: this would be a new four-part test to add to the already existing four-part “fair use” test.

      1. The presence and quality of the link.
      2. Does the new format provide the opportunity for democratic engagement that is unavailable at the original provider?
      3. Courts should consider this balance: between the added value of information (provided by the so-called appropriator) and amount of appropriation of the “original” work.
      4. What is the overall purpose and character of the appropriating organization?

    • The Basis for Micropatronage

      The idea that a publication retains value that creates an obligation upon the recipient to repay is an epiphenomenon of copyright. This is the peculiar idea that the maker or recipient of a copy of a published work extracts value from it which must be repaid to its copyright holder (or million dollar fines are liable).

    • White House: ACTA still “secret in the interest of national defense or foreign policy”

      On Thursday, July 30, 2009, the White House office of the United States Trade Representative denied release of 4 new proposals for text that were circulated in July to “all countries” in the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) negotiations. The request was limited to documents that were prepared in the past 90 days for purpose of discussion at the July 2009 ACTA negotiating meeting held in Morocco.

Digital Tipping Point: Clip of the Day

Luis Casas Luengo, Director of Extremadura’s Fundecyt foundation 13 (2004)

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

]]> http://techrights.org/2009/08/03/carpet-cleaner-ubuntu/feed/ 0 Links 13/07/2009: US Post Office Embraces Free Software http://techrights.org/2009/07/13/us-post-office-foss/ http://techrights.org/2009/07/13/us-post-office-foss/#comments Tue, 14 Jul 2009 00:11:43 +0000 http://boycottnovell.com/?p=14671

GNOME bluefish

Contents

GNU/Linux

  • My PC Won’t Boot

    When Keatlaretse boots his PC, it shuts itself down. He’s thinking about reinstalling Windows, but doesn’t want to lose all his data.

    [...]

    On another computer, download the live version of Puppy Linux and burn it to a CD-ROM. It’s an .iso file, and double-clicking the file will likely bring up your burner. If it doesn’t, download and install ISO Recorder. Puppy isn’t the best Linux flavor by a long shot, but it’s small, fast, and is easy for Windows users.

  • Another Linux Myth Killed In Broad Daylight

    Several more Linux myths have been diagnosed with a terminal illness. The TOYA Boys will grieve plenty in the following months.

  • Linux, FOSS, and the Time-Honored Tradition of Charging More for Less

    There is something fundamentally defective with a business that feels it can’t survive by giving customers a fair deal. Stick with FOSS. What you see is what you get, warts, roses, everything, with no place to hide tricksy dealings or dishonesty.

  • DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 311, 13 July 2009

    Welcome to the 28th issue of DistroWatch Weekly for 2009! In the news this week, Slackware finally adopts ARMedslack as the official port for the project, while Ubuntu founder Shuttleworth talks about Karmic Koala, the release scheduled for October this year. We also link to an interview with Jono Bacon, the project’s Community Manager. Our feature this week takes a nostalgic look back at some great Linux distributions that failed to survive. Elsewhere in the free software world, Google has announced their own Linux based operating system for netbooks and the BSD Magazine survives some tough times to continue printing. Have a great Monday and the rest of the week!

  • Linux Professional Institute Develops Partner Program for Schools in Portugal

    The Linux Professional Institute (LPI), the world’s premier Linux certification organization (http://www.lpi.org), announced results of their initial pilot program promoting ICT academies within the secondary school system in Portugal. The ICT Academies program is part of the “Technological Plan for Education” promoted by the Portuguese Ministry of Education. As part of this initiative, LPI-Portugal (http://www.lpi.com.pt/) will be certifying 10 instructors in 5 secondary schools, to provide Linux education and training towards the Linux Professional Institute Certification (LPIC) through LPI’s Approved Academic Program (LPI-AAP). The ICT Academy program is expected to grow to include 30 secondary schools in Portugal in 2010.

  • Community Leadership Summit: Days Away in San Jose

    As Kristin covered in April, the upcoming OSCON conference will be immediately preceded by an “unconference” called the Community Leadership Summit, to take place July 18th and 19th in San Jose, California. The event is free for anyone to attend, although if you’re planning to attend you should pre-register. There are some scheduled presentations, panel discussions, and social gatherings planned, but much of the event will consist of free-form discussion on what it takes to build a thriving, productive community around an open source project. More details are emerging on the participants, and it looks like a solid event.

  • Desktop

    • Chrome OS: Cloud computing made real

      Chrome OS must be a dream come true for Google-versus-Microsoft fanboys. Rumors that Google would ship a desktop OS first flew back in 2006, but the project in question turned out to be for internal use only. Then came Android, and reports that Google’s smartphone OS would soon make the leap to more traditional PCs set the market abuzz again — although many remained skeptical. Now the announcement of Chrome OS should brush any lingering doubts aside.

  • Server

    • Virtualization: Pushing Linux Into Small Businesses?

      When Lenovo launched four ThinkServers a few days ago, The VAR Guy noticed that the systems — designed for small and midsize businesses — emphasized virtualization. Hmmm. So, The VAR Guy began to wonder: Are virtualized servers (running a mix of Linux and Windows) really starting to push into the SMB space?

  • Kernel Space

    • Available Nvidia ION based products overview

      Current Nvidia Linux drivers fully support (with the VDPAU API) hardware based decoding of mpeg2, VC1 and h.264 as offered by the ION chip, therefore systems based on the ION chip are well suited for a Linux based HTPC, using software such as ‘XBMC’, ‘Mythtv’ and video players such as ‘Mplayer’.

  • Artwork

  • Applications

    • Top 3 Linux BitTorrent Applications

      Based on the interface for uTorrent, the most popular BitTorrent software for windows, KTorrent is built using the KDE library and hence is a KDE application.

    • Blog From Your Linux Desktop with Drivel

      Blogging has done nothing but gain steam over the last few years. Most bloggers are posting directly to sites like Facebook and MySpace. I consider that type of blogger to be amateur. The serious bloggers are using their own sites powered by outstanding open source solutions like WordPress, Drupal, Joomla!, or even home-grown solutions. But there are others who regularly blog to Blogger and Moveable Type. For those more serious bloggers the need for tools to make this job easier is at a prime. One such tool is that tool that allows the user to blog straight from the desktop, in both on and offline modes.

    • 4 Must have apps for Linux

      A step up from that, is the very graphical “Zim Desktop Wiki”. It looks like a wiki, feels like a wiki, but is prettier in layout than a Wiki. You need not be a wiki pro to use it, as it has a pretty good following in the forums, as well as a good set of documentation.

    • Getting things done with Linux to-do list programs

      To-do list programs can help you stay organized and boost productivity. Ars looks at GTG, KOrganizer, and other task management tools for the Linux desktop.

    • An interview with RVM, developer of Smplayer

      Last week I did a review of the excellent media player for Linux and Windows Smplayer. This week the developer behind this great Mplayer front-end granted me an email interview:

      TNM: Where did the idea of creating Smplayer come from?

      RVM: I’m a linux user and I have always used mplayer to play videos, and I was very happy with it. But sometimes, when I had to use Windows I also wanted to use mplayer, but using a command line application on Windows is really hard. Also some people asked me to recommend them a video player for their Windows machines and I would have liked to recommend mplayer but the front-ends available at that moment were very simple (for example I missed options to configure the subtitles). It was a little disappointing.

      So it was then when I started to think about the possibility to develop my own front-end.

  • Web Browsers

    • Epiphany – GNOME Web Browser Review

      Epiphany is usually the first choice for GNOME users who want to use a web browser which is lighter than Firefox and integrates well with GNOME. Of course, there are alternatives like Konqueror or Opera out there, but they are either too bloated compared to Epiphany, or they don’t integrate very well with the GNOME desktop environment. Being the default web browser in GNOME and built using the GTK toolkit, Epiphany became over time a well-known web browser especially for the fact that it is lightweight and has a basic, clean interface.

    • Google Chromium gains native theming support on Linux

      The Linux port of Chromium, the open source development version of Google’s Chrome browser, now has a native theming mode that will make the browser adopt the icons and colors from a user’s GTK+ theme.

    • Competition Spurs Innovation

      The opposite happens at the competition – Google Chrome wants to be an operating system. Actually it wants to be a browser geared to serve Google content, which happens to have an underlying operating system. It just can’t do without that minor requirement and still take complete control of what a user can or can’t do outside of the browser. Even though Chrome OS is apparently going to use a Linux kernel, it’s really going to be a Browser OS. Or is the terminal coming back in a more advanced form?

  • Games

    • Warzone 2100 continues to shine

      I actually have spare time these days, even between projects like tearing apart a desktop machine, to clean and restore it. And since I occasionally pick up a game or two when I want complete distraction, I revisited Warzone 2100 yesterday, after a hiatus that approached the better part of a year.

    • 0 A.D. Game Goes Open-Source

      Wildfire Games has decided to switch their development model for their real-time strategy title, 0 A.D., from closed-source to open-source. This 3D real-time strategy game is now having its code licensed under the GNU GPLv2 and the game content is going under the Creative Commons Attribute-Share Alike license.

    • Who needs games when you’ve got bling.

      In fact, it WAS the reason that Linux was interesting to him. He wanted the wobbly windows, the fire burning on the screen, the rain drops, the spinning cube, that stuff, was cool.

    • New RTS Based on DotA Offers Native Linux Client

      S2 Games, longtime fans of the “Defense of the Ancients” (DotA) mod for Warcraft 3, have decided to create an entire game based around it (which IceFrog had no objection to). Without offending their still-active NDA, I can say that Heroes of Newerth is shaping up to be a very polished RTS, with the ability to play both via S2′s own online service and local games, something that even Blizzard seems to be missing these days.

  • Distributions

    • 5 Fast and Lightweight Linux Distros that Chrome OS Should Beat

      If Chrome OS can’t top or equal any of the distributions mentioned above in terms of speed and simplicity, then I have a reason to be disappointed since I don’t see the point of Google creating a whole new Linux distro when they can just improve on what’s already available.

    • Red Hat

      • Streamlining Systems Management

        The Red Hat Satellite systems management solution has worked so well for the University of Southern Mississippi tech team that Lowery wants to expand its use throughout the campus. “We would like to have a long-term, university-wide systems management solution,” Lowery said, “not just a technology department solution.”

    • Ubuntu and Derivatives

      • Kongoni Nietzsche released

        First stable version of a new Linux distro, Kongoni version 1.12.2, launched on July 12th 2009

        In February this year a group of South African developers announced a new Linux distro project Kongoni. While there is a strong BSD-Unix influence, the underlying code is based on Slackware and the makers are promising to keep the distribution free of proprietary software.

      • Hands on with Mint 7

        Our verdict: A blessed relief from Ubuntu brown plus the hardware support and ease of use, make this a real winner. 9/10.

      • CrunchBang Linux 9.04.01

        Despite the differences in desktop appearance between regular Ubuntu and CrunchBang or even Linux Mint and CrunchBang, CrunchBang is still Ubuntu. So you get all of the advantages of Ubuntu but just without the desktop bloat of KDE or Gnome.

        Installing it is no more difficult than installing any other version of Ubuntu. My install took just a few minutes and I had no problems with it.

      • Jono Bacon on the Value of Good Communities

        James Turner: Let’s start by talking about what is your role at Canonical these days?

        Jono Bacon: Okay. So my role is the Ubuntu Community Manager at Canonical. My job is to encourage and to enable the global Ubuntu community to do good work that’s productive and that they enjoy doing themselves. I have a team at Canonical; we work with many of the different aspects of the Ubuntu community across translations, development, packaging–all manner of different things–to help people to really make the most out of their contributions to Ubuntu.

  • Devices/Embedded

    • Datawind Announces the PocketSurfer3

      Both products are featured with a Linux operating system and come with 30 hours of monthly Internet access for users in the UK.

    • Peek Creators Have Linux Envy, Reach Out to Hackers

      The point of—and in a way, problem with—Peek messaging devices is just how simple they are: their software does email, sorta, and that’s it. Now Peek is reaching out to users to port Linux to the device.

      But wait, doesn’t the Peek already run some kind of stripped-down Linux? You’d think so, but no: it’s super-simple variant on TI’s in-house Nucleus operating system, designed specifically for the OMAP processor used in the Peek. It’s confusingly called “Peekux:”

    • Peek seeks Linux developer
    • Peek has Linux aspirations, wants help
    • NCP engineering Extends Easy VPN Management for Linux Networks With Powerful Software Solution

      NCP engineering GmbH today announced the availability of a new version of the software-based NCP Secure Enterprise Management (SEM) System for Linux-based systems. Developed from the ground up to make hybrid IPSec / SSL networks powerful yet easy to manage, the NCP SEM System can plug-and-play with any existing network infrastructure or stand on its own as a new component. A single administrator is enabled full control over tens-of-thousands of secure connections, policy setting and enforcement, client updates, configurations and a host of other network access control (NAC) management activities from one dashboard interface.

    • Check Out Sony Ericsson’s Android UI

      Word leaked over the weekend about Sony Ericsson’s first Android-powered smartphone and it looked like a winner. Well, today we’ve learned that the company will be layering on its own custom user interface on top of the Linux-based OS, and it also looks pretty good.

      To recap, the smartphone is code-named “Rachael” and it is expected to be the next generation in the company’s Xperia line. Reports say it will run on Qualcomm’s zippy 1 GHz Snapdragon processor, and it will have 3D graphics, a whopping 8-megapixel camera, and it will be capable of 7.2 Mbps downlink speeds.

    • Sub-notebooks

      • Apple, Acer and…Arrington?

        Michael Arrington, founder of the influential tech blog TechCrunch, has been talking for a year about building a touch-screen tablet for Web surfing. Now, it appears that the CrunchPad is about to become a reality.

      • The Recipe for Linux’s Netbook Success

        “Linux will naturally capture more share on netbooks as Microsoft economics prove unrealistic for this market,” Amanda McPherson, vice president of marketing and developer programs at the Linux Foundation told InternetNews.com. “Microsoft as it existed for the past 20 years does not fit into a world of free carrier-backed netbooks and an Internet OS.”

      • HP releases $500 Linux netbook onto Aussie market

        The budget-priced Mini 110 makes its Aussie debut this week with HP’s Ubuntu-based ‘Mi’ edition and a 16GB solid state drive for $499. Want Windows XP? That’ll be another $200…

      • Get an Asus Eee PC Netbook for $129.95

        Translation: forget Windows. This baby runs Linux, which is absolutely fine for stuff like e-mail, Web, and other basics–but no doubt a deal breaker for some users.

Free Software/Open Source

  • A Ruritania of the Mind

    This is the beginning of the participatory society. The Free Software/Open Source movement understands this very well. I contribute to this society by writing Samba code, helping people with problems on the Internet with Samba, and communicating freely with the community of people who have coalesced around this code. Many other programmers make a living and communicate in the same way. But this movement doesn’t stop with technologists or Free Software programmers. I used to love going to the Opera. With a small child I don’t get to go anymore, but I’d love to see more amateur productions. Video your amateur production and upload it. I’ll watch! Some will end up being worth paying for and maybe you’ll hit the bigtime. Most of it won’t and just you and your friends will get to enjoy it. But you’ll never know unless you upload and share.

  • VLC: An Excellent Media Player (Finally) Turns 1.0.0

    VLC media player is an open-source application from VideoLAN that runs on Windows, Mac OS and Linux. (For a full list of supported OSes, see VideoLAN’s site.) You may not think you need an application to play back videos, with so much browser-based content available these days, but downloading VLC is a no-brainer if you want to watch any kind of offline content, whether that’s stuff you download (legally, ahem, or not) or even DVDs you pop into your computer.

  • Open Source Lineage

    Kicking off the process in earnest next week I’ll be at the Gran Canaria Desktop Summit, talking to the smart developers behind the GNOME and KDE projects, and working with colleagues from ACCESS and Samsung to continue the dialog. If you’re a developer there, come and say hi – we’ve got lots to talk about.

  • USPS goes open-source with tracking system

    If you’ve gone to USPS.com to track and confirm delivery of a letter or package, you’ve used the U.S. Postal Service’s Product Tracking System (PTS) and probably not known it. And you might not have noticed either when USPS moved the system to open source.

  • Virtualbox 3.0: Virtualization Brilliance

    Seemingly out of nowhere, Virtualbox 3.0 was released to the masses recently. Since I am already a fan of this software, I decided to give it a shot the very same day I was notified of its release. From what I have seen so far, not much has actually changed on the surface, though this version has laid the groundwork for some amazing things to come later on.

  • Google releases open source NX server

    Amid the fanfare of last week’s Chrome OS announcement, Google quietly released an open source NX server, dubbed Neatx, for remote desktop display.

  • Mozilla Releases Major Ubiquity Update

    Ubiquity, the extension that adds command line functionality to the Firefox browser, got a major upgrade this week. Ubiquity 0.5 supports a bunch of new languages and drops the need to use hyphens in commands. The development team is also experimenting with “smart suggestions,” a feature that lets Ubiquity make educated guesses about the meaning of unfamiliar data.

  • WordPress Releases Beta Version of New BlackBerry Blogging App

    Although I own a BlackBerry and I am writing this blog post, I am not writing this blog post on a BlackBerry. I could if I wanted to, though, thanks to the new public beta launch of the WordPress BlackBerry client.

  • Open Source Skills As a Job Seeker’s Key Differentiator

    We’ve done several posts on how open source skills can arm a college graduate looking for tech work, or a recently laid off worker, with powerful calling cards for finding employment. From working for commercial open source companies to working on open source-focused divisions at big companies such as Yahoo!, skills with tools such as PHP, Hadoop, and open source content management system platforms can really differentiate a tech job seeker from the pack.

    TwitterJobSearch, oDesk, Elance and many other sites are good places to look for open source work. Today, I noticed this post from Dries Buytaert, founder of the Drupal open source content management system (which OStatic runs on), showing very favorable employment trends for people with Drupal skills.

  • Over 20 Free Tutorials for Top Open Source Apps and Linux

    Open source applications and platforms take regular criticism for not having the same level of documentation as proprietary ones, but for many top open source projects, there are lots of free resources. In some cases these are delivered by the community behind particular projects, and sometimes they are from enthusiasts and other third parties. In this post, you’ll find an updated collection of our last tutorials roundup, with over 20 good resources for popular open source applications and Linux. A little time spent working with these resources can pay many dividends.

  • U.S. Postal Service Gives Stamp of Approval To FOSS

    The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) has switched 1,300 of the servers that manage its package tracking system to a Linux environment. The move has taken the better part of a year since all the original system code was written in Cobol and had to be converted for Linux — a less expensive option than rewriting it altogether.

  • Needed: A Centralized, State-of-the-Art Open Source Usability Lab

    Over the past few years, we’ve seen many centralized, federated organizations arise in support of open source initiatives, such as The Linux Foundation. Through donations, and through the support of a powerful body like the Linux Foundation, I could see the launch of a professional usability lab that opens its doors to FOSS projects of all types. Usability is indeed an Achilles’ heel for open source software, and this may be an area where the money and effort that proprietary software companies put into usability are worth emulating.

  • Control Computer Apps From Across the Room With AcceleGlove

    The AcceleGlove’s software is licensed under the GPL and is free for anyone using it for application development prototyping or research, however an additional license is required for commercial product development.

  • Operating Systems

    • Is Oracle getting ready to kill OpenSolaris?

      People outside of IT seldom think of Oracle as a Linux company, but it is. Not only does Oracle encourage its customers to use its own house-brand clone of RHEL (Red Hat Enterprise Linux), Oracle Unbreakable Linux, Oracle has long used Linux internally both on its servers and on some of its desktops. So, what does a Linux company like Oracle wants to do with its newly purchased Sun’s open-source operating system, OpenSolaris? The answer appears to be: “Nothing.”

    • Free Operating Systems That Aren’t Linux

      Here’s a survey of other operating systems that have also been built as open source products, are free to use, and generally come with little to no restrictions over their use. Many of them have taken strong cues from the way Linux has developed, typically in the collections of userland tools that are available. Some owe very little to Linux, apart from the general development philosophy, and are not architecturally related to Linux in any significant way.

  • Business

    • Open Source (ERP) Enterprise Resource Planning on the move?

      I just looked at the 30 June 2009 statistics of SourceForge.

      1. PostBooks ERP, accounting, CRM by xTuple
      2. Openbravo ERP

    • Digium Asterisk: Rising In the Fall

      On the channel front, Digium has signed up distributors across the globe. Prime examples in North America include ABT Technology, Interlink Communication Systems, NextUSA, Westcon Group and Williams Telecommunications Group. Eager resellers include The Fulcrum Group, a North Texas provider of voice and data solutions.

    • Two Open Source Venture Capital Rounds From This Week

      This week brought more venture capital funding for open source players. Google’s Chrome OS isn’t the only news on the netbook operating system front for the week. Jolicloud, which has an Internet operating system for netbooks, has announced the completion of a $4.2M Series A funding round led by Atomico Ventures, in conjunction with Mangrove Capital Partners. Meanwhile, Borqs, which has an open mobile phone operating system based on Android, has raised $17.4 million in Series B funding.

  • Government

    • Legalized drugs, now open source. Those crazy Dutch!

      While some organizations continue to hide their open-source adoption, NOiV (Nederland Open in Verbinding), has published a map of over 200 open-source products currently in use by the Dutch central government as of mid-2009. (Translation here.)

    • Agencies look inward for Web 2.0

      Agencies that seek social-networking capabilities are not always able to use public services such as Facebook and Twitter. When they can’t, a growing collection of open-source tools is making it easier for them to create their own systems.

      NASA’s Spacebook is one of the most visible examples. Linda Cureton, chief information officer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, said she led the effort to create the tool because Facebook offered a good model but was too casual and not secure enough for her facility’s needs.

  • Standards/Consortia

    • Tim O’Reilly: Kindle needs to embrace standards or die

      Tim O’Reilly predicts the imminent demise of the Kindle ebook reader unless it makes the move to open standards and abandons DRM and proprietary formats. I’ve been trying to get someone at Amazon to answer my basic questions about the “DRM-free” option for authors and publishers (“Does the EULA prohibit a reader from moving a DRM-free file to a non-Kindle?” “Is there a patent or other restriction that prevents competitors from making readers or converters for the DRM-free files?” and “Can DRM-free files be remotely downgraded, the way that the DRM’ed files have had their read-aloud functionality taken away after the fact?”) and been totally stonewalled, as have O’Reilly.

    • Why Kindle Should Be An Open Book
    • Browser vendor squabbles cause W3C to scrap codec requirement

      The latest rewrite of the Web’s mother tongue won’t recommend the use of specific audio and video encoding formats that could make it cheaper and easier for people to distribute multimedia content.

Leftovers

  • Censorship/Web Abuse

    • Canadian gov’t: you have no expectation of privacy on the Internet

      In the latest episode of the Canadian tech podcast Search Engine, Peter Van Loan, the new Public Safety minister, attempts to explain the Conservative government’s approach to privacy on the internet. It’s a remarkable piece of audio. It goes a little like this:

      Search Engine: Here’s some audio of your predecessor promising, on behalf of your party and your government, never to ever allow the police to wiretap the Internet without a warrant.

    • Deep-Packet Inspection in U.S. Scrutinized Following Iran Surveillance

      Following a report last week that Iran is spying on domestic internet users with western-supplied technology, advocacy groups are pressuring federal lawmakers to scrutinize the use of the same technology in the U.S.

      The Open Internet Coalition sent a letter to all members of the House and Senate urging them to launch hearings aimed at examining and possibly regulating the so-called deep-packet inspection technology.

    • Snooping through the power socket

      Power sockets can be used to eavesdrop on what people type on a computer.

      Security researchers found that poor shielding on some keyboard cables means useful data can be leaked about each character typed.

    • Artificial Scarcity Is Subject To Massive Deflation

      In discussing the basic economics of scarce and infinite goods around here, sometimes certain points get lost or confused. One of the key points that we’ve tried to make (but that sometimes gets lost), when we say that an old model is obsolete or going away, is that you can try to hang onto that business model, but the economic trends are clear: it’s not going to last. So, you can try to keep charging for information in a highly competitive market, and maybe you can pull it off for a little while. But betting your future business on it alone? Good luck.

      [...]

      The reason old business models are at risk is because the free distribution of content is simply more efficient due to modern technology, and it’s about as close to impossible to hold back economic efficiency, once enabled. Artificial scarcity is based on pretending you can hold back that efficiency.

    • West Virginia sues Comcast over cable box tying

      The attorney general of West Virginia has filed suit against Comcast, alleging that subscribers need a company-provided cable box to receive premium services, which constitutes illegal bundling.

  • Copyrights

    • ISPs Doubt Accuracy of Anti-Piracy Evidence

      Lawyers ACS:Law and their anti-piracy partners Logistep are currently harassing around 6,000 alleged file-sharers, demanding £665 from each to make threats of legal action go away. In yet another blow to their tenuous claims, ISP association ISPA says that its members are “not confident” that the evidence accurately identifies infringers.

    • When your phone rings, the copyright police may come calling

      A digital rights group is contesting a U.S. music industry association’s assertion that royalties are due each time a mobile phone ringtone is played in public.

    • ISOHunt to start filtering content

      TorrentSpy decides to not block US visitors and chooses to filter pirated content from its search results instead, something which ISOHunt plans to do as well.

      It’s a sad day for those in the US who use TorrentSpy or ISOHunt, two of the world’s largest public trackers sites, to find movies, music, and more to download for it seems the party’s nearing an end.

    • Playing Whack-A-Mole With Data: The Pirate Bay Lives On

      Responses have been overwhelmingly negative to the news that The Pirate Bay will soon be sold to Global Gaming Factory. But what if there is a method to the apparent Pirate Bay madness — one that, as Peter Sunde has hinted, could actually be good for the P2P community?

    • Jammie Thomas asks for new trial

      Jammie Thomas-Rasset, the Minnesota woman found liable for willful copyright infringement of 24 songs last month, has asked a federal court for a new trial or a reduction in the amount of the $1.92 million damages she was ordered to pay.

    • Australian Press Prints Movie Industry Myths About Piracy Funding Terrorism

      Isn’t the press supposed to actually investigate claims handed to them by industry lobbyists? Apparently not. A bunch of folks have sent in the fact that the Sydney Morning Herald has published a totally one-side and unsubstantiated article claiming that “movie pirates fund terrorism.”

    • Copyright and copy writers

      Copyright protection in the online world is going to be an exciting area of discussion in the coming years, and columnist Connie Schultz got the ball rolling recenly with her piece in the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

      Schultz writes about a recent panel discussion during which David Marburger brought up the idea of dramatically changing federal copyright law to protect those who produce news. David Marburger is a First Amendment lawyer who has done a good amount of work for newspapers. In her column, she quotes Marburger’s ideas on how to go after free-standing web sites and local television stations that pull newspapers stories and post them online.

    • Because The Mainstream Press Never Copies Stories From Bloggers Without Credit…

      And, the newspaper folks who are pushing for such rules might want to remember that it’s just as likely to come back and bite them if such laws were passed.

    • “With The Utmost Respect”, the Model is Broken

      In essence, their proposal is to take a leaf out of feudalism, randomly taking rights from citizens for the benefit of Newspaper Barons. The right they propose to take is, quite literally, the right to give directions to others. Under their dystopia linking would be illegal – that would be like making it illegal in Real Life to tell someone where the nearest school, or hospital is. Such a proposal in the real world is so exceedingly bizarre no one would have the courage to float it in public, let alone posit it as a serious option. That such a proposal can today be put forward at all indicates not only how completely disconnected from reality has copyright ideology become, but also how far that ideology, with its unhealthy obsession with demonising legal, justifiable, laudable free riding has permeated “official” opinion. It is also testament to the far reaching power of copyright feudalism.

    • AT&T Quits Free Usenet Access July 15th

      Caves to demands that it “protect its customers from child pornography” even though discontinuing free service will do little to fight the problem since pedophiles will simply switch to third party premium Usenet services.

    • RIAA Wastes Little Time Trying To Extend Interpretation Of Usenet.com Victory

      Last week we wrote about the RIAA’s victory against Usenet.com, noting that it really wasn’t that big a deal precedent-wise, given the rather specific circumstances involved in the case. Specifically, the company Usenet.com clearly destroyed evidence, which pretty much doomed the case, and on top of that engaged in activity that was egregious in terms of making it quite clear that it encouraged illegal activity through the use of its service. But, of course, the RIAA and its friends (as per usual) are having a field day claiming this is a big deal.

    • RIAA Seeks Web Removal of ‘Illegal’ Court Recordings

      The Recording Industry Association of America on Monday demanded a federal judge order Harvard University’s Charles Nesson to remove from the internet “unauthorized and illegal recordings” of pretrial hearings and depositions in a file-sharing lawsuit headed to trial.

    • Nesson responds to OSC re taping; claims labels seek to ‘distract and sap the energy…of those they oppose’

      Harvard Law School Professor Charles Nesson today responded to Judge Nancy Gertner’s Order to Show Cause regarding his practice of taping opposing counsel and posting the results to the Internet with a “declaration” denying all wrongdoing and accusing the plaintiffs in the Joel Tenenbaum case of seeking to “distract and sap the energy, and resources and reputations of those they oppose.”

    • Stephen Fry on copyright

      At an event in London last night, the writer, actor, and gadget fan Stephen Fry launched a surprisingly ferocious attack on the music and movie industries over the way they have acted to defend their copyright.

    • How Does Offering Free Content Insult Those Who Pay?

      Honestly, it’s yet another sign of the entitlement culture, where some seem to assume they’re entitled to keep their business model, and it’s somehow “insulting” to show their customers that there are better/cheaper/more efficient ways to get what they need.

    • The Myth Of Original Creators

      It’s nice to see more and more people recognizing and speaking out about these things. The idea that there is a single “author” or “creator” who deserves to get money any time anyone else builds upon his or her works is something that should be seen as increasingly ridiculous as people recognize that all works are created based on the works of others, and it’s inherently silly to try to charge everyone to pay back each and every one of their influences in creating a new work.

    • Copyright batte over ‘unauthorized’ Catcher in the Rye commentary

      Jim Lindgren has an interesting post over at Volokh.com concerning the legal battle over a book that may or may not be characterized by some as an unauthorized sequel to “Catcher in the Rye”.

    • BNN Trying To Silence The Canadian Copyright Debate?

      Given the above evidence one can only assume that The Business News Network’s intended goal is to silence the debate surrounding Canadian copyright reform by suppressing the rebroadcast of clips which may be unfavourable for industry lobby groups.

    • Why Should Webcasters Pay 25% Of Revenue To Promote Musicians?

      Some might say the NAB and traditional radio stations also make out nicely, in that since these rates may harm webcasters, it takes away some competition, but even if the radio stations are happy in the short-run, it’s a bad deal. These rates, certainly, will likely influence any eventual “performance right” that’s added to terrestrial radio, and could significantly jack up the cost of running a regular radio station as well.

    • Judge sides with YouTube on several copyright issues

      As it defends itself against allegations of copyright infringement made by multiple copyright owners, Google’s YouTube won some minor legal victories on Tuesday, legal documents show.

    • Why Did UK Anti-Piracy Group FACT Get Computers From A Criminal Investigation… And Keep Them?

      A few months after the original raid, investigation and arrest, the police decided that there wasn’t enough for criminal charges, and decided not to prosecute the Vickerman’s. The police told the Vickerman’s their property could be returned, so the Vicerkman’s lawyers contacted FACT asking for the equipment back, at which point FACT refused, claiming it was holding onto the equipment because it was considering bringing a civil suit against the Vickermans — which it eventually did bring.

    • SIIA’s Sequel To Don’t Copy That Floppy Lies About Criminality Of Copying

      So it’s difficult to fathom who could possibly think it’s a good idea to bring back the campaign… but that appears to be what’s happening. Still, the “chorus” of the song claims that copying is a crime. I would argue that this is false advertising.

    • Don’t Copy That Floppy sequel promises prison beatings for copying

      The BSA are, of course, big proponents of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, which would require signatories to send noncommercial copiers to prison, so I suppose that there’s something to this threat.

    • Photographer moves to intervene in Fairey v. Associated Press fair use litigation

      In Fairey v. Associated Press, the fair use litigation in which Associated Press accuses artist Shepard Fairey of copyright infringement in connection with a painting he did based upon a portion of a photograph which appeared in the AP, the actual photographer — Manuel Garcia — has now moved to intervene in the action, claiming that he — and not the Associated Press — is the owner of the copyright in the photograph.

    • With guilty plea, Shepard Fairey agrees to ban himself in Boston

      Fairey consented to a plea deal that will prohibit him from carrying stickers, posters, wheat paste, brushes, and other tools of the graffiti trade while in Suffolk County for the next two years. Under the arrangement, Fairey pleaded guilty to three vandalism charges and must pay a $2,000 fine to one of his adversaries, Graffiti NABBers for the Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay.

Digital Tipping Point: Clip of the Day

Alexandro Colorado, international open source evangelist 17 (2004)

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

]]> http://techrights.org/2009/07/13/us-post-office-foss/feed/ 5 63,000 Windows Bugs Versus the Rarity of Command Lines http://techrights.org/2009/05/31/63000-windows-bugs-linux-cli/ http://techrights.org/2009/05/31/63000-windows-bugs-linux-cli/#comments Sun, 31 May 2009 07:34:02 +0000 http://boycottnovell.com/?p=11933 Strong line
A strong command-line interface is a friend, not an
enemy, and it’s a feature, not a usability bug

Summary: The handling of common disinformation and Microsoft censorship through punishment

THE following new comment was eye catching for its capture of the truth.

I’d just like to say what a refreshing change it is, to see a “tech journalist” so simply describe the quite ordinary purpose of those (in)famous “arcane CLI commands” that are so often used as a bludgeon to scare potential users back into the Windows fold. Anyone who’s ever had to fire up regedit to modify the Windows Registry should be able to see that this is not much different, and easier to understand.

This remark about increasing the perceived complexity is a very good one. People like Preston Gralla do this and Microsoft Jack [1, 2, 3] does this on an occasional basis too. He even did this last week. The matter of fact is that the command-line interface is rarely ever needed unless one insists on it, but it is so essential that even Microsoft is mimicking GNU/Linux now by trying to offer a worthy CLI. References are appended at the bottom.

Is Windows really easy and reliable?

Does anyone remember this report from Mary-Jo Foley?

Bugfest! Win2000 has 63,000 ‘defects’

[...]

Not everyone will be having fun at Microsoft next week. While the software giant and its partners celebrate the arrival of Windows 2000 on Thursday, Feb. 17, hundreds of members of the Windows development team will be busy cleaning up the mess.

Yes, that’s how bad Microsoft releases tend to be and Vista 7 will be no exception on the face of it, just like Vista. Microsoft releases prematurely. Regarding the article above, see how Microsoft treats reporters, alongside the PR department better known as Waggener Edstrom:

“In 2000 a leaked memo from Microsoft obtained by Mary Jo Foley (of Microsoft-Watch) revealed that Windows 2000 was released with 20,000 bugs and that Microsoft knowingly released it any way. After this incident, Microsoft would not speak to Mary Jo Foley for two years regarding projects and information of any kind.”

Not only did she get sort of banned for years (she once told me about Microsoft’s rewards and punishments system), but according to DaemonFC, Microsoft or other people have already airbrushed this incident and factoid out of Wikipedia: “# (cur) (prev) 06:55, 31 December 2006 Limulus (talk | contribs) (→Windows 2000: moved MJF item into main W2K article; it seems like it would be more appropriate there) (undo)”

Waggener Edstrom is known to be editing Wikipedia. It does a lot of other things, too. █
_______
[1] The Linux CLI for Beginners, or, Fear Not the Linux Command Line!

Most recent converts to Linux spend most of their time in the GUI — the graphical desktop (whether Gnome, or KDE, or XFCE, or some other interface) that’s made to look and act somewhat like Windows and Mac.  

[2] The command line is nothing to be afraid of.

Many people are apprehensive about the command line when they first try Linux. I was too, even though I started off with the command line on my system 80, I quickly became used to the windows GUI. Like an unused muscle atrophies when not used, so did my command line comfort. Using Linux I regained my command line warrior status and it has migrated over to windows too.

[3] Stupid Firefox Tricks, Part I

Simple Bookmarklets: The Power of the Command Line in your Browser

[4] Webmin: can a graphical front end for system administration replace the command line?

We all love GUIs. For the average user of proprietary systems like Windows they are mostly all they ever need or see. Unix systems are rather different. Long before GUIs became ubiquitous, system administrators (and single machine users too) were weaned on configuration on the command line and spent copious amounts of time mastering their craft.

The increasing use and popularity of GNU/Linux has been educating people about its superior architecture, better security and relatively simple configuration files. It is also true though that the huge availability of graphical front ends has brought in a whole new slew of users who feel right at home with them as they did in Windows. However, the usual criticism is that, good and relatively easy to use as they are, they can never emulate the fine, granular control of the command line. There is a deal of truth in that.

