In today's digest, we have:
* MySQL a "Disruptive Technology", Sun Makes a Good Home
* ODF is Winning Governments, Microosft Resorts to "Propaganda War"
* Early Signs of Microsoft's Willingness to Support ODF
* Erik 'Microsoft' Huggers Hires Open Source Expert for MSBBC
* Linux Good for the Environment, for People's Health
* [Rival] Microsoft Windows Zombies Attack Estonia Again
* Bill Gates Corrupts a PM in a Nation of Linux and FOSS
* Review of Intel's Worst Nightmare, the Linux-powered OLPC
* Novell Loses Top Executive, Ben Hendrick
* New Development Release of GNOME, Miro 1.1 (Formerly Democracy
Player)
* PS3 GNU/Linux Without the Installation!
* Sun Makes Project Wonderland Open Source
* [Rival] More Ship Jumping at Microsoft
* More Wins for Linux-based WiFi, Embedded Linux
* [Rival] Microsoft Keeps Hush-hush About Stuart Scott's Misconduct
* [OT] Political Censor (AT&T) Increases Internet Filtering
* More Low-cost Laptops Come to India with GNU/Linux
* US Government Might Abandon Old Desktop Paradigm
* [Rival] Microsoft OOXML Manipulation/Fraud in Croatia (Again!)
* [Rival] Burton Group Has Possible Track Record of Microsoft Shilling
* [Rival] Microsoft Made Page Rendering Dangerous, Fatal
* Wine-based Installation for Linux Simplified Greatly with PlayOnLinux
* [Rival] Microsoft's Recent Patent Application Claimed "Stupid",
Can Backfire
* Scientific Linux 5.1 is Released, Other Distributions Also
* Novell's Antitrust Lawsuits Aggainst Microsoft Carries on
* Blogger Covering Patent Trolls Receives Threats, Barrionuevo Becomes
FFII President
* Google Brags Charity, Recommends NASA Uses Free Software
* [Rival] Microsoft Technical Evangelist Hates Windows Home Server
* [Rival] Microsoft Looks for Suckers to Hurt ODF, Finds Shill
* Latest Free Software and Open Source Success Stories (Batch)
* Sun Microsystems a Good Home for MySQL, Will Fix Issues
* A Production-ready KDE 4.1 Just Months Away
* Linux with and Against the Macs (Symbiotic?)
* Secunia Added to New Credibility Index with Poor Rating for FUD
* Wii a Wiinner Console, XBox360 Get Class-action Lawsuits
* New FOSS Interviews: OLPC, Gaia, Autopackage
* [SOT] FreeKnowledge.EU Launched, Creative Commons CC0 Also
* Great Reviews of SimplyMEPIS 7.0 and Neuros
* [Rival] Microsoft to Intrude Brains for Advertisers
* People Beg to Stay Away from Vista, Linux+Hardware Cheaper Than Vista
* Btrfs Coming to the Linux Kernel
* [Rival] Microsoft Snubs Industry Standards, Attacks Google by Proxy?
* Raising Children on GNU/Linux; IBM Foresees Bright Future
* [Rival] Windows Vista Breaks Itself, Thanks to Microsoft
This is a digest of the previous 24 hours (GMT day) of [News] postings
in comp.os.linux.advocacy. If you have any comments, suggestions or
remarks, please reply to this message and I will take account of all
that I can. The digest is created from my leafnode news spool, which is
pre-filtered, so some posters' articles might not appear.
Try the faq at: http://www.faqs.org/faqs/linux/advocacy/faq-and-primer/
for more information about cola.
Just like other public, unmoderated discussion fora, cola has
its share of disruptive posters. This blog has been created by
a concerned cola netizen to assist newcomers in identifying them:
http://colatrolls.blogspot.com/
In order to find the last week's digests, try:
http://groups.google.co.uk/groups/search?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&num=10&q=group%3Acomp.os.linux.advocacy+insubject%3Alinux+insubject%3Anews+insubject%3Adigest+author%3Amark.kent%40demon.co.uk&as_drrb=q&as_qdr=w&safe=off&qt_s=Search
Alternatively, you can start at the first one, posted 3/Sep/06, and
work fowards:
http://groups.google.co.uk/group/comp.os.linux.advocacy/browse_thread/thread/204520deb472e5ef/fa8c1f5e12433243?&hl=en#fa8c1f5e12433243
I very much hope that you find this digest useful. I also run a blog in
which I post occasionally, which you can find at http://thereisnomagic.org
It does tend to the philosophical end of free software, engineering and
economics, you have been warned!
You can email me at: echo mark@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, removing
the obvious bit.
Happy reading, Mark Kent, Digest Editor.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message-ID: <3146056.ks71ezJiuY@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [News] MySQL a "Disruptive Technology", Sun Makes a Good Home
Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 02:37:52 +0000
A bright future for MySQL
,----[ Quote ]
| MySQL is an example of a disruptive technology. At first, it was too puny for
| the proprietary databases to notice, and satisfied only small users. But its
| powers grew, and the size of the companies using it also increased. It cannot
| match the upper limits of DB2 capability at this point, but it will be
| interesting to see if and when that day comes. But it doesnâ??t have to; it is
| already transforming most of the database market. May Sun invest the money
| (and employ the open source software developers) to take it to the top.
`----
http://enterpriselinuxlog.blogs.techtarget.com/2008/01/17/a-bright-future-for-mysql/
Five Questions Facing Sun Micro's MySQL Acquisition
,----[ Quote ]
| Ever work for a small company that was acquired by a big, legacy technology
| company? Ever work in a nimble organisation where decisions were made in an
| instant -- rather than debated in a committee? As a fast-moving Web 2.0
| pioneer, MySQL will need to adjust to Sun's more mature culture. On the flip
| side, Sun will need to maintain the best of MySQL's fast-moving, creative,
| open culture.
