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Links 12/7/2012: OS4 12.5 Released, LibreOffice 3.5.5 Released, CETA Worries





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Contents





GNU/Linux



Free Software/Open Source



  • Free photo editing apps reviewed


  • Free-software activists hope for detained engineer's freedom


  • How To Recruit Open-Source Developers
    Wondering how you can recruit open-source contributors for your project? Here's how.

    Donnie Berkholz, a council member and developer for Gentoo Linux as well as an analyst at RedMonk, has presented on the topic of recruiting open-source contributors.


  • Google Doodle Turing Machine Now Open Source
    Following on from the release of the Moog Synthesizer Doodle code, Google has now released the JavaScript of its Turing Machine puzzle.


  • Ecotrust releases open source tool for complex decision makers
    Ecotrust this week released an open source software platform that the nonprofit group hopes will be used to support collaborative processes for complex decision making.

    The software, called Madrona, builds on Ecotrust's 20 years of experience using mapping, database and other software tools to tackle complex topics like marine reserves and forest management.

    "Madrona is essentially a packaging of features into a single platform," said Tim Welch, senior developer for Ecotrust.


  • Events



  • Web Browsers



    • Mozilla





  • SaaS

    • Stealthy Big Switch plugs into OpenStack clouds
      Big Switch Networks is not even out of stealth mode and has not yet revealed its aspirations and products for software defined networks – SDNs, in modern parlance – and yet the company is nonetheless contributing to the open source efforts to build more flexible and virtual network infrastructure and hoping to build awareness ahead of its eventual launch.


    • OpenNebula 3.6 integrates virtual appliance marketplace
      The OpenNebula project has announced the release of OpenNebula 3.6, code named "Lagoon" after the Lagoon Nebula (Messier 8). The latest stable version of the open source cloud computing toolkit brings performance improvements and better virtualisation management.




  • Data



  • Oracle/Java/LibreOffice



  • Healthcare

    • OSEHRA Open Source Community Celebrates 1,000th Member
      OSEHRA, (Open Source Electronic Health Record Agent) the nonprofit dedicated to advancing open source electronic health records and accelerating innovation in health care information technology, announced today it has surpassed 1,000 authenticated users.




  • Business





    • Semi-Open Source

      • Spring Creator Rod Johnson Leaves VMware
        Rod Johnson, who wrote the first version of the open-source, Java-based Spring framework, and later co-founded SpringSource, has left his position as SVP and GM of VMware's SpringSource product division. Johnson joined the Palo Alto, Calif.-based virtualization company when it acquired SpringSource in 2009, where he then served as CEO.


      • VMware Revamps Its Zimbra Enterprise E-mail Server
        VMware plans to make a beta version of an upgrade to its Zimbra Collaboration Server available for download on Wednesday, with shipments in final form scheduled for later this quarter, the company said.






  • BSD

    • Debian: Squeeze vs. Wheezy On Linux And kFreeBSD
      With Debian Wheezy now frozen for its release sometime next year, here are some early benchmarks comparing the performance of Debian 6.0.5 "Squeeze" to the latest packages for the Debian 7.0 "Wheezy" release. For this Squeeze vs. Wheezy comparison, both Debian GNU/Linux and Debian GNU/kFreeBSD were benchmarked from an Intel 64-bit system.




  • FSF/FSFE/GNU/SFLC

    • Comparison of Diagnostics between GCC and Clang


    • GCC 4.8 To Improve Diagnostics Abilities
      One of the long-advertised features of LLVM's Clang C/Objective-C/C++ compiler has been that it offers more user-friendly diagnostics than the GNU Compiler Collection. Historically this has been true, especially against GCC 4.2 -- the last GPLv2 compiler release. However, GCC developers have been working to improve this situation. With GCC 4.8, it looks like more of this work will come to fruition.




  • Licensing



  • Openness/Sharing

    • TB or not TB: India crowdsources research
      Facing nearly 2 million new tuberculosis cases every year — more and more of them drug-resistant — India has a bigger stake in finding a better treatment for TB than any other country.

      Yet until recently, obstacles hindered Indian scientists' efforts to conduct advanced research.

      The reason? India's university professors are bogged down with teaching, and few have the laboratory facilities needed to do cutting edge work. And every year, more of the best minds are lured away by the pharmaceutical industry — which has little interest in TB, from which there is little money to be made.