[5] 5 Reasons to Use CLI Over GUI

First, I must say that using CLI is not always faster, not necessarily. There are tasks which can be done faster and easier using some GUI application rather than typing a whole bunch of commands. But, nevertheless, command line is still very powerful and it’s more appropriate to use it for certain tasks. I for one use probably 90% GUI tools and applications and only in 10% of the cases CLI. So, you may ask, what’s the scope of this? Well, in the first place, this article is about the reasons I believe to be noteworthy for using CLI in several situations, and what advantages it has.

[6] 10 Reasons Why the Command Line is More User-Friendly than the Desktop

Keying is faster than mousing.

It’s easier to both give and get help.

Repetitive stress injury comes from the mouse, not the keyboard.

Commands are standard where GUIs are not.

[...]

[7] Why can’t free software GUIs be empowering instead of limiting?

But when graphical user interfaces finally did become available, it was a fantastic improvement. With a well-designed GUI, you don’t have to memorize a whole micro-language of commands and options to get things done. The trade-off, at least with the classic “Windows-Icons-Menus-Pointers” (WIMP) GUI, however is that it isn’t as expressive: it’s much easier to say the common things you need to say, but much harder to say things that the programmer didn’t expect you to need. The surface simplicity comes at a terrific price in underlying complexity, and that creates practical limits on how flexible the system can be.        

[...]

Blender, showing the results of my first go at the Gingerbread man tutorial, and a whopping lot of menus and buttons. This is definitely not a “luser”  interface, it’s designed for power users only

[8] Geek to Live: The command line comeback

The advent of the Graphical User Interface (GUI) forever revolutionized personal computing. A windowed system with point and click icons made computers usable for anyone who couldn’t deal with a black screen and a prompt waiting for arcane textual commands. But in recent years, this enormous interface change is coming full circle. Amongst power users – and more and more, regular Joe’s – the command line is making a comeback in modern web and desktop applications.

[9] Seek Enlightenment for an easy-to-use Linux GUI

There are numerous reasons to become an Enlightenment user:

    * You need a GUI on an older machine that is not powerful enough to run
      the more resource-intensive KDE or GNOME
    * You want something a little different
    * You want to control users so they only have access to certain
      applications
    * You want a GUI that is stable, fast, and flexible

Those reasons may not be show-stoppers, nor will they see IT departments migrating hundreds or thousands of desktops to Enlightenment, but the small list above is reason enough to have many making the switch from their typical GUI to E.    

[10] Two Reasons the Command Line Trumps the Graphical User Interface

Before I get into this I will state for the record I am not a text mode Luddite. I use a graphical user interface (GUI) every day. In fact I am using the fluxbox window manager GUI as I write this article with a WordPress GUI and Firefox GUI. I like my GUI chewy goodness as much as any visually stimulated human. However, for certain tasks a GUI is just not the best choice.

[11] Is Linux Easy to Use?

Today’s Linux distributions such as Ubuntu, Suse and Fedora can be installed very easily. In Ubuntu the user required actions are just 4-5 clicks. The installer is clever enough to partition the hard disc without loss of data and co-living with other operating systems installed prior. I love this feature a lot.

[12] What is so bad about the command line?

Graphical interfaces serve a purpose and so does the command line. It doesn’t matter which operating system you use. So I will not accept any arguments that the command line is bad. The command line is good in my humble opinion and those who shy away from it are missing out on a large piece of the computing experience.

[13] Command Line vs. GUI Reality Check

The downside of this is a lack of flexibility. In order for a capability to be available, there must be code in the GUI application. The command line gives an administrator complete control of maintenance procedures, and under certain circumstances, this is the only option.

From a design perspective, the choice of command line vs. GUI seems pretty straightforward. First, how quickly does the code need to be produced? Second, which interface makes the user most productive? While there is plenty of room for different points of view on the answers to these questions, it is simply not true that one is always better than the other.

[14] Along the Commandline

Naturally, we talk about the BSDs, Linux and Mac OS X whenever we speak about shells and commandline interfaces. But why does the commandline have a reputation that belies its power? Why did the hold over users’ minds exercised by Apple and Microsoft lead to an almost complete rejection of commandline interaction? Why do we, the masters of the commandline, feel slightly sheepish in the presence of the GUI builders?

[15] What Non-Techies Should Know About The Command Line

When faced with a shell prompt, the only thing some people, especially non-technical users, feel prompted to do is close it and stay in the confines of their graphical castle walls. For many people, a command-line shell is an unfamiliar thing. It’s foreign, and requires learning foreign languages to speak to it, as far as they are concerned. Well, it doesn’t have to be that way; the command line can be kind of fun. Whether you need to open a Bash prompt to solve a driver problem, or compile a program, or just to automate a simple task, it’s always good to at least be familiar with your command-line shell.        

[16] Fear and loathing at the command line

Whatever the reasons, fear and loathing of the command line is so strong that the claim that GNU/Linux still requires its frequent use is enough to convince many people to stick with their current operating system. The claim is no longer true, but you can’t expect people to understand that when the claim plays on so many of their basic fears about computing.    

[17] Linux administration will become GUI

The question is, how long will it be before the Ubuntu Server edition includes a GUI install option? Instead of resisting this change, we should be encouraging it by improving the graphical interfaces that server admins need. This is how Ubuntu can gain faster adoption in the server market.  

[18] Linux on the line: musings on the CLI / GUI flip-flop

People are a funny lot. One person’s trash is another person’s treasure. And one person’s primary means of instructing a computer is met with disdain by another. There’s a perennial battle between mousers and keyboard jockeys, and “what’s in” appears to go in cycles.  

[19] Pros and Cons for Using CLI

In this article I will debate on several major advantages and disadvantages for using the command-line in Linux. When I think it’s ‘better’ to use CLI, when not, and how can this can impact the work speed.

[20] Who needs the command line? (Well, actually, we all do)

“We’ll always have Paris”, Humphrey Bogart said to Ingrid Bergman in the iconic climax of Casablanca – and we will always have the command line. Here’s looking at you kid!

[21] Ars at FOSSCamp: revolutionizing the command line with Hotwire

Unlike Powershell, Hotwire includes a rich visual user interface with support for features like easy history browsing (command history is stored in a SQLite database), icons in file listings, and progress bar displays for certain file operations. The user interface also provides extensive support for advanced autocompletion mechanisms that can be customized by developers.    

[22] Death of the command line

It’s hard for me to imagine using an OS without a strong command line. Even Microsoft has recognized the for that with their Monad Shell (though they are at least temporarily removing that from Vista). Linux of course has its Bash shell, Mac OS X has Terminal (which now defaults to Bash) – everybody knows you need a shell.

[23] The CLIophobia of the Linux Newbie

CLIophobia (n): An irrational fear of operating ones’ computer using the Command Line Interface. Sometimes referred to as Terminal Angst.

[24] You use Command Lines all the time and don’t know it!!!

Man, the heat Linux catches over command lines! The flames! The trolls! The clueless screaming for help! And all the while, command lines are right under your nose the whole time! Yes, even on the most mousy, GUI-driven, WIMPy, point-n-drool interface, whether it be Macs or Microsofties, you’re typing commands into prompts every day!

[25] Microsoft PowerShell isn’t Vista-ready, either

As a few other bloggers noted yesterday, Microsoft’s newly released PowerShell command-line shell and scripting language doesn’t currently work with Windows Vista.

[26] Worm targets Windows PowerShell script

Virus writers have created an experimental form of malware written in Windows PowerShell script, the command line and scripting language used by Windows.

[27] Repairing Windows XP in Eight Commands

    * C: CD ..
    * C: ATTRIB ?H C:\boot.ini
    * C:ATTRIB ?S C:\boot.ini
    * C:ATRIB ?R C:\boot.ini
    * C: del boot.ini
    * C: BOOTCFG /Rebuild
    * C: CHKDSK /R /F
    * C: FIXBOOT

[28] Random Windows Vista Disconnects

   1. Go to your start menu
   2. Open the Command Prompt by typing cmd in the search field
   3. Press Ctrl-Shift-Enter while the command prompt is open to run the
      command prompt as administrator
   4. Type netsh winsock reset then press enter
   5. Then restart Windows Vista

[29] Vista – Fix Large File Copy and Network Disconnect

One of the “new features” in Vista, of course is the new networking stack. As with anything new, you can expect problems but did you know you can disable some of the “advanced” features (for the time being)

After reading all kinds of posts and a couple of MS FAQ’s, it seems the main culprit is the Receive Window Auto-Tuning Level.

One thing people seem to forget is, you can turn this off and on via the command line.

[30] Missing In Action

Microsoft’s infamous Patch Tuesday was this week and the updates that automatically downloaded and installed on my computer caused it to be unbootable, even in safe mode. So, since Wednesday, I’ve been busy using the wonderful Ultimate Boot CD for Windows to get my data off the hard drive and then reload my machine. Wonderful fun.

[31] Reflections on the command line

That’s one of the best things about the Unix command line – no backtalk, no second guessing, no false comraderie. To me the assumption of user competence is profoundly user friendly -and infinitely to be preferred to the smarmy checks and failsafes Windows puts on.

[32] Microsoft PowerShell to make it into Longhorn Server, after all

Microsoft’s command-line scripting shell, originally code-named “Monad,” and known now as Windows PowerShell, is going to be part of Longhorn Server, after all.

[33] IRC Clients for Linux Part 2: List of 5 CLI Clients

As a conclusion, I strongly recommend Irssi, followed by WeeChat and Epic4. The first two are powerful enough, flexible, documented and have scripting support, while the latter is a little harder to use (at least in the beginning) and it has its own scripting language. Despite this, Epic4 has the advantage of giving you total control over how you want its interface to look like, and it also provides many scripts on the official website for customising it. BitchX is too old now and it’s no longer updated, while TinyIRC offers only the minimum features needed to connect and interract with an IRC server.

[34] Review: MOC, text-based audio player

Today I’ll continue with an overview with screenshots of MOC, and hopefully in a few days I’ll also review mp3blaster.

[35] 5 best-practices of a successful Linux user

Do not run away from CLI: You’ve not got hold of quite a few ways to fix things on your Linux machine. You may be happy using the GUI window to install new apps. This may be synaptic, yum, yast or whatever. But having a good hand at the terminal is never a waste. If you can accomplish some basic tasks on the terminal, I am sure you’ll be far more confident and proud than you were without this ability. Hacking into or tweaking you machine is definitely fun but do not intend to just copy-paste commands from the Internet cloud. Try using the man page to know what each of the commands do, so that next time you know what you’re doing before you hit the return key on the terminal.

[36] Look Ma, No Terminal!

A common misconception with Linux is that you have to know how to use the terminal in order for you to use linux. The fact is you won’t have to use the linux terminal more than you would use CMD in Windows or the terminal in Mac OSX. Today we will look into some of the applications that a “normal” computer user would use without having to know the terminal. Here the term “normal” is vague; since every computer users needs are different from one another, but we will try to cover some basic applications that a normal computer user might use.

[37] Got Scripts?

Where’s the FUD? For years, Windows zealots have denounced Linux for being arcane, hard-to-use, and backward. Heavy reliance on the CLI for administration was cited as a failure to progress (through obstinacy, ignorance or both). Now, it appears that Microsoft is admitting that a powerful shell is indeed useful, forcing its fanboys to dine on crow tartare.

[38] SWM, Shell User, Seeks Soul Mate for GUI-Free LTR

“There is a sad truth to the world today,” wrote the anonymous poster of the ad. “I am part of a dying breed of people known as ‘shell users.’ We are an old-fashioned bunch, preferring the warm glow of a green screen full of text   over the cold blockiness of a graphical interface…. The whole ‘Microsoft Windows’ fad will fade away sooner or later, but in the interim, our kind is facing extinction.    

[39] Pimp up your Terminal with Guake and Yakuake

If you’re wondering whether Guake and Yakuake are Polynesian happy mushrooms, you’re a bit off mark. These are Linux command line terminals, modified to behave like the console in the popular First Person Shooter (FPS) Quake. Hence, the funny names.

[40] More lightweight diversions

A couple more, that deviate slightly. Terminal-based entertainment, short of watching movies piped through aalib, could always take the obvious route and remain text-based, as it was a long time ago. To that end it’s still possible to play some telnet games, including Space Tyrant, which is still maintained too.

[41] 13 Terminal Emulators for Linux

Konsole: This is a powerful and full-featured terminal included by default in KDE. It features desktop transparency, background images, profiles, tabs, notifications and plenty schemes to choose from.

[42] 10 Command-Line Applications I Use in Debian and Ubuntu

In this article I’ll briefly review ten of my favourite CLI (command-line interface), not necessarily the most popular or most powerful of them. So if you don’t find your personal favourite, (e.g. Midnight Commander or mp3blaster), it’s because the article includes the tools I use more often.

[43] Rush Hour: Newest GNU Restricted User Shell

The latest stable release of the GNU Restricted User Shell (Rush), version 1.5, includes new configuration offerings and a notification feature.

]]> http://techrights.org/2009/05/31/63000-windows-bugs-linux-cli/feed/ 3 ODF Alliance, Jeremy Allison and Others Tell Microsoft to Fix Its Broken ODF Implementation http://techrights.org/2009/05/20/microsoft-broken-odf-implementation/ http://techrights.org/2009/05/20/microsoft-broken-odf-implementation/#comments Wed, 20 May 2009 15:17:22 +0000 http://boycottnovell.com/?p=11045 Gray Knowlton

Summary: The pressure is rising for Microsoft to stop vandalising interoperability while keeping disingenuous

WE KNEW that the ODF Alliance would issue such a statement and eventually, as promised, it did. Here is their document [PDF] and also the press release, which they have channeled further via PRNewsWire.

The OpenDocument Format (ODF) Alliance today cautioned that serious deficiencies in Microsoft’s support for ODF needed to be addressed to ensure greater interoperability with other ODF-supporting software.

Groklaw has already elaborated on it:

ODF Alliance Tests Microsoft Office 2007 SP2 ODF Support – Finds Serious Shortcomings

The ODF Alliance has prepared a Fact Sheet [PDF; also available as text on their website, if you scroll down] for governments and others interested in how Microsoft’s SP2 for Office 2007 handles ODF. The ODF Allliance says their testing revealed “serious shortcomings that, left unaddressed, would break the open standards based interoperability that the marketplace, especially governments, is demanding”. The Fact Sheet itemizes the major problems testing revealed. Marino Marcich, managing director of ODF Alliance, points to one huge shortcoming:

“For example, even the most basic spreadsheet functions, such as adding the numbers contained in two cells, were simply stripped in an ODF file when opened and re-saved in Microsoft Office 2007. A document created in one ODF-supporting application, when re-saved in Microsoft Office 2007, rendered differently – missing bullets, page numbers, charts and other objects, changed fonts – making collaboration on an ODF file with Office 2007 very difficult. Indeed, some of the so-called ‘plug-ins’ were revealed to provide better support for ODF than the recently released Microsoft Office 2007 SP2. This is no way to achieve the interoperability around ODF that the marketplace is demanding.”

For context, see:

For those who think that only the ODF Alliance was disappointed with Microsoft’s work, here are some more new examples of opposition. Rob Weir from IBM writes:

Last year, when I was socializing the idea of creating the OASIS ODF Interoperability and Conformance TC, I gave a presentation I called “ODF Interoperability: The Price of Success”. The observation was that standards that fail never need to deal with interoperability. The creation of test suites, convening of multi-vendor interoperability workshops and plugfests is a sign of a successful standard, one which is implemented by many vendors, one which is adopted by many users, one which has vendor-neutral venues for testing implementations and iteratively refining the standard itself.

[...]

The pretty words have been shown to be hollow words. Microsoft has not enabled choice. Their implementation is not robust. They have, in effect, taken your ODF document, written by you by your choice in an interoperable format, with demonstrated interoperability among several implementations, and corrupted it, without your knowledge or consent.

Stephane writes:

Once again they did it. Microsoft is telling the world that they are improving interoperability across existing office formats and applications thanks to their native support for the ODF file format, a leading office file format based on existing ISO standards. But it could not be further from the truth.

Microsoft are actually killing ODF, like the digital nazis that they are. Kissinger is proud of their spiritual sons.

What kind of white phosphorus are they using ?

First they don’t write to ODF but to a canada dry version that we shall call MS-ODF, a variant filled with countless exploding mines, thrown from the air like any coward would do. Namely they are implanting the proprietary Excel formula syntax right inside files expecting the ODF formula syntax as exposed by all the ODF compatible applications out there. Since formulas are used in many elements such as charts, conditional formattings and so on, it wrecks any serious spreadsheet.

The SolidOffice team was apparently angry as well:

While Microsoft Office 2007’s latest service pack purports ODF support, it’s not complete, nor does it appear designed to provide usable interoperabilty with other ODF-capable applications.

For users of MS Office who need better compatibility, the solution is the Sun ODF Plugin for Microsoft Office:

* The Sun ODF Plugin for Microsoft Office gives users of Microsoft Office Word, Excel and PowerPoint the ability to read, edit and save to the ISO-standard Open Document Format (ODF).
* The plugin works with Microsoft Office 2007 (Service Pack 1 or higher), Microsoft Office 2003, XP and Microsoft Office 2000.

Jeremy Allison (Google) denounces Microsoft too, despite being one who works with Microsoft on so-called “interoperability” (Microsoft promised to assist Samba):

Yet Microsoft Office SP2 claims to have a fully compliant version of ODF, and that’s probably true, as defined by the specification. It’s just completely useless at interoperating with other vendors products. This is not interoperability, it’s an attack on the very concept.

This discussion can be also seen in ZDNet where Microsoft is claimed to be sending employees to spin (based on a whistle-blowing Microsoft employee). Here is a collection of links criticising Microsoft’s ODF approach. There is also related coverage in non-English languages.

“Microsoft is already propagating fluffy press releases about “interoperability”. It talks about ODF, so maybe they try to drown out the many critics.”Microsoft is already propagating fluffy press releases about “interoperability”. It talks about ODF, so maybe they try to drown out the many critics. Matthew Broersma parroted Microsoft at ZDNet and Elizabeth Montalbano, who is focused on Microsoft at IDG, did the same thing. This means that the real news about Microsoft destroying interoperability will be washed away by its PR. Microsoft employees and their partners twitter in harmony about a Patrick Durusau writing a letter on MSODF. He has not been reliable ever since his trip to Microsoft [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7].

As someone who is close to the process (Jomar Silva) put it (in two parts), “Microsoft is always supported by independent consultants (as Patrick Durusau, Rick Jelliffee, and Alex Brown)… Strange, isn’t it ? [...] If the[ir] partners supports them, ok, but always being supported by the same group of independent folks is, at least, weird.”

The same guy also wrote this:

As most of you already know, I spent the month of October in a marathon of speeches about ODF. During the marathon, I had the opportunity to attend some presentations about Microsoft Interoperability and would like to share with you here some information about that cool experience (the post is long but worth a read).

The first opportunity to see our friends from Redmond featuring the theme was at the rally held by them at the end of Latinoware 2008. I do not call that a presentation, because they did not allow questions from the audience, as a rally. Luckily the audience was not that big and I was on that room just be able to “write the facts” about the speech.

Another notorious Microsoft booster, Wouter van Vugt, is prodding the Microsoft line. They all pretend to be innocent, as though they are the poor victim in forking of ODF. They mess about with ODF while smiling and pretending nothing they do is ever wrong. As Microsoft’s Vice President Jim Allchin once explained it, “We need to slaughter Novell before they get stronger….If you’re going to kill someone, there isn’t much reason to get all worked up about it and angry. You just pull the trigger. Any discussions beforehand are a waste of time. We need to smile at Novell while we pull the trigger.” To twist this quote a little, Microsoft realises that it needs to slaughter ODF before it gets stronger….If they are going to kill something, there isn’t much reason to get all worked up about it and angry. They just pull the trigger. Any discussions beforehand are a waste of time. Microsoft needs to smile at ODF while it pulls the trigger. █

]]> http://techrights.org/2009/05/20/microsoft-broken-odf-implementation/feed/ 0 IRC: #boycottnovell @ FreeNode: April 7th, 2009 http://techrights.org/2009/04/08/irc-log-07042009/ http://techrights.org/2009/04/08/irc-log-07042009/#comments Wed, 08 Apr 2009 05:23:20 +0000 http://boycottnovell.com/?p=8256 GNOME Gedit

Enter the IRC channel now

To use your own IRC client, join channel #boycottnovell in FreeNode.