`----
http://seekingalpha.com/article/60555-five-questions-facing-sun-micro-s-mysql-acquisition?source=yahoo
Related:
Sun Microsystems Announces Agreement to Acquire MySQL
,----[ Quote ]
| Sun Microsystems, Inc. has said that it has entered into a definitive
| agreement to acquire MySQL AB, an open source icon and developer of one of
| the worldâ??s fastest growing open source databases for approximately $1
| billion in total consideration. The acquisition accelerates Sun's position in
| enterprise IT to now include the $15 billion database market. Today's
| announcement reaffirms Sun's position as the leading provider of platforms
| for the Web economy and its role as the largest commercial open source
| contributor says Sun.
`----
http://www.linuxelectrons.com/news/general/15752/sun-microsystems-announces-agreement-acquire-mysql
------------------------------
Message-ID: <1379926.TgEmbYmr69@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [News] ODF is Winning Governments, Microosft Resorts to "Propaganda War"
Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 02:40:27 +0000
ODF vs. OOXML on the Eve of the BRM
,----[ Quote ]
| The unexpected success of ODF in the marketplace is a symptom of fundamental
| shifts in a maturing IT ecosystem, characterised by increasingly
| sophisticated and demanding end users, resurgent competition, new enabling
| technologies, and other forces that are largely beyond Microsoft's control.
|
| History teaches that monopolies in the marketplace, like empires in the
| broader world, are rarely sustainable over long periods of time, and
| ultimately fall victim to both external attack and internal weaknesses. The
| degree to which Microsoft's competitors have embraced, and many Microsoft
| customers and national governments alike have resonated, with ODF are strong
| indications that the foundations upon which Microsoft's historical dominance
| has been based may at last be weakening.
`----
http://www.consortiuminfo.org/standardsblog/article.php?story=20080117130300657
OOXML: the propaganda war has begun
,----[ Quote ]
| The arguments put forward by the Burton group do not hold much water - OOXML
| is not anti-competitive, it will become more widespread in use (due to the
| widespread use of Microsoft Office), ODF is driven by anti-Microsoft
| sentiment more than any technical merit, etc. Sun Microsystems comes in for
| quite a bit of bashing.
`----
http://www.itwire.com/content/view/16153/1090/
"We should dedicate a cross-group team to come up with ways to leverage Windows
technically more."
--Jim Allchin, Microsoft fiend
Related:
OOXML Questions Microsoft Cannot Answer in Geneva
,----[ Quote ]
| At Left: Highly respected Martin Bryan. As outgoing Conveyor of ISO/IEC
| JTC1/SC34 WG1 he accused MS of stacking his group and said, â??The days of open
| standards development are fast disappearing. Instead we are
| getting â??standardisation by corporation,â?? something I have been fighting
| against for the 20 years I have served on ISO committees.â?? Â Â
|
| The trend is that Microsoft is opening up the boring legacy bits of OOXML, in
| stupefying detail, while neglecting to document the pieces actually needed
| for interoperability at a competitive level, like macros, scripting,
| encryption, etc. In essence, Microsoft is opening up and releasing the file
| format information that competitors like OpenOffice.org have already figured
| out on their own, while still at the same time restricting access to the
| information needed to compete. And the more MS realises it has to open up the
| specification, deprecate and modernise OOXML, what do you get? You get XML.
| XML is XML. Strip out the non-XML garbage from OOXML and you will have the
| OpenDocument Format. Â Â Â Â
|
| [...]
|
| We need for MICROSOFT TO ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS. Rather than hiding all the
| information we need and trying to cloak OOXML as ODF, we ask Microsoft to
| please get off the sinking ship, collaborate with the global community (which
| will welcome Microsoft) and help develop one universal file format for all. Â
| Long term, Microsoft can only benefit from cooperating with the market!
`----
http://www.fanaticattack.com/2008/ooxml-questions-microsoft-cannot-answer-in-geneva.html
What Will and Won't Be Discussed at February's BRM on MSOOXML
,----[ Quote ]
| So if you had concerns about Microsoft's patent policy, forgeddaboudit.
| It's been magically erased, and any comments are out of order.
|
| [...]
|
| They have chosen a room that can seat only 120 people for reasons unknown, so
| there may not be room for all the delegates. Let me guess. The head of the Â
| delegation is a Microsoft guy, and the ones who can't fit in the room are the
| ones who have issues with the proposed format? You think? Hey, some of us
| remember the games that were played already over rooms too small for IBM and
| Sun. Â Â
|
| This is starting to look really, really bad. At a minimum, you have to say
| this is the very opposite of an open process. I can't help but notice too
| that Brown lists Rick Jelliffe's as one of the "cool blogs" he recommends on
| Brown's blog. I think that is what novelists would call foreshadowing. Â
`----
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20071211055139790
Portugal will send Microsoft to the BRM
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft, as president of the Portuguese Technical Committee, is already
| controlling who will be at the BRM for Portugal. The Head of Delegation will
| be... Microsoft! Â
`----
http://www.noooxml.org/forum/t-27501/portugal-will-send-microsoft-to-the-brm
IBM is still locked out of the Portuguese OOXML meeting
,----[ Quote ]
| In spite of various communications, we [IBM] are still locked out and will
| not be allowed to participate. Microsoft will be there, as well as a special
| Microsoft guest, as will various Microsoft business partners, and others. Â
`----
http://www.sutor.com/newsite/blog-open/?p=1755
Microsoft's Stephen McGibbon to represent Ireland at the BRM?
