Links 19/05/2008: Important Windows Refund Precedence, Unbundling Near?
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2008-05-19 14:23:27 UTC
- Modified: 2008-05-19 14:23:27 UTC
GNU/Linux
- French court orders Windows refund [Not the first time]
In France, it is illegal to bundle software and to refuse to reimburse the customer for unwanted licences, under Article L.122-1 of the French Consumer Code. The Tribunal de Grande Instance ruled that offering an expensive refund option was tantamount to offering no refund option at all, hence finding for the consumer and requiring that Asus stump up.
- Uxi, a Cuban magazine dedicated to Free Software and Open Codes by the University of Information Sciences
- University of Havana Finally Switches to Free Software
- Avnet Electronics Marketing launches complete MicroBlaze Processor Linux Design Solution
- LM_Sensors 3.0.2 Released
- I swear, this is not another Unixfication post
Is Sun talking with Linus about moving ZFS to GPLv2, with the objective of fast tracking ZFS into a native Linux kernel implementation of the file system driver? Or is Linus considering moving the kernel to GPLv3, with Sun doing the same for OpenSolaris? Is Linux and Solaris DNA going to swap much quicker than previously thought?
- AMD FireGL V8600 On Linux
If we would have looked at the FireGL performance under Windows and Linux a year ago, the results would have been vastly different -- Linux would have lagged far behind the Windows driver. With the new OpenGL driver, however, these results are rather pleasing. In 3DS Max and UGS NX tests from SPECViewPerf, the Windows driver had a small performance lead over the Linux driver. However, in the CATIA, Maya, and Pro/Engineer tests, the Linux driver wound up on top.
- Mandriva 2008.1 KDE hits a sweet spot
Ubuntu
- Hate Ubuntu? It's normal!
The fact that many people dislike the top distribution is not really a problem. The problem is that many of these folks are extremely vocal on the Internet to express their opinions. While no intelligent reader will ever take them seriously, they do give the Linux community a bad name and discourage potential Linux users from joining us.
- [Ubuntu] Weekly Newsletter #91
F/OSS
User Security vs. Vendor 'Security'
- Microsoft confirms Windows adheres to broadcast flag
News that the world's largest software maker has voluntarily agreed to help broadcasters control the recording of their shows is bound to outrage enthusiasts of digital video recorders, as it represents the biggest threat to the practice known as time shifting since the FCC's attempt to require flag adherence.
- Microsoft Stockholder? Take Stock in This...
While we are passing along the subject of anti-virus and spyware, let me ask you this. While MS does offer a somewhat crippled product to protect Windows, they push me toward a subscription purchase to get the full monty. Why am I being cornered into purchasing a "fix" for a problem Microsoft created? Shouldn't the full application be offered as part of Windows? Let me ask you this as well. Why should I purchase and use a product that necessitates I purchase and use another product in order for the first product to work the way it is supposed to?
- Hackers compromise Red Cross earthquake relief site
- Spain arrests 'prolific' hackers
Law and Crime
Leftovers
Recent Techrights' Posts
- Slop's Achilles Heel: It Increases the Workload, Not Just Costs
- Set aside its inability to scale well
- Improving techrights.org
- Technical debt (like 17 years with WordPress) is something that's better to address early, not later
- Laos Leaving GAFAM Behind, Gradually
- Yesterday evening it was measured at 10% for GNU/Linux at one point
- China Says Goodbye to Microsoft
- It is hardly surprising that Windows is shedding off userbase all around the world
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- Microsoft's Mass Layoffs Impact the Ability to Run Microsoft
- Can Microsoft still run Microsoft?