*Balrog_ (n=Balrog@pool-68-238-235-164.phil.east.verizon.net) has joined #boycottnovell Apr 07 00:13
schestowitz gn Apr 07 00:37
*oiaohm (n=oiaohm@unaffiliated/oiaohm) has joined #boycottnovell Apr 07 01:06
*_Hicham_ (n=hicham@wana-135-245-12-196.wanamaroc.com) has joined #boycottnovell Apr 07 02:01
_Hicham_ oiaohm is the laziest man on the earth :D Apr 07 02:02
oiaohm I am not exactly lazy. Apr 07 02:04
_Hicham_ how can u describe urself? Apr 07 02:04
oiaohm Lot of my work contains lot of borring bit.s Apr 07 02:05
oiaohm Ie databases backing up at moment. Apr 07 02:05
_Hicham_ what kind of databases? Apr 07 02:06
oiaohm All kinds log database its being scanned and backed up.  web site database internal business databases. Apr 07 02:07
oiaohm Next is the system imaging backup. Apr 07 02:07
oiaohm If there is a issue I am expected to repair it straight away.  Not walk away have coffee and come back. Apr 07 02:08
_Hicham_ this stuff is not automated yet? Apr 07 02:08
oiaohm Automated to a point. Apr 07 02:08
oiaohm The thing spits out anyone who has had a virus and the like. Apr 07 02:09
oiaohm And other strange happenings. Apr 07 02:09
oiaohm Its the responding to strange happings is why I am here. Apr 07 02:10
oiaohm Some days 100 percent nothing. Apr 07 02:10
oiaohm Other days eep. Apr 07 02:10
_Hicham_ strange happenings? Apr 07 02:10
oiaohm Servers not keeping 100 percent uptime and the like. Apr 07 02:10
oiaohm Unexplainable load spikes. Apr 07 02:11
oiaohm Things that can cause me to have to add extra monitoring or replace hardware. Apr 07 02:11
oiaohm So far no smart reports of failing drives. Apr 07 02:11
oiaohm _Hicham_: It equal to security guard a times. Apr 07 02:12
oiaohm Yes the automatic system will record everything. Apr 07 02:13
oiaohm But you still have to be there to be the human to fix the problems it finds. Apr 07 02:13
oiaohm They use to do this on call until 1 day drives reporting smart failure fell over before tech could get there. Apr 07 02:14
oiaohm And back them up. Apr 07 02:14
_Hicham_ what do u think is the most reliable operating system for a big webserver? Apr 07 02:14
oiaohm Solaris or BSD(without cluster) Apr 07 02:15
oiaohm Linux with cluster reliable comes from that 1 part fails so what. Apr 07 02:16
oiaohm Windows 2003 and 2008 can be basically brought down by there filesystem locks under load. Apr 07 02:16
oiaohm BSD with cluster for some reason does not work as great as it should. Apr 07 02:18
oiaohm Something in its tcp/ip stack does not spreed the laod. Apr 07 02:18
_Hicham_ so solaris is the best? Apr 07 02:21
oiaohm It depends on how much hardware you have. Apr 07 02:22
oiaohm The differences between Linux BSD and Solaris is not much in stablity. Apr 07 02:22
_Hicham_ in what? Apr 07 02:22
oiaohm Difference in hardware support is massive. Apr 07 02:22
_Hicham_ Linux supports more hardware? Apr 07 02:23
oiaohm Yep Apr 07 02:23
NeonFloss hey, I though you guys might be interested in this – http://freemusicarchive.org – a CC music project – sorry for interuption Apr 07 02:23
oiaohm out of all the OS options Linux supports the most. Apr 07 02:23
oiaohm In server hardware. Apr 07 02:24
oiaohm Even more than windows. Apr 07 02:24
_Hicham_ and the best solution in Linux? Apr 07 02:24
oiaohm It is also the size servers using. Apr 07 02:24
_Hicham_ RHEL? Apr 07 02:24
oiaohm If you are using like 4096 core systems BSD don’t scale perfeclty on them Solarias can be ok issue linux is happen windows don’t even install. Apr 07 02:25
oiaohm Its again task. Apr 07 02:25
oiaohm RHEL is not perfect for everything. Apr 07 02:25
_Hicham_ there is no universal solution for the moment Apr 07 02:26
oiaohm RHEL Centos are about equal.  Debian and Ubuntu gets used in places. Apr 07 02:26
oiaohm It really comes down to the hardware. Apr 07 02:26
_Hicham_ and what do u say about RHEL vs Debian on servers? Apr 07 02:26
oiaohm And administation preference. Apr 07 02:27
oiaohm I use both. Apr 07 02:27
_Hicham_ I mean which is more complete for server use? Apr 07 02:27
oiaohm Really I don’t have that much of a perfence. Apr 07 02:27
oiaohm RHEL has nice configuration tools. Apr 07 02:27
_Hicham_ I am not talking about preference Apr 07 02:27
oiaohm Both equal in what they can do. Apr 07 02:28
oiaohm Most of the time. Apr 07 02:28
_Hicham_ but the difference is the tools? Apr 07 02:28
oiaohm runnign a orcale database you would put it on RHEL. Apr 07 02:28
oiaohm or unbreakable Linux from orcale Apr 07 02:28
oiaohm Both are basically RHEL Apr 07 02:29
_Hicham_ so RHEL/Centos is better for commercial software? Apr 07 02:29
oiaohm No. Apr 07 02:29
oiaohm There are some commerical software that will give support if you are on debian but not RHEL. Apr 07 02:29
oiaohm It really comes down to what you are using. Apr 07 02:30
oiaohm Reason why I end up running openvz Apr 07 02:30
oiaohm With Debian and Centos running side by side on the same machine. Apr 07 02:30
oiaohm Best of both worlds. Apr 07 02:31
oiaohm I guess that is an answer you were not expect _Hicham_ Apr 07 02:31
_Hicham_ no Apr 07 02:31
_Hicham_ I was expecting it in fact Apr 07 02:31
_Hicham_ it is normal Apr 07 02:31
_Hicham_ it is not a preference issue Apr 07 02:32
_Hicham_ it is a matter of functionality Apr 07 02:32
oiaohm Not exactly functionally. Apr 07 02:32
oiaohm Becuase all that commerical software will work on both. Apr 07 02:32
oiaohm Its more can you get support with the functionallity or are you on your own. Apr 07 02:33
_Hicham_ so it is just commercial support? Apr 07 02:34
_Hicham_ that what matters? Apr 07 02:34
oiaohm That really does matter. Apr 07 02:35
oiaohm Something strange happens being able to call a help desk is really useful. Apr 07 02:35
oiaohm Can make the difference between 5 mins down time Apr 07 02:35
oiaohm And many hours. Apr 07 02:35
_Hicham_ u r right on that Apr 07 02:36
_Hicham_ it makes a lot of difference Apr 07 02:36
oiaohm Its like me I use 1 tool to configure most of settings in any Linux I use. Apr 07 02:37
_Hicham_ 1 tool? Apr 07 02:37
imamilkydrunk vi Apr 07 02:38
_Hicham_ what is this tool? Apr 07 02:39
_Hicham_ oiaohm : r u still here? Apr 07 02:49
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hedgie it’s better to ask “r u still there?” due to portal game Apr 07 02:55
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balzac sudo !! Apr 07 03:49
balzac oops, wrong window Apr 07 03:49
balzac Roy really dropped a serious open letter on the patent pushing angstivists Apr 07 03:51
balzac schestowitz ++ Apr 07 03:51
balzac do while ($software_patents): Apr 07 03:52
balzac resist_software_patents(); Apr 07 03:52
balzac $schestowitz ++ Apr 07 03:53
balzac end; Apr 07 03:53
balzac something like that… Apr 07 03:53
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tessier Yeay, I’m on twitter. So how would anyone find me if they wanted to follow? Apr 07 04:56
NeonFloss hashtags Apr 07 05:01
NeonFloss I don; t know why im helping you use evil social netowrking sites :P Apr 07 05:01
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schestowitz Hey Apr 07 06:22
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schestowitz tessier: I only see https://twitter.com/BCMguy Apr 07 07:15
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tessier http://twitter.com/tracyrreed Apr 07 08:05
schestowitz Isilon cuts staff, recruits NetApper < http://www.theregister.co.uk/2… > Apr 07 08:24
schestowitz Not surprisingly, The Register’s Microsoft’s mole is promoting Microsoft partner at the expense of Java which he ridicules. Zend offers PHP cure for Java bloat < http://www.theregister.co.uk/20… > Apr 07 08:25
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schestowitz Making DE wars again… http://www.itwire.com/conten… Apr 07 09:04
schestowitz BN is unreachable again :-(   Britain’s policing problem < http://www.opendemocracy.net/blog/ourkin… > Apr 07 09:07
schestowitz Economist: US collapse driven by ‘fraud’; Geithner covering up bank insolvency < http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Econo… > Apr 07 09:12
schestowitz IBM is pushing software patents into a debate on Free software: http://www.sutor.com/newsite/… Apr 07 09:21
schestowitz Tech Sector Job Losses Up Five-Fold From A Year Ago http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-r… Apr 07 09:30
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MinceR geekings Apr 07 09:57
oiaohm Hi MinceR Apr 07 10:43
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schestowitz bbl Apr 07 11:58
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trmanco suse studio Apr 07 12:35
trmanco wow Apr 07 12:35
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_Hicham_ Hi Roy! Apr 07 13:07
_Hicham_ Hi oiaohm Apr 07 13:07
_Hicham_ oiaohm : what time is it in there? Apr 07 13:07
oiaohm 10 pm Apr 07 13:07
_Hicham_ so u r exhausted now, it is the end of ur day Apr 07 13:08
_Hicham_ did u finish backing up the databases? Apr 07 13:08
oiaohm Yep Apr 07 13:09
oiaohm And disappeared to fix a few things. Apr 07 13:09
oiaohm When I got back you were gone. Apr 07 13:10
oiaohm Ever used webmin _Hicham_ Apr 07 13:11
_Hicham_ no Apr 07 13:12
_Hicham_ is it a web interface to some administration tool? Apr 07 13:12
oiaohm http://webmin.com/ Apr 07 13:13
oiaohm Configures most things about Linux from a web interface not matter the distribution. Apr 07 13:13
_Hicham_ most things about Linux? Apr 07 13:14
_Hicham_ what about root access? Apr 07 13:15
_Hicham_ do u have to give the browser root access to be able to do that? Apr 07 13:16
oiaohm Nop Apr 07 13:18
oiaohm Its for remote administation. Apr 07 13:18
oiaohm So it has a ssl login. Apr 07 13:18
_Hicham_ what is the distro that best supports xen? Apr 07 13:22
oiaohm Define support. Apr 07 13:22
_Hicham_ nice tools to configure+commercial hotline Apr 07 13:23
oiaohm Most distributions with right kernel will run in xen perfectly. Apr 07 13:23
oiaohm Most good counfigation tools are netural. Apr 07 13:23
oiaohm And made by redhat. Apr 07 13:23
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oiaohm http://ovirt.org/  << _Hicham_ just 1. Apr 07 13:24
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_Hicham_ I have a slow wifi connection Apr 07 13:25
_Hicham_ it takes ages to open a page Apr 07 13:25
_Hicham_ what is hardware virtualization support? Apr 07 13:27
_Hicham_ is there some hardware that support directly virtualization? Apr 07 13:27
oiaohm Yes there is. Apr 07 13:27
oiaohm There is even some special network card for virtualization. Apr 07 13:28
_Hicham_ which components exacly? Apr 07 13:28
_Hicham_ apart the network card? Apr 07 13:28
oiaohm I would have to look Apr 07 13:29
oiaohm Lest say having cpu do virtual network cards is ok cpu expensive.  But the virtualization support cases are down right expensive. Apr 07 13:30
oiaohm In cash. Apr 07 13:30
_Hicham_ up to how much? Apr 07 13:31
oiaohm Start around the 400 dollar mark and goes up. Apr 07 13:31
oiaohm Yes for a network card that would otherwise cost 15 dollars. Apr 07 13:32
oiaohm Price of the tech will come down in time. Apr 07 13:32
_Hicham_ it is reasonable price Apr 07 13:36
_Hicham_ very reasonable Apr 07 13:36
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toros hi Apr 07 13:38
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schestowitz Hey Apr 07 14:02
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toros schestowitz: I see, you wrote about this case: http://boycottnovell.com/2009/04/05/… Apr 07 14:06
toros It looks like as if open source would get a huge ammount of money for the first sight Apr 07 14:07
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toros but the truth is, this is just trap Apr 07 14:07
toros this money is _only_ for licenses Apr 07 14:09
toros so it can’t be spent on support, or new hardware, or training Apr 07 14:10
toros and nobody contacted the FSF.hu Foundation (the most important free software foundation in Hungary) Apr 07 14:11
toros we just saw the headlines in the news… Apr 07 14:12
toros so it looks like more some kind of corruption Apr 07 14:12
toros somebody will sell debian “licenses” for huge money Apr 07 14:13
MinceR or just patent licenses Apr 07 14:14
MinceR i mean “covenants not to sue” Apr 07 14:14
schestowitz Yes, something like that Apr 07 14:17
schestowitz They mention  Novell Apr 07 14:17
schestowitz I.e. Linux with the patent tax already paid to Microsoft, no questions asked. Apr 07 14:17
schestowitz Hey, maybe they’ll buy some coupons. Microsoft would love it. Apr 07 14:18
schestowitz Ooh, lucky me. I has just started raining… moments after I came back from a run on a sunny day. The weather is erratic. Apr 07 14:19
toros yes, I think Novell will get a nice sum Apr 07 14:19
toros the funny is, we had this weekend a conference, called “Linux in the Education” Apr 07 14:20
toros and there was nobody, who knew anything about this case Apr 07 14:20
schestowitz http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_… (Why baseball benched Microsoft Silverlight) “The other major issue was that baseball considered Silverlight too unstable. There were some high-profile glitches, including last year’s opening day, which saw many MLB.com subscribers struggling to log in and others who were unable to watch games. The malfunctions lasted several days.” Apr 07 14:22
schestowitz Sun set for silver dark. Apr 07 14:23
schestowitz toros: it should be called “Free software in education, iseally” Apr 07 14:23
schestowitz *ideally. Linux can be propriety and Novell-encumbered too Apr 07 14:24
toros yes, I know :) Apr 07 14:24
toros But this is a pretty old name Apr 07 14:24
toros the first conference was 6 years ago Apr 07 14:25
toros and that time the name wasn’t so important Apr 07 14:26
schestowitz @trmanco: roses look great too, but they are thorny. Apr 07 14:27
trmanco schestowitz, what is the problem? Novell? Apr 07 14:28
schestowitz Yes, we should not make them stronger. SUSE brand recognition too is good for Microsoft Apr 07 14:29
schestowitz Here is Allison explaining why Google et al will threaten FOSS when MSFT is gone. http://www.tuxdeluxe.org/node/293 Apr 07 14:30
trmanco just because it’s from novell, doesn’t mean I can’t try it :-P Apr 07 14:31
trmanco btw, opensuse uses RPM’s, I hate RPM’s Apr 07 14:32
schestowitz Sure you can try it Apr 07 14:32
schestowitz I’m just saying, if we want to end Microsoft’s taxation of GNU/Linux, than there’s no choice but to advance abolishment of Ballnuxes Apr 07 14:33
schestowitz Luckily, not any more companies are selling out Apr 07 14:33
schestowitz GPLv3 prevents this Apr 07 14:33
schestowitz Moreover, Novell is very weak. Red Hat and Ubuntu eat their lunch on the desktop and server, respectively. So one battle is being won as Microsoft is running out of money and options Apr 07 14:34
schestowitz It sells/shuts down parts of itself so they it won’t go bankrupt Apr 07 14:34
schestowitz On another front you have GNU/Linux sub-notebooks forcing the company to give WIndows for free and Google/OOo do something similar to Office. Microsoft is rightly scared and trying to find haven in software patents. Apr 07 14:35
MinceR they can still bribe governments, like in hungary Apr 07 14:35
MinceR i think the abolishment should be accelerated Apr 07 14:35
schestowitz School Administrator Accused Of Child Porn Because He Investigated Sexting At School < http://techdirt.com/articles/20… > Apr 07 14:37
schestowitz It’s like the dude from yesterday who got detained by the police for handing over a phone that he found. Apr 07 14:37
schestowitz Take-home message: don’t investigate abuse, don’t return lost property to people. Apr 07 14:38
schestowitz MinceR: I’ll do a Comes marathon in the summer Apr 07 14:38
schestowitz Fox Fires Columnist For ‘Reviewing’ Leaked Copy Of Wolverine < http://techdirt.com/articles/2… > Apr 07 14:39
schestowitz “ISC-G recommends for approval ODF to be a Malaysian Standard. The only person who can stop it now is the Minister of Science.” http://twitter.com/yoonkit/stat… Apr 07 14:42
trmanco brb, kernel update Apr 07 14:44
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schestowitz Novell’s de Icaza is doing a lot of damage to Free software again: http://boycottnovell.com/2009/04/… Apr 07 14:46
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trmanco how long did I take? :-P Apr 07 14:47
schestowitz Two minutes Apr 07 14:47
schestowitz UK is ideal home for electronic Big Brother  < http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg2… > Apr 07 14:47
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schestowitz The UK economy is declining too,,so harsher enforcement is needed of people’s thoughts, feelings, speech, and action. Shock therapy principles… Apr 07 14:48
trmanco hmm, not bad Apr 07 14:48
schestowitz i ca has 2.6.29? http://img.globalvoicesonline.org/Bad… Apr 07 14:50
schestowitz Novell is infecting devices now, bringing the virus to another company that may have Microsoft knocking on its door. http://tirania.org/blog/archive/2… Apr 07 14:54
trmanco oh crap Apr 07 14:56
schestowitz From Red Hat’s CEO to the US government: http://press.redhat.com/2009/04… Apr 07 14:56
trmanco http://www.linux-foundation.org/we… Apr 07 14:57
schestowitz One mistake that’s made is to assume that !microsoft = bliss and that companies like Red Hat and Novell can solve the nation’s problem. Same in Hungary…. money should be SAVED, not given to companies. It should be given people FS hackers Apr 07 14:58
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trmanco my favorite -> http://video.linuxfoundation… Apr 07 15:03
schestowitz transcoding…. why doesn’t the Linux Foundation actually use open/free FORMATS?!?! Apr 07 15:07
schestowitz trmanco: it’s the most professionally done, I think Apr 07 15:07
schestowitz Linux Pub is good too Apr 07 15:07
trmanco Linux pub has lack of professionalism Apr 07 15:08
trmanco ogg support in Firefox is still not mainstream yet, maybe that’s why Apr 07 15:08
zoobab01 can someone manage to play this stream!: Apr 07 15:17
zoobab01 http://webstream.ec.europa.eu/scic… Apr 07 15:17
zoobab01 it does not play neither with vlc or mplayer Apr 07 15:17
zoobab01 MS patented technologies Apr 07 15:17
trmanco zoobab01, give a minute Apr 07 15:17
trmanco me* Apr 07 15:17
trmanco zoobab01, no I can’t play it Apr 07 15:19
schestowitz LF/IBM always think in terms of proprietary codecs. Even Red Hat is still on the verge. Apr 07 15:20
MinceR RH loves sw patents Apr 07 15:21
schestowitz “contrary to industry reports, the company has no plans to discontinue the Neo FreeRunner, and is manufacturing more units, it claims.” http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS… Apr 07 15:22
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schestowitz MinceR: I don’t think so. Only a couple of people claim that; others refute it, people who were close to it Apr 07 15:22
Omar87 Hello there. Apr 07 15:23
MinceR so what’s up with the “Computer-Implemented Invention” case? Apr 07 15:24
schestowitz http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/I… “A buzzword that is used to describe any mobile phone that has the potential to be a threat to the Apple iPhone consumer market dominance. The Android platform is often referred to as an “iPhone Killer”. “ Apr 07 15:27
schestowitz MinceR: still undecided. Pieter is angry Apr 07 15:27
MinceR who’s Pieter? Apr 07 15:27
schestowitz Former FFII supremer Apr 07 15:27
schestowitz Not it’s zoobab01 Apr 07 15:27
MinceR jesusPhone killers are dependent on hype and marketing, not technological superiority Apr 07 15:28
MinceR (based on the latter, the jesusPhone is a pathetic failure) Apr 07 15:28
schestowitz They capitalise on network effect Apr 07 15:28
schestowitz Start hyping it up Apr 07 15:28
schestowitz Then developers come and build your platform Apr 07 15:28
MinceR they capitalize on human idiocy Apr 07 15:28
schestowitz A bit like Zune… only with actual suckers :-) Apr 07 15:28
schestowitz Listen to me Apr 07 15:29
schestowitz This is important: Apr 07 15:29
MinceR making them celebrate something that’s like the j2me platform that has been around for years (except more closed) as something revolutionary and cool Apr 07 15:29
schestowitz Zune is the future. Apr 07 15:29
schestowitz I’ll run your dog, your kettle, it’ff run you crazy Apr 07 15:29
MinceR :D Apr 07 15:29
schestowitz What Zune built on? WinCE? Apr 07 15:30
MinceR i’d guess so Apr 07 15:30
schestowitz They spent a lot of money on that platform. Apr 07 15:30
schestowitz Lousy Toshiba device nobody wanted Apr 07 15:30
schestowitz They take good features like Wi-Fi (Internet and all) and turn it into ‘squirting’ only* Apr 07 15:30
schestowitz *That’s what they call sending someone DRM-encumbered song over Wi-Fi… s/he can play it 3 times and whoops! Gone. Apr 07 15:31
schestowitz The thing ain’t compatible with any other DRM system, so all Zune users are f*ed Apr 07 15:31
schestowitz Wait until Zune is officially cancelled Apr 07 15:31
schestowitz Not even MICROSOFT”s other DRM devices are compatible with Zune. Apr 07 15:31
schestowitz MSN music shut down Apr 07 15:32
schestowitz So did NotSoSure(TM), aka PlaysForSure… sure sure… !! Apr 07 15:32
MinceR was zune dependent on msn music? Apr 07 15:32
schestowitz No Apr 07 15:32
schestowitz I don’t think so Apr 07 15:32
MinceR FailsForSure was already shut down? and was it separate from m$n music? Apr 07 15:32
schestowitz MSN Music was canceled less than a year ago Apr 07 15:33
schestowitz FailsForSure == betrayal of partners like MTV Apr 07 15:33
schestowitz http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micr… Apr 07 15:34
schestowitz “Recently, Microsoft has decided to rebrand “PlaysForSure” and is using a subset[2][3] of PlaysForSure, namely Certified for Windows Vista.[4] Microsoft’s Zune, works only with its own content service called Zune Marketplace, not PlaysForSure.” Apr 07 15:34
MinceR oh. Apr 07 15:34
schestowitz http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Msn_music “It started out with 1.5 million songs, but decreased to 1.1 million songs due mainly to lagging sales and lack of real support from Microsoft. The MSN Music store was not compatible with Microsoft’s own Zune music player. As of 14 November, 2006, MSN Music ceased music sales and now redirects viewers to either Zune or Real Rhapsody websites.” Apr 07 15:35
MinceR a whole little army of incompatible DRM systems Apr 07 15:35
schestowitz “In April 2008, Microsoft announced that the DRM servers for MSN Music will be deactivated on 2008-08-31. After this date it will no longer be possible to reauthorise purchased songs when changing computers or operating systems.[2] They have suggested that customers back up their music by burning it to CD.[3]“ Apr 07 15:35
MinceR what were they thinking? one of them was bound to survive? :> Apr 07 15:35
schestowitz Yay. Who said DRM is a mess? Just buy some blank CDs (pay MAFIAA tax) and do the dance. Apr 07 15:35
MinceR :) Apr 07 15:35
schestowitz Here /we/ are… Apr 07 15:35
schestowitz With oggs and mp3s.. more ‘features’… like magical universality in playbackl Apr 07 15:36
schestowitz Like in the 1980s Apr 07 15:36
schestowitz Motorola spends $216m on money-saving job cuts < http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/0… >. That’s what happens when some fools create bubble economies and families have 7 kids (worry about the 3 mortgages later) Apr 07 15:39
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schestowitz brb Apr 07 15:47
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**** BEGIN LOGGING AT Tue Apr 7 15:50:43 2009
*Now talking on #boycottnovell Apr 07 15:50
*Topic for #boycottnovell is: “Exploring the reality behind exclusionary deals with Microsoft and their subtle (yet severe) implications” [publicly logged] Apr 07 15:50
*Topic for #boycottnovell set by schestowitz at Sun Oct 5 19:20:28 2008 Apr 07 15:50
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*ChanServ gives channel operator status to schestowitz Apr 07 15:51
schestowitz Microsoft already knows that many people will dislike Vista 7 (or can’t run it): http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/… Apr 07 16:04
MinceR the greatest feature of future windows versions might be that windows xp is included ;) Apr 07 16:04
schestowitz More crime from a company not foreign to bribes, sabotage and blackmail (Intel): http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/n… Apr 07 16:05
schestowitz MinceR: Vista has this feature too Apr 07 16:05
MinceR there’s only a downgrade option Apr 07 16:06
MinceR but maybe they’ll include it in the default installer in the future Apr 07 16:06
schestowitz Until they come up with an alternative to Windows Apr 07 16:06
schestowitz Right now they just try to sugar-coat something that’s dead end, but it only makes it fat, clumsy and incompatible. Apr 07 16:06
MinceR they already have an alternative, it’s called Microsoft Linux, SuSE Edition. ;) Apr 07 16:07
MinceR they just need to support it. Apr 07 16:07
Eruaran Microsoft is extending XP downgrades Apr 07 16:07
Eruaran Even after Windows 7 appears Apr 07 16:07
MinceR indeed, that’s the topic. :) Apr 07 16:08
Eruaran I’d call that the definition of failure Apr 07 16:08
schestowitz Yes, in advace Apr 07 16:08
MinceR yes, but officially it’s called Microsoft Success. Apr 07 16:08
schestowitz They spent a lot on marketing Apr 07 16:08
Eruaran I have another definition of failure Apr 07 16:08
Eruaran New South Wales DET Apr 07 16:09
schestowitz Now they do anti-marketing, unless offering downgrades counts of good publicity Apr 07 16:09
schestowitz Microsoft has already bribed bloggers and sent it to PC enthusiasts with high-end h/w Apr 07 16:09
schestowitz I can’t wait to see that Vista7 frek ending up on the single-core machines of poor families that make up the majority of the market, esp. in economic gloom Apr 07 16:10
Eruaran They are wasting millions of dollars of taxpayer funds on Netbooks with Windows XP on them… and have already comitted to “upgrading” to Windows 7 later… wasting millions more in taxpayer funds Apr 07 16:10
schestowitz Vista7 is not what the market needs Apr 07 16:10
schestowitz So they’ll stick with XP. Microsoft supplies this Apr 07 16:10
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schestowitz Many go for sub-notebooks. There too there is NO Vista. Apr 07 16:10
Eruaran I have a regular who comes in to chat at work Apr 07 16:11
Eruaran I have enthused a lot to him lately about how impressed I am with Kubuntu 9.04 Apr 07 16:11
schestowitz Eruaran: organised crime is to be expected in English-speaking countries if the syndicate is American Apr 07 16:11
schestowitz Germany or India are less likely to fall for it, not to metion Russia and Brazil. Apr 07 16:11
schestowitz Microsoft loves counting just sales in the US Apr 07 16:12
schestowitz Home of MSFT Apr 07 16:12
Eruaran he brought his PC in today… Windows had locked him out saying it must be activated, basically treating him like a criminal… he’s cracked it and wants to try Kubuntu Apr 07 16:12
schestowitz NPD uses this to pretend the world buys Microsoft… XBox, Vista, Zune, subnotebooks with XP… Apr 07 16:12
schestowitz Eruaran: happened to a mate of mine last week… locked out because he’s wrongly flagged Apr 07 16:12
Eruaran when I say ‘cracked it’ I mean he lost his temper Apr 07 16:12
Eruaran schestowitz: yes, same thing Apr 07 16:13
schestowitz I put him on the KDE page… he stared at it for a long time considering the move Apr 07 16:13
schestowitz Many people don’t know about Linux Apr 07 16:13
schestowitz Sometimes they just hear about it. Once they know and see it, the perspective changes Apr 07 16:14
schestowitz Mac vs PC (Windows)  —> Windows vs Free Apr 07 16:14
Eruaran I’ve enthused so much to this guy he basically said, “SCREW THESE BASTARDS, PUT LINUX ON MY COMPUTER FOR ME!” Apr 07 16:14
Eruaran schestowitz: yes, thats why we have a demo system with a linux distro on it Apr 07 16:14
Eruaran It breaks down a lot of barriers Apr 07 16:15
schestowitz ROTFLMAO. GM is trying to go out of business  a lot faster. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/bu… Apr 07 16:15
schestowitz When ch11 comes in they’ll ask, “what happened??” It was a “seaway accident,” they’ll reply. Apr 07 16:17
MinceR i just hope the Chevrolet Volt doesn’t die :) Apr 07 16:18
schestowitz Why? Apr 07 16:21
schestowitz There’s a joke that I don’t get. Apr 07 16:21
Eruaran GM have lost the plot Apr 07 16:22
MinceR it seems to be a nice car. Apr 07 16:22
MinceR serial hybrid Apr 07 16:22
MinceR plug-in, of course Apr 07 16:22
MinceR they call it an extensible range electric vehicle Apr 07 16:22
MinceR (it isn’t in production yet) Apr 07 16:23
Eruaran The Volt looks nice Apr 07 16:23
Eruaran But in general I think GM have lost it Apr 07 16:24
Eruaran Dumping trucks and big vehicles, good… wierd looking single person 35mph electric vehicles that only run for an hour on one charge for 2012… bad… Apr 07 16:25
Eruaran Why cant they just knuckle down and produce some decent smaller more environmentally friendly economical cars now instead of hair brained stuff probably nobody will ever buy Apr 07 16:26
Eruaran They seem to have gone from one silly extreme to another Apr 07 16:27
Eruaran The Volt maybe being the exception Apr 07 16:27
schestowitz tessier: Vietnam is investing in Free software: http://english.vietnamnet.vn/IT… Apr 07 16:27
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schestowitz Who would buy (or be able to afford) a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C… in 2011? Apr 07 16:29
schestowitz They live on borrowed stimulus time (both GM and the public) Apr 07 16:29
schestowitz Anti-Free software masqueraded as polite advice: http://www.cxotoday.com/India/News/How_O… Apr 07 16:33
MinceR there still are a lot of wealthy people Apr 07 16:33
schestowitz How many? Apr 07 16:33
schestowitz I know how wealthy but also how many (maybe a couple of million in the US) Apr 07 16:33
schestowitz it’s like saying there still are a lot of wealthy countries Apr 07 16:34
MinceR i don’t know Apr 07 16:34
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schestowitz NPD is not only an MS puppet; it also deceived with IS-only figures. Just look what it did with Zune and XBox, even Vista. They use selective statistics, very often to vilify their clients’ competitors. Right now they attack Linux by ignoring high sales outside the US. Gartner and IDC have similar tricks up their sleeves, and luxurious contracts with Microsoft. Apr 07 16:50
schestowitz /s/IS/US/ Apr 07 16:50
schestowitz be careful of NPD whenever you see it coming up. Apr 07 16:52
trmanco hahaha, ms to offer free downgrade no 7 users? omfg Apr 07 17:09
trmanco to* Apr 07 17:09
zer0c00l schestowitz, there? Apr 07 17:09
zer0c00l schestowitz, tom-tom agreed to pay M$ ? Apr 07 17:09
zer0c00l FAT cannot be used? Apr 07 17:10
*zer0c00l reads Apr 07 17:13
*zer0c00l thats an old story :P Apr 07 17:13
zer0c00l *finds Apr 07 17:13
zer0c00l “When it counts, it appears that Microsoft still actively seeks to undermine those technologies or standards that are truly open, especially when those technologies pose a significant threat to their business.” Apr 07 17:14
zer0c00l http://www.linuxdevices.com… Apr 07 17:14
zer0c00l old one Apr 07 17:14
zer0c00l Many popular linux distributions have native support for FAT..why M$ cant sue the distribution vendors? They are afraid? or They cannot? Apr 07 17:18
schestowitz They try Apr 07 17:29
schestowitz Quietly Apr 07 17:29
schestowitz Another post coming. Apr 07 17:29
schestowitz Good news! Big Nokia likely to sell Linux MIDs http://apcmag.com/nokia-to-rel… ( Nokia to release a netbook? ) Apr 07 17:30
schestowitz Good news! NOVL downgraded again. Apr 07 17:30
Balrog hi everyone Apr 07 17:40
schestowitz zer0c00l: don’t mistake the TomTom case for an MS win. They are on their death bed, so they leech other companies at the expense of their image and antitrust status Apr 07 17:40
Balrog http://www.9to5mac.com/Microsoft-m… … that comment is funny …. (not pro-mac BTW) Apr 07 17:41
schestowitz Hard Times May Boost Linux in Financial Services < http://www.hpcwire.com/features/Hard-Times-Ma… > Apr 07 17:41
schestowitz heh. Well, H-P suffered a lot from Vista Apr 07 17:42
schestowitz The ‘capable’ lawsuit showed angry E-mails from the heads at H-P Apr 07 17:42
Balrog yes. Apr 07 17:43
Balrog if microsoft keeps advertising based on price / capability, they will very likely lose a good portion to Linux Apr 07 17:44
schestowitz Price? Apr 07 17:46
schestowitz $4 for XP Apr 07 17:46
Balrog but that’s lacking in capability Apr 07 17:46
Balrog current Linux is much more capable than XP Apr 07 17:46
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Balrog also did you see this? http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?si… Apr 07 17:48
Balrog << XP Reprieve, Downgrade May Continue After Win7 Apr 07 17:48
Balrog <<”Not only will users be able to keep Windows Vista, but they’ll be able to step back in time two generations, all the way to XP. “We will offer downgrade rights from Windows 7 to Windows XP in the same way we did with Windows Vista,” a Microsoft rep said.>> Apr 07 17:49
zer0c00l this shows that they aren’t confident in vista 7 too Apr 07 17:51
Balrog yes. Apr 07 17:52
schestowitz It has the V word Apr 07 17:56
Balrog windows 7 is vista at the core Apr 07 17:58
schestowitz It has expensive marketing campaign, more than Mojave. W-E was paid a lot by Microsoft to bribe bloggers with laptops, for example. Apr 07 18:04
Balrog yeah. :/ Apr 07 18:06
balzac microsoft is really having a core dump Apr 07 18:08
trmanco balzac, I would say multiple core dumps Apr 07 18:09
tessier_ meh Apr 07 18:10
balzac I don’t even want to see the log… Apr 07 18:10
tessier_ I’ve been hearing about MS having issues for years. Haven’t seen any change in their behavior yet. Apr 07 18:10
schestowitz Balrog: encrata isn’t the last in this log Apr 07 18:15
schestowitz tessier: which behaviour? Apr 07 18:15
schestowitz The fact that they sue Linux Apr 07 18:15
schestowitz The fact that Windows is sold for $5? Apr 07 18:15
tessier_ All of the above. Apr 07 18:15
tessier_ Same old dirty tricks for years. Apr 07 18:15
schestowitz The fact that they corrupt ISO and have investigations around the world launched to retaliate for the crimes? Apr 07 18:15
tessier_ I’m hoping netbooks will change things. Apr 07 18:15
tessier_ Especially when the ARM based netbooks come out. Apr 07 18:16
schestowitz Linux is said to be growing in market share there. Apr 07 18:16
tessier_ I’m really looking forward to Intel and MS losing their hegemony. Apr 07 18:16
schestowitz tessier: yes, ARM Apr 07 18:16
schestowitz Will raise the market share vs. $4 XP (or $5) to 33% from 25% Apr 07 18:16
schestowitz According to ABI Apr 07 18:16
trmanco http://danishkanavin.blogspot.com/2009/0… Apr 07 18:16
schestowitz tessier: Intel just got whacked Apr 07 18:16
schestowitz Crime… tax evasion Apr 07 18:16
schestowitz Intel’s profits sank 90$ in the last quarter Apr 07 18:17
schestowitz I think their ‘next’ Q is this month, same with MSFT’s Apr 07 18:17
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balzac The executives will be wearing depends under-garments Apr 07 18:21
balzac at the quarterly meeting Apr 07 18:21
balzac Everyone in the board room is going to have a core-dump Apr 07 18:22
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schestowitz Not many are left Apr 07 18:25
schestowitz A lot of MS Presidents and VPs have left in 2007-9 Apr 07 18:25
balzac they took the money and ran Apr 07 18:27
balzac the top of the pyramid-scheme is leeching the substance out of the company Apr 07 18:28
trmanco https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuOpenWeek/ Apr 07 18:28
schestowitz Balrog: they did take some money Apr 07 18:28
schestowitz *balzac… sorry Apr 07 18:28
balzac soon it will collapse and be derided as a ponzi scheme Apr 07 18:28
schestowitz Not so soon. Apr 07 18:28
schestowitz My friend thinks November is when the glue (stimulus) will come loose Apr 07 18:29
schestowitz Microsoft has some crucial data, so I kid you not — bailout is an option Apr 07 18:29
schestowitz Ballmer urged for it strongly last year and this year Apr 07 18:29
balzac sheesh Apr 07 18:29
schestowitz Microsoft is not immune, he argued openly Apr 07 18:29
schestowitz They issue debt now Apr 07 18:29
balzac Roy, I already figured it could come to that Apr 07 18:30
schestowitz $5 bn the last time this was stated Apr 07 18:30
balzac I figured that M$, being a part of the police-state apparatus, would ultimately be subsidized for it’s freedom-quelling capabilities. Apr 07 18:30
schestowitz Closing down Encarta, MSN Music, Ensemble Studio, Flight Simulator and on (oh, and firing many employees) will save them a bundle Apr 07 18:30
balzac this was before any bail-outs happened Apr 07 18:30
schestowitz The question is, can core product fill the void? Apr 07 18:30
schestowitz $3 Windows.. Apr 07 18:30
schestowitz You need to sell lots of THOSE Apr 07 18:31
balzac it just clicked in my mind – proprietary software, DRM – these methods of controlling people would not be allowed to perish just because Microsoft is not solvent. Apr 07 18:31
schestowitz And you rely on people being able to afford a sub-notebooks per child or whatever. Apr 07 18:31
balzac I might have even predicted that in here Apr 07 18:31
balzac I’m like a “mentat” from Frank Herbert’s Dune… How did I see it coming, even before the first bail-out. Apr 07 18:32
schestowitz Which one? Apr 07 18:33
balzac That Microsoft would be subsidized (bail-out = same) if they become insolvent because control of people has a high market-value to governments. Apr 07 18:34
schestowitz More like medical data Apr 07 18:35
schestowitz That’s why they entered Apr 07 18:35
schestowitz Not my opinion BTW, others’ whose opinion I read years ago when Microsoft began Apr 07 18:35
schestowitz It offered free (gratis) s/w for some key datacentres Apr 07 18:36
schestowitz They’ll also LOVE to put critical data in OOXML Apr 07 18:36
schestowitz Only a fool would put his/her (o citizens’) in a format which depends on one dying company whose value was halved in one year Apr 07 18:36
tessier_ Microsoft bail-out? Not likely. Apr 07 18:37
tessier_ It would kill their stock price if it became known that they were somehow in danger of going under unless they got a bail-out. Apr 07 18:37
schestowitz tessier: that’s why I said “not yet/so fat” Apr 07 18:39
schestowitz tessier: FWIIW, let me give you refs Apr 07 18:39
schestowitz Ballmer: Congress must ‘stabilize’ financial crisis < http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-1005… >; Ballmer says Microsoft not immune from global crisis < http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080930/bs_… >; Microsoft calls on Congress to reconsider bailout < http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-… Apr 07 18:40
schestowitz 0-20 > Apr 07 18:40
schestowitz That last one again: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860… I have more if you are interested. Ballmer also snuck into the Big Guns recently to lobby for bailout. Apr 07 18:41
schestowitz Nokia is hiring for GNU/Linux: http://www.nokia.com/imaginemaemo Apr 07 18:45
trmanco I’m still waiting for the ARM netbooks Apr 07 18:47
schestowitz More cameras and routers run Linux now… http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/… http://www.h-online.com/open/Foner… Apr 07 18:49
schestowitz trmanco: July IIRC Apr 07 18:49
tessier_ Microsoft wants places bailed out and the economy rescued so big companies can continue paying their license fees. Apr 07 18:49
trmanco grr, can’t wait, I might buy one myself Apr 07 18:50
schestowitz tessier: I thought about that, but look at Microsoft’s finances. Apr 07 18:51
schestowitz http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news… (Microsoft May Sell Debt in First-Ever Bond Offering (Update1)) Apr 07 18:52
schestowitz Microsoft investors ‘hang on to dream’ < http://www.techflash.com/microsof… > Apr 07 18:52
schestowitz Microsoft should issue debt for a buyback–analyst < http://www.reuters.com/article/mark… > Apr 07 18:53
schestowitz Microsoft loses 90 Billion Dollars [in less than a year] < http://slated.org/microsoft_l… > Apr 07 18:53
schestowitz Details about Firefox 3.6: http://mozillalinks.org/wp/2009/04/deskto… http://arstechnica.com/open-source/ne… Apr 07 18:57
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tessier_ Losing $90B in market value is very different from losing $90B in cash. Apr 07 19:11
tessier_ MS isn’t selling any stock and does not need to raise any money. Apr 07 19:11
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Eruaran If I was a shareholder I wouldn’t be happy Apr 07 19:12
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Eruaran I’d bail Apr 07 19:12
tessier_ Right. You’d bail. But what does that mean for MS? Apr 07 19:12
tessier_ Why would MS care if you bailed? Apr 07 19:12
Eruaran I know a lot of their shareholders are not happy Apr 07 19:13
tessier_ They could easily buy back the stock cheaply and gain more control. Apr 07 19:13
Eruaran Sweaty with more control can only be a good thing for fee software Apr 07 19:14
schestowitz tessier: they can’t buy back stock Apr 07 19:15
schestowitz They bought too muc Apr 07 19:15
schestowitz Their latest buybacks takes them into debt Apr 07 19:15
Eruaran Luddites has a way of becoming redundant no matter how much damage they do Apr 07 19:15
schestowitz Read the references carefully. Apr 07 19:15
Eruaran schestowitz: Did you know Miguel de Icaza is no 2 at Novell now ? Apr 07 19:16
tessier_ After the latest stock buyback: That still left Microsoft with $23.6 billion in cash and short-term investments — much less than the $60 billion it had on its balance sheet in 2004 when investors and analysts were clamoring for a better use of the treasury. Apr 07 19:18
balzac Miguel will be the last one there – “when the music’s over”, he’ll “turn out the lights”. Apr 07 19:18
Balrog Eruaran: URL? Apr 07 19:18
tessier_ Miguel is awfully young isn’t he? How can have the experience to be #2 at Novell? Apr 07 19:18
tessier_ Doesn’t he enjoy coding? Apr 07 19:18
schestowitz Eruaran: I doubt it Apr 07 19:19
schestowitz In what sense? Apr 07 19:19
schestowitz Technical? Apr 07 19:19
Eruaran I may have misread, I’ll check Apr 07 19:19
schestowitz Vice president doesn’t mean no.2 Apr 07 19:19
schestowitz There are many VPs Apr 07 19:19
schestowitz Like Simon Phipps, Bob Sutor, even Michael Tiemann IIRC Apr 07 19:19
schestowitz tessier: no, they use up those piles for buybacks Apr 07 19:20
schestowitz About $30bn Apr 07 19:20
schestowitz It was in Associated Press Apr 07 19:20
schestowitz I’ll try to find it Apr 07 19:20
tessier_ They still have tens of billions in cash. Apr 07 19:20
schestowitz How do you know? Apr 07 19:20
schestowitz Ecuador Tax Agency Closes Microsoft Branch Offices For 7 Days Apr 07 19:21
schestowitz ,—-[ Quote ] Apr 07 19:21
schestowitz | “We have twice requested balances, payment reports and complete tax Apr 07 19:21
schestowitz | information, but the company hasn’t given it to us, so in accordance with our Apr 07 19:21
schestowitz | laws we have proceeded with the closure,” the SRI official in charge of the Apr 07 19:21
schestowitz | proceeding said.   Apr 07 19:21
schestowitz `—- Apr 07 19:21
schestowitz http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeed… Apr 07 19:21
schestowitz Microsoft Office raid in Hungary Apr 07 19:21
schestowitz ,—-[ Quote ] Apr 07 19:21
schestowitz | “Such behavior could lead to the exclusion of competitive products from Apr 07 19:21
schestowitz | the market and violate European Union rules, according to the authority Apr 07 19:21
schestowitz | known as the GVH.” Apr 07 19:21
schestowitz `—- Apr 07 19:21
schestowitz http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/200… Apr 07 19:21
schestowitz Microsoft exec dumped stock prior to Red Ring announcement Apr 07 19:21
schestowitz ,—-[ Quote ] Apr 07 19:21
schestowitz | To make matters more murky, the sales were not registered with the Securities Apr 07 19:21
schestowitz | and Exchange Commission within the mandatory two days of the transaction, a Apr 07 19:21
schestowitz | result of an alleged “administrative error.” Microsoft has since remedied the Apr 07 19:21
schestowitz | issue by following the “procedures required of late-filers.”   Apr 07 19:21
schestowitz `—- Apr 07 19:21
schestowitz http://arstechnica.com/journals/thum… Apr 07 19:21
schestowitz   End of signed message Apr 07 19:21
Eruaran must have misread… I’m half asleep Apr 07 19:21
tessier_ The reasons they issue debt are complicated but it makes sense now. Similar to how a lot of people were refinancing cash out of their homes and investing it in other things with higher yields. Debt is not always a bad thing. Apr 07 19:21
schestowitz Oops. Wrong paste Apr 07 19:21
schestowitz Sorry Apr 07 19:21
schestowitz tessier: http://web.archive.org/web/20… Apr 07 19:21
schestowitz Financial fraud is business as usual at Microsoft Apr 07 19:21
schestowitz When asked about it their excuse is that everyone does itr Apr 07 19:22
schestowitz Now that the economy collapses people understand that it’s not OK Apr 07 19:22
schestowitz These are pyramid schemes.. many of them. Apr 07 19:22
schestowitz tessier: your tune has changed, though. Apr 07 19:22
tessier_ Cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments totaled $20.7 billion as of December 31, 2008, compared with $23.7 billion as of June 30, 2008. http://www.microsoft.com/msft/I… Apr 07 19:23
tessier_ schestowitz: My tune? Apr 07 19:23
tessier_ No doubt they are engaging in shady practices. But it seems perfectly reasonable to me that they really do have all that cash. Tons of people are forced to buy their stuff. Apr 07 19:25
schestowitz tessier: microsoft.com as a source? Apr 07 19:25
schestowitz tessier: the cash belongs to people Apr 07 19:25
schestowitz Less to the company Apr 07 19:26
tessier_ schestowitz: They file that with the SEC. What better source is there? Apr 07 19:26
schestowitz It’s like AIG Apr 07 19:26
tessier_ What people? Apr 07 19:26
schestowitz Let me suggest a reading. Apr 07 19:26
schestowitz SEC is corrupt Apr 07 19:26
schestowitz I don;’t trust it either Apr 07 19:26
schestowitz Neither should you Apr 07 19:26
schestowitz It lost its reputation Apr 07 19:26
schestowitz A year before SCO’s ch11 for example it let them off the book Apr 07 19:26
tessier_ How so? Apr 07 19:26
schestowitz And as the press will tell you, they didn’t do their jobs Apr 07 19:26
schestowitz Read about the SEC fiascos Apr 07 19:26
tessier_ There’s a difference between corruption, incompetence, and hindsight. Apr 07 19:27
schestowitz Groklaw covers some Apr 07 19:27
schestowitz Incompetence mostly Apr 07 19:27
schestowitz But negligence in this role can be accomplice equivalent Apr 07 19:27
schestowitz Like… if the execs pay you to turn a blind eye Apr 07 19:27
tessier_ Having done a lot of travel in truly corrupt countries I am careful when I use that word. Apr 07 19:27
schestowitz Novell too was under fire Apr 07 19:27
schestowitz SEC… Apr 07 19:27
tessier_ I am also careful not to take things for granted. Apr 07 19:27
schestowitz Paid some millions to walk away.. Apr 07 19:27
tessier_ And I try to be even more careful not to delude myself with wishful thinking. Apr 07 19:28
schestowitz tessier: you also live in one Apr 07 19:28
schestowitz So do I Apr 07 19:28
schestowitz The question is one of frequency Apr 07 19:28
tessier_ That’s what I’m talking about. You seem ready to flush it all down the crapper. Apr 07 19:28
tessier_ UK, US, throw it all away and start over right? Apr 07 19:28
trmanco http://libre.fm/ Apr 07 19:31
trmanco :D Apr 07 19:31
schestowitz tessier: there is an index for corruption Apr 07 19:33
tessier_ Yes, I know Apr 07 19:33
tessier_ Compare US UK with Russia Or Vietnam Apr 07 19:33
schestowitz Corruption is a ‘norm’ everywhere. You need to find out where. Apr 07 19:33
schestowitz As in, which companies and _how much_ Apr 07 19:34
schestowitz That Microsoft breaks tax laws is a fact Apr 07 19:34
schestowitz That Microsoft was caught engaging in fraud (fianncial) too it pretty much a fact Apr 07 19:34
schestowitz Has it changed its ways? Apr 07 19:34
schestowitz The ‘New’ Microsoft? Apr 07 19:34
schestowitz The one that sues FOSS? Apr 07 19:34
schestowitz And no longer by proxy? Apr 07 19:34
Eruaran http://www.telstrabusiness.com/business/port… Apr 07 19:37
Eruaran “T-Suite” Apr 07 19:38
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tessier_ Corruption isn’t the norm in the UK or the US. It exists but it isn’t normal. Apr 07 19:48
tessier_ I have never in my life been solicited for a bribe nor have I offered one. In the US or the UK. Apr 07 19:48
tessier_ I just don’t find that sort of “damn it all” cynicism to be conducive to a healthy society. We should be trying to remove corruption when we find it but not just giving up on the whole works even when it is 99% good. Apr 07 19:49
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Omar87 Hi Apr 07 19:50
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tessier_ I have always liked the dictum “Our country right or wrong. When right, to be kept right; when wrong, to be put right.” Apr 07 19:51
tessier_ It works well for Britain and for the US. Apr 07 19:51
tessier_ I found out what corruption is in Mexico and in Vietnam. I was solicited for bribes and saw others paying bribes with my own eyes. Apr 07 19:52
tessier_ They have a saying in Mexico, “Por eso, Mexico esta’ como esta’.” which means “This is why Mexico is the way it is.” Apr 07 19:52
tessier_ You bring a Vietnamese or a Mexican to the US and they’ll marvel at how little corruption there is. I know because I’ve done it. Apr 07 19:52
tessier_ If you know of corruption you should expose it. But be careful not to kid yourself. Apr 07 19:53
tessier_ I agree that there was a lot of corruption in the banking system. Not just in the US but in the whole world. No one person did it in this case. But a lot of people just looked the other way. Apr 07 19:53
tessier_ It took all of those people looking the other way to cause this mess. Apr 07 19:53
*schestowitz watches http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aW9P… Apr 07 19:54
tessier_ I’m not into chauvinistic nationalism but I’m not about to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Apr 07 19:54
schestowitz tessier: thanks, I appreciate this info Apr 07 19:54
schestowitz tessier: I agree that it cannot be defeated, but there’s something to do to counter it. Apr 07 19:55
tessier_ Definitely Apr 07 19:55
schestowitz tessier: if you do it, it’s because you care Apr 07 19:55
schestowitz Not because you hate Apr 07 19:55
schestowitz If people stop making corrective remarks, it’s a bad sign. it means they simply gave up. Apr 07 19:56
tessier_ Right. Apr 07 19:56
tessier_ But to praise is just as important to punish. As anyone who raises kids or even dogs will know. Apr 07 19:56
tessier_ as important as Apr 07 19:56
tessier_ Surely someone has to lead the country, sit in parliament, congress, etc. Apr 07 19:57
schestowitz We all commend some things Apr 07 19:57
schestowitz I don’t commend Microsoft Apr 07 19:57
schestowitz They don’t deserve it. Apr 07 19:57
tessier_ Indeed they don’t. Apr 07 19:58
tessier_ “Some analysts and investors have urged executives to further trim the cash balance and use debt to buy back even more stock.” – http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ht… Apr 07 20:01
tessier_ Debt has uses beyond just borrowing money when you need it Apr 07 20:01
Eruaran The borrower is servant to the lender Apr 07 20:10
tessier_ Sure. But MS took commercial grade paper at 2% for up to 3 months. That’s not of a servant. Apr 07 20:11
Omar87 Hi Apr 07 20:12
schestowitz Hey, Omar87 Apr 07 20:13
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MinceR crApple is attacking web standards again >> http://yro.slashdot.org/article.p… Apr 07 20:22
tessier_ schestowitz: I saw your twitter about Vietnam funding OSS. That’s another area where corruption is unlikely to result in any movement at all in the OSS area. Apr 07 20:23
tessier_ There is zero transparency in accounting over there. The money is likely to end up in someones pocket and no code will come of it. Apr 07 20:23
tessier_ They are making OSS a political football to toss around. Apr 07 20:23
tessier_ Speaking of corruption, the conviction of Senator Ted Stevens was thrown out. Hrm. Apr 07 20:27
tessier_ Was Stevens corrupt? Was the first court corrupt in convicting him? Was the second court corrupt in throwing out the conviction? Was the first court not corrupt but simply in error? Was the second court? Apr 07 20:29
tessier_ I still agree with the sentiment that it is better to let 10 guilty men go free than to put one innocent man in prison. Apr 07 20:31
tessier_ Besides, he’s 85. So I’m not too bothered by this. Now he will have plenty of time to enjoy his computer and let the big trucks dump information in his tubes. Apr 07 20:32
tessier_ Apparently the prosecutors made serious errors. Apr 07 20:35
schestowitz MinceR: old news Apr 07 20:35
schestowitz tessier: yes, I heard about it Apr 07 20:35
schestowitz Appalling. Apr 07 20:35
schestowitz That’s why I tell you corruption prevails Apr 07 20:35
schestowitz It doesn’t work (the law) against Big Criminals Apr 07 20:35
schestowitz It always ‘works’ (;magically’) against people who are dark-skinned for example Apr 07 20:36
schestowitz That’s what the law is for Apr 07 20:36
schestowitz To keep the ‘responsible’ adults in charge, not to resort order Apr 07 20:36
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schestowitz I advise you to watch that video I posted earlier Apr 07 20:36
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MinceR if only we had responsible adults Apr 07 20:39
tacone hey, heard the tomboy news ? Apr 07 20:39
tacone tomboy ported to c++ ? Apr 07 20:40
schestowitz YAY! Apr 07 20:40
schestowitz GNOME cleansed. Apr 07 20:40
schestowitz Did they give a reason? Apr 07 20:40
tacone http://www.stefanoforenza.com/to… Apr 07 20:40
tacone well Apr 07 20:40
tacone yes Apr 07 20:40
tacone it’s a fork Apr 07 20:40
schestowitz Cool. Apr 07 20:40
tacone the guy says he’s so bored Apr 07 20:40
tacone because unemployed Apr 07 20:40
tacone because novell layed him off. Apr 07 20:41
tacone …. Apr 07 20:41
tacone lol Apr 07 20:41
schestowitz Really… Apr 07 20:41
tacone yes Apr 07 20:41
tacone read my post Apr 07 20:41
schestowitz When? Apr 07 20:41
tacone there’s links Apr 07 20:41
schestowitz No Novell, no mono Apr 07 20:41
tacone well, he supported the proposal of a tomboy port 2 years ago anyway. Apr 07 20:41
schestowitz Now he can use the p/l he really wants, maybe.. Apr 07 20:41
tacone the proposal was made by another guy. who never did the port. Apr 07 20:42
tacone so when he got layed off Apr 07 20:42
tacone he did. Apr 07 20:42
schestowitz Oh, February Apr 07 20:42
schestowitz So maybe it’s the old bundle of layoffs Apr 07 20:42
schestowitz Novell doesn’t announce them Apr 07 20:42
tacone gnome is not cleansed anyways Apr 07 20:42
tacone f-spot. Apr 07 20:42
tacone and there’s a bunch of non-default apps which belongs to the gnome project anyways Apr 07 20:43
schestowitz Hmmmmm… http://www.google.com/search?q=sit… Apr 07 20:43
schestowitz tacone: yes, but non-default Apr 07 20:43
tacone the potentially more dangerous being a generic plugin downloader Apr 07 20:43
tacone that plugin downloader Apr 07 20:43
schestowitz tomboy on mono was problematic for a particular reason s Apr 07 20:43
schestowitz search BN for details Apr 07 20:43
tacone is being adopted already by the deskbar-applet (which is default) Apr 07 20:43
schestowitz Lots of history about it.. 2007 Apr 07 20:44
tacone i don’t support that plugin downloader for other reasons, not only for the language choice. Apr 07 20:44
tacone but that would be potentially adoptable by many other apps. Apr 07 20:44
tacone anyways that’s a great news Apr 07 20:46
tacone and there’s already an ubuntu ppa. Apr 07 20:46
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Omar87 schestowitz: I liked that video from the Linux foundation. :) Apr 07 20:54
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schestowitz Omar87: glad you did. Took a while to post because of the ogg. Apr 07 21:02
MinceR http://img.waffleimages.com/8a17… Apr 07 21:35
PetoKraus good Apr 07 21:38
PetoKraus very good Apr 07 21:38
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schestowitz MinceR: he saw the future. Apr 07 21:47
trmanco Hackers seize on zero-day flaw in Microsoft’s PowerPoint: http://www.infoworld.com/d/security-cent… Apr 07 21:48
schestowitz Yes, old news by now Apr 07 21:51
schestowitz Microsoft sez “heh… not many attacks yet..” Apr 07 21:51
trmanco yeah, I’m sort of catching up Apr 07 21:52
schestowitz Oh, you were away Apr 07 21:57
trmanco :-p Apr 07 21:58
MinceR :) Apr 07 22:03
schestowitz State-owned RBS to axe 9,500 workers < http://www.theregister.co.uk/200… > Apr 07 22:08
trmanco http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/… Apr 07 22:08
schestowitz BN loses touch sometimes Apr 07 22:09
schestowitz I doubt it’s related though Apr 07 22:09
schestowitz Other sites seemed less responsive recently (unavilable at times) Apr 07 22:09
schestowitz Microsoft’s PR department must have been drunk if it allowed this to come out so early: http://www.channelregister.co.uk/… Apr 07 22:10
werehedgehog wow Apr 07 22:10
schestowitz MS: “Here’s your lobster… and here… is the puke bucket. Enjoy your meal” Apr 07 22:11
schestowitz The AP’s Desperate Attempt To Outlaw Search Engine Links < http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2… > Apr 07 22:15
PetoKraus who’s AP? Apr 07 22:21
schestowitz Associated Gangsters Apr 07 22:23
schestowitz Cool, but not energy-efficient: http://blog.wired.com/cars/2009/04… (It’s Not a Flying Car — It’s a Driveable Airplane) Apr 07 22:23
schestowitz http://www.rightpundits.com/?p=3674 (AP Attempts to Shut Bloggers Out ) Apr 07 22:24
schestowitz ‘For a while now, the AP has had been fighting this insane war against bloggers who quote and use snippets of their articles in blog posts. About a year or so ago the AP decided they would try to charge bloggers and other sites $2.50 cents per word and threatened to sue anyone who did not comply with their dumb “copyright” scheme.’ Apr 07 22:24
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schestowitz “is wondering why Microsoft Excel does not accept ODF format files while Open Office does accept xls sheets …. another point for OpenOffice” http://twitter.com/hwiggerm/… Apr 07 22:37
schestowitz I hear from friends that this could harm Firefox for Linux: Google ‘Chromium’ pre-alpha available for Ubuntu users http://www.neowin.net/news/software/09… Apr 07 22:43
Balrog_ schestowitz: FOSS? Apr 07 22:43
schestowitz Nope Apr 07 22:43
schestowitz Not Chrome anyway Apr 07 22:44
MinceR afaik Chromium is FLOSS Apr 07 22:45
MinceR and someone will probably make more privacy-friendly versions Apr 07 22:45
MinceR iirc they’ve done it with windows Chromium already Apr 07 22:45
schestowitz Yes Apr 07 22:48
schestowitz But to make something privacy-aware for Windows is like putting a safe on the front desk of a brothel Apr 07 22:54
schestowitz Windows is spyware, by definition Apr 07 22:54
Balrog_ schestowitz: what to do about games that are only for windows? Apr 07 22:55
MinceR having to keep windows for games is unfortunate Apr 07 22:56
MinceR but the os matters less then Apr 07 22:56
MinceR for example if windows crashes, all you lose is your gaming since the last time you saved Apr 07 22:56
MinceR the failings of the gui are less significant if one app manages the whole screen raw Apr 07 22:57
MinceR and the flaws of the task scheduler are probably less important Apr 07 22:57
schestowitz zoobab01: http://www.google.com/search?hl=… Apr 07 23:00
schestowitz Balrog: people move gradually, not cold turkey Apr 07 23:01
schestowitz They can play some old games and buy new games that run on GNU/Linux Apr 07 23:01
schestowitz Then, later on, their ‘nostalgia stash’ will run under Wine. Apr 07 23:02
schestowitz Windows Is Not on 96% of Netbooks < http://www.microsoft-watch.com/content/… > Apr 07 23:15
schestowitz gn Apr 07 23:15
MinceR o/ Apr 07 23:16
MinceR gn Apr 07 23:17
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_Hicham_ Hi Roy! Apr 07 23:37
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Balrog_ what about Cedega? Apr 07 23:57
]]> http://techrights.org/2009/04/08/irc-log-07042009/feed/ 1 Links 07/04/2009: Nokia May Enter GNU/Linux Sub-notebooks http://techrights.org/2009/04/07/nokia-may-enter-gnulinux/ http://techrights.org/2009/04/07/nokia-may-enter-gnulinux/#comments Tue, 07 Apr 2009 19:24:59 +0000 http://boycottnovell.com/?p=8233