,----[ Quote ]
| There are rumours circulating in Ireland that Microsoft's Stephen McGibbon
| might be part of the Irish delegation to attend the BRM in Geneva. Microsoft
| is already controlling the Portuguese delegation, you can expect that they
| will control half of the table at Geneva. O'MyGod! Â
`----
http://www.noooxml.org/forum/t-29606/microsoft-s-stephen-mcgibbon-to-represent-ireland-at-the-brm
Opinion: Einstein's definition of insanity...
,----[ Quote ]
| But ISO standards have a much more political dimension to them than Internet
| (IETF) or World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) standards. Every country can vote, Â
| although not all chose to do so. Over the past few weeks, some strange and
| rather irregular national positions have come to light. My favourites were
| Cuba voting "Yes" to the fast-tracking of OOXML, even though Microsoft is
| prohibited by the US Government from selling any software on the island that
| might even be able to read and write the new format, and Azerbaijan's "Yes"
| vote, even though OOXML as defined isn't able to express a Web URL address in
| Azeri, their official language. Â Â Â
`----
http://www.linuxformat.co.uk/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=632
Whither OOXML?
,----[ Quote ]
| Strangely, however, Microsoft appears to be soft-pedaling its own standard.
| At GOSCON last week there was a panel on document formats, with reps from
| IBM, Sun, Adobe, and Microsoft present. Each of the company representatives
| got to speak for five minutes and present his company's perspective on
| document formats. Â Â
|
| In his presentation, Matusow appeared to be backing away from OOXML as a key
| technology. If you look at the slide he presented...
|
| ...you can see that the positioning now is that the tool is key, and the
| document format secondary, which, to my mind, is a bizarre assertion,
| although it's one that aligns with a positioning that, above all, must keep
| Microsoft's tools in a predominate position. Â
|
| It appears to me that, having realised that the force-feeding of OOXML into
| an international standards body is problematic, Microsoft is now trying to
| present a soft TCO story which emphasises sunk costs and pre-existing product
| versions as a reason to stay on the Microsoft path, along with an
| incomprehensible assertion that two document standards would be a good thing
| (this last is the most oddball position of all; how can anyone state with a
| straight face that the world would be well-served by having two incompatible
| editable file formats?). Â Â Â Â
`----
http://advice.cio.com/bernard_golden/wither_ooxml
Corrupt countries were more likely to support the OOXML document format
,----[ Quote ]
| Is this just a random coincidence? The median of the CPI index of the above
| mentioned 70 countries is 3.95. Of the most corrupted half (CPI index less
| than 3.95) 23 or 77% voted for approval (approval or approval with comments)
| and 7 or 23% for disapproval; 5 abstained. Of the least corrupted half (CPI
| index more than 3.95) 13 or 54% voted for approval and 11 or 46% voted for
| disapproval; 11 abstained - see the table below. Â Â Â
`----
http://www.effi.org/blog/kai-2007-09-05.en.html
Microsoft accused of more OOXML standards fiddling
,----[ Quote ]
| However the 11 new countries are refusing to say how they will vote. These
| include Cote d'Ivoire, Cyprus, Ecuador, Jamaica, Lebanon, Malta, Pakistan,
| Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Uruguay and Venezuela. Most people seem to think
| that these have been put there by Vole to make sure the standard gets pushed
| through. Â Â
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=42106
------------------------------
Message-ID: <2048419.XM8WdzRD48@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [News] Early Signs of Microsoft's Willingness to Support ODF
Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 02:45:09 +0000
[Stephen Walli (formerly of Microsoft) said that Microsoft supporting ODF is
inevitable]
Microsoft Defends Open XML Work
,----[ Quote ]
| Also, if individual governments mandate the use of ODF instead of Open XML,
| Microsoft would adapt, Knowlton said. The company would then implement the
| missing functionality that ODF doesn't support. However, those extensions
| would be custom-designed and outside of the standard, which is counter to the
| idea of an open document standard, Knowlton said. "Disastrous? No. But
| definitely not preferable," he said.
`----
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,141424-c,opensource/article.html
Ouch. Microsoft already shows willingness to deviate from its broken formats
(OOXML) to keep the cash cow (Office) relevant to a wider audience.
Microsoft Says It Will Release Binary Office Formats - Which?
,----[ Quote ]
| There's nothing like an EU Commission investigation to get Microsoft to open
| up a little, is there?
|
| [...]
|
| Microsoft says it will make the release of the binary formats by February
| 15th. I don't see how that gives anyone time to evaluate before the ballot
| resolution meeting at the end of February.
`----
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20080117131256697
It seems like a win for that Dutch group. This might ease migration from the
binaries to ODF.
Related:
Dispelling Myths Around ODF
,----[ Quote ]
| Recent articles, reports and documents show that there are still a lot of
| misperceptions regarding ODF in the market. Apparently, many people are still
| not well informed about ODF even though they choose to write about ODF.
| Therefore, I thought it can't hurt trying to dispel a couple of myths around
| ODF. Â Â
`----
http://blogs.sun.com/dancer/entry/dispelling_myths_around_odf
Why Microsoft deserved to lose the OOXML standards vote
,----[ Quote ]
| 1. Lobbying is legal. But certain lobbying tactics are not. Microsoft
| officials admitted that one of the companyâ??s employees behaved
| inappropriately in Sweden,
`----
http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=694
------------------------------
Message-ID: <1827720.6Kbnbbi6GC@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [News] Erik 'Microsoft' Huggers Hires Open Source Expert for MSBBC
Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 02:48:39 +0000
Dirk-Willem van Gulik appointed BBC Future Media & Technology Chief Technical
Architect
,----[ Quote ]
| Erik Huggers, BBC Future Media and Technology Group Controller, has appointed
| Dirk-Willem van Gulik as the division's Chief Technical Architect.
|
| [...]
|
| Dirk-Willem is a recognised contributor to the Open Source Community and has
| been a board member of the Apache Software Foundation since its inception.
