begin oe_protect.scr
Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> espoused:
> __/ [ Mark Dodel ] on Friday 08 September 2006 22:13 \__
>
>> On Fri, 8 Sep 2006 09:15:47 UTC, Roy Schestowitz
>> <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>
>> -> Microsoft runs out of Vista product keys
>> ->
>> -> ,----[ Quote ]
>> -> | A small hitch has cropped up in Microsoft's beta-testing program for
>> -> | Vista: the software giant has temporarily run out of product keys for
>> -> | testers.
>> -> `----
>> ->
>> ->
>>
> http://www.apcstart.com/site/dwarne/2006/09/1314/microsoft-runs-out-of-vista-product-keys
>> -> -> Sounds similar to WGA false positives.
>>
>> You know what is really hilarious? I read in my local paper today
>> that a high school was built in Philadelphia entirely at the direction
>> of Microsoft. They provided no funding just their "management
>> expertise". The retards left out the library. That way gates can
>> control all the information these poor kids get to see I guess. The
>> local tax payers were hosed as the damn thing cost over $46 million.
>> Though "Microsoft will fund a full-time Microsoft Technology
>> Architect". weenieDOS only for sure. What fantastic advise the
>> scumsucking cretins at microskank provide!
>>
>> Mark
>
> I agree that textbooks are a thing of the past, but I doubt Wikipedia will be
> used for education (OLPC will sport Wikipedia, BTW). That school is,
> needless to mention, a Microsoft developer/supporter factory. And I bet that
> the course material will be based on Microsoft's biassed encylopedia, which
> is tied to a business agenda. Have a look:
I'm not so sure that textbooks are as dead as you might think. I have
two kids of school age, who spend a lot of time on the net and a lot of
time in books, finding out what they need.
Books are great, they provide tested, edited and checked information at
the appropriate level; it's consistent, well presented, and even spelt
properly.
When they go looking for info on the web, they invariably get highly
politicised information (have you looked at the US view of history, for
example? eg., John Logie Baird invented television? Yes, everywhere
except in the US, where it's claimed that someone else did!). Now
getting such information is fine, as it helps them see how information
can be and is warped to suit local audiences (have you ever looked at
the Roman's views of Hannibal, say?); but you really have to help kids
understand what's happening.
>
> Changing the Report, After the Vote
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
>| That agreement was nearly imperiled last weekend, though. Gerri
>| Elliott, corporate vice president at Microsoft's Worldwide Public
>| Sector division, sent an e-mail message to fellow commissioners Friday
>| evening saying that she "vigorously" objected to a paragraph in which
>| the panel embraced and encouraged the development of open source software
>| and open content projects in higher education. The paragraph read like
>| this:
>|
>| "The commission encourages the creation of incentives to promote
>| the development of open-source and open-content projects at universities
>| and colleges across the United States, enabling the open sharing of
>| educational materials from a variety of institutions, disciplines, and
>| educational perspectives. Such a portal could stimulate innovation, and
>| serve as the leading resource for teaching and learning. New initiatives
>| such as OpenCourseWare, the Open Learning Initiative, the Sakai Project,
>| and the Google Book project hold out the potential of providing universal
>| access both to general knowledge and to higher education."
> `----
I still find the levels of corruption in the US amazing...
>
> http://insidehighered.com/news/2006/09/01/commission
>
> Microsoft /controls/ education at a federal level.
>
> Also see (old messages from Nessuno):
>
>
> Quote:
> ------------
> Every day, millions of students taking online college courses act in
> much the same way as their bricks-and-mortar counterparts. After
> logging on, they move from course to course and do things like submit
> work in virtual drop boxes and view posted grades - all from a
> program running on a PC.
> Click to learn more...
>
> It may seem self-evident that virtual classrooms should closely
> resemble real ones. But a major education software company contends it
> wasn't always so obvious. And now, in a move that has shaken up the
> e-learning community, Blackboard Inc. has been awarded a patent
> establishing its claims to some of the basic features of the software
> that powers online education.
> -------------
> End quote
>
> http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060827/ap_on_hi_te/e_learning_dispute
>
> See also:
>
> http://money.netscape.cnn.com/story.jsp?floc=FF-APO-1333&idq=/ff/story/0001%2F20060827%2F1457575948.htm&sc=1333
> http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=2362437
> http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/08/02/1217219
>
> This may appear to be just a new, obnoxious example of patent trolling
> (in this case by Blackboard). However, there are connections between
> Blackboard and Microsoft:
>
> http://www.blackboard.com/company/press/release.aspx?id=510542
> http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/751121
> http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2001/04/23/daily13.html
> http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/archives/2001/12/04/news/4013.shtml
> http://chronicle.com/free/v48/i13/13a02701.htm
>
> Quote:
> ----------
> Charlene A. Douglas isn't surprised that Microsoft wants to get into
> the booming business
> of online-software systems for higher education, or that it has
> recently formed a close alliance with Blackboard, a company whose
> software helps colleges put their courses on the Internet....
>
> In what the two companies call a "preferred relationship," Microsoft
> will promote Blackboard to its education customers and Blackboard will
> suggest that its clients use the Microsoft Windows operating system to
> run Blackboard on their servers to take advantage of special features
> available only to Microsoft users.
> ----------
> End quote
>
> See also:
> http://www.marketwire.com/mw/release_html_b1?release_id=98283
>
>
> Additions:
>
> Quote:
> ----------
> US courts are endangering the very existence of free and open source
> software, according to a leading digital rights pressure group...
>
> The Federal Court of Appeals has recently used a "suggestion test" to
> determine whether or not a patent is "obvious". The EFF argues that the
> test forces those opposing a patent's grant to produce documents
> proving that even the most obvious improvement has been suggested
> before....
>
> "In the case of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) projects, the
> suggestion test has especially pernicious effects," it says. "Because
> [open source] collaborations are forged primarily through community
> rather than capital investment, many FOSS projects lack the funding to
> pay patent counsel, much less afford litigation. Thus, the normal costs
> of doing business in the patent-laden world of information technology
> - opinion letters, litigation, etc. - are exponentially detrimental
> for FOSS."
> -------------
> End quote
>
> http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/08/29/oss_under_pressure/
>
> My addition:
>
> Patent fight rattles academic computing
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
>| The patent, awarded to the Washington, D.C.-based company in January
>| but announced last month, has prompted an angry backlash from the
>| academic computing community, which is fighting back in techie fashion --
>| through online petitions and in a sprawling Wikipedia entry that helps
>| make its case.
>|
>| Critics say the patent claims nothing less than Blackboard's ownership
>| of the very idea of e-learning. If allowed to stand, they say, it could
>| quash the cooperation between academia and the private sector that has
>| characterized e-learning for years and explains why virtual classrooms
>| are so much better than they used to be.
>|
>| [...]
>|
>| Why are universities concerned? Many use off-the-shelf systems sold
>| by Blackboard already. But others use rival companies like Desire2Learn,
>| or mix and match to meet their own needs. Because universities are
>| decentralized and have such varied systems, one size rarely fits all,
>| says Feldstein. Many borrow from open-source courseware programs with
>| names like "Moodle" and "the Sakai Project."
> `----
>
> http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060827/ap_on_hi_te/e_learning_dispute
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Roy
>
--
| Mark Kent -- mark at ellandroad dot demon dot co dot uk |
Although golf was originally restricted to wealthy, overweight Protestants,
today it's open to anybody who owns hideous clothing.
-- Dave Barry
|
|