GNOME bluefish

Contents

GNU/Linux

  • Softpedia Linux Weekly, Issue 40

    For this week’s editorial we took a quick look at the Ubuntu Portable project. The “first look” article offers you a quick preview of the new eyeOS 1.8.5 web operating system. Last week we took Wolvix 2.0.0 Beta for a test drive, so don’t forget to check out the results! In the Linux distribution announcement section you will find the following releases: Fedora 11 Beta, CentOS 5.3, AsteriskNOW 1.5.0, VectorLinux 6.0 Light, Parted Magic 4.0. In other news: The new Nvidia video drivers for Linux bring support for newer GPUs; The KDE community announced KDE 4.2.2; Ubuntu Podcast intreviews Mark Shuttleworth. The weekly ends with the video clip of the week, the latest Linux distributions released/updated last week and the development releases.

  • Nokia to release a netbook?

    All this begs the question of which OS platform would Nokia choose? The N810 runs on a Linux variant known as Maemo, which includes a Nokia-developed Gnome application framework dubbed Hildon.

    Hildon in turn has been adopted by Ubuntu for their Intel-endorsed Mobile Internet Device Edition, while the Intel-founded Moblin project is built around the Gnome Mobile platform. This already gives Nokia some entré into the world of Linux and Atom-powered devices.

  • Linux Fest NorthWest is coming!

    Some very cool people will be there this year, including Jon “Maddog” Hall. As well as representatives from the One Laptop Per Child project, Novell, Fedora and more.

  • Ubuntu’s Shuttleworth: Planning to Overtake Apple

    “The most important thing that we want to figure out is how to have participation without conflict. It is very clear that, in order to challenge Apple, we’re going to have to make a lot of changes. Nobody would make the case that the free software environment, whether on Ubuntu or any other distribution, is a world-beating experience from a design and user perspective. It’s world-beating for other reasons, right? But it certainly doesn’t win from a design and user perspective.

    “If we’re going to put ourselves at the forefront, we’re going to have change a lot. That change is going to be controversial and difficult, and it will not serve our purposes at all if that becomes an excuse for vicious argument. The folks with passion need to get invested in it, either as part of a process like the GNOME 3 discussion, or as part of the Ayatana effort that Canonical is leading, or just by diving into their favorite application and being passionate about user experience.

  • Hard Times May Boost Linux in Financial Services

    Today Linux is the go-to operating system for high performance computing, while it continues to extend its footprint in the broader IT community. In the financial services arena, in particular, Linux is being seen as a critical technology for increasing ROI.

    On Monday, at the High Performance Linux on Wall Street conference in New York, Inna Kuznetsova, director of IBM’s Linux Strategy, led a panel that discussed how Linux can be used to reduce costs and improve performance in these economically challenging times. We recently got the opportunity to ask Kuznetsova about the increasing profile of Linux for IBM customers and how the technology is enabling them to realize cost savings.

  • Kernel Space

    • Announcing the “We’re Linux” video contest finalists

      The journey that begin during last football season with the realization that Microsoft paid Jerry Seinfeld $10 million for his appearance in their ads is almost over. The judging for the We’re Linux video contest has been completed and I’m pleased to announce the finalists.

    • NVIDIA’s Release Happiness Continues Into April

      NVIDIA had ended out March with five Linux display driver releases with it ranging from a day to a week between updated Linux drivers were pushed out from this Santa Clara company. It’s been just over a week since their last display driver release, but it looks like April will be another month of fierce Linux/Solaris/BSD driver updates from NVIDIA.

  • Applications

    • Marble Desktop Globe – Wonderful Atlas Application for KDE4

      I was lately impressed by Marble Desktop Globe, a free, open-source application for KDE4 which includes a 3D atlas of the world, with lots of features and an interface similar to the one of Google Earth.

    • The Unknown Teaser

      Frictional Games, the developers of the survival-horror genre Penumbra series, have posted a teaser for their next project, which has the mysterious moniker of “Unknown”:

  • Desktop Environments

    • Some not so wobbly news from wobblyland

      There has been some work going on to improve the tabbox (alt+tab) when no effect is used. Andreas Pakulat added an outline for the currently selected window like it was in KDE 3 time. Very nice and usefuel – thanks a lot. The tabbox has received some face lifting and uses the Plasma style. On that part I want to thank Nuno for his great help on making the whole thing nice. Adding some pixels here and there – I could not have done it.

    • What would you say about the State of GNOME?

      So, here’s what I think I will say about the State of GNOME talk the Collaboration Summit this week. Feel free to add points in the comments or point me to more info. (If you are going to be at the Collaboration Summit and would like to help give this presentation as a member of GNOME or help with QA, let me know!)

  • Distributions

    • Review: Debian 5: Lenny

      The last time I installed Debian was version 3.x and it was a little intimidating for me. I had only installed Fedora before that and Debian did not have a GUI installer. But I was able to figure it out and get it up and running without too much trouble. Now with Debian 5, there is a GUI installer supported and I want to check it out and see how it compares to Anaconda and the other GUI installers I’ve seen.

    • Mandriva Linux 2009 Spring RC2 is ready for tests

      The RC2 release of Mandriva Linux 2009 Spring (code name Estephe) is now available. This RC2 version provides some updates on major desktop components of the distribution, including KDE 4.2.2, GNOME 2.26,X.org server 1.6, kernel 2.6.29.

    • Red Hat

      • Answering the Call for Open Source Government

        President Obama came to office with the promise of change. His administration has pledged to create an environment of openness and participation. Some have already called him the “open source president” such as consultant and CNN contributor Alex Castellanos.

        There’s no better time than now. Transparency builds trust. Participation solves problems. And we believe that open source provides an answer.

        Red Hat is excited that the Obama administration recognizes the value of open source beyond software. Open source principles are changing how we learn, how we share information, how developers create, and how companies do business. Now it has the opportunity to change our government.

      • Red Hat Dismisses Consumer Desktop Linux (Again)

        Sometimes, you have to respect someone for sticking to an opinion and a vision. Other times, you have to wonder if a consistent vision becomes a fatal flaw. I’m still undecided about whether Red Hat CEO Jim Whitehurst has the correct — or flawed — long term vision: In a New York Times article, Whitehurst (pictured, right) once again dismisses speculation that Red Hat will pursue the consumer Linux desktop and smart phone markets. Here’s why.

    • Ubuntu

      • Ubuntu Linux Preps Newest Version

        If you’ve never tried Linux or haven’t tried it in a long time, this may be the time you’ve been waiting for. Virtually all Linux Distros have a free for download version that you can burn to CD or DVD and test drive as a Live-CD. You boot your computer from the Live-CD and try Linux without any changes being made to your hard drive. It will run much slower in Live-CD mode, but you will be able to see for yourself the goodness that the Open Source world has to offer as well as see if your computers hardware is compatible.

      • Ubuntu 9.04: What’s New for Desktop Users?

        And at this point in Ubuntu’s development, slow-but-steady advancement on the desktop is precisely what it needs in order to continue its encroachment onto the personal computers of casual users.

      • 5 Benefits of Ubuntu

        I have been through the phase when I tried to inspire people about using original software and operating system so that we do not use pirated software. This is sort of illegal activity to use pirated software and it also does not help you use your computer system that efficiently. However, Ubuntu has clearly given a way ahead while advocating for Linux.

  • Devices/Embedded

    • PoE camera design runs Linux

      Nuvation announced a Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) IP camera reference design based on the Texas Instruments (TI) DaVinci-architecture TMS320DM365 system-on-chip (SoC). Nuvation’s PoE-WDR DM365 design compresses real-time, full-color 720×480 (D1) video over Ethernet at up to 30fps, and incorporates a real-time Linux implementation, says the company.

    • Fonera 2.0 powered by Linux

      The upcoming Fonera 2.0 802.11g wireless router from FON uses Linux as its embedded OS and includes several new features. The Fonera 2.0 allows FON community members, refered to as Foneros, to share their internet connection, in effect providing a ‘public’ hot-spot, in return for reciprocal free roaming Wi-Fi access from other Foneros. FON even provide an opportunity to make money because non-members can buy Wi-Fi access by purchasing a FON Access Pass. Whenever this happens FON credit the owner of the hot-spot with 50 per cent of the revenue (via PayPal). FON is supported by BT and the new BT Home Hub wireless routers, are also FON capable. In addition BT FON members have access to BT Openzone Hotspots.

    • Sub-notebooks

      • Are Linux netbooks really returned more often than Windows models?

        But Philip Solis, an analyst at ABI Research, questions the “reliability” of this evidence.

        Solis said in a March research note that Taiwan’s MSI had not yet shipped a Linux-based Wind at the time of the comment to the magazine. When it did, it did “adapt” the operating system for the netbook’s smaller size — an key ingredient to Linux’s acceptance by consumers, Solis wrote.

        Acer, Asus and Dell have all built customized versions of Linux for their netbooks. Solis said that Asus has noted equal return rates for Linux netbooks versus those running Windows.

        And while ABI’s surveys show U.S. consumers clearly stating their preference for Windows netbooks, Solis said that isn’t true around the world.

        In Asia, netbook buyers are both thriftier and “and not as tied to the Windows environment,” Solis said. “They’re looking for certain features, but they aren’t as tied to a certain brand name.”

        Solis predicts an increase in Linux netbook shipments this year, from 25% to a third of the 35 million netbooks expected to sell globally this year. Under that estimate, Linux will be shipped on 11.5 million netbook PCs in 2009.

        Solis is bullish about his prediction because of the coming ARM wave. With Microsoft still balking at porting Windows 7 to ARM’s mobile CPU, PC makers using ARM have no choice but to use Linux.

Free Software/Open Source

  • The Stack: Encouraging Adoption Through Ease of Use

    Open source application developers shouldn’t rely on users’ willingness to jump through hoops. An app may be less expensive and have other advantages over the competition offered by mainstream vendors, but it’s not likely to succeed if it demands effort users aren’t willing to expend or expertise

  • Cherokee: Why it could own the Internet

    I’ve typically been pretty conservative when choosing a web server. Typically, I’ll use Apache to run most sites, and possibly Lighttpd for static files. Experimenting never really has been something done with a web server once I’m past the initial setup.

  • Mozilla

    • Desktop web apps and snappiness top next Firefox (Namoroka) plans

      Following the tradition of using national park names as code names for Firefox releases, Mozilla has chosen Namoroka, located in Madagascar, for the development cycle that started a few months ago when Mozilla decided to branch the current Firefox 3.5 (Shiretoko) and proceed with the development of the next release in the trunk (Minefield).

    • Mozilla reveals roadmap for Firefox 3.6, scheduled for 2010

      Mozilla has unveiled its roadmap for Firefox 3.6, which is codenamed Namoroka. This version, which will follow the upcoming Firefox 3.5 release, is expected to arrive in 2010. Mozilla has some highly ambitious plans for 3.6, including a new task-oriented user interface paradigm and deep integration of Prism-like rich Internet application functionality.

  • Healthcare

    • HIMSS day1: Medsphere

      In reality there is a component of HIMSS that is FOSS-friendly and FOSS runs as an under current at every HIMSS conference that I have attended. It can be hard to find but it is there.

      [...]

      Two less people die every day at Midland b/c of the systems in place to handle central-line infections inside OpenVistA. Wow. That means that Medsphere clients are starting to get VA-like improved outcomes. All at a fraction of the cost of the proprietary alternatives

    • Sun Microsystems Helps U.S. Federal Government Build Interoperable NHIN

      Open source software from Sun Microsystems Inc. (NASDAQ: JAVA) is enabling the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to build a secure, open technology platform to connect federal government agencies and health information exchanges in a “network of networks”–the Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN)–built over the Internet.

    • Selective EHR Search Now Possible Thanks to Open Health NLP

      Mayo Clinic and International Business Machines (IBM) have reportedly launched a Web site for the Open Health Natural Language Processing (OHNLP) Consortium to establish and promote precise open source-based Electronic Health Record (EHR) information recovery from vast silos of information.

  • Internet

    • click2try(TM) Adds Popular Open Source Collaboration Tools

      click2try today announced the availability of three new Open Source applications in its catalog, including OWL Intranet Knowledgebase, KnowledgeTree Document Management Software (Community Edition), and eGroupware. The addition of these popular Open Source applications expands the collaboration, document, and file sharing capabilities available to click2try users. This increases the number of Open Source applications to more than 40, that users can try and use on-demand from the click2try.com site. click2try (http://www.click2try.com), a Community site that features a catalog of virtualized Open Source software, has also announced the addition of major upgrades of Eclipse, OrangeHRM, and TikiWiki to replace older versions already in the catalog.

    • A Cloudy Future

      But cloud computing is going to change the industry in as profound a way as client server did in the late nineteen eighties to nineteen nineties. The ability to easily provision and scale up software services based on the Free Software LAMP stack (Linux / Apache / MySQL /PHP or Perl or Python) or more modern fare such as the open source Java software framework Hadoop is going to massively change the way software is developed. Of course at my day job, it already has for many of the engineers.

      Even old fogies like me are going to have to learn some new tricks in this world. Free Software is going to have to adopt as well. I still have lots of Samba code to write first (no, Samba isn’t a finished product yet), but if I ever work on cloud computing code, I’d like to see it under the AGPL, in order to preserve the freedoms I’ve been able to enjoy in conventional software development these many years. Without the AGPL, our freedoms will depend on the kindness of strangers donating their modifications to our code back to us, as they did in the days before the GPL license and the FSF was born.

    • New Bundling Scheme For MySource Matrix v3.20 Open Source CMS

      The new-look bundling of software components significantly reduces the complexity of evaluating and acquiring an enterprise web CMS application by making all key MySource Matrix CMS elements available out of the box (and free of charge) under its primary GPL open source license.

  • Government

    • US$5.2 million to develop open source software

      The prime minister also decided to allocate VND676 billion ($39.7 million) to 11 projects, including the building of a website on software and content industry, a fund to develop software and content industry, a digital information standard system and information exchange standards, an IT complex, and the developing of a software industry and digital content nursery.

  • Programming

    • Ruby on Rails Playing in the Open Source Web CMS Market

      When you look at the open source content management systems out there today, you’ll find a ton written in PHP, some written in Perl and Java, and a small collection written in Python.

    • Diagramming with Dia

      Dia is a commonly available package for a Linux users. It’s an all-around diagramming tool, actually. From UML diagrams to ERDs, to flowcharts and other diagrams I am not familiar with (Sybase, Cisco, electric), it seems to be your one-stop app. I can’t open Visio (VSD) files with Dia though :( But it’s better than nothing, if I were to draw a diagram from scratch, that is.

Leftovers

  • Intel accused of massive tax evasion

    Professor Mikkelsen described the level of Intel’s tax evasion – believed to be Denmark’s biggest ever case of transfer pricing – as “shocking”.

  • Award: Free Software Movement’s clarification

    Activists of the Free Software Movement clarified that the recent reports in a section of the press saying that the withdrawal of Open Document Format (ODF) Alliance award to IT@School executive director Anvar Sadath had some political connotations, were completely misplaced.

  • Phorm eyes launch after hard year

    Online advertising firm Phorm is pressing ahead with plans to launch more than a year after it first drew criticism from some privacy advocates.

  • Open Access/Commons

    • The Free Music Archive Launches

      On Saturday WFMU celebrated the launch of its new website, The Free Music Archive.

    • Free Mathematics Books

      Here is an alphabetical list of online mathematics books, textbooks, monographs, lecture notes, and other mathematics related documents freely available on the web. I tried to select only the works in book formats, “real” books that are mainly in PDF format, so many well-known html-based mathematics web pages and online tutorials are left out. Click here if you prefer a categorized directory of mathematics books. The list is updated almost on a daily basis, so, if you want to bookmark this page, use the button in the upper right corner. Here are the books….

    • Obama Chooses Open Textbook Supporter

      SFGate is reporting that Obama has nominated Martha Kanter to be Undersecretary of Education. Kanter is the Chancellor of Foothill-De Anza Community College District.

  • Copyrights

    • Protesting the Authors Guild

      On Tuesday, April 7, the National Federation of the Blind will protest in front of the Authors Guild headquarters, at 31 East 32nd Street, New York City. The protest criticizes the Authors Guild’s bullying of Amazon to get them to shut of the Text-to-Speech functionality on the Kindle 2. The Authors Guild demands that blind people wanting this added and enabling technology must either submit to a burdensome special registration system and prove their disabilities or pay extra for the text-to-speech version.

    • AP Says It’s Going To Sue Aggregators

      Given some of the Associated Press’s recent actions, this won’t come as a surprise, but the AP has now announced that it will start suing any news aggregator that doesn’t share its profits with the AP:

      “We can no longer stand by and watch others walk off with our work under misguided legal theories.”

      I’m a bit curious what those “misguided theories” are… because copyright law and rules concerning fair use seem pretty clear, and search engines aggregating info and sending people to your site has been ruled fair use before.

    • New law increases demand for anonymous web surfing

      Demand for services offering anonymity, such as virtual private networks (VPN), has skyrocketed as internet users react to the new IPRED law which came into force in Sweden on Wednesday, Svenska Dagbladet reports.

Digital Tipping Point: Clip of the Day

Nat Friedman 15

Ogg Theora

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

]]> http://techrights.org/2009/04/07/nokia-may-enter-gnulinux/feed/ 5 Links 18/02/2009: GParted, CDlinux, Trixbox, RIPLinuX, Parted Magic, Paldo, Arch, and DragonFly Released http://techrights.org/2009/02/18/gparted-cdlinux-trixbox/ http://techrights.org/2009/02/18/gparted-cdlinux-trixbox/#comments Thu, 19 Feb 2009 03:55:40 +0000 http://boycottnovell.com/2009/02/18/gparted-cdlinux-trixbox/

GNOME bluefish

Contents

GNU/Linux

  • How Many Linux Users Are There (Really)?

    As Jim Zemlin, the executive director of The Linux Foundation, points out, “I am not joking or trying to be trite, but the answer to this question is: every single person in the modern world every day. Everyone who searches Google, picks up a phone and uses telecommunication infrastructure, watches a new televisions, use a new camera, makes a call on many modern cell phones, trades a stock on a major exchange, watches a weather forecast generated on a supercomputer, logs into Facebook, navigates via air traffic control systems, buys a netbook computer, checks out at a cash register, withdraws cash at an ATM machine, fires up a quick-boot desktop (even those with Windows), or uses one of many medical devices; the list goes on and on.”

    “It is hard to think of someone in the developed world who doesn’t touch Linux every single day. The better question here is who isn’t a Linux user,” Zemlin concluded.

    He’s got a point there. If you buy something from Craigslist or keep up with friends on Facebook, you’re using Linux. To be exact, you’re using Big-IP 9.4.6, which is an embedded high-speed networking system that incorporates Linux. Do you watch videos on YouTube? Linux again. Google? Yes, they run Linux too.

    [...]

    The question that isn’t often asked though is: “Can you trust Net Applications’ numbers?” According to Roy S. Schestowitz, editor of Boycott Novell, the answer is: “No.” According to a recent Boycott Novell blog, “Microsoft and Apple put money on Net Applications’ table, so rather unsurprisingly, the results satisfy both companies. GNU/Linux, on the other hand, is not able to pay Net Applications for favourable bias.”

    And, in addition, to other points Schestowitz writes, “Net Applications admits its statistics are flawed (skewed)” and “Net Applications keeps its methods secret and the dataset likewise.”

  • “Linux 101 Hacks” Available as Free Download

    Linux 101 Hacks doesn’t contain information that couldn’t be found elsewhere — but it nicely presents common administrative tasks in a way that makes grasping the power (and subtle nuances) of a command easier to process in a practical sense than reading a man page would.

  • Linux virtual desktops sweeping Brazilian schools

    The companies behind a 356,800 seat deployment in Brazil claim world records for the largest desktop virtualisation rollout, the largest desktop Linux rollout, and the lowest cost per seat.

  • V.i. Labs Handles Copyright Infringement Differently

    Thanks to this press release that appeared on Linux Today a few weeks ago, V.i. Labs Announces CodeArmor Intelligence Support for Linux Platforms, I had a “Oh no, the MAFIAA is coming to Linux” moment…

    [...]

    First, for the record, there are no such things as “software piracy” or “intellectual property.” There are copyrights, trademarks, and patents. (Richard Stallman wrote an excellent article on this.) Piracy is an inflammatory propaganda word; the correct term is copyright infringement. (The Free Software Foundation has a handy list of loaded words and phrases.)

  • Backup 3.0 update adds Linux files

    Veeam Software has released Backup 3.0, an update to its backup and replication software for VMware-based virtual machines.

  • Virtualisation

    • Fake server beats real server on Web test

      Server virtualization juggernaut – well, at least on x64 iron – VMware is beside itself with glee that a virtualized Linux server running atop ESX Server hypervisor narrowly beat out real Linux boxes on a popular Web serving benchmark test.

    • Five Perceptual Barriers to Virtualization

      Denying the plethora of possibilities with the Linux platform is myopic, considering that the largest and most influential names in virtualization; VMware, Citrix, Red Hat and Canonical are 100 percent Linux-based.

    • BOSaNOVA Taps Leostream for Virtualization Partnership

      BOSaNOVA kicked off its VDI initiative less than a year ago after rolling out its first round of virtualized thin clients. By preloading Citrix Systems’ XenDesktop virtualization software on its Windows and Linux thin clients, BOSaNOVA hoped to help streamline the provisioning and management of thin client infrastructures, as well as preventing the computer’s performance from eroding over time.

  • Media

    • How To: Turn Your Linux Rig into a Streaming Media Center

      These days, most people have at least one computer and a large collection of media files. The conventional practice for most people has always been to have redundant copies of their media collection on their various computers. While this system technically works, it is highly inefficient and creates the unnecessary task of keeping the media collection on each computer synchronized and up-to-date with the others. A far better solution is to keep all the media on one computer and stream it as needed to the other machines over the network.

    • Elisa: 47.6% more rocking than ever

      I’m still packaging Elisa for Mandriva, because my HTPC is still running Mandriva (don’t really see any need to go through unnecessary work to convert my servers and HTPC to Fedora, Linux is Linux…). Fedora has good Elisa packages already, maintained expertly by Matthias Saou, so my services are not required there. He doesn’t update quite as fast as me, though.

  • Audio

  • Advocacy

    • Operation Wired

      We are in the process of applying for a few large grants that will allow us to operate autonomously and when that happens, you can bet that everything you have given will be given back to Linux/FOSS in spades.

      We’ve set up our “Operation Wired” donation point at our Helios Project site and you can do what you feel is right there. There is no set dollar amount, no “goal”. We simply need to amass some funding so those P4 computers we give to our kids are more than really bulky typewriters.

    • Linux Haters Make a Few Valid Points

      When the Linux Hater’s blog rails about meta community quirks and legitimate software issues, it seems almost like a (perhaps obsessed) fellow traveler, but when detractors criticize open source generally, as if it’s some sort of homogenous group, I take pause. That sort of talk makes me wonder if they’re even offering earnest tirades.

  • Games

    • Shadowgrounds: Survivor Proceeds On Linux

      Nearly a year ago we shared that two new PC action games were being ported to Linux. The games were Shadowgrounds and, its sequel, Shadowgrounds: Survivor. Both games were supposed to ship in the first half of 2008 for Linux, but that never ended up materializing. A Finnish game studio known as Frozenbyte originally developed these games and the Linux port was contracted to a company known as IGIOS. In August we were told that the delay was due to publisher negotiations and that they would hopefully have something in a week or two. That never ended up amounting to anything, but a month ago, we finally learned that Linux Game Publishing was working on Shadowgrounds: Survivor. Well, last night we finally got our hands on a beta copy of Shadowgrounds: Suvivor for Linux.

    • World of Goo on Linux is a hit

      In its first two days of availability, 2D Boy saw the Linux version of World of Goo grow to claim 4.6 per cent of its sales, and the day the release went live saw 2D Boy’s previous best sales day bettered by 40 per cent. As the firm points out, the numbers certainly suggest that “there is a market for Linux games after all :)”.

    • World of Goo Linux Version is Ready!

      The Linux version of World of Goo is finally ready for download! It’s available exclusively from our site, in three different packages depending on what your computer likes. (tar.gz, deb, rpm)

  • Kernel Space

    • S3 Graphics Responds About Linux Support

      Last week S3 Graphics had released the Chrome 540 GTX, which is their newest and fastest PCI Express graphics card. Similar to when announcing the S3 Chrome 540 GT, in the Chrome 540 GTX press release they once again mention Linux support along with OpenGL 3.0 capabilities. However, they talk up Linux support, but fail to provide the support. We have just heard back though from S3 Graphics’ Benson Tao, which is the one that previously told us there would be Chrome 500 Linux support in December along with a beta OpenGL 3.0 driver. What though did he have to say this time? His email is below.

    • Anatomy of ext4

      The fourth extended file system, or ext4, is the next generation of journaling file systems, retaining backward compatibility with the previous file system, ext3. Although ext4 is not currently the standard, it will be the next default file system for most Linux® distributions. Get to know ext4, and discover why it will be your new favorite file system.

  • K Desktop Environment

    • Amarok 2.1 – back to the future. (english version)

      We (padoca team) are long time Amarok users. We have seen amarok grow and become the best audio player along the 1.x series. We’ve seen the writing on the wall when 2.0 was out, the same promise and potential that embodied Kde 4.0 release.

      A rewrite, a new beginning, not perfect at first but full of potential and vision. Sure, some features where sorely missed (like Kde 4.0) but it was needed. In order to be able to make the future envisioned by the amarok dev team, they had to go back… they had to send amarok back in time, and it showed.

  • Distributions

    • Review: Pardus 2008.2

      I HAVE written several articles about Pardus GNU/Linux since it first appeared on the Linux/Open Source scene in 2005, but in one report to coincide with the release of version 2007.3, I wrote the following introduction. “Do you know what I love so much about Linux? It’s the feeling you get when you stumble upon a distribution that’s pure computing gold.”

    • Entropy UGC

      Ever since we launched the new website and implemented UGC (User Generated Content) in entropy it looks like it never came clear what this is all about. Let me try to put some light in the dark here and explain about the purpose about it.

    • New Releases

      • GParted 0.4.3-1
      • CDlinux 0.9.1
      • [Trixbox] 2.6.2.2 released

        I just released 2.6.2.2. This is a rollup release we a bunch of bug fixes and the latest version of all our packages. All trixbox users are recommended to upgrade to this release. Especially 2.6.x.x users.

        This release resolved the problems with the package manager not working and some PSTN cards causing kernel panics when the system is rebooted. There are also a number of small GUI fixes and enhancements. I also added support for some of the new Realtek netwrok chipsets that are not supported by CentOS 5.2

      • RIPLinuX 7.6
      • Parted Magic 3.6
      • paldo 1.17 released

        We are pleased to announce the release of paldo 1.17 with many bug fixes and updates.

        Enhancements to point out:

        * GNOME 2.24.3
        * OpenOffice.org 3.0.1
        * Firefox 3.0.6
        * Linux 2.6.28.5
        * X.org server 1.5.3

      • [Arch] 2009.02 ISO Release Update

        The original archlinux-2009.02-ftp-i686.img USB image was broken, a new image (archlinux-2009.02-2-ftp-i686.img) has been uploaded. We are sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused you.

        With one image broken, we also had to create new torrents: We now use a single torrent per file again and added more mirrors to the webseeds. All seeders should stop seeding the old torrent and get the new ones.

      • Arch Linux 2009.02 Has EXT4 Support

        Here’s another Linux distribution that adopts the EXT4 filesystem, Arch Linux 2009-02, announced last night (February 16th) by Aaron Griffin. Arch Linux is a bleeding-edge independently developed Linux distribution. This is the first release of Arch Linux for 2009 and it brings some of the latest and greatest Linux technologies available today, such as Linux kernel 2.6.28 and support for the evolutionary EXT4 filesystem. The latter was also added in the installer, which means that every Arch Linux user will be able to easily create EXT4 partitions.

      • paldo 2009-01

        A little earlier than originally planned, we now have the pleasure to announce the availability of sidux 2009-01 “Ουρανός”, shipping with kernel 2.6.28.6-rc1 and available in the following flavours:

        * KDE-lite, amd64, en/ de, ≈465 MB.
        * KDE-lite, i686, en/ de, ≈450 MB.
        * KDE-full, amd64+i686, en/ de (da, el, es, fr, hr, it, ja, nl, pt, pt_BR, ro, ru through liveapt) ≈2 GB.
        * XFCE, amd64, en/ de, ≈400 MB.
        * XFCE, i686, en/ de, ≈395 MB.

      • DragonFly Release 2.2 – 17 February 2009

        The DragonFly 2.2 release is here! The HAMMER filesystem is considered production-ready in this release; It was first released in July 2008. The 2.2 release represents major stability improvements across the board, new drivers, much better pkgsrc support and integration, and a brand new release infrastructure with multiple target options.