`----
http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2008/01_january/17/gulik.shtml
Erik Huggers defended Microsoft's abuses with Windows Media Player before
joining the BBC (now known as MSBBC). They seem to be trying to hide what has
really happened, which put their jobs in jeopardy.
[ Probably M. Van Gulik's employment was a condition for Mr Huggers to keep his
role. Ed. ]
Quote for the day:
"I am convinced we have to use Windows â?? this is the one thing they donâ??t have.
We have to be competitive with features, but we need something more â?? Windows
integration."
--Jim Allchin, Microsoft
Related:
BBC Director General grilled by MPs on iPlayer
,----[ Quote ]
| During the meeting there is discussion of iPlayerâ??s total cost to the licence
| fee-payer - the BBC representatives are unable to give a figure, but start
| the bidding at £20m, excluding staff costs. Thomson gives incorrect
| information - that Mac and Linux versions of iPlayer have the same
| functionality as Windows versions - and has to change his evidence at the
| end. Perhaps it was this confusion that prompted Dr John Pugh MP to follow up
| the encounter with a letter direct to Mark Thomson today discussing platform
| neutrality in greater detail. A copy of this letter has been passed to the
| Open Rights Group. Â Â Â Â
`----
http://www.openrightsgroup.org/2008/01/10/bbc-director-general-grilled-by-mps-on-iplayer/
BBC Corrupted
,----[ Quote ]
| Today the BBC made it official -- they have been corrupted by Microsoft. With
| today's launch of the iPlayer, the BBC Trust has failed in its most basic of
| duties and handed over to Microsoft sole control of the on-line distribution
| of BBC programming. From today, you will need to own a Microsoft operating
| system to view BBC programming on the web. This is akin to saying you must
| own a Sony TV set to watch BBC TV. And you must accept the Digital
| Restrictions Management (DRM) that the iPlayer imposes. You simply cannot be
| allowed to be in control of your computer according to the BBC.
`----
http://defectivebydesign.org/blog/BBCcorrupted
BBC iPlayer Protests
,----[ Quote ]
| Who are the people responsible for creating this mess?
|
| * Mark Thompson, BBC director general (DG)
| * Erik Huggers, group controller at BBC Future Media & Technology
| * Ashley Highfield, director of new media and technology
|
| Right now, there is very considerable concern within the BBC that the actions
| of the Director General and his team are sending the corporation in the wrong
| direction. The BBC has been embroiled in a number of recent controversies,
| all linked back to the DG's leadership.
`----
http://www.defectivebydesign.org/iPlayerProtest
------------------------------
Message-ID: <4275744.o0X0SPh5S4@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [News] Linux Good for the Environment, for People's Health
Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 02:50:28 +0000
Linux is greener than Vista
,----[ Quote ]
| Hear, hear. Linux runs just fine on existing desktop hardware, even on PCs
| that are several years old now. Give it a 1.5Ghz processor and 512MB of RAM,
| and Linux is more than adequate to support business tasks. No screaming 3Ghz
| CPU or 2GB of RAM are needed to run Linux, in contrast to the additional
| resources demanded to run Microsoft's deplorable Windows Vista.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/01/17/linux-greener-alternative-vista
Open source health care finally ready for take-off?
,----[ Quote ]
| â??Open source is in the long term interest of funders like Medicare. It lets
| them share information in a way that improves care and reduces costs.
|
| â??Large practices canâ??t tell you how many of their patients have diabetes, how
| many are getting better and how many are getting worse, very basic things.â??
| With open standards, pushed by open source, that data will become available.
`----
http://blogs.zdnet.com/open-source/?p=1897
Fairly recent:
Hospital software vendor McKesson uses Linux to heal IT budgets
,----[ Quote ]
| At first, convincing hospital executives to go with McKesson's Linux-based
| applications was difficult because of fears that Linux wouldn't be as
| reliable as Unix, which had been in their IT shops for years, Simpson
| said. "It took some time for them to understand that open source is safe,
| that open source has support," he added. Â Â
|
| The deal with Red Hat "really kicked the programme into gear," he said,
| allowing McKesson to offer its software with Red Hat Enterprise Linux in a
| top-to-bottom package for mission-critical hospital IT systems. Â
`----
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9052142&intsrc=hm_list
Is Linux enough for open source medical advocates?
,----[ Quote ]
| The change occurs on the back-end, where Linux is the OS, and where customers
| may even choose MySQL or Ingres as their database technology.
|
| McKesson says 75% of its roughly 2,500 hospital customers have embraced the
| change, with Oracle as the companyâ??s current database of choice. â??The best of
| both worldsâ?? the company says. Â
`----
http://healthcare.zdnet.com/?p=564
Red Hat enters healthcare sector
,----[ Quote ]
| Red Hat Software Services, provider of Linux and open source technologies, is
| foraying into the Indian healthcare sector.
|
| Red Hat's Global Support Services vice-president Lain Gray said the company
| plans to facilitate the sharing of patients' data and history within various
| hospitals to promote better healthcare services. Â Â
`----
http://www.rediff.com/money/2007/dec/06yup.htm
Leading Healthcare Technology Provider Chooses Red Hat
,----[ Quote ]
| Sage Software provides integrated electronic health records, electronic
| data interchange (EDI) applications and practice management systems to
| more than 20,000 ambulatory care practices throughout North America.
| These systems enable physicians and practice managers to better
| manage their practices and improve profitability.
