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
- LLM Slop is an Addiction One Can Quit
- Sites that crossed over to "the dark side" (slop) can still return, and even fully regain the trust lost by betraying people with 'botspew'.
- BILD is Apparently Covering Up Cocaine Use at Europe's Second-Largest Institution, the European Patent Office, as It's Based on Germany
- Journalist contact details
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- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Saturday, November 15, 2025
- IRC logs for Saturday, November 15, 2025
- Father of GNU Giving Keynote Talk Today, Father of Linux Collaborating With Linus Tech Tips (LTT)
- Some time soon we can expect Linus Tech Tips (LTT) / Linus Media Group / Linus Gabriel Sebastian to produce something with Torvalds
- Gemini Links 16/11/2025: Emacs Font Fun and UI x TUI x CLI
- Links for the day
- Flagging or Labelling LLM Slop Meaningfully to Discourage the Practice
- We're still refining the annotation for better contrast
- Techrights Site Search Pushed to 'Stable'
- we've just added it to the navigation menu and footer
- Situation Publishing's DevClass (Sister Site of The Register MS, Run by MS Tim) Has Been Abandoned, Microsoft's MS Tim Now Interjects Anti-Linux Directly Into The Register MS
- Not only does this sell Microsoft; it's also googlebombing - as before - the real "maui" (or "MauiKit" in Linux).
- Many IBM Workers to Become Unemployed a Few Weeks - Maybe Just Days - Before Christmas
- as one last humiliating exercise IBM pimps/trots them out in social control media, telling "happy" stories
- Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, WebProNews, and Linux Journal (Slopfarms)
- More fake articles about "Linux"
- Links 15/11/2025: Openwashing of Kubernetes and Austerity Planned for Canada
- Links for the day
- Links 15/11/2025: "Small Web, Big Voice" and China Cracking Down on Slop
- Links for the day
- Links 15/11/2025: Science, Conflicts, and International Politics
- Links for the day
- Annus Horribilis at the European Patent Office (EPO)
- The article explains how the EPO "Cocainegate" scandal is turning 2025 into an Annus Horribilis for Campinos
- Links 15/11/2025: Latest in "Component Abuse Challenge" and Qt Keeps Promoting LLM Slop
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 15/11/2025: Egoism, Misunderstood Universe, DeX, and "Why desktop Linux is growing"
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Friday, November 14, 2025
- IRC logs for Friday, November 14, 2025
- Richard Stallman Talk Tomorrow in Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress 2
- It's not clear if a livestream of some kind will exist
- Many "Last Days" at IBM on Allegedly the "Last Day" for IBM to RA People This Quarter
- "Last day" is "social media code" for "got laid off", more so at IBM because they compel people to act like it's a happy departure with gratitude, photos and so on
- Slopwatch: Almost a Majority of Google News is Now Slopfarms (Fake Sites, Fake Articles)
- Google News is noise
- Gemini Links 14/11/2025: Boredom, "Twenty Percent Cooler", and Moving From Windows to Artix
- Links for the day
- Links 14/11/2025: YouTube's Trap for Publishers, Lack of Accountability a Growing Legal Matter/Concern
- Links for the day
- Many Times in the Past We Said That Microsoft Lunduke Was Becoming a Spokesperson/Voice for - and Occasionally Weaponising - 4Chan. He's Proving Us Right This Week.
- Stay away
- The Register MS is Profiting From Pyramid Schemes Run by Americans
- We cannot help but feel disgusted by what this publisher became
- IBM: Hiring, Then Disposing of, Unpaid or Low-Paid European Staff to Spread or Play Up Buzzwords and Hype
- Like Google With "Summer of Code", this seems like a low-cost marketing stunt more than anything substantial
- Casual Reminder That We Also Publish GNU/Linux Stories and News Coverage in Tux Machines
- Without trust in our robustness (including fearlessness, not just success in protecting stories and sources) we'd not have come this far, nor would I devote my life to it
- The Europe Conversation: The EPO Has Cocaine at the High-Level Management and Isn't Denying It
- Now we plan to ensure the matter is properly documented in European press
- Links 14/11/2025: Goddard Space Center Abused by the White House, Jeffrey Epstein Scandal Expands (Cheetos Need Distraction)
- Links for the day
- Corporate Media Helps IBM Relay Vapourware (Misinformation/Fake News)
- They compensate with words for a lack of compelling products
- Hacking on Recipes
- Maybe, in due course perhaps, we can also release some of our own cooking recipes or "forks"
- Web Searches Far Too Polluted, Gamed by LLM Slop and "Plagiarised Information Synthesis Systems" (PISS)
- old articles are already getting difficult to find in mainstream search engines, even if they are still online
- Privacy-respecting Metasearch Engine SearX/SearXNG Still Jailed by Microsoft
- The official site and code still sadly controlled by Microsoft
- "AI" is a Lie. It Always Was. What They Call "AI" Is Not.
- This MSM does no favours to the economy
- Our First Week of Our Twentieth Year
- My wife and I have had a very productive week here and in Tux Machines
- Links 14/11/2025: Sleep Research, France to Suspend Pension 'Reform' Law, and Linux Foundation's Latest Openwashing
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 14/11/2025: KDE vs XFCE and Leaving the Web
- Links for the day
- Google Admits It Lost Control of Slop (While Google Itself is Selling Slop, Currently Under the Name "Gemini" Instead of "Bard")
- Slop is nothing to be celebrated
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Thursday, November 13, 2025
- IRC logs for Thursday, November 13, 2025
- Mozilla Handed Over Control Over Firefox to Microsoft, Now Firefox is Preloaded With Microsoft Spyware and It's Proprietary
- Who would still want to download Firefox?
- Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, Brian Fagioli, and WebProNews
- becoming a slopfarm is a site's suicide
- "Sponsored Posts" in The Register MS
- That's The Register MS in 2025
- IBM RAs in India (Apparently)
- IBM is a bad place to work
- Another Richard Stallman Talk in Two Days
- His talk will be a remote talk, as he won't be travelling to Argentina
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.