        Three release options are now available: Our bare-bones CD ISO, a DVD ISO which includes a fully operational X environment, and a bare-bones bootable USB disk-key image (less than 512M).

    • Red Hat

      • The Bank of New Zealand deploys Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5

        Red Hat announces that the Bank of New Zealand, a subsidiary of the National Australia Bank Group, has deployed Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 on IBM System z mainframes to solve environment, space and cost issues related to its data center.

        With Red Hat and IBM, the Bank of New Zealand has significantly reduced its hardware footprint, power consumption, heat and carbon emissions and costs, including an expected 20 percent cost reduction over the life of the platform.

      • Red Hat and IBM Celebrate 10 Years of Global Partnership

        Today we are celebrating a momentous occasion. Ten years ago today, Red Hat and IBM began our global collaborative partnership to expand the use of enterprise solutions on Linux. It was a small but important start to announce that IBM would run Red Hat Linux on its industry-standard systems. Back in 1999, Red Hat was on the eve of its IPO, and IBM was testing the waters of Linux. Only 10 million users ran the Linux operating system at the time, according to IDC Research quoted in our original partnership announcement.

      • Congratulations to IBM and Red Hat on their 10th Anniversary

    • Ubuntu/Debian

      • First Look: Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope

        As long as the issues with the graphics drivers are ironed out, I believe Jaunty Jackalope will become another must-have upgrade and if you are smart and install using EXT4, you will see some very real performance increases for very little effort.

      • Looking at Lenny: hands on with Debian 5.0

        The Debian development community has officially released version 5.0 of the venerable open source Linux distribution. The new version, which is codenamed Lenny, includes updated software, security enhancements, and improved hardware support.

        Debian is known for its broad architecture support, lengthy development cycles, and strong ideological commitment to software freedom. Debian provides the foundation for many popular derivatives, including Ubuntu and Knoppix. The Debian project has attracted an enormous community of free software enthusiasts and has become one of the largest community-driven distributions in existence. Despite its declining relevance on the desktop, it is an essential part of the Linux software ecosystem and continues to serve an important function for its downstream partners.

        [...]

        All things considered, this is a pretty good Debian release. It seems to live up to the distro’s long-standing tradition of delivering solid reliability, and it introduces some nice improvements that will be appreciated by Debian aficionados.

  • Devices/Embedded

    • Phones

      • AT&T bloke confirms Dellphone

        The telco’s Mobility CEO Ralph De La Vega, sitting on a panel at MWC yesterday said, “Dell announced they’re entering the smart phone market.”

      • Open-Plug Selects Software Solution from Enea for its Linux Mobile Platform

        Open-Plug, the French mobile platform developer, selects solution from Enea for its ELIPS platform targeting Linux devices and mass market mobile phones.

      • LiMo-ready Linux stack goes 3D

        Access is demonstrating its Access Linux Platform (ALP) 3.0 at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The new LiMo-compatible “advanced UI” mobile ALP stack leverages Open GL-ES 2.0 to offer 3D special effects, and introduces a standardized API that splits logic from presentation layers, says Access.

      • Android phone to hit Europe in spring

        Vodafone and HTC announced the latter’s second-generation, all-touchscreen Android phone. Scheduled to ship to Vodafone customers in Europe this spring, the Android Magic offers HDSPA 3G connectivity, and a slimer profile than the G1, lacking the earlier HTC Android phone’s slide-out keyboard.

      • Android, take two: HTC Magic to launch sans keyboard

        HTC has announced the second Android-based phone, the HTC Magic. It’s thinner than the G1 and lacks a physical keyboard.

      • Palm pulls back the curtain on webOS technical details

        Palm CTO Mitch Allen is writing a book about the company’s new webOS. The first chapter, which includes a technical overview of the platform, has been published on the Palm Developer Network web site.

      • Slowdown accelerates Linux growth in mobiles

        With deteriorating global economic conditions making their impact felt in the wireless industry, handset OEMs and mobile network operators are looking towards Linux-based operating systems to cut costs and diversify handset portfolios.

        While Linux-based operating systems making their presence felt in the mobile handset market for years, growth has been slow and steady until recently. However, recent announcements from Motorola, Vodafone, HTC, and Huawei, among others, all stating that Linux-based operating systems will figure in their upcoming handset releases, clearly demonstrate that OEMs and operators are ready to embrace Linux on a larger scale.

      • Mobile Linux consolidation is for real

        These are all continued validation that the latest mobile efforts around Linux and open source software are truly contributing to consolidation, something the hardware, software and carrier players now pushing it have wanted for a long time.

      • Open-source firms battle for market

        The big news from the GSMA Mobile World Congress this year: New phones using the Android, LiMo and Symbian open-source operating systems are rolling out in 2009.

        What’s unusual is that it is not the handsets themselves that are creating the buzz so much as what is under the hood and invisible to the user, the basic software. Lines are being drawn in the battle for dominance among the three main systems.

    • Sub-notebooks

      • Sakar’s Kid-Friendly Netbook: Hands On and Video

        The Linux OS also reminded me of the HP Mini 1000 Mi series. It has a tabbed interface that separates Internet (a browser, chat client, and e-mail program), multimedia (painting, photos, and music, among others), and productivity (word processing and the like). The UI is easy enough for a small child to use, but the software stack covers older kids’ needs, too.

      • Netbook Sales Soar in Europe

        Adoption of non-Windows operating systems, Linux mainly, is stronger there than the United States.

      • Netbooks Become Ubiquitous and Linux Becomes Mainstream

        Yes, the vet’s Acer runs Windows. While the vast majority of new netbooks will be sold with either Windows XP or Windows 7, a substantial minority will continue to be preloaded with Linux. Millions of people have been introduced to Linux through netbooks and are satisfied with it. Educated consumers who learn that Linux, which requires fewer system resources, will run faster and comes with a wide variety of software preinstalled will choose Linux.

        Despite the posts by various so-called tech journalists who always cheerlead for Microsoft claiming that Windows has “kicked Linux to the curb” or “crushed” Linux on netbooks, Microsoft’s own estimate places Linux at 30% of current market share. Asustek’s Samson Hu, quoted in the same Bloomberg article, places Linux on 30-40% of all EeePCs currently sold and expects Linux to maintain a 30% market share. Acer spokesman Henry Wang expects 20% of his Aspire One models to ship with Linux this year.

    • MID

      • Barcelona: Canonical Discusses Ubuntu Mobile Internet Devices

        During the GSMA Mobile World Conference in Barcelona this week, Canonical is working behind the scenes — evangelizing Ubuntu-based Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs) to new and existing customers. The big question: Will Canonical line up more Ubuntu MID partners, or will MIDs (highly mobile WiFi devices) remain overshadowed by the netbook craze?

      • UPDATED: Intel still decisive on Moorestown and WiMAX

        In addition, LG’s Moblin 2.0 Linux-based Moorestown MID announcement, which does not currently support WiMAX and is limited to 3G connectivity, has sparked great interest in Moorestown as a viable device.

      • Intel, Nvidia Make Moves in the MID Market

        Intel also has a software challenge. Where a huge array of programs were written for x86 chips in PCs, most of the popular programs in smartphones–which do about the same things MIDs are expected to do–were designed for ARM. The list includes Apple’s iPhone software and Google’s Android, which is based on the Linux operating system. So Intel has led the development of a Linux variant for MIDs, dubbed Moblin; LG is also announcing it will support the software in its MID based on Moorestown.

Free Software/Open Source

  • Open Source: the World Finds Options to High Technology Prices

    On a recently released White Paper, the Puerto Rico based Open Source company, Altamente, provides a well thought out introduction to Open Source for businesses.

  • Get Nerdy: An open source

    The Linux operation system, for example, is preferred by many technology savvy individuals and is growing in popularity because of its benefits. The operation system is available for anyone to change and distribute.

  • Telecoms architecture goes open source

    With the goal of speeding service creation for telecom service providers in a converged IP network, CIMI Corporation has completed the Alpha-One prototype of its ExperiaSphere open source next-generation network (NGN) services architecture and is demonstrating it to telecom service providers and equipment vendors. Extreme Networks,the project’s first open partner, is providing technical support and testing for connecting ExperiaSphere to its EPICenter management interface using industry-standard XML.

  • Around the Web: Samba – The Interoperability Dance

    Samba very quickly became a valuable piece of merchandise to the Linux and Unix companies, who have sponsored its development and employed the Samba Team’s key developers, although notably in the case of Allison, the developers have quickly left their jobs rather than accept any compromise to the integrity of the project. Like the developers of other key free and open source projects, the Samba Team are mostly employed by third parties to do what they would be doing anyway, working on Samba and programming for fun, while getting paid for it. The attraction for the employing companies is that they get an invaluable piece of software for the price of one or two developers and an ear to their requirements, but as Allison points out “free software is not incompatible with commercial activity”.

  • East Asia

    • Open source traits lead to secure applications

      The manner in which open source tools are developed lends a level of security assurance to the applications that are built on this model, said Sun Microsystems executives.

      Roman Tuma, Asia South software practice managing director at Sun, noted that due to the inherent nature of open source, anyone can review the source codes to look for irregularities that could potentially harm users.

    • The statist approach to open source

      He keynoted an open source conference in Singapore on Tuesday and gave special praise to Google’s Android and Nokia’s Symbian, whose open source efforts are opening the market for Singapore.

  • Business

  • Funding

    • Five reasons why the economic slowdown is good news for open source

      I was recently at a conference on virtualization, but one comment by one of the presenters attracted my interest. He noted that one of the big drivers towards open source use in business took place after the dot com bust nine years ago. When the dot com balloon burst, companies needed less expensive ways to run their IT infrastructure and many turned to open source and Linux for the first time. Here are five reasons why the current economic malaise is good for open source. Here’s the caveat, my next blog will be on five reasons why the economic downturn will be good for proprietary software vendors.

    • Talend Secures $12 Million in Funding to Fuel Continued Worldwide Growth
    • Let’s Use Stimulus to Boost Open Source in Schools

      Obama wants stimulus to transform schools. Linux, anyone?

      Without squabbling over the politics of what the new US president wants for our educational system, the fact of the matter is he now has access to enormous spending power to potentially improve what schools’ financial resources.

    • Health IT Industry Applauds Funding in Federal Stimulus Package, Looks to National Network of Paperless Hospitals

      Medsphere Systems Corporation, the leading provider of Open Source healthcare IT solutions, today announced full support for the health IT funding incorporated into the stimulus package legislation that was passed by Congress. The approved measure, which awaits President Obama’s signature, opens the door for a national electronic health records (EHR) network built on standards for interoperability and affordability.

  • FSF

    • Elphel camera: free software and open hardware

      Andrey N. Filippov, developer of the Elphel camera, has published a very interesting paper detailing the history of his efforts and explaining why he chose free software for the project.

  • Sun

    • Simplicity-money combo spells MySQL success

      There are lots of reasons to love MySQL, the leading open-source database that Sun bought in 2008: it’s inexpensive, perfect for Web applications (among other things), and boasts high performance.

    • Sun wades into key management kerfuffle

      Sun has thrown its open source key management ideas into the key management standards giant brandy glass, offering license-free management that it hopes will become an industry standard.

  • Government

    • India’s open source future

      Today, nearly every corner of the world faces the challenge of a stagnant or shrinking economy. Bleak economic forecasts, shrinking budgets and increasing pressure on businesses and governments to meet the needs of their customers and constituents—often with less resources to do so—are becoming commonplace. While I’m not naïve enough to suggest a “one-size-fits-all” cure for these problems or that the solutions will be driven by only one industry or region, I do believe that, because technology and innovation drive global economic progress, the remedy for many of these challenges is in our hands.

      [...]

      Businesses also benefit from the opportunities and efficiency enabled by open source innovations. Brazil, another of the so-called “emerging markets”, provides a strong example. In 2003, its president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, spearheaded a countrywide movement towards open standards. It’s now estimated that at least 70% of Brazilian enterprises use open source software, many of which are experiencing cost savings attributable to open source solutions.

  • Licensing

  • Standards/Consortia

    • ODF 1.2 Committee Draft 01

      It is not the end of the end, nor the end of the beginning, but more like the beginning of the end for the development of ODF 1.2. The Committee Draft 01 of ODF 1.2, Part 1 was approved by the OASIS ODF TC yesterday in a 10-2-2 vote. You can download it here.

    • New drafts for HTML 5

      Two new working drafts of the next specification for HTML have been published by HTML Working Group of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). One draft document deals with HTML 5 itself, while the second draft document looks at the difference between HTML 5 and HTML 4.

  • Mozilla

Crime

  • RIM execs settle with SEC over backdated options

    The Securities and Exchange Commission is charging four executives at Research In Motion – the firm behind the BlackBerry – with offences related to the backdating of share options.

    The SEC alleges RIM’s CFO Dennis Kavelman, former VP of Finance Angelo Loberto, and Co-Chief Executive Officers James Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis illegally backdated share options between 1998 and 2006.

  • Share shenanigans cost RIM $1.4 million

    BLACKBERRY MAKER RIM has been ordered to cough up $1.4 million after the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) had a look through its books and found some dodgy dealings relating to stock issuws.

  • Judges plead guilty to jailing kids for kickbacks

    Two corrupt judges have admitted getting paid for sending young offenders to private jails, often against the advice of probation officers and other court officials.

    Bent judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan, both of Pennsylvania, admitted receiving $2.6m in kickbacks as part of a plea-bargaining agreement that will see each jailed for a minimum of seven years. The deal sparked protests from friends and relatives of youngsters affected by the case, some of who have already launched lawsuits.

  • The Mercenaries Previously Known as Blackwater

    First it was Blackwater USA. Then it was Blackwater Worldwide. Now, it’s “Xe” (pronounced “Zee”). The private military company has repeatedly tried to re-brand, after numerous controversies from the killing of civilians in Nisoor Square in Baghdad; to its no-bid contracts in Iraq, Afghanistan and New Orleans, post-Katrina; to its hiring troops with ties to repressive regimes, like that of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. The company says its latest name change is meant to reflect a new focus.

Leftovers

  • ACTA: An Attack on Common Sense?

    James Love has published some details about the current ACTA negotiations. Copyright ideologues have been (successfully) pushing for extreme legislation for several years. Each time new legislation is passed, it is only a stepping stone towards even more extreme legislation. Any reasonable person picked up from the 70s and dropped in the 00s would be stunned by how completely copyright ideology has infected the legislative process. Indeed, by germinating in international fora, it subverts the process. Copyright ideologues use international treaties to enforce or extend domestic legislation, bypassing local legislatures and then requiring them to enact the provisions. Any time anyone objects about the disparity between the ideology and reality, they are slapped down with “International Obligations”.

  • Richard Stallman on ISP filtering and censorship

    Tarabaz: Hello Richard. What do you personally think about idea of censoring internet?

    RMS: I am against all censorship, because censorship is the tool of tyrants. However, blocking certain network protocols is not exactly censorship — it is a different kind of injustice. Whereas censorship attacks the freedom of expression, the blocking of these protocols attacks the freedom to share and the freedom to communicate.

    Tarabaz: You know – many years ago in my country there was bunch of really powerful persons on high seats in government, who wish to control what could be done, and what can everyone think. Do you think, that steps performed by our ISP companies is something in sort of? Control on citizens by corporations – not by political world?

    RMS: The tendency these days is for governments to bow down to the megacorporations, and let the dictate the laws. People often take for granted that business has more political power than citizens — but if that is true, what does it mean? It means we have corporatocracy instead of democracy.

  • UK ‘bad’ pics ban to stretch?

    This is the fear raised by, amongst others, the Comic Book Alliance, who point out that at the consultation stage for this law, no significant producers of legitimate comic book material were consulted: the government appear to have proceeded on the basis that adult cartoons were at best pornographic, at worst abusive, and to have ignored any input from those involved with the subject.

  • Wanted: £160k-a-year Twittercrat

    Can a magic sprinkling of Web 2.0 buzzwords revive the fortunes of a deeply unpopular government?

    That’s what the Cabinet Office hopes with the appointment of a civil service post with the title of “Director of Digital Engagement”. The lucky bureaucrat will play the part of cybernetic overlord – “to embed digital engagement in the day to day working of Government”. However, he/she won’t have executive powers over existing departments.

  • Copyright Lobbyists Again Demand That The US Classify Canada As Being A Piracy Hotbed

    Every year, the entertainment industry comes out with some ridiculous report about how Canada is a hotbed of piracy, on par with places like China and Russia. Every year the report asks the US Trade Representative to classify Canada as being on the “Priority Watch List.”

  • Canadian TV Industry: Please, Regulators, Make The Internet More Like TV… And Have ISPs Give Us Money

    Last week, we wrote about how the Writers Guild of Canada was pushing government regulators to force ISPs to fund content creation, with a specific focus on promoting Canadian content and trying to tone down or keep out non-Canadian content from online sources.

  • Crowd-sourcing a “fair use” case

    As mentioned, the Fair Use Project at Stanford’s CIS is representing Shepard Fairey in his suit against the AP. To that end, we’d be grateful for some net-based knowledge. How many photos are there “like” the beautiful photograph that Mannie Garcia took (the one on the left; the one on the right is a CC licensed photo taken by Steve Jurvetson)?

  • activism down under

    The anger and activism at a rule in New Zealand requiring Internet service be terminated upon a mere accusation of copyright infringement is growing.

]]> http://techrights.org/2009/02/18/gparted-cdlinux-trixbox/feed/ 1 Links 16/01/2009: Russia’s GNU/Linux Distribution, Sun Chooses BSD Licence http://techrights.org/2009/01/16/sun-chooses-bsd-licence/ http://techrights.org/2009/01/16/sun-chooses-bsd-licence/#comments Sat, 17 Jan 2009 02:58:15 +0000 http://boycottnovell.com/2009/01/16/sun-chooses-bsd-licence/ GNOME bluefish

GNU/Linux

  • Russia to create “National OS” Based on GNU/Linux?

    Although the proposal is still in its early stages, the attractiveness of the proprosal to a government keen to assert its independence at all levels is obvious. It will be interesting to see how this develops.

  • Stop power leaks; smile at savings

    I also found that my backup Linux computer consumes 2 watts of power even when shut down. Most computers are shut down through a software command, rather than a physical switch. This puts the computer in a “soft off” state, with a low level of power still flowing to the motherboard. As a result, I’m paying $2.75 a year in power costs on my Linux box just to keep it plugged in. That won’t break the bank, but consider that there are a few hundred million machines in the United States running up the same tab.

  • In Over My Head: Blinux

    The experience has caused me to explore Linux for the Blind, or “Blinux.” This more than just screen readers and magnification. I took the time to play with the version of Orca bundled with CentOS 5 and it’s quite disappointing when compared to the expensive ZoomText my friend uses. Those who are completely blind have long had better resources, taking advantage of the superiority of Linux on the commandline.

  • Linux Elitism: Fact or Fiction?

    Most open source enthusiasts want more people to embrace Free and Open Source Software solutions, but just like how the style of products is important to Apple aficionados, familiarity with the terminal and an appreciation of the under-the-hood mechanics matter to the FOSS lovers. That said, FOSS has an added element absent from the corporate-backed technologies. Whereas fans of products made by rather large businesses need to appeal in aggregate (or focus groups) to get noticed in the product design process, FOSS is a free-for-all. Anyone is free to bring anything to the table. While a lot of folks may get corporate logo tattoos and/or pontificate about what such-and-such company did right or wrong, few of them will ever have any actual input. On the other hand, if Joe Sixpack wants to make his own Linux- or BSD-based operating system with his own logo and software, he’s free to do that. FOSS is based on empowerment and the appreciation of empowerment, and with empowerment comes responsibility.

  • Warrantless Intrusion: yet another reason for Using GNU/Linux (but it may not be enough)

    All manner of campaigns have been tried to persuade Windows users to make the switch to GNU/Linux and every year is heralded as the year of GNU/Linux on the desktop. Whether these things come to pass or not only time will tell, but the latest electronic assault on the integrity of computers which emanates from the British Government via a European directive might just tilt the balance in favour of free and open software. I suspect however that the hard-core Redmondnites will blunder on as usual making the internet a gold mine for any individual, corporation or government maliciously inclined to steal or plant information your computer. So, what exactly is warrantless intrusion?

    [...]

    I’m not a technical expert but it seems to me that the only theoretical way to defeat the government’s insatiable lust for information, power and control is to create an open source ISP funded by its members like some kind of modern Friendly Society which would be founded on democratic principles and funded by the members. It seems impossible but the Wikipedia project ought not to exist either — but it does. The other long shot is to pray for the sudden emergence of a technological singularity which moves so impossibly fast that governments cannot keep pace with counter measures. Failing that we all become Luddites and forswear computers and the internet entirely. The withdrawal symptoms would be horrendous. So, the technical hand, having written, cannot unwrite a single word. There is no going back. Uninventing technology is the stuff of dystopian fantasies.

  • It’s time to start issuing PC licenses

    If you think I’m about to make fun of Windows users because one in three of them haven’t patched their PCs for a known security hole, which has been used by the Conficker worm to infect more than a million Windows PC in 24-hours, you’d be wrong. I’m also not going to make fun of Ubuntu Linux, because one Dell user couldn’t get Linux to connect to the Internet or run a word processor.

  • Linux Mint 6.0 Felicia – Minty and sweet

    Linux Mint 6.0 Felicia is a fabulous distro. It’s complete, well-polished, fast, simple, rich in features, and offering solid hardware support. It worked well with both my Nvidia and ATI cards and even loved my web camera. There were some small issues with a Wireless drivers and some mundane Windows media formats, but other than that, the performance was spotless.

    Compiz, MP3, Flash, even Skype worked out of the box. Reading and writing to NTFS drives was a breeze. The distro was beautiful and stable. The installation was simple. Superb.

    Felicia is a great choice for everyone, be they Windows users of all persuasions, new Linux users or even veterans. It has something for everyone. Combined with the healthy Ubuntu community that sort of shadows Linux Mint as a sort of an unofficial chaperon, a well written User Guide, and the now standard friendliness of Ubuntu-based distros, you’re in for a great, minty treat.

  • Jono Bacon

    • Special Source 5 Released

      On this special edition of the_source I interview Jono Bacon (Ubuntu Community Manager) about the demise of Lugradio, Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex and his musical pursuits.

    • Jono Bacon announces CC-licensed book project

      Bacon says that the book, which is called Art of Community, will cover a wide range community-related topics, including governance, promotion, and conflict resolution. It will also provide real-world anecdotes to provide greater insight into the subject area. He aims to have the book on shelves this Summer and will also make it broadly available on the Internet. He plans to document the process and provide ongoing updates at a new web site that he created for the project.

      “This book is much more than merely a textbook on building a compelling community. I believe that we learn how to build strong community through the exchange of stories and experiences,” he wrote in a blog entry. “The Art Of Community is a compendium of stories, anecdotes and experiences inside and outside the Open Source world.”

  • Australia

    • LCA 2009: Making Linux more secure

      Russell Coker is not a man who sleeps with his computers. But he does come pretty close – two servers are positioned in a little cabinet in his bedroom, one being his server and the other his Security Enhanced Linux “play machine.”

    • Linux.Conf.Au – Getting Ready

      January is here and it’s that time of year for penguin-lovers everywhere to make their annual migration south to Australia to flock together. Linux.conf.au is one of the world’s most popular technical Linux conferences, and for it’s 10th anniversary is being held at the University of Tasmania in Hobart. The conference runs for a week, with two days of mini-confs followed by the main conference programme and culminating in an Open Day on Saturday.

  • Vs. Windows

    • A Sound of Thunder

      Coming at the time of an economy in recession it looks like Microsoft might actually be scared that customers might not spend money on a Windows upgrade. There’s no way to go back in time and prevent the damage to Microsoft’s credibility done by the Windows Vista release, we’ll just have to wait and see what the future actually holds for Windows 7. In the mean time, try and ignore the marketing thunder and check out a version of Linux. You might just find it gets you off the Windows upgrade treadmill for good!

    • Proprietary Barriers to Education

      But that’s a rant for another day. Today’s topic is about foolish schools that let themselves get locked into restrictive, proprietary technologies that cost a mint, and then they cry about not having enough budget to retain good IT staff, and students and teachers who are wise enough to eschew Microsoft’s junkware face an uphill battle.

      [...]

      Is it really that hard to make smarter IT infrastructure decisions? When did higher education decide that its fundamental mission was something other that widest possible access to learning? Or that understaffing crucial functions was a good thing to do? My tax dollars at work. I feel so proud!

  • Migration

    • Migrating from Windows to Linux v1.79

      There are many articles written about the reasons why users may wish to convert to Linux. Frequently cited reasons include the favorable licensing terms, the freely distributable software (with source code), support from the Linux community, improved security, open file formats, the fact that Linux can run on a wide variety of platforms, etc. However, unless a desktop user is provided with real alternatives to the existing software he or she currently uses, migration to a different operating system is going to be very difficult.

    • New Website Ushers The HeliOS Project Into 2009

      The HeliOS Project begins the 2009 year with a hardware drive. They hope to get enough hardware to carry them through the first half of the year. KUT, the National Public Radio affiliate in Austin is running PSA’s and calendar entries for the event for the next 30 days. It is through people like the one’s at KUT that this effort can meet the challenges of the coming year. The first week of January brought the group 19 requests for computers. Hopefully, this hardware drive will gain them the materials they need to meet the challenges that are sure to come.

  • Desktop Environments

    • GNOME 2.24.3 released

      This is the third update to GNOME 2.24. It contains many fixes for important bugs that directly affect our users, documentation updates and also a large number of updated translations. Many thanks to all the contributors who worked hard on delivering those changes in time. We hope it will help people feel better in their daily use of computers!

  • Applications

    • Holiday Cheer, Holiday Uncheer – Part 2

      Continuing my holiday machine maintenance saga I move on to some notable trials and tribulations with Ubuntu, but not before I report on a little more holiday cheer.

    • Tribler: BitTorrent and Beyond

      P2P (peer-to-peer) is the nature of the Net. You can fight that, or you can embrace it. Here in the US, the mainstream entertainment business has mostly been fighting it. Hollywood and its phone and cable company allies have long regarded P2P, and BitTorrent in particular, as a copyright piracy system and a bandwidth hog. In the European Union, however, P2P is more than accepted: it’s supported by the Union itself.

      [...]

      “Everything we’re doing is based on open source”, says Johan Pouwelse, PhD, scientific director of P2P-Next and Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Delft. The good doctor also runs P2P-Next’s first trial application: Tribler (pronounced “tribe-ler”), a BitTorrent-based client with no servers and a “zero-cost” business model. Tribler provides an all-in-one way to find, consume and share media.

  • Devices/Embedded

    • Lightweight Linux-ready RDBMS rev’d

      Enea announced the availability of a new version of its lightweight, Linux-ready Polyhedra SQL RDBMS (relational database management system). Polyhedra 8.1 adds MIPS support for Linux, as well as improvements to “active query” and “historian” features aimed at process control and industrial automation applications.

    • Review: Phoenix Technologies HyperSpace instant-on desktop

      For some time now we have been talking about Splashtop, the Linux-based instant-on desktop that we’ve seen on Asus notebooks and motherboards, as well as the Lenovo IdeaPad S10e and the VooDoo Envy 133. Splashtop solves the problem of having a bloated OS (like Vista) on a computer with limited power, but it currently has to come from the factory on a notebook, netbook, or motherboard.

    • Android

      • Geo-location SDK ports to Android

        Skyhook Wireless has ported its SDK (software development kit) for “hybrid” geo-positioning to the Google-sponsored, Linux-based Android mobile-device stack. The company claims its “XPS” kit can provide “iPhone-quality” fixes within a second or two — much faster than Android’s firmware running on the TMobile/HTC G1.

      • Movit Android mystery solved: It was running Cupcake

        The Android-based Movit tablet caused a lot of buzz earlier this month when it was displayed at CES. Featuring a nice sized touchscreen (either 4.3″ for the Mini model or 7″ for the Maxx model) with a touch-based keyboard, the question on everyone’s minds was whether this prototype was running the Cupcake development branch of Android or whether the Giinii developers had backported the Cupcake keyboard into a more stable Android release.

      • Debian on Android installer released.

        I have created and installer and bootloader (download below) for getting Debian running on your Android (G1 at the moment) device, the whole install process will take you about 10 mins, and leaves you with access to the full plethora of programs available in Debian and let’s you continue using your phone as it was intended to be: as an Android device with all the capabilities thereof.

    • Palm

      • Palm request for app store advice opens floodgate

        Andrew Shebanow didn’t imagine that asking for feedback about how Palm Inc.’s app store should work would open up a flood of input. He also didn’t expect the move would change his job description. But now both have happened.

        On Jan. 8, Shebanow, who is working on a third-party application distribution system for Palm’s new operating system, posted an item on his blog looking for input from developers on how that system should work. He threw out a few questions, such as: How should application updating and installation work? Should Palm offer payment processing or leave it to third parties? Should application trials be available? How should Palm handle featured applications?

        By Wednesday, he had removed the post, replacing it with one saying that its popularity had caught him and Palm by surprise. “My boss has asked me to hide the post while management decides what they want me to do about it,” he wrote.

      • StyleTap Considering Creating a Palm OS Emulator for webOS

        One of the more controversial features of Palm’s new webOS is something it doesn’t offer: a way to run Palm OS applications. However, StyleTap may change this, if it finds that making a Palm OS emulator for webOS to be doable.

F/OSS

  • Mozilla Tweets Away With Snowl

    Thanks to social networks and tools like Twitter and RSS, online communications today are made up of much more than just simply Web pages. Yet while these technologies have increased the volume of messages on the Internet, they’re not all easily accessed through one of the most-used Internet applications — the Web browser.

  • Sun

    • [advocacy-discuss] Proposal for OSUG in Kabul, Afghanistan

      I’d like to propose an OSUG for Kabul, Afghanistan. It could be called “Kabul OpenSolaris User Group” or “Afghanistan OpenSolaris User Group”. We don’t want to lay claim to the whole country, but I’m pretty sure there’s no-one apart from us who does UNIX here.

      The initial participants of the OSUG are Abdullah Ghaznawi, Said Adil Hashemi and myself, Said Hakim Hamdani. We all work at the same place (http://www.medical-kabul.com/) and since I brought OpenSolaris with me to Afghanistan, I was able to get both of them interested enough that they are going to make their systems dual-boot with OpenSolaris and WinXP

      [...]

      We are located in Kabul, Afghanistan and as far as I know we’re the only Solaris users around. The computing infrastructure in Afghanistan is still pretty much in its infancy and I am doing what I can to get people to try out UNIX (best of Solaris of course) and use it for their daily computing tasks. There’s some Linux around here, but I’m not too fond of that and having seen a single (!) copy of Solaris 10 in the software market the other day, I sat down with Abdullah and Adil and we decided to try and get people more interested in OpenSolaris.

    • Announcing Open Source Web Server

      I’m happy to announce that our Web Server product (about which I’ve been writing here for a few years now) is now open sourced and available as part of the OpenSolaris Web Stack community!

      [...]

      The code is placed under BSD license, this should allow for good cross pollination with other web tier projects.

  • ‘Cloud’

    • 5 Cost-Efficient, Flexible Open Source Resources for Cloud Computing

      Just as open source itself has gathered more interest during the economic downturn because of the cost savings it can offer businesses, cloud computing is getting more attention because it can allow businesses to take advantage of IT infrastructure on a pay-as-you-go model. Increasingly, there is an intersection between these two trends: the open source cloud. Ignacio Martin Llorente has a very good roundup of the tools available at this intersection–open source cloud resources that can let businesses customize their own infrastructures. Here are some of his good citations, and several of our own.

    • Open source developers moving to the cloud

      The data comes from a survey of 360 developers conducted in November 2008 by Evans Data. The biggest winner in terms of what cloud service developers plan to use is Google’s App Engine at 28 percent of respondents. Amazon came in second at 15 percent.

      Not surprisingly developers 52 percent of developer claimed to be using a virutalized Linux environment and over half are using the MySQL database.

      It all seem fairly obvious to me.

Leftovers

  • Intel’s Net Profit Drops 90 Percent

    Intel’s fourth-quarter profit plunged 90 percent from a year earlier, as the chip maker battled a worsening economy and recorded a steep loss from investments.

  • Police in India sweep for unsecured Wi-Fi networks

    The Mumbai, India, police have launched their previously announced plan to secure Wi-Fi networks. A team of police is using a battery of devices to systematically identify and eliminate unsecured Wi-Fi networks in the wake of last year’s attacks, where terrorists used the Internet and other communications networks.

  • UK.gov ‘to create anti-net piracy agency’

    Following its failure to foster voluntary solution between ISPs and rights holders, the government will create a new agency and regulations to clamp down on copyright infringement via peer-to-peer networks, it’s reported today.

    A proposal for a body called the Rights Agency will be at the centre of anti-internet piracy measures, according to the Financial Times, which cited sources who had read a draft of Lord Carter’s report on Digital Britain. The Rights Agency will be introduced alongside a new code of practice for ISPs and rights holders, to be overseen by Ofcom, according to the leaked draft. The final report is due out by the end of this month.

Digital Tipping Point: Clip of the Day

Digital Tipping Point: Dirk-Willem van Gulik, road builder for the Information Super-highway 03 (2004)

Ogg Theora

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

]]> http://techrights.org/2009/01/16/sun-chooses-bsd-licence/feed/ 3 Mono a Second-Class Citizen Even on GNU/Linux http://techrights.org/2008/12/23/second-class-novellsoft-ide/ http://techrights.org/2008/12/23/second-class-novellsoft-ide/#comments Tue, 23 Dec 2008 17:34:18 +0000 http://boycottnovell.com/2008/12/23/second-class-novellsoft-ide/ Is it moving forward or going backwards for Microsoft/Novell gains?

THE LATEST VERSION of OpenSUSE makes it increasingly difficult to get rid of Mono, which is property of Novell and ‘intellectual’ property of its ally, Microsoft. This is problematic for a wide variety of reasons and issues that we covered here before.

Defenders of Mono routinely claim that Mono is a wonderful environment for developers, but what happens when its very ‘source’, Novell SUSE, fails to make it work? This appears to be the case, at least based on one personal experience.

I won’t bore you with screen shots of creating a simple ‘Hello world’ application. I will say that monodevelop is crashy. For example, without having created anything, I attempted to see what the Classes tab on the left side of the IDE would produce if opened. Normally it should be blank; that’s what every other IDE in the known universe shows. Instead MonoDevelop crashed and exited. Hmmm…

That being the case, why should GNU/Linux developers embrace .NET? It makes GNU/Linux seem like a cheap Windows wannabe with an IDE that’s years behind Visual Studio and strives to replicate its functionality. It’s like opting for OpenOffice.org with OOXML (as default format), which is exactly what Microsoft wants. It makes Microsoft a leader and rule maker.

For what it’s worth, here is a new article from Richard Hillesley. It’s about the history of SUSE, which culminates in Novell but doesn’t delve into the uglier details.

Just as surprising as the agreement itself was the enthusiastic participation and defence of the agreement by the developers Novell inherited from Ximian. This enthusiasm was not unconnected to Ximian’s committment to Mono, its own free software implementation of the .Net framework, (which is heavily implicated in future GNOME development), and the fear of many that parts of the Mono implementation may turn out to be patent encumbered, or that support will be compromised in other ways. The participation of Novell’s corporate wonks in such an agreement could feasibly be excused on the grounds of ignorance or indifference. It is perhaps less easy to understand the enthusiasm of the participating free software developers.