`----
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/070123/20070123005179.html?.v=1
Computer Programmes and Systems, Inc. Announces Migration of CPSI System to Linux
Operating System
,----[ Quote ]
| Computer Programmes and Systems, Inc., a leading provider of healthcare
| information solutions, today announced the migration of the CPSI healthcare
| information system to the Linux operating system. Â
`----
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/071115/20071115005804.html?.v=1
McKesson First to Offer Red Hat Enterprise Healthcare Platform
,----[ Quote ]
| As a leading provider of technology solutions to the healthcare
| industry, McKesson has been at the forefront of innovative
| technologies, deploying many of its advanced Horizon Clinicals
| applications on Linux running on Intel-based hardware. Hospitals
| with these deployments have already realised cost savings of up
| to 60% compared with traditional system deployments.
`----
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/070226/20070226005175.html?.v=1
IBM and Convergence CT Team to Provide Clinical Data Warehousing for
Healthcare and Life Sciences
,----[ Quote ]
| The IBM BCU is a fully integrated and scalable data warehouse
| solution for Linux that combines software, server, and storage
| resources to maximise business intelligence and information
| management performance for enterprises.
`----
http://biz.yahoo.com/iw/070228/0221247.html
Editor's Corner (on Open Source in Healthcare)
,----[ Quote ]
| Suggesting that a private healthcare provider switch from
| proprietary software to open source-based applications is one
| thing. But when an official affiliated with as august a body as
| the United Nations suggests that all member countries adopt open
| source for their healthcare applications, that's a much bigger deal.
`----
http://www.fiercehealthit.com/story/editor-s-corner/2006-10-09
Linux in Healthcare
,----[ Quote ]
| Linux in healthcare is a tale of things seen and unseen. Linux/Open
| Source have enjoyed tremendous popularity in embedded systems and
| networks for major technologies used in healthcare that healthcare
| providers may not even be aware of.
`----
http://www.linux-mag.com/id/3215/
Next Gen, Mission-Critical Apps To Be Deployed on Linux Says Report
,----[ Quote ]
| By now it should be obvious to even the most casual industry observers
| that Linux operating systems - and open source-based software in general -
| have reached critical marketplace mass. Recent Linux deals and
| announcements by Oracle and Microsoft have only reinforced the "open
| source is enterprise-grade" message that IBM, Unisys and other "Master
| Brand" hardware, software and services vendors have been preaching for
| years. In short, open source, especially Linux, is becoming "legitimised"
| by the major vendors for enterprise environments, and user executives
| are more than happy to believe them.
`----
http://www.linuxelectrons.com/News/RoundUp/Next_Gen_MissionCritical_Apps_To_Be_Deployed_on_Linux_Says_Report
CIO study finds Linux ready for prime-time
,----[ Quote ]
| The company predicts a steep rise: only 18 percent of businesses
| will be using Linux in business-critical roles by the end of 2007.
|
| "Linux operating systems - and open source-based software in general
| - have reached critical marketplace mass," said the study's authors,
| Bruce Guptill and Bill McNee of Saugatuck Research.
`----
http://www.techworld.com/opsys/news/index.cfm?RSS&NewsID=7681
------------------------------
Message-ID: <10722910.E7OcqdKMDc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [News] [Rival] Microsoft Windows Zombies Attack Estonia Again
Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 02:52:46 +0000
Another Estonia Cyberattack
,----[ Quote
| The attack, which ended Tuesday, was minimally disruptive, according to
| Hillar Aarelaid, manager of Estonia's Computer Emergency Response Team
| (CERT). He described it as an "ordinary DDOS" (distributed denial of service)
| attack in which the news agency's servers were flooded with Internet traffic,
| in an attempt to crash them.
`----
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,141438-c,cybercrime/article.html#
"Bill Gates looks at everything as something that should be his. He acts in any
way he can to make it his. It can be an idea, market share, or a contract.
There is not an ounce of conscientiousness or compassion in him. The notion of
fairness means nothing to him. The only thing he understands is leverage."
--Philippe Kahn
Related:
Bush, Estonian president talk cyberattacks
,----[ Quote ]
| "When you are a highly Interneted [sic] country like we are, then these
| kinds of attacks can do very serious damage."
`----
http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-9734382-7.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
EU should class cyber attacks as terrorism: Estonia
,----[ Quote ]
| Estonia will propose at a meeting of European Union justice
| ministers next week that the bloc consider cyber attacks as
| "acts of terror", Estonian Justice Minister Rein Lang said Thursday.
`----
http://www.france24.com/france24Public/en/administration/afp-news.html?id=070607160418.pfpmeqvt&cat=science
U.S. cyber counterattack: Bomb 'em one way or the other
,----[ Quote ]
| If the United States found itself under a major cyberattack aimed
| at undermining the natio's critical information infrastructure,
| the Department of Defence is prepared, based on the authority of
| the president, to launch a cyber counterattack or an actual
| bombing of an attack source.
`----
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/020807-rsa-cyber-attacks.html
The feds weigh in on Windows security
,----[ Quote ]
| "The benefits of this move are enormous: Common, secure configurations
| can help slow botnet spreading, can radically reduce delays in patching,
| can stop many attacks directly, and organisations that have made the
| move report that it actually saves money rather than costs money,"
| Paller wrote.