- Microsoft's Active Directory ("AD") and "Entra" Are National Security Threats
- Even the US government concluded Microsoft could not be trusted for security; it issued a formal report about it in April 2024
- Instant Impact: GNU/Linux Skyrockets to 10% in China Days After Policy Changes
- Let's see what the 'aftermath' looks like by year's end
- Links 19/08/2026: Timothy James King (AmigaDOS) Dies, GitHub Goes Offline, Finland Wants to Shun Social Control Media
- Links for the day
- Mass Layoffs at Dropbox, Blame the Debt, Not Slop Hype
- The debt of Dropbox Inc., which isn't an imaginary (estimated) thing, is over 4 billion dollars
- Microsoft is 'Angel of Death' to Developers (Even Its Own), 'Voluntary' Layoffs Happening Again
- From what we are hearing and reading, there are 'voluntary' layoffs again
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, August 18, 2026
- IRC logs for Tuesday, August 18, 2026
- Gemini Links 19/08/2026: Shirts, Handwriting, and Fights in Geminispace
- Links for the day
- They Were Wrong All Along
- Two women combined won't deliver a healthy baby in just 4.5 months
- A "Tech Journalist" Would Not Cover Vote on LLMs as a Sex Issue
- For a moment there you have to pause and wonder, is this a "Tech Journalist" or the Daily Stormer?
- 20,000 by Year's End
- The "New Techrights" will have 20,000 pages by year's end
- Last Night GNU/Linux Measured at 9% in Africa
- Nighttimes in Africa are times when GNU/Linux usage on desktop/laptop devices typically surges, based on Clownflare [...] It changes in favour of GNU/Linux
- Gemini Links 18/08/2026: Google Bait and Switch (Getting College People 'Hooked' on 'Cheap' Storage, Then Backups Gone), a "Question of E-mail"
- Links for the day
- Bluesky is in Trouble
- Bluesky is a private company (unlike Bluesky Digital Assets Corp. in Toronto, that one runs a pyramid scheme!), so it's hard to know for sure just how much money it is losing
- Links 18/08/2026: US Abandons South Korea, New Legal Disputes Over Slop Plagiarism in the Music Scene
- Links for the day
- Linux Losing Interest in Users' Freedom, Pursues DRM Instead
- "Linux" is (or was, as GNU/Linux) meant to empower - not artificially restrict - the users
- GNU/Linux in Ecuador and Colombia: Growing, Still Below International Average
- locals turn away from Windows and try GNU/Linux instead
- IBM is Dead or Dying. Now It Asks Workers to 'Resign' Voluntarily.
- To save face, to pretend no layoffs are happening (as it might alarm shareholders) [...] We keep hearing more and more stories like that
- Links 18/08/2026: Sergey Brin Controlling State Policies, "Dario Amodei's (Anthropic) Wife Is Closely Linked to Jeffrey Epstein"
- Links for the day
- SBS News Interviews Daniel Pocock
- The locals say this PR stunt (by the bigot, Farage) was a waste of money
- Clownflare Sees One in 7 Web Requests in Libya Originating From GNU/Linux
- GNU/Linux has taken a (foot)hold there
- Openwashing and Manifestos Composed in Private by Dictators With Deliberately Addictive (and Subsidised, Bundled) 'Tech'
- It's long, so make a cuppa first
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 153 Out of 200: Decades of Debt, Weaponising Borrowed Money to Try to Put Their Critics in Debt
- they've always had a financial report by now
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Monday, August 17, 2026
- IRC logs for Monday, August 17, 2026
- Gemini Links 18/08/2026: Solar Power, Kipple and Impermanence, Catastrophe Ethics
- Links for the day
- Evri (HermesUK) is Now Run by Bots and Hallucinating Scammers
- Years ago they virtually removed support and tried chatbots instead
- Less Technology, More Life
- Technology is being associated (sometimes rightly) with physical and mental problems
- Google Search Has Gotten Worse (a Lot Worse)
- getting worse
- Birthday in 80 Days
- we'll start decorating and party online with our community
- Loans and Massive Debt at Microsoft, This Won't End Well.
- Microsoft running out of money to pay salaries (to the point of paying people for 'voluntary' layoffs) is a positive sign?