Novell claims that the agreement has brought significant advantages to Linux and Novell, which is beginning to show healthy returns on its Linux business. It may also have brought significant damage to SUSE’s long term place in the affections of the community…

This author also wrote the article “Embracing the .Beast,” where he is referring to Mono. █

Money gasp
“Whoa! It’s crashing”

]]> http://techrights.org/2008/12/23/second-class-novellsoft-ide/feed/ 4 IRC: #boycottnovell @ FreeNode: December 22nd, 2008 http://techrights.org/2008/12/23/irc-log-22122008/ http://techrights.org/2008/12/23/irc-log-22122008/#comments Tue, 23 Dec 2008 09:59:10 +0000 http://boycottnovell.com/2008/12/23/irc-log-22122008/ GNOME Gedit

Enter the IRC channel now

schestowitz Novell incompetence (new): http://uk.youtube.com/wa… Dec 22 00:22
neighborlee schestowitz, the sun and # of patents thing really hit a nerve :) Dec 22 00:27
schestowitz “Roy, people said the same thing about IBM a couple decades ago. It’s important for us as a community to give the black sheep of the family a chance to reform. If they fail to change, no harm done, things just continue as they have. If they succeed in changing, they could do a world of good.” < http://ostatic.com/blog/will-open… > Dec 22 00:27
schestowitz neighborlee: /whose/ nerve? Dec 22 00:27
neighborlee Roy: irrelevant. Stop trying to change the subject. Dec 22 00:27
neighborlee http://boycottnovell.com/2008/12/20… <here Dec 22 00:28
neighborlee when will these guys get it..it doesn’t matter if any attacks have been staged, it violates the gpl obviously but of course if they focus on that they immedately lose the debate..we would be in error to let them change that topic, speaking of changing things :) Dec 22 00:30
schestowitz Who is “MonkeeSage”? Is it a Mono persona? Dec 22 00:30
neighborlee I was kinda wondering myself Dec 22 00:30
schestowitz xxx.satx.res.rr.com Dec 22 00:31
schestowitz Never seen that one before. Dec 22 00:31
schestowitz Reminds of those monkey’s in Jo’s Web site. Dec 22 00:32
schestowitz *oops. Monkeys Dec 22 00:32
neighborlee yup there is that Dec 22 00:32
schestowitz I noticed your comment in Alan’s blog earlier (I’m subscribed to that). Anyone who opposes Microsoft’s .NET (oops… Mono) is not a rabid zealot and should be gaged. Dec 22 00:37
schestowitz *gagged Dec 22 00:37
neighborlee heh Dec 22 00:41
schestowitz The Mono ilk is flooding the site today. I spent too much time with like 200 comments. Dec 22 00:41
schestowitz It’s like they sit there all evening, hitting F5 and waiting for the next chance to call me “an idiot” or something. Dec 22 00:42
neighborlee wow Dec 22 00:45
neighborlee thats alot of typing ;) Dec 22 00:45
neighborlee but hey, the war rages on :) Dec 22 00:45
neighborlee I wish konversation worked in windows..its much better I think than xchat,, Dec 22 00:50
schestowitz I’ve only ever used mirc (when I was 14) and Xchat (that would be more recently). Dec 22 00:53
*mib_3wwnu3 (i=7dad5341@gateway/web/ajax/mibbit.com/x-9374ea191717928b) has joined #boycottnovell Dec 22 00:54
mib_3wwnu3 hola Dec 22 00:54
neighborlee hi there Dec 22 00:58
schestowitz http://blog.flameeyes.eu/2008/12/20/w… “Patrick’s method is not going to hit problems like dev-scheme/chicken breaking most of the Mono packages (that would pick up /usr/bin/csc as the C# compiler rather than mcsc), or collisions between unrelated packages.” Dec 22 00:58
schestowitz Hey, mix* Dec 22 00:58
mib_3wwnu3 on the comments how to I “quote” someone? what are the tags? Dec 22 00:59
mib_3wwnu3 comments on the main boycott novell site Dec 22 00:59
schestowitz <blockquote> Dec 22 01:03
schestowitz <blockquote>test</blockquote> Dec 22 01:03
mib_3wwnu3 ha thanks much Dec 22 01:03
mib_3wwnu3 back in to the fray then :) Dec 22 01:03
schestowitz If you botch it, tell me and I’ll edit Dec 22 01:03
schestowitz Thanks. Dec 22 01:03
MinceR gn Dec 22 01:07
schestowitz Heh. http://loupgaroublond.blogspot.com/2008/1… Dec 22 01:08
schestowitz MinceR should read it. Dec 22 01:08
*MinceR will. Dec 22 01:09
mib_3wwnu3 did anyone read the “11 ways to create a successful linux distro” article? Dec 22 01:31
schestowitz I have, why? Dec 22 01:33
schestowitz I will post it tomorrow morning among the links Dec 22 01:33
mib_3wwnu3 ah no biggie, just check out #4 on thier list. the idea of a “mono distro” is funny. Dec 22 01:33
mib_3wwnu3 i mean don’t most distros already include that stuff Dec 22 01:34
mib_3wwnu3 that seems to me to be part of the problem, not a “feature” Dec 22 01:34
mib_3wwnu3 i some distro out there including really old versions of mono and no mono apps or something? Dec 22 01:35
schestowitz http://www.techradar.com/news/software/operatin… Dec 22 01:35
schestowitz The Mono boosters who comment in BN try to push them all to 2.0. Dec 22 01:36
mib_3wwnu3 ah. i see. but are some distros saying they won’t go to 2.0? like they are only comfortable with the old versions? Dec 22 01:36
mib_3wwnu3 i haven’t heard that Dec 22 01:36
mib_3wwnu3 most are all in or all out, right? Dec 22 01:36
mib_3wwnu3 not saying they already have 2.0, but they aren’t saying they will not update Dec 22 01:37
schestowitz I don’t see why. Dec 22 01:38
schestowitz They are still lobbied by the Mono guards and Novell employees. Dec 22 01:38
schestowitz “Here, have a bug.. eat it” Dec 22 01:39
mib_3wwnu3 exactly so. Mono-boosters make even more noise about upgrading thier packages Dec 22 01:39
mib_3wwnu3 it’s an attempt to create an aura of importance or relevance for mono that other packages don’t receive Dec 22 01:39
schestowitz It makes the dependency greater Dec 22 01:39
mib_3wwnu3 correct – like “if your distro doesn’t have MONO 2.0 then it is old and pokey” or something Dec 22 01:40
schestowitz It also introduces more stuff that’s outside the ‘standardizes’ C# Dec 22 01:40
schestowitz *zed Dec 22 01:40
schestowitz The issue is this. Dec 22 01:40
mib_3wwnu3 oh no no no, they said mono was only the language and CLI because that’s what ECMA covers Dec 22 01:40
schestowitz Mono 2.0 is manufactured mostly by Novell/Microsoft Dec 22 01:41
mib_3wwnu3 they can’t be moving the goalposts Dec 22 01:41
schestowitz This ‘factory’ includes ‘Microsoft people’ too, so it can pass (feed) the distros anything. Dec 22 01:41
schestowitz People warned about it in 2006, shortly after the dead had been signed. Dec 22 01:41
schestowitz Microsoft has a sort of committal access. Dec 22 01:41
schestowitz Goalposts already move. They ‘forgot’ about the Winforms issue by now. Dec 22 01:42
mib_3wwnu3 so true and so sad all the same time Dec 22 01:42
mib_3wwnu3 that’s what people don’t like to see – Novell/MS aren’t going to stay within a little box Dec 22 01:43
mib_3wwnu3 they are going to continually and incrementally spread Dec 22 01:43
mib_3wwnu3 that’s what companies do Dec 22 01:43
schestowitz LEt me see if I can find something Dec 22 01:43
mib_3wwnu3 if you don’t continually examine and address thier actions, you are missing the point Dec 22 01:44
schestowitz Back in 2007 I found a nice expression in the AUBuilder/ZDNet network Dec 22 01:44
mib_3wwnu3 you can’t say “oh this is an old debate or old news”, because it is an ongoing process Dec 22 01:44
schestowitz Something about Microsoft sending Novell tot eh GPL parking lot every time it needs a gig done (e.g. OOXML translators to claim OOXML support from FOSS) Dec 22 01:44
schestowitz “[The partnership with Microsoft is] going very well insofar as we originally agreed to co-operate on three distinct projects and now we’re working on nine projects and there’s a good list of 19 other projects that we plan to co-operate on.” — Ron Hovsepian, Novell CEO (2008) Dec 22 01:45
schestowitz “Our partnership with Microsoft continues to expand.” — Ron Hovsepian, Novell CEO (2008) Dec 22 01:45
mib_3wwnu3 But I was told Novell was a “fierce competitor” of Microsoft? Dec 22 01:46
mib_3wwnu3 It says so right in the OpenSUSE FAQ. Dec 22 01:46
schestowitz They’re a young couple romancing. Won’t be long before they get marries and have little monos. Dec 22 01:46
schestowitz Novell is the wife.. it like Big Mike’s wallet…without it, it would fall apart. Dec 22 01:47
schestowitz *LOL* fierce competitor… Dec 22 01:47
schestowitz Watch Novell’s site. They market Windows… Oh! and Migrations from UNIX!! Dec 22 01:47
mib_3wwnu3 I know. I can’t believe someone actually typed “fierce competitor” with a straight face Dec 22 01:48
schestowitz The pages about Windows being bad were torn down months after the deal. Dec 22 01:48
schestowitz mib_3wwnu3: back then (FAQ) they probably meant it. Dec 22 01:48
schestowitz Resistors like Ted Haeger and Jeremy Allison left Dec 22 01:49
mib_3wwnu3 hmm… probably *wished* it – the FAQ is in defense of the Novell/MS deal, and they are trying to argue that despite the deal, Novell is still a “fierce competitor” Dec 22 01:49
mib_3wwnu3 “There is no general strategic alliance. Novell continue to be fierce competitors of Microsoft, which should be evident by the openSUSE and SUSE Linux Enterprise products.” Dec 22 01:50
schestowitz Oh, I thought you mean the OpenSUSE FAQ. Dec 22 01:50
mib_3wwnu3 no no i do…that is the opensuse faq right there Dec 22 01:50
mib_3wwnu3 check out the first point Dec 22 01:50
mib_3wwnu3 http://en.opensuse.org/FAQ:Novell-MS Dec 22 01:51
schestowitz They love pointing at these. “I don’t have a good answers, but *these* guys have something to say^H^H^Hspin” Dec 22 01:51
mib_3wwnu3 they are talking out both sides of the mouth in that OpenSUSE FAQ Dec 22 01:51
schestowitz I haven’t seen it in years Dec 22 01:51
schestowitz It’s out of date Dec 22 01:51
mib_3wwnu3 ah, someone i know just blogged on it Dec 22 01:52
mib_3wwnu3 so it’s fresh in my mind Dec 22 01:52
mib_3wwnu3 :) Dec 22 01:52
schestowitz The OpenSUSE FAQ? Dec 22 01:52
mib_3wwnu3 yeah Dec 22 01:52
schestowitz The Me and Ubuntu guy? Dec 22 01:52
mib_3wwnu3 yeah Dec 22 01:52
schestowitz How do you know him/her? Dec 22 01:52
mib_3wwnu3 he is me :) Dec 22 01:53
schestowitz Ah.. Dec 22 01:53
schestowitz It came just before the 11.1 release. Dec 22 01:53
mib_3wwnu3 yeah, maybe it caught a little attention due to the timing – that’s what lead me to read the thing in the first place Dec 22 01:54
schestowitz Did they link to it? Dec 22 01:55
schestowitz They have ‘sleeve ref’ (off the sleeve) Dec 22 01:56
mib_3wwnu3 i don’t know what that is Dec 22 01:56
schestowitz Just something they pull out of their ars^Hleeve whenever they don’t have an answer. Dec 22 01:57
schestowitz Like Mono FAQ Dec 22 01:57
mib_3wwnu3 ah right that is my main problem with the FAQs Dec 22 01:58
mib_3wwnu3 so many people point to them like they are some authoratitive answer Dec 22 01:58
mib_3wwnu3 and they are no such thing, just something some dude wrote, and usually poorly referenced and argued Dec 22 01:59
mib_3wwnu3 pet peeve of mine Dec 22 01:59
schestowitz it’s a pattern. Like a song they latch onto. The good ‘boosters’ actually sing original ‘renditions’ Dec 22 01:59
mib_3wwnu3 it makes thinking easy Dec 22 01:59
mib_3wwnu3 or not-thinking Dec 22 01:59
schestowitz FAQ = “what *he* said” Dec 22 01:59
schestowitz ’twas the same story with GPLv3. Some kernel hackers (most of them?) never read the thing but they said “no” cause Linus did. So you have some independent thinkers ushered by a flock who take it all at face value. Dec 22 02:00
mib_3wwnu3 groupthink is always dangerous Dec 22 02:01
schestowitz It’s military mentality. ,They take orders. It’s dangerous. Dec 22 02:01
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mib_3wwnu3 it strikes me as ironic in that I try really hard to read the references and analyze them, but I am the one accused of “zealotry” Dec 22 02:02
mib_3wwnu3 *maybe* I am wrong, but it’s not because I’m saying something I haven’t thought about Dec 22 02:03
mib_3wwnu3 I’m not just repeating the “party line” Dec 22 02:03
mib_3wwnu3 that’s another pet peeve ther Dec 22 02:03
mib_3wwnu3 there Dec 22 02:03
schestowitz “zealot”? Dec 22 02:04
schestowitz That’s what Microsoft hypocritically labels opposition. Dec 22 02:04
mib_3wwnu3 exactly, it’s an attack on the person, rather than the argument Dec 22 02:04
schestowitz Government use words like dissident or terrorist. In China, they send people (forcibly) to mental clinics for it. Dec 22 02:05
schestowitz gn Dec 22 02:15
mib_3wwnu3 nn Dec 22 02:17
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tessier http://minimsft.blogspot.com/2008/12/rumors-of-up… Dec 22 07:29
tessier You guys seen this already? Dec 22 07:29
schestowitz Hey, tessier wb Dec 22 08:28
schestowitz Microsoft layoffs began a while ago. Dec 22 08:29
kentma Human misery… Recession will bring much more of this. Dec 22 08:41
schestowitz Next year it’ll peak, based on what I read. Dec 22 08:41
kentma My economist friend is of the same opinion Dec 22 08:42
schestowitz How warm is it in Canada? Are you out on the beach having a Piña colada? ;-) Dec 22 08:42
kentma Hehe -snowmen and igloos atm. Dec 22 08:43
kentma I like going to north  america, it makes me realise hoow good uk’s ttemperate weather is :-) Dec 22 08:44
kentma A pplane slipped off a runway in denver yesterday… Dec 22 08:44
kentma Sorry about spellings, on n800 Dec 22 08:46
kentma Oh – bought acer aspire 1 yesterday – everone loves it Dec 22 08:46
kentma Everyone Dec 22 08:46
schestowitz Was the crew and passengers safe? Dec 22 08:47
schestowitz *Were Dec 22 08:47
kentma Several injuries, but thankfully none dead Dec 22 08:47
kentma Ice on runway Dec 22 08:47
kentma The fantasy of losing worst 10% merely results in an enron Dec 22 08:53
schestowitz Do you know abiut MS? Dec 22 08:55
kentma What about ms? Dec 22 08:58
schestowitz http://www.billparish.com/msftfrau… “Many believe that the stock market crash of 1929 caused the Great Depression yet history clearly shows that it was instead simply bad government policy that was manipulated by leaders such as Insull. Today many now fear a similar stock market crash but in reality the economy is very strong and, if we can reform this pyramid at Microsoft, the overall market should not need to correct mo Dec 22 08:59
schestowitz re than 20 percent.” Dec 22 08:59
schestowitz “Microsoft’s perspective is best reflected by Bob Herbold, Chief Operating Officer, to whom the CFO reports. Bob very sincerely replied, “Bill, everyone is doing it.” My response was that Microsoft is a leader and that others are now seeking to emulate these fraudulent practices they have legitimized. “ Dec 22 08:59
schestowitz Who will be the next Maduffocker? Dec 22 08:59
kentma Good question… The corruption in the us economy has been clear for years. Dec 22 09:00
schestowitz It was a norm Dec 22 09:02
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trmanco MAFIA            A Dec 22 10:19
schestowitz Grade-A mafia Dec 22 10:24
trmanco indeed Dec 22 10:25
trmanco http://brandybuck.site40…. Dec 22 10:33
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schestowitz Famous photo Dec 22 10:42
trmanco and a funny one too Dec 22 10:51
schestowitz It’s a Microsoft leak Dec 22 10:51
trmanco LOL Dec 22 10:51
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trmanco http://www.markshuttleworth.com/wp-content/uplo… Dec 22 11:20
trmanco http://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/253 Dec 22 11:21
schestowitz Flash? Dec 22 11:21
schestowitz Eek. Dec 22 11:21
schestowitz They should copyleft it rather than take pride in copyrights Dec 22 11:22
trmanco Live Search Continues to Lose Ground to Google: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Live-Searc… Dec 22 11:26
schestowitz Yes, thanks. Dec 22 11:31
schestowitz I’ll just do many MS links. I’m tired Dec 22 11:31
trmanco Vulnerabilities in several virus scanners: http://www.heise-online.co.uk/news/… Dec 22 11:33
trmanco here is another one Dec 22 11:33
trmanco “I’m Linux” Video Contest Will Probably Be a Forking Mess: http://gizmodo.com/5115140/im-linux-video-c… Dec 22 11:40
trmanco forking mess, c’mon :| Dec 22 11:40
schestowitz Hehe. Dec 22 12:03
trmanco I have an idea Dec 22 12:26
trmanco see this >> http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=6404294&… Dec 22 12:28
trmanco I’ll post this kind of stuff on COLA like Homer is doing :-P Dec 22 12:29
schestowitz As in…? Microsoft idea’s are “people grouping in a comfy office coordinating the crashing of PS3 launch parties” :-) Dec 22 12:29
schestowitz *ideas. Dec 22 12:29
*schestowitz looks Dec 22 12:29
trmanco what do you think? Dec 22 12:29
MinceR hay Dec 22 12:30
schestowitz trmanco: go with it. Dec 22 12:30
trmanco :D Dec 22 12:30
trmanco this one was just sent Dec 22 12:35
*trmanco find some more Dec 22 12:35
*trmanco finds some more Dec 22 12:35
trmanco schestowitz, you are doing good work >> http://forums.fedoraforum.org/show… Dec 22 12:52
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schestowitz I never saw that before, so thanks. Dec 22 12:56
trmanco I’m looking for some Fedora testimonials Dec 22 12:57
trmanco I found this so far Dec 22 12:57
trmanco http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showp… Dec 22 12:57
trmanco :( php 2 doesn’t have the single post thingy Dec 22 13:09
trmanco phpbb* Dec 22 13:09
trmanco LOOL Dec 22 13:13
trmanco schestowitz, look -> http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy… Dec 22 13:13
trmanco :-p Dec 22 13:13
schestowitz I never saw that. Dec 22 13:19
schestowitz I concentrate so much on advocating that i don’t often see the response (other than in USENET, bar the killfile) Dec 22 13:19
trmanco you are everywhere :-P Dec 22 13:21
trmanco what the heck? -> http://groups.google.com/group/comp.os.li… Dec 22 13:22
schestowitz I’ve just got another request to start censoring BN Dec 22 13:30
schestowitz Yesterday was too much for some readers (over 200 comments, mostly from anti-BN crowd) Dec 22 13:30
trmanco censoring? Dec 22 13:30
trmanco requested from who? Dec 22 13:30
schestowitz Moderating Dec 22 13:31
schestowitz trmanco: one regular reader. I might write about it later Dec 22 13:31
trmanco ok Dec 22 13:31
schestowitz He’s not the first Dec 22 13:31
schestowitz Some people think that heckling ruins the site Dec 22 13:31
schestowitz You can’t even discuss things with Asay or O’Reilly without a bunch of monsters like G Michaels throwing dirty diapers everywhere. Dec 22 13:32
trmanco lol Dec 22 13:32
trmanco I laughed -> “dirty diapers” Dec 22 13:32
schestowitz Some think the hecklers coordinate this, but I think it’s only true to a limited extent (some  few ones know others from other activities). Dec 22 13:33
trmanco http://bash.org/?152037 Dec 22 13:59
trmanco http://lwn.net/Articles/292995/ Dec 22 14:02
schestowitz Interesting comment from Sam: http://tuxdeluxe.org/node/288 “1. Though Novell bought Ximian in August 2003 and SuSE three months, it is unlikely that it would not have decided on the SuSE purchase before buying Ximian. Which company would buy an outfit selling a commercial Linux desktop without having a Linux distribution among its products in order to sell that desktop?” Dec 22 14:30
schestowitz The Gralla MShill is attacking Linux again. Dec 22 14:32
schestowitz Must be a pre-xmas attack before those January layoffs at Microsoft people talk about. Dec 22 14:33
schestowitz Tech Centers Go Green Despite Cuts < http://www.pcworld.com/article/155857/… >; meanwhile they do lots more damage elsewhere. Dec 22 14:37
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schestowitz http://www.stallman.org/archives/2008-sep-de… ” Bush and his men must be held accountable for their crimes in Haiti. One point in the article requires correction: it assumes that Dubya was elected president. There is plenty of evidence that he stole both elections.” Dec 22 14:39
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schestowitz I’m trying to find more MS intersections here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Jac… (bg in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Abramoff ) Dec 22 14:56
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schestowitz Egypt offline for weekend after Med seabed cables cut < http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/12… > Dec 22 15:24
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schestowitz *LOL* http://www.allhatnocattle.net/1-24-06_ab… Dec 22 16:35
schestowitz http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preston_Gates_&_Ell… Dec 22 16:35
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schestowitz zoobab: http://ffmpeg.mplayerhq.hu/ “(December 20, 2008) RealVideo 3.0 decoder added. Still working the bugs out, please test and report any problems.” Dec 22 18:14
schestowitz How Microsoft is associated with the Seattle-based lobby/law firm Preston Gates & Ellis (Bill Gates’ father), which employed the infamously-criminal Jack Abramoff: http://boycottnovell.com/2008/12/22/microsoft-g… Dec 22 18:16
_doug what did billg ever do to you :) Dec 22 18:18
schestowitz Nothing. It’s not about him. Dec 22 18:18
schestowitz It’s about a political muscle that involves some wealthy ‘elites’ Dec 22 18:19
_doug “CompTIA further contends that the serious and irreparable damage” Dec 22 18:20
_doug http://www.stern.nyu.edu/networks/Microsoft_… Dec 22 18:20
_doug how much damage did these micro-type practices do to the industry ? Dec 22 18:20
schestowitz 2004? Dec 22 18:20
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_doug Not to mention BSA .. Dec 22 18:21
schestowitz “Association Inc. (‘CompTIA’) requested leave to intervene in support of the form of order sought by Microsoft in the interim relief proceedings.” Dec 22 18:21
schestowitz All the shills.. Dec 22 18:22
schestowitz ACT too.. Dec 22 18:22
schestowitz 158 Third, and last, Microsoft states that since the adoption of the Decision Sun Microsystems has reached Dec 22 18:22
schestowitz an agreement with Microsoft which addresses all the concerns underlying its complaint to the Dec 22 18:22
schestowitz Commission. There is therefore no immediate need to implement the Decision while the main action is Dec 22 18:22
schestowitz pending. Dec 22 18:22
schestowitz 159 ACT claims that unless the remedy is suspended it will produce serious and irreparable effects owing to Dec 22 18:22
schestowitz the damage to the strength and value of its members’ intellectual property rights in the EEA. Dec 22 18:22
schestowitz 160 More specifically, ACT maintains, first, that the immediate applicability of the remedy would constitute a Dec 22 18:22
schestowitz groundbreaking precedent in the compulsory licensing of intellectual property rights which would Dec 22 18:22
schestowitz quickly and substantially reduce the value of the intellectual property rights owned by its members. In Dec 22 18:22
schestowitz that regard, ACT claims that the Commission has interpreted and applied Article 82 EC in a way that is Dec 22 18:22
schestowitz inconsistent with the Community’s obligations under Articles 13, 31 and 39 of the TRIPS Agreement. Dec 22 18:22
schestowitz 161 ACT maintains, second, that disclosure of the communications protocols which have thus far been the Dec 22 18:22
schestowitz exclusive property of Microsoft would result in the instability of Windows Client PC and server operating Dec 22 18:22
schestowitz systems, which would immediately cause significant harm for its members. Dec 22 18:22
schestowitz 162 CompTIA submits that, in so far as it requires Microsoft to supply its intellectual property to any Dec 22 18:22
schestowitz undertaking present on the servers market, the remedy provided for in Article 5 of the Decision will Dec 22 18:22
schestowitz reduce the level of protection for the entire information technology and communications industry, give Dec 22 18:22
schestowitz rise to legal uncertainty and have the immediate effect of reducing investment in the technology sector Dec 22 18:22
schestowitz and therefore the general level of economic activity. Dec 22 18:22
schestowitz 163 CompTIA further contends that the serious and irreparable damage which that remedy will cause to the Dec 22 18:22
schestowitz entire sector, and also to the members of CompTIA, exceeds any possible adverse effect which the lack Dec 22 18:22
schestowitz of immediate disclosure could have on the public interest or the in Dec 22 18:22
_doug http://blog.wired.com/business/2008/10… Dec 22 18:23
schestowitz “336 CompTIA and Exor support Microsoft’s position as regards a prima facie case. They contend that Microsoft has demonstrated that Articles 4 and 6(a) of the Decision are prima facie unlawful.” Dec 22 18:24
schestowitz pp 47: “Furthermore, Microsoft, supported more broadly on that point by CompTIA, ACT..” Dec 22 18:25
_doug http://techdailydose.nationaljournal.com/… Dec 22 18:25
_doug a balanced playing field where the ref plays for the red team .. Dec 22 18:26
_doug http://www.opensecrets.org/revolving… Dec 22 18:27
schestowitz “Microsoft and Abramoff vs. Novell Inc.” < http://www.enterinside.com/b… > Dec 22 18:28
schestowitz What’s here? -> http://www.opensecrets.org/revolving/… Dec 22 18:28
schestowitz Oh, I see.. Dec 22 18:29
schestowitz Wow. This happened less than a week ago Dec 22 18:29
_doug http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/client… Dec 22 18:29
schestowitz Microsoft and Abramoff vs. Novell Inc. “This page has been deleted. The deletion log for the page is provided below for reference.” < http://www.enterinside.com/bro… > Dec 22 18:31
schestowitz Maybe they should lobby for Lobby Visas… you know, to hire ‘more qualified’  lobbyists from other countries… it’s cheaper Dec 22 18:33
_doug we must have more H1-B1 lobbiest visas Dec 22 18:35
schestowitz H1-B1>> Dec 22 18:36
schestowitz I came across the same BS: “This is perhaps the most annoying thing about Open Office.org. Why do I need Java Runtime for OpenOffice to export a document into HTML format. Duh!” < http://playingwithsid.blogspot.com/2008/12/open-… > Dec 22 18:41
_doug Free sued over open source software Dec 22 18:43
_doug http://www.telecompaper.com/news/article…. Dec 22 18:43
schestowitz We got some traffic from this page today (like 1%): http://www.cio.com/article/print/472116 Dec 22 18:46
schestowitz _doug: needs subs. Should it say “cisco”? Dec 22 18:47
_doug ? Dec 22 18:47
schestowitz Actually, that’s not possible given the date. What’s this article about? Dec 22 18:47
schestowitz Business collapsed and folding so soon? http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/12/… (Sky ‘withdraws’ from Tiscali buyout talks) Dec 22 18:48
_doug subscription only, why not contact them and ask .. Dec 22 18:48
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_doug “French ISP Free has been sued in a Paris court by open software developers Harald Welte, Rob Landley and Erik Andersen for failing to respect the general ..” Dec 22 18:50
schestowitz Freedom Squad :-p Dec 22 18:51
schestowitz Suing for Freedom(R) Dec 22 18:52
trmanco Trolls gone mad ! Dec 22 18:52
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trmanco this would make a nice movie title Dec 22 18:53
schestowitz Did you see the new GL post? SCO acquires PJ from IBM. ;-) Dec 22 18:53
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_doug On, it turned out that PJ was a time traveling space alien android from the future, with amnesia .. Dec 22 18:54
schestowitz This could take a while… :-) ->> http://www.pcworld.com/article/155872/undersea_ro… Dec 22 18:54
_doug That French ISP, story isn’t verified on their blogs .. Dec 22 18:55
schestowitz It’s from Novermber. Dec 22 18:55
_doug how about burying them .. Dec 22 18:55
schestowitz I didn’t see it anywhere but this subs-only thing. Dec 22 18:55
schestowitz Burying who? Dec 22 18:55
_doug and not using drag nets … Dec 22 18:55
schestowitz The haatchets? Dec 22 18:55
_doug burying the cables under the seabed .. Dec 22 18:56
schestowitz The cable.. Dec 22 18:56
schestowitz I see… I don’t know why. There must be reasons. Dec 22 18:56
schestowitz In times of war these can be cut Dec 22 18:56
schestowitz But there has been no major war since modern telecom (bar telegraph and all) Dec 22 18:56
schestowitz Another thing that will be used immediately is an army of crackers that DDOS DNS and any machine at service. China is well prepared for it; the US… not so much, but they have lots of back doors in China. Dec 22 18:57
_doug it’s cheaper to just lay them on the surface .. Dec 22 18:58
_doug http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/Xplore/log… Dec 22 18:58
schestowitz nations are being very stupid. It’s like China leases all its telephone lines to the NSA/CIA/FBI/whatever. Dec 22 18:58
_doug well, it’s only fair when both sides read each others mail :] Dec 22 18:59
schestowitz “Cable burial by plowing, using large sled-type cable plows towed by large powerful cable ships is the standard and most widely used commercial method of protecting submarine telephone cables from fishing activity, large ship anchors and other ocean hazards. “ Dec 22 18:59
schestowitz Would they keep routes of the cable secret? Like the “Enigma”? ;-) Dec 22 19:00
_doug must cost a lot, especially to repair .. Dec 22 19:00
schestowitz Or will Turning scuba-dive with a pair of scissors? Dec 22 19:00
schestowitz *Turing Dec 22 19:00
_doug can’t keep them a secret .. Dec 22 19:00
_doug What would be usefull is a large wheeled sub, that dug the trench and laid the cable at the same time .. Dec 22 19:01
_doug electronic couch potato patented .. Dec 22 19:02
_doug http://www.telecommagazine.com/newsglobe… Dec 22 19:02
schestowitz Winning bid: http://coppola.rsmart.com/files… Dec 22 19:04
_doug Patent and open source software are fundamentally incompatible .. Dec 22 19:05
_doug http://www.iusmentis.com/computerprogr… Dec 22 19:05
schestowitz Patents are hence anti-FOSS law/mechanism (swpats) Dec 22 19:06
_doug Open source isn’t free software .. Dec 22 19:07
schestowitz Can JackA legalise them in the EU when he’s out of jail? Dec 22 19:07
_doug http://www.cio.com.au/article/27… Dec 22 19:07
_doug Bill Hilf: Door open to open-source pacts .. Dec 22 19:08
_doug http://www.cio.com.au/inde… Dec 22 19:08
_doug 2006 .. sorry … Dec 22 19:08
schestowitz This is funny Dec 22 19:08
schestowitz IDG/Google had a hiccup, so it burped out a story from 2007. Dec 22 19:09
schestowitz Nick Farrell thought it was new and wrote about this old news as though it is news: http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer… Dec 22 19:09
_doug http://www.contractoruk.com/news/004117.html Dec 22 19:10
schestowitz Bill Hilf quite his role… probably drinking the shame and guilt away… it’s not easy being a thug. Dec 22 19:10
_doug is ‘KAren’ for real ,, why not contact the school and get a confirmation … Dec 22 19:10
schestowitz Probably. Dec 22 19:10
schestowitz ‘ Dec 22 19:11
schestowitz Whatever it was Karen smoked in college, it seems to have given her a rose-tinted view of the world of commercial software, writing: “I am sure if you contacted Microsoft, they would be more than happy to supply you with copies of an older verison[sic] of Windows and that way, your computers would actually be of service to those receiving them.”‘ Dec 22 19:11
schestowitz “…smoked in college..  rose-tinted” Nice people. Dec 22 19:12
schestowitz M-m-m-m-m-m-merry Xmas…  clear your desk by the end of the day.  WD lops off 2,500 jobs and one fab < http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/101/… > WHY do they wait until now? Dec 22 19:13
schestowitz Next month they say will be a bloodbath (deferred announcements)… Microsoft too likely to announce some ‘cost-cutting’…… Dec 22 19:13
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_doug MS fast false-facts article .. Dec 22 19:16
_doug “With the Linux-based platform we would have a system crash at least once a week. Migrating to a Microsoft-based system has virtually eliminated server crashes and we have vendor support.” Dec 22 19:16
_doug - Ed Castillo, Information Technology Team Lead, Capital Engineering Dec 22 19:16
_doug http://www.microsoft.com/canada/get… Dec 22 19:17
_doug I don’t know what Ed makes, but I do know I don’t want any .. :] Dec 22 19:17
schestowitz Maybe he used corssover before. :-) Dec 22 19:18
schestowitz “With the Linux-based platform we would have a system crash at least once a week” use the keyboard, not the sledgehammer, Ed. Dec 22 19:18
_doug yea, like our friend trying to run AD under wine .. :) Dec 22 19:18
schestowitz Which ‘friend’? Dec 22 19:19
schestowitz Wheres me start thinigi? Dec 22 19:19
_doug couldn’t get Actocad to run on Linux ? Dec 22 19:20
_doug http://www.capitaleng.ca/ Dec 22 19:20
_doug “Performance Grade Asphalt Tank Storage Facility” Dec 22 19:20
_doug :] Dec 22 19:20
_doug “Nonfemet ZPL Zinc Smelter” Dec 22 19:21
_doug Autocad .. Dec 22 19:21
schestowitz Pola-bye: http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/new… Dec 22 19:21
_doug http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/graph?s… Dec 22 19:22
trmanco http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=… -> good to know from who I get my Wine from Dec 22 19:22
schestowitz Wine-cracking. Dec 22 19:23
_doug “running qualified Linux operating systems” Dec 22 19:24
_doug http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?… Dec 22 19:24
_doug Qualified Linux guests: RedHat, SuSE … Dec 22 19:25
_doug Competitive Selling: Win vs. Linux Dec 22 19:26
_doug https://partner.microsoft.com/40029171 Dec 22 19:26
trmanco MS addons for Linux Dec 22 19:26
trmanco give me a break :| Dec 22 19:26
schestowitz sudo apt-get install breal Dec 22 19:27
trmanco sudo apt-get install beer beer-lib cup Dec 22 19:28
schestowitz chown trmanco break  beer beer-lib cup; sleep(0); Dec 22 19:28
trmanco lol Dec 22 19:29
trmanco man chown Dec 22 19:29
_doug Neuros ships $300.00 set-top box .. Dec 22 19:30
_doug http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS828… Dec 22 19:30
schestowitz “AMD SHAREHOLDERS learned late Friday that Lehman Brothers’ September bankruptcy has forced the chipmaker to abandon a complicated long-term stock value protection deal.” <  http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/n… Dec 22 19:30
schestowitz man that is quite funny Dec 22 19:30
schestowitz No manual entry for that Dec 22 19:30
schestowitz No manual entry for is Dec 22 19:30
schestowitz No manual entry for quite Dec 22 19:30
schestowitz No manual entry for funny Dec 22 19:30
trmanco :o Dec 22 19:30
schestowitz _doug: it does YouTube too! :-D Dec 22 19:30
trmanco No manual entry for woman Dec 22 19:31
schestowitz \0/buh-bye, ol’ media Dec 22 19:31
trmanco oops Dec 22 19:31
schestowitz So……. who do you reckon will be defrauded next? Dec 22 19:32
schestowitz Ponzi down, Abramoff down, Madoff…………. Gates?? Dec 22 19:32
schestowitz Carlos Slim? Dec 22 19:32
schestowitz MSFT at $18:xx today. Dec 22 19:38
schestowitz Novell below $3.4 Dec 22 19:38
schestowitz Almost… Dec 22 19:38
trmanco 3.4 :O Dec 22 19:45
*trmanco checks microsoft’s shares Dec 22 19:45
trmanco $19 Dec 22 19:45
trmanco :O Dec 22 19:46
trmanco boycottnovell in on google finance Dec 22 19:46
trmanco when you choose MSFT Dec 22 19:46
trmanco ahead of all the win blogs :-P Dec 22 19:47
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schestowitz There’s usually something about Novell too… scroll down to bottom: http://www.google.com/search?num=50… Dec 22 19:51
trmanco yeah Dec 22 19:54
trmanco http://www.xitimonitor.com/en-us/brows… Dec 22 19:59
schestowitz http://www.anonymousliberal.com/2008/12/tax… Dec 22 20:01
schestowitz So he stole from the poor and gave to the rich? I’m not sure.. Dec 22 20:01
schestowitz trmanco: it’s better for Chrome to be ignored until it’s /really/ FOSS. Dec 22 20:02
trmanco ok, then we better sit and wait Dec 22 20:02
trmanco Search Biz: MSFT Layoff Rumors, Google Chrome Complicates Mozilla Relationship & More: http://searchengineland.com/s… Dec 22 20:03
schestowitz Hmmmmmmm… http://searchengineland.com/searc… Dec 22 20:14
schestowitz Firrefox handles it OK and Thunderbird suddenly hates it, saying it’s not a valid feed…. Oh, never mind. Dec 22 20:15
trmanco :| Dec 22 20:15
schestowitz Sometimes it takes time to realise some feed moves or broke Dec 22 20:15
trmanco http://graphjam.files.wordpress.com/… Dec 22 20:16
trmanco that is a funny image Dec 22 20:16
schestowitz http://techdirt.com/articles/20081218… “The various banks on Wall Street have a bunch of problems that they’re dealing with right now, including getting rid of toxic assets on their balance sheet, properly compensating staff who are expecting big bonuses even in such a down year and figuring out ways to motivate staff to invest in good assets, even in such tough times.” Dec 22 20:32
trmanco the Mono team has some more work to do -> http://news.softpedia.com/news/Prolong-the-Life-of-… Dec 22 20:38
schestowitz They can apply for a job at Microsoft. Dec 22 20:38
schestowitz http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/12/rumor… Dec 22 20:44
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trmanco Nix fixes dependency hell on all Linux distributions: http://www.linux.com/feature/155922 Dec 22 20:48
trmanco on my 3 years of Linux I have never encountered a dependency hell Dec 22 20:49
schestowitz I had that happen in SUSE 8.1 Dec 22 20:51
trmanco how old is that? Dec 22 20:51
trmanco oops http://tuxvermelho.blogspot.com/2008/1… Dec 22 20:53
schestowitz Like 5 years or more Dec 22 20:53
schestowitz late 2003, I thinl. Dec 22 20:53
trmanco long time Dec 22 20:55
schestowitz 2 drivers next to it? http://tuxvermelho.blogspot.com/2008/12… Dec 22 20:58
schestowitz In DistroWtach, over the past 7 days, Mint Linux got more pageviews than Ubuntu. Dec 22 21:00
trmanco :O Dec 22 21:01
trmanco Mint is good Dec 22 21:02
trmanco its Ubuntu + a bunch of tweaks e less bloat, maybe Dec 22 21:02
trmanco :o   Microsoft Corp.’s developers missed a critical bug in Internet Explorer because they weren’t properly trained and didn’t have the right testing tools, a noted proponent of the company’s secure code development process acknowledged last week. Dec 22 21:06
trmanco http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?… Dec 22 21:06
trmanco they weren’t trained c’mon Dec 22 21:07
schestowitz Might be true. Dec 22 21:08
schestowitz They lost their best hackers. Dec 22 21:08
schestowitz http://boycottnovell.com/200… Dec 22 21:08
schestowitz Second REF worth attention… ““With Alchin retiring, MarkL and MarkZ, two of the most talented architects in MS already having left, the picture gets really ugly for the Windows division,” my friend claimed, and the BV’s core team members, Ian McDonald, Jack Mayo, Todd Wanke, Clyde Rodriguez and others are starting to connect the dots.” Dec 22 21:09
schestowitz “Despite Microsoft’s claims that Vista has sold well, consumers have reacted badly to its release.” http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology… Dec 22 21:10
trmanco I missed that bbc article somehow Dec 22 21:15
trmanco better be more careful next time a read my feeds Dec 22 21:15
schestowitz http://uk.reuters.com/article/governmentFili… “Deployments of server computers are expected to slow, UBS said, with spending on Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) Windows servers expected to grow 2 percent in 2009 after 3 percent in 2008, and open-source Linux server growth is set to be flat at 1 percent.” Dec 22 21:16
schestowitz Since when does USB track server revenue? Dec 22 21:16
schestowitz Also, revenue != share. Dec 22 21:16
trmanco USB? LOL Dec 22 21:16
schestowitz UBS Dec 22 21:16
schestowitz Common typo for me… habits. Dec 22 21:16
trmanco you got me there for a minute Dec 22 21:16
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schestowitz wb, seller_liar Dec 22 21:27
seller_liar schestowitz: hello roy Dec 22 21:29
schestowitz Any news from the south? Dec 22 21:29
seller_liar yes , one , wait a moment Dec 22 21:29
seller_liar http://br-linux.org/2008/empresa-de-… Dec 22 21:30
seller_liar m$ and affiliates uses piracy to attack companies Dec 22 21:30
schestowitz As usual. Dec 22 21:30
schestowitz They need money now, so they bully. Dec 22 21:31
seller_liar But ,I have not find a english version Dec 22 21:31
schestowitz http://searchengineland.com/searc… http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/12/rumors… Dec 22 21:31
schestowitz http://pooteeweet.org/blog/0/1388#m1388 (My advice to the database division at Sun) Dec 22 21:33
seller_liar Now , we have another proof against m$ , abramoff Dec 22 21:33
seller_liar Now ,trolls does not to argument anymore Dec 22 21:34
schestowitz Glad you found it useful. Dec 22 21:34
schestowitz “It’s not appropriate for information such as sales records and other data that either fits well in a table or needs to be accessible for a long period of time. And it only works in Java.” http://gigaom.com/2008/12/18/terracotta-doesnt-w… Dec 22 21:34
schestowitz Either way, it makes it hard for the hecklers to say with a straight face that Microsoft can and should be trusted. Dec 22 21:34
seller_liar A final solution for mono problem is create a java implementation of .net Dec 22 21:39
seller_liar licensed in lgplv3 Dec 22 21:39
schestowitz How would that be a solution? Dec 22 21:40
seller_liar this give more power to java platform and do not steals java developers Dec 22 21:41
seller_liar lgplv3 provides more protection Dec 22 21:41
seller_liar java can use .net libraries Dec 22 21:41
seller_liar this is very important because some devs is changing from java to .net Dec 22 21:43
schestowitz Java still dominates Dec 22 21:44
MinceR an independent implementation could help too, couldn’t it? Dec 22 21:44
MinceR (dotgnu) Dec 22 21:44
schestowitz The issue is Novell helping Microsoft against Sun Dec 22 21:44
seller_liar no Dec 22 21:44
MinceR i don’t think java is such a sacred platform anyway :> Dec 22 21:44
seller_liar because dotgnu does not permit to java use .net libraries Dec 22 21:44
MinceR at least until they fix memory management in the jvm Dec 22 21:44
seller_liar a java implementation of .net (like jython) can helps a lot Dec 22 21:45
seller_liar for example , jython can mix python and java Dec 22 21:45
schestowitz Sob stories from the Vole: http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft… Dec 22 21:45
seller_liar I like to see m$ ruining , but I don t like to see google to grow Dec 22 21:48
MinceR same here Dec 22 21:50
seller_liar The big problem in all companies is try to turn the “unique” company of universe Dec 22 21:51
seller_liar Like intel, coca-cola and some Banks Dec 22 21:51
seller_liar This is anti-capitalism Dec 22 21:52
seller_liar A good number of companies provides harmony and good heterogene business Dec 22 21:53
schestowitz But you have no regulation Dec 22 21:55
schestowitz If you permit companies to set the rules, then soon they open the door to predatory capitalism that ends up a set of monopolies of shared monopolies (price fixing also) Dec 22 21:56
seller_liar But companies should not to set the rules, Dec 22 21:57
schestowitz Well, they do Dec 22 21:57
seller_liar What I say is , is very important to have a heterogenous number of companies Dec 22 21:57
seller_liar Monopolies is very destructive Dec 22 21:57
seller_liar Oligopolies too Dec 22 21:58
seller_liar We need variety , and choice Dec 22 21:58
seller_liar But the real solution is very complex Dec 22 21:59
schestowitz Against human nature? Dec 22 21:59
seller_liar Yes Dec 22 22:00
seller_liar People like to be “unique” and powerful Dec 22 22:00
schestowitz Woohoo! http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&a… Dec 22 22:00
seller_liar Like a leader in a tribal community Dec 22 22:00
schestowitz http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssTechMediaTe… (Red Hat profit tops Street forecast) Dec 22 22:01
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schestowitz seller_liar: yes, tribe culture. Dec 22 22:15
schestowitz It’s ‘in the blood’ so to speak. It would be nice to have another better creature — like Aliens ;-) — ‘manage’ us before we totally screw out the planet due to animal instincts that involve expansion and pissing on territories. The Amazon deforestation is a good example. Dec 22 22:16
schestowitz OStatic is promoting former Microsoft employees+Mono: http://ostatic.com/blog/upgrade-mindtouc… Dec 22 22:19
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schestowitz Mozilla CEO: Ties with Google ‘complicated’ since Chrome < http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?co… > Dec 22 22:54
schestowitz http://aronzak.wordpress.com/2008/1… Dec 22 23:20
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trmanco OpenSUSE 11.1: Evolution dependent on Mono: http://www.itwire.com/content/v… Dec 22 23:32
trmanco and the [censored] begins Dec 22 23:35
schestowitz Excellent. Now they owe me an apology (the Mono fans) Dec 22 23:35
trmanco throw this into there faces Dec 22 23:36
trmanco and see how they react Dec 22 23:36
trmanco GNOME should be *cute* based :-P Dec 22 23:37
trmanco http://digg.com/linux_unix/OpenSUSE_11… Dec 22 23:39
schestowitz Qt? Dec 22 23:40
MinceR i prefer KMail anyway :> Dec 22 23:40
schestowitz Mark S thought about itr. Dec 22 23:40
trmanco yeah cute Dec 22 23:40
MinceR http://www.myextralife.com/?p=10551 Dec 22 23:41
schestowitz They’ll spin it I bet… saying that OpenSUSE made some mistake. We shall see.. Dec 22 23:42
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trmanco For Windows, 2008 Was a Roller Coaster: http://www.pcworld.com/article/155925/… Dec 22 23:45
trmanco weeeee Dec 22 23:45
schestowitz ndows Dec 22 23:47
]]> http://techrights.org/2008/12/23/irc-log-22122008/feed/ 0 Links 09/12/2008: Why GNU/Linux Beats Mac OS X; The MAFIAA Attacks Ill People http://techrights.org/2008/12/09/gnu-linux-beats-mac-os-x/ http://techrights.org/2008/12/09/gnu-linux-beats-mac-os-x/#comments Tue, 09 Dec 2008 19:34:10 +0000 http://boycottnovell.com/2008/12/09/gnu-linux-beats-mac-os-x/ GNOME bluefish