`----
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6172158.html
Telegraph floored by DDoS attack
,----[ Quote ]
| Cyber-attacks have been much in the news of late. Last week,
| Russian and European leaders held a summit in the aftermath of a
| three-week cycle of denial of service attacks targeting the
| Baltic countries' internet infrastructure.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/05/22/telegraph_ddos/
Botnet 'pandemic' threatens to strangle the net
,----[ Quote ]
| Cerf estimated that between 100 million and 150 million of the
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
| 600 million PCs on the internet are under the control of hackers,
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
| the BBC reports.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/26/botnet_threat/
------------------------------
Message-ID: <12775646.phQRiyv8fS@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [News] Bill Gates Corrupts a PM in a Nation of Linux and FOSS
Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 02:55:41 +0000
,----[ Quote ]
| Quick translation of the text from â??The Finnish News Agencyâ?? aka STT going
| rounds in web already and being published in all of the major and also most
| of the minor newspapers tomorrow. (Friday)
|
| In the meeting between prime minister of Finland Matti Vanhanen and Bill
| Gates, the software giant Microsoft promised to donate tailored tools for
| finnish schools.
| Microsoft will offer finnish basic education and general upper secondary
| schools and their students free Windows live services selection.
| It includes f.ex Hotmail, electronic timetable, discussion forum and a
| bulletin board.
| Microsoft told about the new collaboration on Thursday in Seattle.
| It is the first project for both basic- and secondary schools. It can also be
| used in finnish vocational, polytechnic and university schools.
| â??This project supports very well the development of finnish information
| society also in educational system and corresponds well with our aims in
| information societyâ??, Vanhanen praised Microsoft.
|
| http://yle.fi/news/id79777.html has some background about his visit to the
| US.
`----
http://boycottnovell.com/2008/01/17/attack-by-proxy/#comment-4963
Why donate? Is Microsoft dumping again?
Related:
European spend on open source software hits 22bn Euros
,----[ Quote ]
| Rishab Ghosh, a senior researcher at the UN University in Maastricht,
| will tell the Open Ireland conference in Dublin that the spend in the
| US on free/libre or open source software (FLOSS) stands at 36bn
| Euros and accounts for 20pc of software spend in the US.
`----
http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/news.nv?storyid=single7850
Source of the revolution
,----[ Quote ]
| According to Ghosh, the notional value of Europe's investment in
| free/libre or open source software (FLOSS) today is e22bn,
| representing 20.5pc of the region's total software investment.
| Spending on OSS stands at e36bn and accounts for 20pc of software
| expenditure in the US.
`----
http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/news.nv?storyid=single8105
------------------------------
Message-ID: <1305259.UYSYmG3Fq8@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [News] Review of Intel's Worst Nightmare, the Linux-powered OLPC
Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 02:59:00 +0000
The OLPC XO laptop
,----[ Quote ]
| Originally known as the '$100 laptop' from the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC)
| project, the XO laptop is now available through retail. I bought one under
| the Give One, Get One programme where for a $400 donation, OLPC would send one
| XO to the donator, and another to a child. This is my story of working with
| it for a couple of weeks.
`----
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/01/17/review_xo_laptop_hands_on/page7.html
Maybe Otellini should get one too to serve as a dartboard.
Related:
Laptop-Project Founder Faults Intel
,----[ Quote ]
| Oscar Becerra Tresierra, general director for educational technology at
| Peru's Ministry of Education, says that after the country recently agreed to
| buy 272,500 OLPC laptops for primary-school students, an Intel sales
| Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â ^^^^^^^^^^^
| representative tried "to scare us" by claiming the machines and their power
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
| adapters didn't work. "I don't feel very happy about it," he said. "We Â
| wouldn't like the project to fail because somebody is spreading gossip about
| Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
| the machines that doesn't turn out to be true." Â Â
`----
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119948070480568405.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Laptop Project Blames Intel for Breakup
,----[ Quote ]
| Negroponte said Intel even tried to undo a deal One Laptop had already sealed
| in Peru by citing flaws in the One Laptop "XO" machine and telling government
| ministers "we ought to know, because we are on the board." Such hostile
| comments were prohibited, Negroponte claimed, under the July peace treaty
| that brought Intel into the One Laptop Per Child camp. Â Â
|
| "I want to say we tried, but it was never a partnership," Negroponte
| said. "There's not one single thing in their contract or agreement that they
| lived up to." Â
`----
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hXa0O9XLMsWfaqt-sI9FqFy2IewgD8TVAD7OA
Intel: doing the dirty on OLPC
,----[ Quote ]
| Intelâ??s agreement with the OLPC Foundation included a â??non disparagementâ??
| clause, under which Intel and One Laptop promised not to criticise each
| other, according to Nicholas Negroponte in the latest article in the Wall
| Street Journal. Â
|
| Still Intel tactics have violated that repeatedly to kill OLPC efforts in
| Nigeria, Libya, Pakistan, India, China and Intel is also still trying to pull
| those tactics in Mexico, Brazil. Â
| This is simply disgracefull of Intel, scandalous.
|
| But Negroponte has signed an agreement saying that he is not allowed to
| criticise Intel, so he is not allowed to talk about these shameless tactics
| even though Intel is the one violating the agreement. Â
|
| So only independant voices on the Internet can get those messages of truth
| out about Intels tactics.
|
| In Nigeria, Intel came and donated 3000 laptops to counter OLPC efforts, then
| sells 17 thousand Classmates to Nigeria at a loss.
|
| Then Microsoft corrupted Nigerian officials with 400 thousand dollars to
| install Windows XP on those instead of Mandriva Linux.
`----
http://www.p2pnet.net/story/14124
Poor Kids' Laptop Cranks Up
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates earlier this year told the Microsoft
| Government Leaders Forum, "Geez, get a decent computer where you can
| actually read the text and you?re not sitting there cranking the thing
| while you're trying to type" (see Bill Gates Mocks $100 Laptop).
`----
http://www.redherring.com/article.aspx?a=17302
One Laptop Per Child - Production Delays Caused By Microsoft, Intel?