    • Open Access/Content

      • Open education, open source, and the dilemma over e-textbooks
        Forty years ago, John Holt wondered whether an educational revolution as profound as open education could survive unless it became part of a wider and deeper movement of social change. Until open source and the concept of an open education began to take hold, John Holt's vision of an open education seemed to be a pipe dream.








Leftovers



  • Defence/Police/Aggression

    • Bravery and drone pilots
      The Pentagon considers awarding war medals to those who operate America's death-delivering video games






  • Finance

    • America the Beautiful: A Fire Sale for Foreign Corporations
      This may be one of the most important stories ever ignored by the so-called "lame-stream, liberal" media. It's unlikely you're losing sleep over US trade negotiations, but the unfolding business agreement among the US and eight Pacific nations -the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) - should cause every US citizen, from the Sierra Club to the Tea Party to get their pitch forks and torches out of the closet and prepare to "storm the Bastille." The TPP negotiations have been going on for two years under extreme secrecy, no information has been made available to either the press or Congress about the US position. But on June 12, a document was leaked to the watchdog group, Public Citizen, revealing the current US position and the reason for the secrecy. The contents are surreal, shocking and prima facia evidence for how corporations have become the master puppeteers of our government.


    • City Of Oakland Taps Occupy Wall Street To Take On Goldman Sachs
      As the world’s most powerful investment bank Goldman Sachs is no stranger to fighting all sorts of battles, but the city of Oakland, Cailf. is challenging the firm like no one ever has before.




  • Internet/Net Neutrality

    • Calling for an Open and International Dialogue for the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement Negotiations
      The Internet Society welcomes the European Parliament’s rejection of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) as a strong message in favour of open and transparent processes in negotiations dealing with policy issues pertaining to the Internet. The vote followed widespread protests throughout Europe, with Internet campaigners claiming that it posed threats to online freedoms. ACTA was originally meant to address, among other things, the issue of online piracy and the sale or promotion of counterfeit goods via the Internet.




  • Intellectual Monopolies



    • Copyrights

      • Mega-victory: Kim Dotcom search warrants "invalid," mansion raid "illegal"
        On January 20, New Zealand police showed up in style at the mansion of flamboyant Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom, swarming over the property and bringing along two police helicopters. They cut their way through locks and into the home's "panic room," where Dotcom was hiding in apparent fear of a kidnapping or robbery. They seized 18 luxury vehicles. They secured NZ$11 million in cash from bank accounts. And they grabbed a whopping 150TB of data from Dotcom's many digital devices.


      • Reforming copyright for the digital age: the Commission takes an important step forward
        Last week’s vote on ACTA – although hardly a surprise for those who’ve been following – was a reminder about the big debate currently going on, about how to balance intellectual property rights with Internet freedoms

        For me it’s about making it easier for artists to promote their work widely, and make a living from it: without constraining the immense innovation of the online world. And, for me, the current copyright system achieves all of those objectives poorly.


      • ACTA

        • Karel De Gucht does it again: CETA
          The European Treaties, however, provide for this loophole which was created for the WTO TRIPs agreement. I agree with Ante Wessels that the Article 207 process should not be used for bypassing national and European legislators. While the European Parliament disagreed with the adoption of measures in ACTA, De Gucht’s administration has other bilateral agreements in the pipeline to the same ends. They deserve the watchful eyes of concerned parties.


        • ACTA Lives: How the EU & Canada Are Using CETA as Backdoor Mechanism To Revive ACTA
          Last week, the European Parliament voted overwhelmingly to reject ACTA, striking a major blow to the hopes of supporters who envisioned a landmark agreement that would set a new standard for intellectual property rights enforcement. The European Commission, which negotiates trade deals such as ACTA on behalf of the European Union, has vowed to revive the badly damaged agreement. Its most high-profile move has been to ask the European Court of Justice to rule on ACTA's compatibility with fundamental European freedoms with the hope that a favourable ruling could allow the European Parliament to reconsider the issue.


        • The Inclusion of ACTA Within CETA: Why The Concern Is Warranted
          My post yesterday on how the EU plans to use the Canada - EU Trade Agreement (CETA) as a backdoor mechanism to implement the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) provisions has attracted considerable attention with coverage from European media and activists. The European Commission refused to comment, stating that it does not comment on leaks.


        • ACTA is back, completed with investment protections
          The EU – Canada trade agreement (CETA) contains the same draconian civil and criminal measures as ACTA, see Michael Geist. He recommends: “With anti-ACTA sentiment spreading across Europe, Canada should push to remove the intellectual property chapter from CETA altogether.”










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