GNU/Linux

F/OSS

Standards

MAFIAA

  • RIAA targets transplant patient Ciara Sauro

    Nineteen-year-old Ciara Sauro has pancreatitis and because she needs an islet cell transplant, she’s hospitalized every week, a situation resulting in a huge accumulation of medical bills.

    Now, “Because she didn’t defend herself against a copyright lawsuit, a federal judge in Pittsburgh ruled she’s a music pirate, and that could cost the Sauros almost $8,000 in fines,” says Pittsburg news channel WTAE.com.

    “I already have severe depression,” the story has her saying. “I mean, it’s so hard to sit there and think that I have to get in trouble for something that I didn’t do. It’s not fair.”

  • Will EU repeat US copyright error?

    As I type this, members of the European Parliament are preparing to repeat one of the worst mistakes in copyright history — enacting a European version of America’s reviled Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998.

    The EU version will tack 45 years onto the duration of copyright for existing and future sound recordings, making for a grand total of 95 years’ worth of monopoly control for companies that produce recordings.

    Five years after the US passage of the Copyright Term Extension Act, the US Supreme Court heard Eldred v Ashcroft, a case that challenged the constitutionality of extending the copyright of works that have already been created.

Leftovers

  • Argentina-based OpeniMac Now Selling Mac Clones
  • Can we get some better telecom shills please?

    I will let you decide which applies to the author of a “research study” of Google’s bandwidth use being pushed by the anti–net neutrality site NetCompetition.org. Using some rather dubious proxy measures—which would be worth further scrutiny as well, if the fundamental premise weren’t so manifestly bogus as to render such quibbling moot—telecom shill Scott Cleland estimates that Google and its subsidiaries “used” 16.5% of consumer broadband traffic in 2008, but only paid 0.8% of consumer broadband costs. This, the author brazenly claims, amounts to an implicit subsidy of some $6.9 billion to Google, and proves that Google “uses” 21 times as much bandwidth as it pays for.

    This is stupid on so many levels I’m almost too stunned to know where to begin. Why would you ever imagine that the per-byte cost of getting upstream traffic out on a few enormous pipes would be the same as the per-byte cost on the downstream side, where the same traffic is dispersed to a bazillion consumers, each with their own broadband connection? (Nestle pays a lot less per pound than you do for sugar; I await a “research study.”) What would possess anyone to posit that there’s some inherently “fair” division of the cost of connecting end users to popular (mostly free) services anyway? Google adds value to the product ISPs sell, presumably helping them to attract customers; should Eric Schmidt be demanding compensation for the “implicit subsidy”?

Digital Tipping Point: Clip of the Day

Dolby Linux wizard John Gilbert gives us a look inside the movie industry 02 (2004)

Ogg Theora

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

]]> http://techrights.org/2008/12/09/gnu-linux-beats-mac-os-x/feed/ 3 IRC: #boycottnovell @ FreeNode: October 13th, 2008- Part 1 http://techrights.org/2008/10/14/irc-log-13102008-1/ http://techrights.org/2008/10/14/irc-log-13102008-1/#comments Tue, 14 Oct 2008 07:18:55 +0000 http://boycottnovell.com/2008/10/14/irc-log-13102008-1/ GNOME Gedit

Enter the IRC channel now

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twitter Ut oh, UK patents slipped through the backdoor, http://business.timesonline.co.uk/to… Oct 13 00:51
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anti_MS_h4x0r_4_ what’s up guys! Oct 13 01:00
anti_MS_h4x0r_4_ DOWN WITH M$ AND NOVELL FREEDOM!!111111111ONE Oct 13 01:01
anti_MS_h4x0r_4_ GNU/LINUX + SLACKWARE 4 LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oct 13 01:02
anti_MS_h4x0r_4_ FREE SOFTWARE MAKES MY DICK HARD!!! Oct 13 01:02
anti_MS_h4x0r_4_ Oh god I’m rubbing off to emacs! Oct 13 01:02
twitter Benjie, what’s alleged is that go-oo.org is going to introduce a M$ version of OOXML support that only Novell can use.  I may have misread that but it would be a good thing to see a link or email about. Oct 13 01:08
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anti_MS_h4x0r_4_ Oh god now I’m rubbing off to kernel.h!!! Oct 13 01:15
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schestowitz I had to close comments on this one and move it to CORAL in case it makes the FP: http://boycottnovell.com/2008/10/12/mi… http://digg.com/linux_unix/Microsoft_… Oct 13 06:30
schestowitz This article is very amusing. http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-100… “McAfee sees rise in stock scams, social engineering attacks” Coming from a company that engages in fraud. Oct 13 06:53
schestowitz http://www.law.com/jsp/ihc/PubArticleIHC…. : Why Are the Feds Still Gunning for McAfee’s Former GC? Oct 13 06:54
schestowitz http://blogs.itworldcanada.com/insights/200… : We’re not thieves. We just can’t read contracts (McAfee and Open Source) Oct 13 06:54
schestowitz http://www.cio.com/article/167701/McAfee_to_P… : McAfee to Pay $13.8 Million to Settle Backdating Lawsuits Oct 13 06:55
schestowitz McAfee’s libel against open source : http://www.cnet.com/8301-… ………. and so on.. Oct 13 06:56
schestowitz ZDNet is boosting Microsoft again: http://news.zdnet.com/2424-9595_22-240370.html Oct 13 07:29
schestowitz The other article in ZDNet (among just 2) is Linux bashing. Oct 13 07:30
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schestowitz Just spotted a lot of pretty good comments here: http://www.linux-magazine.com/online/ne… Oct 13 07:43
schestowitz Markets are recovering this morning: http://finance.yahoo.com/intlindices?e=europe http://finance.yahoo.com/intlindices?e=asia Oct 13 07:52
schestowitz Only the FTSE is down, and very sharply, unlike all the rest. Oct 13 07:53
schestowitz http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=%5EF… Oct 13 07:56
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schestowitz http://www.tuxdeluxe.org/node/184 http://lwn.net/Articles/302576/ Oct 13 08:07
schestowitz “Nothing new…same old saga of Novell sponsored by Microsoft attacking Sun and Free software just before the release of Open Office 3″ Oct 13 08:07
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schestowitz Propaganda terms like “pirates” in the MSBBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7664088.stm Oct 13 08:41
schestowitz “Music pirates… music pirates… persistent pirates.. most persistent pirates…” No wonder people who get exposed to these Hollywood terms just simply repeat them. The BBC should know better than this that “piracy” means something else. Oct 13 08:44
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schestowitz Cloud hype goes kaput: http://it.sys-con.com/node/706566 (Cloud Computing One-Day Event in Toronto Cancelled) Oct 13 09:09
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MinceR r4wr Oct 13 10:30
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duncanmv schestowitz: are you nuts? Oct 13 10:51
schestowitz No, I am not. Oct 13 10:51
duncanmv “a fork of OpenOffice.org into which they are pushing Microsoft’s OOXML support ” -> upstream 3.0 has it Oct 13 10:51
duncanmv “improvements to OO.o which aren’t often upstreamed to the main projec” -> when was it the last time you sent a patch to OO.org? Oct 13 10:52
duncanmv why are you posting lies? is the goal worth the means? Oct 13 10:52
schestowitz These are not lies. Oct 13 10:52
duncanmv how the fork is mean to introduce ooxml support then, if the upstream version has it? Oct 13 10:53
duncanmv I think boycottnovell is a great site to show another opinion on the Novell side, but please keep your posts serious and take your pills before writing. Otherwise you will ruin something that…ok, never had anything valuable but at least was good for having more plural media. Oct 13 10:57
schestowitz I am confident of what I wrote and I am willing to explain. Oct 13 10:58
schestowitz That ” take your pills” remark waves a red flag. Oct 13 10:59
schestowitz I consider this to be a risidual of incomplete explanation that links rather than support ‘in line’, as elucidated — at least in part — in the accompanying comments. A ‘history lesson’ helps here, i.e. going back to our coverage in 2006. Oct 13 11:00
duncanmv you crossed a very bad line, from writing uninformed bs to just liying about people Oct 13 11:12
duncanmv sad that usually troll sites can’t break their own rule, never say you were wrong about something and try to undone the damage. One can always cover a mistake with a new lie. Oct 13 11:15
schestowitz Au contraire; I see a lot of disinformation spread by people in the comment. Oct 13 11:15
schestowitz Just a minute ago I replied to incorrect information from Alex: http://boycottnovell.com/2008/10/12/microsoft-… Oct 13 11:16
schestowitz It need to be added that you, duncanmv, are a Novell employee. Oct 13 11:16
schestowitz In other words, here I am arguing with someone who is paid by Novell (Novell is paid by Microsoft too) over the accuracy of information in a site that Shane called “boycott Novell” Oct 13 11:17
duncanmv I know I am a Novell employee, and I actually enjoyed seeing your uninformed stuff from time to time, it helps knowing how some people can perceive the way companies move. But as I said, there is a big space between being a uninformed troll to start just lying and making damage. Oct 13 11:17
schestowitz duncanmv: why did you not disclose this when you came in? Oct 13 11:18
duncanmv because you know it, you use your boring sundays to link to my blog when you are looking for material for your site do you? Oct 13 11:18
schestowitz We have a lot of OpenSUSE people in this channel (even Microsoft people) and it’s mildly amusing that even Novell people find the need to come here and argue. Oct 13 11:18
schestowitz duncanmv: I keep track of Novell stuff because I need to understand what I write about.. Oct 13 11:19
schestowitz Had I been more shallow, my analysis would be worth a lot less. Oct 13 11:19
duncanmv it seems it is not working… to much copy paste may be and you need to make some sense of it Oct 13 11:19
schestowitz I still hope to see SUSE escaping the hands of Novell. Oct 13 11:19
schestowitz Novell is still 90% a proprietary software company. The ‘open’ component makes good PR for Novell, so it emphasises that more in public. Oct 13 11:20
duncanmv who cares if it is a proprietary company? is it ilegal to have proprietary products? Oct 13 11:20
schestowitz TuxMachines links to your site a lot and I rely on Susan when it comes to OpenSUSE blogs. Oct 13 11:21
schestowitz But you don’t complain about her… Oct 13 11:21
duncanmv Novell still contributes more to the community than what you will do in 10 loops of reincarnation Oct 13 11:21
duncanmv I dont care if someone links to my site Oct 13 11:21
schestowitz duncanmv: no, it’s not illegal, but a company with such a mindset should not be expected to treat FOSS in a way that’s honourable. Oct 13 11:22
duncanmv I don’t care about what you wrote (usually), but your last post says 3 lies in a row and insults a developers Oct 13 11:22
schestowitz Where does it insult a person? Oct 13 11:22
schestowitz Also make a distinction between personal and professional things. Oct 13 11:23
duncanmv hijaacker? Oct 13 11:23
schestowitz I don’t bother with personal lives, but when someone’s work — maybe at the behest of a boss — jeopardises a project, one must react. Oct 13 11:23
Eruaran Novells ‘contributions’ are patent encumbered poison pills laced with SteveB’s sweaty bits. Oct 13 11:24
schestowitz Meeks represents a group that wants to control a fork of OOo Oct 13 11:24
duncanmv I think you just don’t get the whole free software stuff. Otherwise you would not be complaining about forks, political pressure to create decent governance models and adding support for file format importers. Oct 13 11:24
duncanmv what is wrong with forks? Oct 13 11:24
schestowitz The rationale, the motive in this particular case. Oct 13 11:24
duncanmv the fact that you dont understand them dont make them bad Oct 13 11:25
schestowitz I’ve known and been involved in benign forks that were successor or abandoned projects. Oct 13 11:25
duncanmv the motive? you know the motive? or you _think_ you know the motive? Oct 13 11:25
schestowitz But this case is a duplication of effort done by the partner of an enemy of OOo Oct 13 11:25
duncanmv and your confusion between what you think and what it is what makes you post nonsense? Oct 13 11:25
schestowitz Heard of the IronRuby story? Oct 13 11:25
schestowitz How Microsoft ‘hijacked’ people from the Ruby project so that it controls the licences, the people, the direction? Oct 13 11:26
schestowitz I will happily give you links. Oct 13 11:26
duncanmv same thing Sun does with OO Oct 13 11:26
duncanmv it controls the copyrights Oct 13 11:27
schestowitz Before you know it, in due time, OOo can be relicensed or offered in a ‘premium’ form where Microsoft is paid. Oct 13 11:27
schestowitz Not StarOffice. Oct 13 11:27
duncanmv thing that Novell is against Oct 13 11:27
schestowitz Something that empowers Microsoft/Novell, not Sun Oct 13 11:27
Eruaran I think someone who wants the level of compatability with Mircosoft Office that the go-oo site boasts of, doesn’t really want a compatible suite, they want Microsoft Office. Oct 13 11:27
schestowitz duncanmv: Novell also controls Mono copyrights. Oct 13 11:27
duncanmv Eruaran: people use MS Office because people send them .doc and .xls files, it is a social effect. Oct 13 11:27
schestowitz As well as many ‘descendant’ projects. Do you think that’s good? Oct 13 11:27
duncanmv Trolltech also controls Qt’s copyright Oct 13 11:28
Eruaran I’m talking about a particular market segment you are obviously unfamiliar with duncanmv Oct 13 11:28
duncanmv Free software foundation controls copyrights!!!! Oct 13 11:28
schestowitz Novell also prioritises Windows in the sense that it has a deal with Microsoft to give it more features. Oct 13 11:28
duncanmv it has a reason. do you get it? Oct 13 11:28
duncanmv schestowitz: that is bullshit Oct 13 11:28
duncanmv Free software foundation controls copyrights!!!! are you going to blog about it? Oct 13 11:29
schestowitz duncanmv: there’s no Trolltech Oct 13 11:29
schestowitz That is actually a good case of point. See how Nokia grabbed Qt Oct 13 11:29
schestowitz Which is not necessarily a good thing as I wrote before. Oct 13 11:29
duncanmv you can’t upstream a patch without giving the copyright to Nokia/TT Oct 13 11:29
schestowitz Nokia is a sofwtare patent lobbyist… and DRM… one of the worst in fact. Oct 13 11:29
schestowitz duncanmv: FSF is trusted. Oct 13 11:30
duncanmv is is of course a good thing, otherwise they could not release it under a dual GPL/Propietary license without getting permissions once and again. Oct 13 11:30
Eruaran Qt went GPLv3 before Nokia bought Trolltech. Oct 13 11:30
schestowitz Novell is not. Oct 13 11:30
duncanmv schestowitz: you may trust it, I dont trust them. Oct 13 11:30
schestowitz Novell spreads anti-FOSS FUD with Microsoft to increase sales of ‘protected’ SUSE Oct 13 11:30
schestowitz Deeds speak louder than press releases. Oct 13 11:30
duncanmv for me there is no difference in giving the copyrights to a political organization than to a company, I only care about the license of the code published. Oct 13 11:30
Eruaran Thats interesting. Oct 13 11:30
schestowitz duncanmv: what is the goal of the FSF? Oct 13 11:31
schestowitz You seem to misunderstand how trust is earned and why/ Oct 13 11:31
duncanmv Novell spreads anti-FOSS FUD with Microsoft to increase sales of ‘protected’ SUSE -> you are getting offtopic, we were talking about your OO lies, with the patents I agree Novell did not do it right in some aspects, and most people agree. Oct 13 11:31
schestowitz I personally don’t trust many Linux vendors, but Novell is a convicted one, not a suspect. Oct 13 11:31
schestowitz It’s not off topic, duncanmv Oct 13 11:32
schestowitz The point I was making is that Novell could do varous things. Oct 13 11:32
duncanmv schestowitz: I am not saying I dont trust the fsf, I can, I can’t , it does not matter, it is an organization, it can become evil too. Stallman is nuts, so the probability is high anyway. FSF is just another actor in the community. And I understand they grab copyrights, it is a practical issue. Oct 13 11:32
duncanmv just try to relicense code without that. It happened to them (GPLv2 to GPLv3) Oct 13 11:33
schestowitz One thing it could do is contaminate it’s ‘better’ OO with Microsoft IP and then offer it ‘safely’ and ‘for free’ only with SUSE. Oct 13 11:33
schestowitz Another thing it could do is make it work better — technically-speaking — with SUSE, which is Microsoft-taxed. Oct 13 11:33
Eruaran GPLv3 is a good licence. Oct 13 11:33
schestowitz Another thing that can happen is a takeover by Microsoft. Oct 13 11:33
duncanmv that is not Novell goal, you can judge stupid moves or mistakes, but dont invent stupid false conspiracy theories. Oct 13 11:33
schestowitz Stallman is “nuts”? Oct 13 11:34
schestowitz Please elaborate. Oct 13 11:34
duncanmv Eruaran: for you, it may not be for some people. SOme people prefer GPLv2, some people prefer others. Oct 13 11:34
schestowitz Novell goal = shareholders’ goal Oct 13 11:34
duncanmv schestowitz: he is an extremist. Not all people participating in FOSS think Stallman is right in everything. Oct 13 11:34
schestowitz Novell shareholder = people who invest in a largely proprietary Microsoft partner. Oct 13 11:35
duncanmv schestowitz: IBM, evil or trusted? Oct 13 11:35
Eruaran GPLv3 is the ideal licence if you don’t want corporates like Novell or Microsoft trying to subvert your code. Oct 13 11:35
schestowitz duncanmv: what does extremist mean? Oct 13 11:35
schestowitz His portrayal in the media does not help, but please explain. Oct 13 11:36
schestowitz Is it wrong to accuse corrupt people of… well, being corrupt? Oct 13 11:36
duncanmv I just think you are to newbie to this world to try to classify everyone as a permanent trusted/untrusted label. It depends a lot on timing, context and point of view. For example, you are highly untrusted for lot of people, as you write lot of lies and bullshit and hurt log of projects and people with misinformation. Oct 13 11:36
Eruaran I’ll take a Novell employee calling RMS an ‘extremist’ with the grain of salt it deserves. Oct 13 11:36
schestowitz Or wrong to defend people’s privacy? Oct 13 11:36
schestowitz I see a lot of lies about Stallman. Oct 13 11:36
duncanmv I don’t care, he is a politician, and he has ideas not all people share, even if some of his core beliefs are shared. Oct 13 11:37
schestowitz That sure I see a lot of — the daemonisation. Such as the claims by Dan Lyons that he said he would “make love with a flower” or something (Lyons took a joke and make it seem like it was meant for real) Oct 13 11:37
Eruaran He’s not a politician. Oct 13 11:37
schestowitz IBM = suspect, for now. Oct 13 11:37
schestowitz Novell has many reasons to distrust RMS Oct 13 11:38
duncanmv Eruaran: call him activist if you want. Oct 13 11:38
duncanmv how do you know Novell distrust RMS? Oct 13 11:38
schestowitz I have heard from friends that they got kicked from SUSEForums for bringing up questions about GPL. Oct 13 11:38
duncanmv another “invention” from your troll generation engine? Oct 13 11:38
schestowitz Maybe it’s population specific, but there’s disdain for the FSF among Novellers and it’s no surprise. Oct 13 11:39
duncanmv “I have heard…” troll’s favorite sentences Oct 13 11:39
Eruaran And we wont mention the imaginary friends of Novell employees that show up on Free Software Daily… Oct 13 11:39
schestowitz Eruaran is correct. RMS is actually against many politicians. Politicians are largely corrupt, for a simple provable fact,. Oct 13 11:39
schestowitz duncanmv: it shows that Novell employees (some of them) distance themselves from those values that their employers betrays in Nov 2006. Oct 13 11:40
schestowitz *betrayed Oct 13 11:40
schestowitz duncanmv: re “I have heard”, I can link you to actual posts. Oct 13 11:41
schestowitz I saw it and blogged about it. I could find it given some time. Oct 13 11:41
duncanmv ok, and if it happened? what if it was some stupid mistake from some clueless employee? Oct 13 11:42
duncanmv then you are entitled to start spreading bullshit and conspiracy theories Oct 13 11:43
duncanmv you know, I am angry not because you write against novell, I love that actually Oct 13 11:43
Eruaran Conspiracy theories about Microsoft and Novell have a habit of turning out to be true. Oct 13 11:43
duncanmv the sad part is that you are clueless and always hurt projects and intentions with lies and missinformation Oct 13 11:43
duncanmv so if the patents story does not provide more material for your blog, dont get force to write crap just because you need material Oct 13 11:44
duncanmv wait till there is something valuable to write. The patents agreement was something good to cover for example Oct 13 11:44
duncanmv but all your OOXML and OO.org theories are just childish nonsense crap. really. Oct 13 11:45
schestowitz duncanmv: The SUSE/Novell community is broader than just the management. Oct 13 11:45
schestowitz I am convinced that Novell’s core tries to maintain a healthy relationship with the FSF. Oct 13 11:45
schestowitz It actually made a mistake once by publicly  stating that it supported the FSF financially; this was not true. Oct 13 11:46
schestowitz Eruaran: it’s different. Oct 13 11:46
schestowitz Eruaran: It’s just that unflattering things about Novell and Microsoft are being /LABELED/ conspiracy theory so that viewers don’t take them seriously. Oct 13 11:47
duncanmv Are you going to blog about the evil FSF grabbing copyrights from contributors? if you don’t do that one needs to fork Oct 13 11:48
schestowitz Microsoft bribes for OOXML? No!! CONPIRACY THEORY!!11 Some months later Groklaw nets a smoking gun about Microsoft offering ‘incentives’ to people in Sweden and the vote is rubbished as a result. Oct 13 11:48
Eruaran Its like trying to argue that Microsoft is not trying to hijack ODF with the ISO committee it controls by saying that were all mad comspiracy theorists and nutbags… Its no conspiracy, the information is already out there… Go talk to some folks from Brazil. Oct 13 11:48
schestowitz Someone says Microsoft is evil? No!! No way! That person is a Microsoft(R) Hater(R). Oct 13 11:48
schestowitz You can never listen to a Microsoft(R) Hater(R). Oct 13 11:48
schestowitz Andy Updegrove too  was labeled like this. I guess he said too much truth. Oct 13 11:49
duncanmv Microsoft did hijaack ODF Oct 13 11:49
schestowitz Who foresaw this? Oct 13 11:50
schestowitz And what was the reaction? Oct 13 11:50
schestowitz I am amused to remember how I wrote about Microsoft hijacking ODF like 3 months ago. Oct 13 11:50
schestowitz Some Microsoft employees liked to Boycott Novell calling it names. Oct 13 11:50
schestowitz Well, welll.. Oct 13 11:50
Eruaran If you think there is any level M$ will not stoop to, including making Novell its own little sock puppet, you’re in for a surprise. Oct 13 11:50
schestowitz *linked Oct 13 11:50
schestowitz Well, that’s his paymaster. Oct 13 11:51
schestowitz Got to keep believing. Oct 13 11:51
schestowitz Everyone tried to perfume it for him/herself that $Employer is nice and charitable. Oct 13 11:51
schestowitz It makes working a lot easier. Oct 13 11:51
duncanmv everybody foresaw it, it was on every blog, I even got news from my university where also they voted neutral because they had agreements with MS Oct 13 11:52
duncanmv do you think you were the primary news source? heh Oct 13 11:52
Eruaran I’ve seen enough market distorting corruption from Microsoft here in the relatively small Australian market to make me sick… they will buy politicians in Tasmania if they think they have to. Oct 13 11:53
duncanmv really, I am sure Novell does not make every move perfect and makes lot of mistakes, like any fat company getting into the FOSS area and trying to change its culture (in this case mostly driven by SUSE/Ximian people), IBM was much smoother I think. But stop that arrogancy of trust. You are as untrustful as any company. The only difference is, companies make mistakes, you lie knowing it, to create noise. Oct 13 11:54
Eruaran If this is how Microsoft behaves here, then how do you think it behaves elsewhere where the stakes are much higher ? Oct 13 11:55
schestowitz duncanmv: no, I was not. Oct 13 11:55
schestowitz I talk about something totally different here though. Oct 13 11:55
schestowitz Eruaran: speaking of Microsoft ‘irregularities’ in Australia, I have a new one for you: Oct 13 11:56
Eruaran Ximian people, ie. Miguel’s buddies, are in love with all things Microsoft. Oct 13 11:56
schestowitz Ministry says no as school opts for free software : http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/te… Oct 13 11:56
duncanmv Eruaran: the fact that I share _some_ of schestowitz concerns on patents, companies, etc, does not mean I think this guy has the right to troll with lies just as evil companies do. Oct 13 11:57
schestowitz Published today. Long story short: if a school doesn’t buy Microsoft, it ceases to receive monetary support to actually support Free software (where support *is* the main cost). Oct 13 11:57
schestowitz IOW, they choke FOSS, some would say due to stupidity (like BECTA) and some would say on Microsoft’s behalf (rubbing a partner’s back). Oct 13 11:58
Eruaran Thats in New Zealand, but the situation in Australia is similar. Oct 13 11:58
Eruaran Its not stupidity, its becuase money talks. Oct 13 11:58
schestowitz Novell called Ximian a “Red carpet” Oct 13 11:58
duncanmv yes, Miguel loves Microsoft stuff. Who cares? he liked a platform and reimplemented it in a few years. Now there is something extra available for the community, with a choice, if you think it is not good to use it, dont use it, if you do, use it. He created a choice. Same choice of OO.org having a OOXML filter. You want to promote FOSS by restringing availability of stuff, may be because you have problems with freedom and democracy? Oct 13 11:59
schestowitz This was the basis for Novell’s basis, prior to a SuSE takeover. Oct 13 11:59
schestowitz (assisted by IBM BTW) Oct 13 11:59
schestowitz Eruaran: I meant the continent. Oct 13 11:59
Eruaran schestowitz: different continent ;) Oct 13 12:00
duncanmv schestowitz: http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse… Oct 13 12:00
schestowitz :-o different continent? Oct 13 12:00
Eruaran yes :D Oct 13 12:01
schestowitz Which one? Oct 13 12:01
Eruaran New Zealand is two islands… Oct 13 12:01
Eruaran If you find New Zealand on a globe… Australia is the big continent to your left ;) Oct 13 12:02
schestowitz But they don’t fall under the same territorial umbrella? I was misled. I guess it’s the same with Tasmania then. Oct 13 12:02
Eruaran Tasmania is part of Australia. Oct 13 12:02
Eruaran New Zealand and Australia are separate countries. Oct 13 12:02
schestowitz Yes, I know. Oct 13 12:03
Eruaran :P Oct 13 12:03
schestowitz But Iceland is part of Europe, AFAIK. Oct 13 12:03
Eruaran oh Oct 13 12:03
duncanmv see? good that he clarified to you before you run to talk bs Oct 13 12:03
Eruaran I think you perhaps meant ‘Australiasia” ? Oct 13 12:03
duncanmv schestowitz: it is in the EU, not continental europe. Oct 13 12:03
schestowitz Well, yeah.. Oct 13 12:04
duncanmv well I think they are only in Shengen, not EU Oct 13 12:04
duncanmv however where it is located is usually named Northern Europe Oct 13 12:04
schestowitz I think of the simplified classification of half a dozen continents. Oct 13 12:05
duncanmv even if it is not a single piece of land Oct 13 12:05
Eruaran Australiasia covers Australia, New Zealand, and Pacific Islands like the Soloman Islands etc… Oct 13 12:06
Eruaran As a region Oct 13 12:06
*duncanmv leaves Oct 13 12:07
duncanmv I hope you have the same balls to write than to rectify. Otherwise I would be highly dissapointed. Oct 13 12:08
Eruaran We wouldn’t want to dissapoint any disgruntled Novell people now would we… Oct 13 12:09
schestowitz Now I need to please Novell too? Oct 13 12:10
schestowitz This reminds me of how Microsoft contacted journalists who wrote something negative about them and asked for “a better article” to be written. Oct 13 12:11
schestowitz As if it’s some sort of a press buffet. Oct 13 12:11
duncanmv oh yeah, probably I was sent by my company here to blame you Oct 13 12:32
duncanmv you are not writing negative things Oct 13 12:32
duncanmv get it, you are writing lies Oct 13 12:32
schestowitz Where? Oct 13 12:36
schestowitz Show me please so I can correct them. Oct 13 12:37
duncanmv it was the first two  or three lines when I joined the channel Oct 13 12:49
duncanmv [12:58] <duncanmv> “a fork of OpenOffice.org into which they are pushing Microsoft’s OOXML support ” -> upstream 3.0 has it Oct 13 12:49
duncanmv [12:58] <duncanmv> “improvements to OO.o which aren’t often upstreamed to the main projec” -> when was it the last time you sent a patch to OO.org? Oct 13 12:49
schestowitz That’s no mistake. Oct 13 12:53
twitter Thanks for getting and publishing  Simon Phipps’ opinion. Oct 13 12:58
duncanmv that is a mistake, you did not give an answer. If upstream has OOXML support, why would novell fork for that purpose? Sun is accepting any OOXML improvement upstream. Oct 13 12:58
twitter Novell would fork OO.org with M$’s ooxml that no one else can use to fuck everyone. Oct 13 12:59
twitter That may be the M$ plan. Oct 13 13:00
twitter As Benjie pointed out, all the distros already use go-ooo.org Oct 13 13:00
twitter It’s not really a big fuck but it makes a stink. Oct 13 13:00
schestowitz It passes control. Oct 13 13:01
twitter If Novell does cram M$ binary blobs into go-ooo.org, the other distros will have to either fork again or go back to OO.org proper. Oct 13 13:01
twitter Novell then gets to say, “we have the better version, those people are at patent risk or don’t have adequate ooxml support.” Oct 13 13:02
twitter all very nasty. Oct 13 13:02
*trmanco (n=trmanco@bl8-236-84.dsl.telepac.pt) has joined #boycottnovell Oct 13 13:03
twitter As  schestowitz points out, they claim to have done this through “the community” even though they have people on pay doing it. Oct 13 13:03
twitter The funny thing is that M$ and Novell have once again underestimated the power of community.  If go-oo.org has really made an easier to compile version with improvements that people like, the community can take it all back. Oct 13 13:05
twitter Ultimately all M$’s schemes do is prove the power of freedom.  ACPI is a case in point.  http://slashdot.org/~twitter/journal/183403 Oct 13 13:07
twitter They made ACPI to screw free software but free software now works as well or better than M$ does.  Few people in the Windows world use power management because it does not work for them. Oct 13 13:08
twitter OT http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/UK_government_to_… Oct 13 13:13
twitter http://www.stallman.org/archives/2008-jul-oct.html#10 October 2008 (US manual for crushing insurgencies) Oct 13 13:13
Eruaran I wasn’t aware that “all” the other distros were using go-oo Oct 13 13:13
Eruaran That sounds a bit bizarre to me Oct 13 13:13
twitter http://www.countercurrents.org/wolf081008.htm Oct 13 13:13
twitter debian is, I can’t verify the rest of Benjie’s claim but other distros are usually quicker to push non free crap. Oct 13 13:14
Eruaran Debian is using go-oo ? Oct 13 13:15
Eruaran I find that hard to believe Oct 13 13:15
twitter check the package page Oct 13 13:15
twitter http://packages.debian.org/testing/openoffice.org lists go-oo.org as an external reference. Oct 13 13:17
schestowitz twitter: yes, the UK does this, but hardly publicises the fact. Oct 13 13:17
schestowitz The Reg covered this about 4 months ago. Oct 13 13:17
schestowitz A friend of mine printed copies of the article and spread this around the neighbourhood. They want people not to realise they they live in a police state using the excuse of “war on terrorism” Oct 13 13:18
Eruaran I don’t see any reference to go-oo in the actual packages Oct 13 13:18
twitter That would be good news.  I’m not qualified to judge.  Someone who knows could just look at the source code. Oct 13 13:19
schestowitz In fact, 9/11 changed this for a lot of countries (and no, let’s not get into conspiracies here). It enabled the Russians to get more violent in regions like Chechnya, it enabled the Chinese to suppress and use as an excuse others’ suppression, it enabled violent action in the ME to increase… Any act of terror does this to people’s rights. They become suspects. Oct 13 13:19
twitter Yes, and political opposition, such as death penalty opponents, have been spied on as “terrorists” Oct 13 13:21
schestowitz From RMS : “Maryland Police put activists’ names on terror lists. This included opponents of the death penalty and antiwar activists: a strage place to look for violence.” Oct 13 13:22
schestowitz “Terrorists of peace” Oct 13 13:22
twitter :) The Wolf article is the most dangerous accusation.  Martial law was essentially in effect at the Republican National convention, where protesters were arrested before they protested. Oct 13 13:22
schestowitz I’ve just subscribed to RSS. Oct 13 13:23
schestowitz Whoz’ day Stlamman guy nways? Oct 13 13:23
Eruaran I watched the clips on youtube Oct 13 13:24
twitter RMS is worth reading.  I just check out his page every now and then. Oct 13 13:24
Eruaran Anyone who thinks the US isn’t already a police state has their head in the sand Oct 13 13:24
schestowitz It’s ‘too’ political. In the same that he does not cover tech there. Oct 13 13:24
twitter He covers things like ACTA.  Violations of rights are violations of rights to him and all injustices are equally important. Oct 13 13:25
schestowitz http://xkcd.com/488/ Oct 13 13:28
twitter The US need regime change, a government that recognizes and respects its constitution. Oct 13 13:39
schestowitz It won’t work. Oct 13 13:45
schestowitz They need to change the forced that fund the candidates first. Until then, once someone is elected, there are favours to repay. Oct 13 13:45
schestowitz *forces Oct 13 13:45
twitter *farces Oct 13 13:46
duncanmv lol, you discovered that debian uses go-oo? Oct 13 13:49
duncanmv are you going to blog about that too? debian evils! or just say “I have been talking to much bs” :-P Oct 13 13:49
schestowitz They follow the flock here, just like with Mono Oct 13 13:51
twitter Benjie “discovered” it, which means it needs to be confirmed. Oct 13 13:51
schestowitz “These other people do this too, so maybe it’s safe” Oct 13 13:51
schestowitz Sheep effect does not v alidate a collective deed Oct 13 13:52
twitter They might be following their moral sense.  It SHOULD be safe. Oct 13 13:52
Eruaran Not confirmed. Oct 13 13:52
duncanmv “debian is, I can’t verify the rest of Benjie’s claim but other distros are usually quicker to push non free crap.” LOL, welcome to the troll’s redefinition of non-free. Oct 13 13:53
*duncanmv (n=duncan@pD9E50032.dip.t-dialin.net) has left #boycottnovell (“Konversation terminated!”) Oct 13 13:54
Eruaran I was about to say something… Oct 13 13:54
Eruaran The go-oo site deliberately confuses things Oct 13 13:56
schestowitz Well, it’s a Novell site Oct 13 13:57
schestowitz “It was an interoperability deal.” Oct 13 13:57
schestowitz Don’t say the P word Oct 13 13:57
Eruaran It misrepresents apt-getting OpenOffice through Debian or Ubuntu repositories as sources for go-oo. Oct 13 13:58
Eruaran Reminiscent of the confusion caused for some people by Microsoft with “Office Open XML” the go-oo site uses go-oo and references to OOo in general, interchangebly. Oct 13 14:00
Eruaran That is deliberate, misleading and unethical. Oct 13 14:00
twitter Let me rephrase what I said for MVP Duncan, other distros are far less cautions than Debian and are often polluted with non free crap and other traps. Oct 13 14:03
Eruaran The go-oo site seems to represent this derived version of OOo as being ‘freer’ than OOo upstream while at the same time I get the sense that they are not being entirely forthcoming about how so much support for Microsoft products has been added so quickly (seemingly), with a reference to Word Perfect as a token. I’m sorry, but I smell a patent trap. Oct 13 14:08
schestowitz Eruaran: yes, they were asked to change the name. Did they even listen? (rhetoric) So people started calling it Oh-Oh-XML. Oct 13 14:08
schestowitz Eruaran: no, no patent trap. Just buy SLED and you’ll be safe. Oct 13 14:09
Eruaran Oh, well thats ok then.. ;) Oct 13 14:10
schestowitz For go-oo developers it’s very much OK Oct 13 14:10
schestowitz That’s what they are paid to do. Oct 13 14:10
Eruaran Indeed. Oct 13 14:11
schestowitz The US market is up today, just like the rest. Oct 13 14:11
schestowitz NOVL recovers with the rest. As for MSFT, no so much. Oct 13 14:12
schestowitz Novell was 50% higher some months ago. Oct 13 14:12
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schestowitz Just in: http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2008… (  ) Oct 13 14:13
schestowitz Infosys cuts forecasts Oct 13 14:13
schestowitz http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/… … Phishers adapt old scams to exploit bank turmoil http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/10/12/… Oct 13 14:13
schestowitz They should ask the govt. for funding: http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2… Oct 13 14:17
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schestowitz Washington DC latest to drop Microsoft for web apps http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/200810… Oct 13 14:20
schestowitz …But…. Microsoft is not afraid of Google… Really! No really, Google is bad, just like Burtonsoft said in its ‘report’. Oct 13 14:21
schestowitz “Just four years ago, Queen Elizabeth admitted she didn’t own a computer as she bestowed an honorary knighthood on Microsoft’s ex-chairman Bill Gates, but now she and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, are to grace Google’s headquarters in London on 16 October.” http://news.zdnet.co.uk/itmanagement/0,1… Oct 13 14:22
Eruaran I didnt realise the adoption of web apps replacing MS Office was so strong Oct 13 14:25
schestowitz Yes, it is. Oct 13 14:25
schestowitz Actually, they lowball it a bit. Oct 13 14:25
schestowitz Google said several months ago that 1000000 (million) had adopted Apps. They keep a low profile about it, unlike Microsoft which issues brag PR. Oct 13 14:25
Eruaran That coupled with numbers using OOo makes an interesting scenario Oct 13 14:28
Eruaran I’d like to see what is happening to M$’s profit from MS Office Oct 13 14:29
*Eruaran muses on how one can potentially lose market share and yet see profits go up Oct 13 14:34
trmanco http://www.securiteam.com/exploits/6S00C0UMUA.html Oct 13 14:36
schestowitz Eruaran: it declines. Oct 13 14:37
schestowitz Let me get the figures to back this (and that’s despite price hikes /before/ the recession was even conceived) Oct 13 14:37
schestowitz Recent: http://www.computerworlduk.com/community/blo… “For, example, according to this report, there are now 12 million users in Brazil, representing fully 25% of the entire office market there.” Oct 13 14:38
schestowitz The Register had a readers poll last year. 20% used OOo. Oct 13 14:38
schestowitz I’m trying to find May Jo’s article. Oct 13 14:39
schestowitz http://news.cnet.com/8301-13953_3-10029… : Google Apps tops 1 million businesses Oct 13 14:39
schestowitz Found it. Oct 13 14:39
schestowitz Microsoft earnings post-mortem: The cash cows quiver : http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1362 Oct 13 14:39
Eruaran thx Oct 13 14:39
schestowitz “I can’t help but wonder if the lackluster Windows/Office results also can be  attributed to Microsoft brass’s complete and crazy obsession with Google (and  taking over Yahoo) has resulted in no one minding the Windows store. “ Oct 13 14:40
schestowitz Ballmer says Microsoft not immune from global crisis : http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080930/bs_nm/us_m… Oct 13 14:41
schestowitz I’m trying to find an article from the BBC, based on Microsoft’s report that showed profits declining. Oct 13 14:41
schestowitz Debt in Disguise : http://www.cfo.com/article.cfm/1001395… Oct 13 14:42
schestowitz Microsoft’s 10-Q on the impact of litigation : http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/789019/… Oct 13 14:42
Eruaran link spam :P Oct 13 14:43
Eruaran I can’t keep up :D Oct 13 14:44
schestowitz I can’t find the BBC one. Oct 13 14:44
schestowitz This one is old (from AU): http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,72… (Microsoft profit on slide) Oct 13 14:45
schestowitz I’ve finally found it: Microsoft sees slide in profits : http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7366106.stm Oct 13 14:47
trmanco http://www.linuxformat.co.uk/modules.p… Oct 13 14:47
Eruaran thanks for the links Oct 13 14:50
Eruaran gtg Oct 13 14:50
Eruaran gnite all Oct 13 14:50
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schestowitz I’ve just noticed something… Oct 13 14:55
schestowitz Earlier this month from Remonk (open source analyst): http://redmonk.com/sogrady/2008/1… (“The Forecast? Way More Microsoft”) Oct 13 14:55
schestowitz Redmonk also employs this guy < http://www.greenmonk.net/ > now. Oct 13 14:56
schestowitz I knew his name because Microsoft gave him one of those Vista-laptops-for-bloggers as a gist last year. Oct 13 14:57
schestowitz I also notice this way up in his blog: http://greenmonk.net/greenmonk-interview-with-ro… (  GreenMonk Interview with Rob Bernard, Microsoft’s Chief Environmental Strategist ) Oct 13 14:58
schestowitz For context, it’s about them denying that having Microsoft as a client is an integrity question: http://redmonk.com/sogrady/2008/10/10/boycott_novell/ Oct 13 14:59
schestowitz And I never trust Cote either because he said some bad things about FOSS and his past employer is proprietary software, IIRC> Oct 13 15:00
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twitter M$ always predicts more M$.  You would think they could be classy about it like McDonalds and just brag, “billions and billions served” Oct 13 15:47
twitter Imagine McDs saying, “on every desktop a big mac.” Oct 13 15:48
schestowitz It hypnotises CIOs. Oct 13 15:49
schestowitz “Microsoft will always be there.” Oct 13 15:49
trmanco the openoffice.org site is being hammered Oct 13 15:49
schestowitz EVERYONE/ chooses (*ahem* has not choice but) Microsoft, so it must be good. Oct 13 15:49
twitter Nothing lasts forever.  No one wants Vista and people hate the new Office as we are discussing. Oct 13 15:50
schestowitz Just got an E-mail about it, trmanco Oct 13 15:51
twitter The US market is crazy volatile.  Up 4% instantly, up nearly 7% by noon. Oct 13 15:51
schestowitz “OOo site has crashed with the 3.0 release. Just a thought, could hackers send millions of download inquires to  cause this?” Oct 13 15:51
trmanco cool Oct 13 15:51
schestowitz Ubuntu always falls down when it releases, but if there’s an investigation… there’s unlikely to be ‘hacking’ Oct 13 15:52
schestowitz Sun releases at a good time. Oct 13 15:52
schestowitz Homes and businesses are panicky after last week. Oct 13 15:52
trmanco its like the firefox release, but no Guinness record Oct 13 15:52
schestowitz They won’t rush out for a dual-core with ribbonware and MOOX Oct 13 15:53
twitter DoS attack?  Very likely. Oct 13 15:53
schestowitz Who from? Oct 13 15:53
schestowitz Not likely. Oct 13 15:53
schestowitz BTW, BN gets a lot of traffic today. Oct 13 15:53
schestowitz I don’t know where from. Oct 13 15:53
twitter The kind of duchebags that troll and crapflood every free software forum in the world, that’s who. Oct 13 15:54
twitter They use botnets to disguise their identity and spam their enemies.  Don’t you think they also DoS popular sites at critical times? Oct 13 15:55
schestowitz It would take a lot of skills to cause that to OOorg Oct 13 15:55
schestowitz twitter: they do sometimes. Oct 13 15:55
twitter Really?  I thought bot herding was for drooling morons. Oct 13 15:55
schestowitz That’s why Windows might need a quarantine/eradication. There are 320 million zombies out there. It’s a mess. The Net needs ‘rebooting’ with clean s/w. Oct 13 15:56
schestowitz twitter: well, some 15 year-old runs huge botnets too (hundreds of thousands of PCs) Oct 13 15:57
schestowitz To combat this they need more they costly FBI investigations. Oct 13 15:57
schestowitz My site was DDOSed in 2005 Oct 13 15:58
twitter If they can do it, Bill Gates can pay better people to do worse.  I won’t call this a skill. Oct 13 15:58
twitter I talked to an FBI cyber crime agent a couple of years ago – Largely clueless and M$ poisoned mindset.  “No OS is more secure than others.”  “Run Virus Scans” that kind of thing. Oct 13 15:59
twitter They understood there was a problem but did not understand the solution. Oct 13 16:00
twitter The M$ defenders say it is “impractical” to replace broken software. Oct 13 16:00
schestowitz Yes Oct 13 16:00
schestowitz About the FBI Oct 13 16:00
schestowitz The US govt people use Windows on desktops. Oct 13 16:01
schestowitz Increasingly Linux on servers. Oct 13 16:01
schestowitz But they justify their own choices of MSWord and such stuff by saying “everything else is Equally Bad^TM” Oct 13 16:01
twitter Many in the US Government know better.  They increasingly use SE Linux and other things when it matters. Oct 13 16:02
schestowitz It’s a thought Microsoft rereinforces: there is nothing better to find out there, so stick with us Oct 13 16:02
twitter I know, it always matters… Oct 13 16:02
schestowitz World Bank Oct 13 16:02
schestowitz Please, could you help me find out what they use Oct 13 16:02
schestowitz They said they had spyware and I doubt someone put a Linux rootkit on  their boxes Oct 13 16:04
trmanco this month I will try to increase Ooo adoption in my school, I will start with my noob classmates, and I’ll see how it goes Oct 13 16:04
schestowitz Also to find out: see how Microsoft trashes and sabotages OOo launch Oct 13 16:05
schestowitz It always does something like that, as it did with VMware’s big party and also with PS3 launch parties. Oct 13 16:05
schestowitz It sometimes used other companies to do the trashing and I suspect Novell deserves a pointing finger this time around. Oct 13 16:05
PetoKraus umm, Beranger has good articles today Oct 13 16:05
PetoKraus *has got Oct 13 16:05
twitter Ah ha, google has a “filetype:” filter. Oct 13 16:06
schestowitz In fact, from what I saw in Sun, Novell timed this attack deliberately to make a publicity stunt. Oct 13 16:06
twitter 153,000 M$.DOC Oct 13 16:06
twitter 0 odf Oct 13 16:06
trmanco ? Oct 13 16:06
trmanco no odf docs? Oct 13 16:07
schestowitz OOorg still down Oct 13 16:08
twitter Google does not seem to track odf, png and many other formats.  Bummer. Oct 13 16:08
schestowitz You do it wrong. Oct 13 16:08
PetoKraus is there a changelog mirrored somewhere? Oct 13 16:08
schestowitz There are other ways of counting it. Oct 13 16:08
schestowitz PetoKraus: go to the mirrors directly. Oct 13 16:09
twitter I hope so. Oct 13 16:09
schestowitz I’ll post links in BN actually. Oct 13 16:09
twitter I wish they supported normal search patterns like doc$ Oct 13 16:09
PetoKraus schestowitz: i’d like to see the changelog only, you have it? Oct 13 16:10
schestowitz http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2008/10/… Oct 13 16:10
]]> http://techrights.org/2008/10/14/irc-log-13102008-1/feed/ 0 Links 10/09/2008: Linux Mint 5 XFCE and X.Org 7.4 Are Out http://techrights.org/2008/09/10/linux-mint-5-xfce/ http://techrights.org/2008/09/10/linux-mint-5-xfce/#comments Wed, 10 Sep 2008 21:43:53 +0000 http://boycottnovell.com/2008/09/10/linux-mint-5-xfce/ GNOME bluefish