,----[ Quote ]
| I sincerely hope that no matter what the people who are running the
| OLPC project decide, that their project will continue and not get
| bogged down in a play of corporate greed and ambitions.
`----
http://www.lockergnome.com/nexus/blade/2007/04/28/one-laptop-per-child-production-delays-caused-by-microsoft-intel/
Negroponte says Intel should be "ashamed of itself"
,----[ Quote ]
| He is furious that Intel's CEO Craig Barrett called the One Laptop a
| gadget. The Negroponte initiative is caught in the middle of a vicious
| fight between AMD and Intel, he said.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=39733
,----[ Quote ]
| That software effort does not have the support of Mr. Otellini, who
| is concerned about incurring Microsoft's wrath, the executive said.
| The two companies have a long history of tension over who controls
| the hardware and software direction of the "Wintel standard." Intel
| has said it is supporting both operating systems.
`----
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/16/technology/16chip.html?ex=1177560000&en=2ef52cee6b1fb0e3&ei=5099&partner=TOPIXNEWS
Lessons from Africa: How to Kill Your Own FUD
,----[ Quote ]
| So, even as Microsoft claims superior quality over Linux, they act as if they
| don't even buy their own FUD. If they really believed that Windows was
| superior to Linux, they wouldn't have to bribe people with â??marketing helpâ??
| to get them to choose Windows. Â
`----
http://www.linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2007-11-09-030-26-OP-MD-MS
Linux wins Nigerian school desktops back from Microsoft
,----[ Quote ]
| "We are sticking with that platform," said the official, who would not give
| his name.
`----
http://www.computerworlduk.com/management/government-law/public-sector/news/index.cfm?newsid=6124
http://tinyurl.com/27ycq9
[Mandriva CEO:] An open letter to Steve Ballmer
,----[ Quote ]
| Wow! Iâ??m impressed, Steve! What have you done for these guys to change their
| mind like this? Itâ??s pretty clear to me, and it will be clear to everyone.
| How do you call what you just did Steve, in the place where you live? In my
| place, they give it various names, Iâ??m sure you know them. Â
|
| Hey Steve, how do you feel looking at yourself in the mirror in the morning?
|
| Of course, I will keep fighting this one and the next one, and the next one.
| You have the money, the power, and maybe we have a different sense of ethics
| you and I, but I believe that hard work, good technology and ethics can win
| too. Â
`----
http://blog.mandriva.com/2007/10/31/an-open-letter-to-steve-ballmer/
Not Such a Harsh Toke, Actually
,----[ Quote ]
| This is socially, economically, politically and otherwise innovative. It is
| good for democracy too in some of the few remaining places that good thing is
| having trouble getting hold. We regard that thing too lightly, I fear. Â
|
| The Gates | Otellini axis directly hurts us deeply. To me, it is a
| particularly American shame.
`----
http://fussnotes.typepad.com/plexnex/2007/11/not-such-a-hars.html
Intel slapped with new antitrust investigation
,----[ Quote ]
| New York state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has launched an antitrust
| investigation of Intel, after his office served a wide-ranging subpoena on
| the chip giant. Â
|
| Cuomo is investigating whether Intel violated state and federal antitrust
| laws by coercing customers to exclude its main rival, Advanced Micro Devices
| (AMD), from the worldwide market for PC central processing units (CPUs),
| Cuomo said in a news release. Â
|
| The subpoena seeks information on Intel's pricing practices and possible
| attempts to exclude competitors through its market power, Cuomo's office
| said. Â
`----
http://www.techworld.com/opsys/news/index.cfm?newsID=11099&pagtype=all
US antitrust group urges Intel investigation
,----[ Quote ]
| The American Antitrust Institute (AAI), a Washington DC lobby group, has
| written an open letter to the Federal Trade Commission urging an
| investigation of Intel's allegedly monopolistic business practices. Â
|
| [...]
|
| AAI say its insistence of an investigation is based on allegations by AMD in
| a private case and information obtained by the EC's complaint, which have not
| been made public Â
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/30/aai_wants_intel_probe_expansion/
Intel urged to give more data on flash unit deal
,----[ Quote ]
| ...U.S. Federal Trade Commission has requested additional information on the
| company's deal with STMicroelectronics...
`----
http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUKWNAS317820070830?rpc=44
The Fight for Fair and Open Competition
,----[ Quote ]
| AMD is an undisputed technology and innovation leader.
|
| However, Intel's abusive, illegal monopolistic behaviour is preventing
| businesses and consumers alike from choosing freely between AMD and Intel Â
| products.
`----
http://breakfree.amd.com/en-us/antitrust.aspx
EC says Intel influenced bids for computer projects
,----[ Quote ]
| The third type of allegation, however, was new, and sounded like a variety of
| predatory pricing. â??In the context of bids against AMD-based products for
| strategic customers in the server segment of the market,â?? the commission
| press release said, â??Intel has offered CPUs on average below cost.â?? Â
`----
http://legalpad.blogs.fortune.com/2007/08/03/ec-says-intel-influenced-bids-for-computer-projects/
Negroponte says Intel should be "ashamed of itself"
,----[ Quote ]
| He is furious that Intel's CEO Craig Barrett called the One Laptop a
| gadget. The Negroponte initiative is caught in the middle of a vicious
| fight between AMD and Intel, he said.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=39733
AMD chief condemns Intel 'abuses'
,----[ Quote ]
| In 2005, after the Japan Fair Trade Commission found Intel guilty of
| offering illegal rebates to Japanese PC makers, AMD filed an anti-trust
| suit against its competitor in the U.S. District Court in Delaware. The
| case has not been decided.