- Gemini Links 17/08/2026: Life in Plain Text, Mimicking KARL, Release of Jugulans, Avoiding Slop
- Links for the day
- Clown Storage Without Backups
- Setting up several reliable copies of the data, plus several off-site backups (this data is nowhere as sensitive as medical data), should only cost a few grand
- FreeCAD is Becoming Slop-ware, Use LibreCAD Instead
- It has regular releases and "Qt5 is mandatory" now [...] they at least audit what they add
- Cuba and Venezuela High in Adoption of GNU/Linux
- some of the "communist" nations
- Links 17/08/2026: Myanmar’s Cholera Outbreak, China Sends Commercial Vessels Through Arctic
- Links for the day
- GAFAM Loyalty Has Come to an End, Morale Low, People Whose Future is Uncertain Choose to Become "Lifers"
- morale is low and there's no loyalty anymore
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 152 Out of 200: Injunctions Do Not Cover Criticism, They Have Scope
- self-incriminating communications
- Clownflare Sees About Quarter of Web Requests in Ireland Coming From GNU/Linux
- Well, in Ireland it seems like many people adopted GNU/Linux
- Clownflare: In Australia and New Zealand GNU/Linux Peaks at Over 10% During Working Hours
- That right there is interesting in its own right
- Slowing Down by Intention
- At the moment we have 6 or 7 ongoing series
- Gemini Links 17/08/2026: Chamboree, Partial Solar Eclipse, Lady Macbeth
- Links for the day
- Links 17/08/2026: "Bluesky Is Down Again!" and "Anti-Social Media"
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Sunday, August 16, 2026
- IRC logs for Sunday, August 16, 2026
Comments
fruit of the loon
2008-05-19 23:02:34
Roy Schestowitz
2008-05-19 23:09:41
So Fia lore Inn
2008-05-19 23:19:25
It should be argued, at least for PC gaming, they have a monopoly on the desktop with gaming, as most people need to use DirectX properly in order for the games to work. Sure Wine, Cedega, and other projects are making some progress and some games may work, and believe me I try every few weeks to see how it is coming along, but again Microsoft still continues its dirty deeds. They lie about Linux and Windows interoperability, "They said it couldn't be done!" Novell agreement bullshit just like the Corel agreement in 2000 or 2001, where Corel Linux was promptly spun off and money/support from Corel to Wine apparantly dried up. Time and time again they come in and either buy out or pollute the environment with thier proprietary crap, and we read another dismal Microsoft article after article every few weeks or more.
If Microsoft is so devoted to bringing Linux and Windows together, I don't see anything on their vast labrynth of shit at Microsoft.com indicating this. Where is the repository of interoperability Linux and Windows software on Microsoft.com? Oh, but you can still get their bullshit "Facts" on Windows and Linux, and that's about it. At least Google has a repository you can add to your Linux install for software from them. In my opinion, don't think Moonlight ("Ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight? I ask that of all my friends") will last much longer or work well for Linux users should Silverblight (Silverlight) suddenly become popular through payoffs and slight of hand corporate tricks.
If you ever want to have Microsoft come clean, no, I don't believe it would ever happen unless the DOJ finally came down hard and raided their offices, took their hardware and software and forced them to release the code and all of the various undiscovered backdoors waiting to be found, it just won't happen. IMO, Microsoft has demonstrated time and time again it will fight tooth and nail against any punishment against them.
We will all be cleansed if true justice were ever to prevail, but in the "United States of Advertising", most of the people in power are paid off, with big pharma and other corporate overlords always padding the handshakes and votes. It is a lost cause, you know it, I know it, but you'll still piss away your vote to one of the two parties who bend over for big pharma to slide in the money and the overpriced medications pop out the other end as we all struggle under the yoke of this dismal fucking world.
Come clean? Microsoft? The whole system is mired in filth.
Good luck.
We now return you to your normal life, ostrich head in the sand, millions of tokers/beer drinkers who raise their fist while watching Fight Club and return to their soap opera pitiful lives of slavery as the credits roll.
Vote for Wesley Snipes for President in 2008, neither one of the big parties will get anything done, they are a part of the problem.