GNU/Linux

Distributions

F/OSS

Firefox

Leftovers

Digital Tipping Point: Clip of the Day

Larry Augustin, GNU Linux business visionary 07 (2005)

Ogg Theora

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

]]> http://techrights.org/2008/09/10/linux-mint-5-xfce/feed/ 0 Software Patents Again and Trolls on the Offensive http://techrights.org/2008/06/06/trolls-on-the-offensive/ http://techrights.org/2008/06/06/trolls-on-the-offensive/#comments Fri, 06 Jun 2008 09:30:59 +0000 http://boycottnovell.com/2008/06/06/trolls-on-the-offensive/ Assorted news on a new breed of trolls (software patents)

An issue close to our hearts is the nature of software patents, particularly their impact on Free software and relentless attempts to force the world as a whole (not just a handful of nations) to adopt, accept and and recognise them. So here is a roundup of news and picks.

Free Software Icons Comment on Software Patent

This new column piece from Jeremy Allison was aired by ZDNet and also appeared in Tux Deluxe. He uses an astronomical exploration analogy to explain why software patents are a bad, bad idea.

What innovations are we stifling right now with patents that lock out the scientists, amateur and professional, from research ? What new software can’t be created due to these restrictions. We may never know what we didn’t discover or create due to their chilling effects.

It’s like people claiming ownership on particular areas of the sky, and just as absurd. “You can’t look at that star, it’s mine, I patented looking there. Here’s a coin-operated telescope if you want to peek”. Good luck making scientific progress in astronomy with these restrictions.

Unless you are a lawyer or an economist, it’s unlikely to that this is beneficial to you. Glyn Moody published his exchange on this issue with Mark Shuttleworth. It touches on software patents.

As for patents in software, I think society does a very bad deal when it gives someone a monopoly in exchange for nothing. The traditional patent deal was you gave someone a monopoly in exchange for disclosure of a trade secret. You can’t really have trade secrets in software.

Of course, the entrenched interests like to frame this as “patents are all about innovation”, when they really aren’t. There’s very strong, academic, peer-reviewed research that suggests that patents stifle the pace of change and innovation.

[...]

The real insight with patents is that what society is buying with that monopoly is disclosure. And so the real benefit to society is accelerated disclosure of new ideas – not convincing people to invest. People have ideas all the time. You can’t stop the human mind from innovating. People do research and development to win customers, that’s what it’s really about. It’s not to file patents. So the entrenched patent holders really aren’t doing much of a service to society when they articulate their position in very flawed terms.

Watch what he then says about GNOME:

With regard to GNOME and Microsoft, I’m not concerned. My view is that to win, you have to have your own vision. You have to have a very clear idea of what you can deliver that’s unique. You can’t go around sort of chasing someone else’s coat tails. So while I respect the people in the free software community who invest a lot of time in making compatible implementations of other people’s technology, I don’t think that’s the real recipe for success for free software. We have to give people a reason to use our platform for itself, not because it’s a cheap version of someone else’s.

Let’s emphasise this again: “We have to give people a reason to use our platform for itself, not because it’s a cheap version of someone else’s.” Mono developers, are you listening? So while Mark is not overly concerned about legal aspects of this, the technical perspective is one to bear in mind as well. We showed this before.

“Efficient Data Processing” Patent

Another day, another patent lawsuits.

Hewlett-Packard does not agree with a jury’s decision last week to pay damages to Cornell University for infringing on a patent, but the company declined to say Thursday if it will appeal the case.

HP was ordered to pay Cornell damages of US$184 million in the case involving a patent that boosts computer speed by enabling more efficient data processing.

Community Patent

A tireless push for the problematic Community patent [1, 2, 3] seems to continue, according to this new document [PDF]. Digital Majority identifies fragments of interest in the following article.

Funnily enough, national patent offices look like being one of the major remaining obstacles to the creation of a Community patent. At the same European Council meeting referred to in the FT’s trademark story, it looks like European ministers decided that if there are to be any major breakthroughs with regard to a Community patent and an EU-wide patent litigation system, these will not now happen under the Slovenian presidency. Instead, it will be down to the French to force the pace.
While translations officially remain the major obstacle, it is also the case that a Community patent will mean significantly reduced income for most national patent offices in Europe as they will no longer receive renewal fees in the way that they do currently. So, although a Community patent may be what European industry wants and maybe what many of the EU member states want, individual countries have it in their power to hold things up or to derail progress altogether. In off the record conversations, Austria seems to get a lot of mentions in this regard, as does Spain, as does Finland. Whether this is fair or not I couldn’t say: one of the problems with these negotiations is that they take place behind closed doors and so no-one who is not involved can be certain as to what is happening.

Patent Trolling

Remember Patent TrollTracker, who was bullied and sued by patent trolls for revealing what they really are [1, 2, 3]? Here is an update covering the patent trolls’ assault on the individual and the company he worked for. As you ought to expect, patent trolls are remorseless when it comes to the legal system; they exploit and take advantage of it. Sue, sue, sue, or at least intimidate to extract royalties. That’s the business model.

Previously, I explained how Rick Frenkel was sued twice for defamation shortly after revealing he was the author of the now-shuttered Patent Troll Tracker blog. One of those plaintiffs is Johnny Ward, Jr., a Longview, Texas lawyer who’s popular as local counsel in E.D. Texas patent lawsuits; he’s also the son of federal judge T. John Ward, the judge largely responsible for building up the Eastern District as the nation’s most popular (or infamous) patent venue. The other lawsuit was brought by Eric Albritton, another Longview lawyer who has partnered with Ward Jr. on many cases, including ESN v. Cisco, the patent litigation that is the subject of the allegedly defamatory PTT posts.

To give you an idea of how scummy patent trolls can get, watch this short report. [via Digital Majority]

Last year, we noted the trend for various patent hoarding entities to set up a group of shell companies with which to sue companies. Part of the reason for doing so was to make it that much more difficult for the companies being sued to even know who they were fighting against. However, one big patent hoarding organization had another plan too… which just backfired. Plutus IP is a somewhat secretive patent holding company that has set up a bunch of shell companies all named after stars — and apparently it tried to pull a little trick by shuffling patents around among the shells.

Nathan “Shell” Myhrvold [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6], how much does your former employer (Microsoft) love you? █

]]> http://techrights.org/2008/06/06/trolls-on-the-offensive/feed/ 0 Novell’s ‘Binary Bridges’: Could SUSE Ever Inherit the Anti-Features of Windows? http://techrights.org/2008/04/30/binary-bridges-and-security/ http://techrights.org/2008/04/30/binary-bridges-and-security/#comments Wed, 30 Apr 2008 06:28:44 +0000 http://boycottnovell.com/2008/04/30/binary-bridges-and-security/ Dozens of reasons to avoid mimicking Windows

Surprisingly enough, some people remain shocked that Microsoft is collaborative when it comes to political, police-related and federal snooping. Robert Scoble even argued with me about this roughly 3 years ago, denying that such an issue even exists. At the sight of yesterday’s pick from Slashdot many such skeptics and deniers have finally come to realise this:

Microsoft has developed a small plug-in device that investigators can use to quickly extract forensic data from computers that may have been used in crimes.

Forget about passwords, security on the network and so forth. It’s enough to only be a suspect and the rules are bound to be misused (they usually are). No warrants are even necessary. Not so long ago, an animal activist received demands for divulging a PGP key, using laws that were introduced to combat terrorism (and justified in this way).

“If SLES/SLED achieves binary compatibility with Windows, it gets harder to trust what’s being delivered out of the box.”The example above is just one among many anti-features, to borrow the phrase used frequently (maybe even coined) by the Free Software Foundation. Microsoft’s customers happen to be the governments, media companies, developers, OEMs and other parties that are certainly not the end users. Features are provided to the real customers, who are rarely actual users of the personal computer.

Why is this subject brought up again? Well, it is already known that there have been interactions between the government and SUSE and the same goes for Apple with Mac OS X. It’s hardly a secret because it’s too difficult to keep it a secret.

Many people will tell you that you can look at and carefully study the source code in GNU/Linux to verify no back doors exist (and then check also the compiler, the computer chip used to run and compile the program, et cetera). It’s all possible, assuming sufficient transparency at the bottom layers exists, along with that trust which comes with it (threat of leaks is accompanied by openness).

Questions arise, however, as soon as you consider what Novell does with Microsoft. Novell gets access to Microsoft source code and it also incorporates some code which simply cannot be studied. Moreover, it relies a great deal on Microsoft protocols, which themselves can have back doors included (a back door as part of the ‘standard’, as shown in the citations at the very bottom). If SLES/SLED achieves binary compatibility with Windows, it gets harder to trust what’s being delivered out of the box.

Some of the reports below were briefly and partly mentioned also in [1, 2, 3]. It’s worth highlighting the problem again, using just references. Here it goes.

NSA Helps Microsoft with Windows Vista

NSA Helps Microsoft with Windows Vista

Is this a good idea or not?

For the first time, the giant software maker is acknowledging the help of the secretive agency, better known for eavesdropping on foreign officials and, more recently, U.S. citizens as part of the Bush administration’s effort to combat terrorism.”

Microsoft could be teaching police to hack Vista

Microsoft may begin training the police in ways to break the encryption built into its forthcoming Vista operating system.

UK holds Microsoft security talks

UK officials are talking to Microsoft over fears the new version of Windows could make it harder for police to read suspects’ computer files.

Microsoft’s Vista stores much more data—and may affect the discovery process

Vista—Microsoft’s latest operating system—may prove to be most appropriately named, especially for those seeking evidence of how a computer was used.

Dual_EC_DRBG Added to Windows Vista

Microsoft has added the random-number generator Dual_EC-DRBG to Windows Vista, as part of SP1. Yes, this is the same RNG that could have an NSA backdoor.

It’s not enabled by default, and my advice is to never enable it. Ever.

Will Microsoft Put The Colonel in the Kernel?

The kernel meets The Colonel in a just-published Microsoft patent application for an Advertising Services Architecture, which delivers targeted advertising as ‘part of the OS.’

Microsoft patents the mother of all adware systems

The adware framework would leave almost no data untouched in its quest to sell you stuff. It would inspect “user document files, user e-mail files, user music files, downloaded podcasts, computer settings, computer status messages (e.g., a low memory status or low printer ink),” and more. How could we have been so blind as to not see the marketing value in computer status messages?

Here is another possible shocker (depending on one’s expectations really):

Forget about the WGA! 20+ Windows Vista Features and Services Harvest User Data for Microsoft

Are you using Windows Vista? Then you might as well know that the licensed operating system installed on your machine is harvesting a healthy volume of information for Microsoft. In this context, a program such as the Windows Genuine Advantage is the last of your concerns. In fact, in excess of 20 Windows Vista features and services are hard at work collecting and transmitting your personal data to the Redmond company.

Microsoft makes no secret about the fact that Windows Vista is gathering information. End users have little to say, and no real choice in the matter. The company does provide both a Windows Vista Privacy Statement and references within the End User License Agreement for the operating system. Combined, the resources paint the big picture over the extent of Microsoft’s end user data harvest via Vista.

German spyware plans trigger row

The e-mails would contain Trojans – software that secretly installs itself on suspects’ computers, allowing agents to search the hard drives.

FBI ducks questions about its remotely installed spyware

There are plenty of unanswered questions about the FBI spyware that, as we reported earlier this week, can be delivered over the Internet and implanted in a suspect’s computer remotely.

German Security Professionals in the Mist

This hope was important because earlier this year the German Government had introduced similar language into Section 202c StGB of the computer crime laws, which would have made the mere possession of (creates, obtains or provides access to, sells, yields, distributes or otherwise allows access to) tools like John, Kismet, KisMAC, Nessus, nmap, and the ability to Google effectively a crime.

Austria OKs terror snooping Trojan plan

Austria has become one of the first countries to officially sanction the use of Trojan Horse malware as a tactic for monitoring the PCs of suspected terrorists and criminals.

[...]

Would-be terrorists need only use Ubuntu Linux to avoid the ploy. And even if they stuck with Windows their anti-virus software might detect the malware. Anti-virus firms that accede to law enforcement demands to turn a blind eye to state-sanctioned malware risk undermining trust in their software, as similar experience in the US has shown.

Schäuble renews calls for surreptitious online searches of PCs

In his speech towards the end of the national conference of the Junge Union, the youth organization of the ruling conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), in Berlin the Federal Minister of the Interior Wolfgang Schäuble has again come out in favor of allowing authorities to search private PCs secretly online and of deploying the German Armed Forces in Germany in the event of an emergency.

Here is a video of Richard Stallman talking about back doors in Microsoft Windows, among other things. I will be fortunate enough to attend a talk from Stallman tomorrow evening.

Encrypted E-Mail Company Hushmail Spills to Feds

Hushmail, a longtime provider of encrypted web-based email, markets itself by saying that “not even a Hushmail employee with access to our servers can read your encrypted e-mail, since each message is uniquely encoded before it leaves your computer.”

But it turns out that statement seems not to apply to individuals targeted by government agencies that are able to convince a Canadian court to serve a court order on the company.

No email privacy rights under Constitution, US gov claims

This appears to be more than a mere argument in support of the constitutionality of a Congressional email privacy and access scheme. It represents what may be the fundamental governmental position on Constitutional email and electronic privacy – that there isn’t any. What is important in this case is not the ultimate resolution of that narrow issue, but the position that the United States government is taking on the entire issue of electronic privacy. That position, if accepted, may mean that the government can read anybody’s email at any time without a warrant.

Microsoft exec calls XP hack ‘frightening’

“You can download attack tools from the Internet, and even script kiddies can use this one,” said Mick.

Mick found the IP address of his own computer by using the XP Wireless Network Connection Status dialog box. He deduced the IP address of Andy’s computer by typing different numerically adjacent addresses in that IP range into the attack tool, then scanning the addresses to see if they belonged to a vulnerable machine.

Using a different attack tool, he produced a security report detailing the vulnerabilities found on the system. Mick decided to exploit one of them. Using the attack tool, Mick built a piece of malware in MS-DOS, giving it a payload that would exploit the flaw within a couple of minutes.

Duh! Windows Encryption Hacked Via Random Number Generator

A group of researchers headed by Dr. Benny Pinkas from the Department of Computer Science at the University of Haifa succeeded in finding a security vulnerability in Microsoft’s “Windows 2000″ operating system. The significance of the loophole: emails, passwords, credit card numbers, if they were typed into the computer, and actually all correspondence that emanated from a computer using “Windows 2000″ is susceptible to tracking. “This is not a theoretical discovery. Anyone who exploits this security loophole can definitely access this information on other computers,” remarked Dr. Pinkas.

Editors Note: I believe this “loophole” is part of the Patriot Act, it is designed for foreign governments. Seriously, if you care about security, privacy, data, trojans, spyware, etc., one does not run Windows, you run Linux.

From Wikipedia:

In relation to the issue of sharing technical API and protocol information used throughout Microsoft products, which the states were seeking, Allchin alleged that releasing this information would increase the security risk to consumers.

“It is no exaggeration to say that the national security is also implicated by the efforts of hackers to break into computing networks. Computers, including many running Windows operating systems, are used throughout the United States Department of Defense and by the armed forces of the United States in Afghanistan and elsewhere.”

The following two articles are much older and some have doubted their arguments’ validity.

How NSA access was built into Windows

A careless mistake by Microsoft programmers has revealed that special access codes prepared by the US National Security Agency have been secretly built into Windows.

[...]

The first discovery of the new NSA access system was made two years ago by British researcher Dr Nicko van Someren. But it was only a few weeks ago when a second researcher rediscovered the access system. With it, he found the evidence linking it to NSA.

NSA Builds Security Access Into Windows

A careless mistake by Microsoft programmers has shown that special access codes for use by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) have been secretly built into all versions of the Windows operating system.

There are many more citations like these available, shall any be necessary.

In summary, welcome to the twenty-first century, the age when every ‘binaries-boosted’ GNU/Linux distribution should be taken with a grain of salt (not to mention the NSA and SELinux).

Governments ‘wish’ to ‘give’ you control and to offer you privacy, but it’s often just an illusion. The government is an exception to this condition, rule or semi-true promise.

The stories above hopefully illustrate just why Free software is so important (even to national security, assuming you live outside the United States). That’s why those who support back doors-free computing will often be labeled “terrorists”, or those who defend “terrorists”. It’s a straw man really. It’s means for introducing new laws and using the “T” word as an excuse for virtually everything. Here is a discomforting thought:

“Trusted” Computing

Do you imagine that any US Linux distributor would say no to the US government if they were requested (politely, of course) to add a back-door to the binary Linux images shipped as part of their products? Who amongst us actually uses the source code so helpfully given to us on the extra CDs to compile our own version? With Windows of course there are already so many back-doors known and unknown that the US government might not have even bothered to ask Microsoft, they may have just found their own, ready to exploit at will. What about Intel or AMD and the microcode on the processor itself?

Back doors needn’t be incorporated only at software-level. Mind the following articles too:

Chip Design Flaw Could Subvert Encryption

Shamir said that if an intelligence organization discovered such a flaw, security software on a computer with a compromised chip could be “trivially broken with a single chosen message.” The attacker would send a “poisoned” encrypted message to a protected computer, he wrote. It would then be possible to compute the value of the secret key used by the targeted system.

Trouble with Design Secrets

“Millions of PCs can be attacked simultaneously, without having to manipulate the operating environment of each one of them individually,” Shamir wrote.

You could then argue that Sun has some GPL-licensed processors, but who is to check the physical manufacturing process to ensure the designs, which comprise many millions of transistors, are consistently obeyed? This, however, is a lot more complex and far-fetched. How about back doors in standards?

Did NSA Put a Secret Backdoor in New Encryption Standard?

Which is why you should worry about a new random-number standard that includes an algorithm that is slow, badly designed and just might contain a backdoor for the National Security Agency.

NSA Backdoors in Crypto AG Ciphering Machines

We don’t know the truth here, but the article lays out the evidence pretty well.

See this essay of mine on how the NSA might have been able to read Iranian encrypted traffic.

Inheritance of protocols does not seem like a very safe idea. Novell should enter these territories with its mixed-source strategy. █

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