`----
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2007/06/21/amd_ceo_condemns_intel_abuses/
AMD: Intel Destroyed Evidence in Antitrust Case
,----[ Quote ]
| In an unpublished statement to the U.S. District Court of Delaware,
| AMD alleges Intel allowed the destruction of evidence in pending
| antitrust litigation.
`----
http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=6352
Video: Henri Richard comes out swinging at Intel during AMD press conference
,----[ Quote ]
| [AMD's Henri Richard:] "I am sick and tired of being pushed around
| by a competitor that doesn't respect the rules of fair and open
| competition."
`----
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Berlind/?p=363
Investors sue Dell on payments from Intel: WSJ
,----[ Quote ]
| An investor lawsuit seeking class-action status accuses Dell Inc. of
| improper accounting in its relationship with chip giant Intel,
| according to a media report published Thursday evening.
|
| [...]
|
| The suit alleges that Dell received at times as much as $1 billion
| a year in "secret and likely illegal" kickbacks in the form of
| "e-Cap" or "exception to corporate average pricing" payments"
| from Intel to ensure that Dell used no other chip supplier,
| according to The Journal.
`----
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/investors-sue-dell-payments-intel/story.aspx?guid=%7B400315B0%2DE375%2D4920%2DB300%2D784220BEFE35%7D&siteid=yhoo&dist=yhoo
Lenovo got financial help from Intel, claim
,----[ Quote ]
| Journalists on the title said Lenovo is being paid a "pretty
| penny" from Intel to use its chips.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=37670
,----[ Quote ]
| In 2005, a unit of Shenzhen Donjin countersued, saying Intel engaged
| in monopolistic practices.
`----
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070514/china_intel_settlement.html?.v=7
Intel's anti-trust memos started vanishing from the top
,----[ Quote ]
| Chairman Craig Barrett, CEO Paul Otellini and sales chief Sean Maloney
| have appeared on a list of Intel employees thought to have deleted
| e-mails possibly relevant to AMD's anti-trust lawsuit against its
| larger rival. The missing e-mails have thrust a livid state of mind
| onto AMD's lawyers who have very serious problems with Intel's
| rather lax document retention policy.
|
| [...]
|
| CEO Otellini appears to have been one of these troublesome employees.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/11/intel_tortellini_episode/
------------------------------
Message-ID: <1844511.qY7AKstJIH@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [News] Novell Loses Top Executive, Ben Hendrick
Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 02:30:52 +0000
Onward Technologies Appoints Ben Hendrick as Senior Vice President - Americas
,----[ Quote ]
| He spent more than seventeen years at Novell Incorporated, with five years as
| Vice President and Managing Partner over the Americas Enterprise Service Line
| and Practice delivery teams. With stints in various services leadership
| positions prior to taking overall profit and loss responsibility for the
| America's (United States, Canada, and Latin America) Enterprise Service Line.
`----
http://sev.prnewswire.com/computer-electronics/20080117/CLTH06017012008-1.html
Here he is: http://www.linkedin.com/in/bhendrick
Did Novell Just Die?
,----[ Quote ]
| Perhaps Novell could sell itself â?? though such statements have been made
| about the company ever since former CEO Ray Noorda retired in 1994. Rumoured
| buyers over the years have included Sun, IBM and Oracle, just to name a few.
| But The VAR Guy doesnâ??t see that happening. Alas, open source continues to
| represent a small fraction of Novellâ??s overall revenue. Novell also has a
| nice footprint in the endpoint security market and the identity management
| sector. But there again, sales are a fraction of Novellâ??s overall revenue.
|
| Novell ainâ??t dead yet. But the flesh wounds are starting to add up. Itâ??s time
| for the company to get in the applications game.
`----
http://www.thevarguy.com/2008/01/17/did-novell-just-die/
Related:
Engineering Industry support for OOXML - Novell
,----[ Quote ]
| Wikipedia: "A puppet is a representational object manipulated by a puppeteer.
| It is usually but not always a depiction of a human character and is used in
| (a) play or a presentation. The puppet undergoes a process of transformation
| through being animated, and is normally manipulated by one, or sometimes more
| than one, puppeteer. Some puppets can be moved electronically." Does Novell
| qualify as an OOXML puppet? Â Â
`----
http://www.noooxml.org/forum/t-30546/engineering-industry-support-for-ooxml-novell
All sides of the debate?
,----[ Quote ]
| How many sides are there in the OOXML debate? What if all sides are Microsoft
| and Microsoft business partners?
|
| [...]
|
| Dough Mahugh (Microsoft) :
|
| Â Â Next week's XML 2007 conference in Boston features speakers from all
| Â Â sides of the document format debate, including a document interop session
| Â Â with Miguel de Icaza (Novell) and Vijay Rajagopalan (Microsoft) that I
| Â Â expect will offer a lively discussion around Open XML, ODF, and XML-based
| Â Â interoperability in general. Â Â
`----
http://www.noooxml.org/forum/t-29108/all-sides-of-the-debate
Miguel, Mono and Microsoft
,----[ Quote ]
| is Mono's role in the deal that of a hook to make customers write
| .NET applications because they can be run on Linux - only to find
| later on that they are armless or legless because of a change in
| the .NETspecifications, a change which Microsoft decides not to
| make public?
|
| [...]
|
| And here we have an individual who decides to replicate one of
| the proprietary company's development environments - for reasons
| best known to him alone - and keeps telling people that the reason
| he's doing it is so that he can pull people over from the
| proprietary company's side to his side!!!
`----
http://www.itwire.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=11081&Itemid=1091
Available Now: OpenOffice.org Novell Edition for Windows
,----[ Quote ]
| Let's consider a couple of the features that you get in the Novell
| Edition but are not likely to have been integrated into upstream OOo yet:
|
| Â Â * Excel VBA Macro execution
| Â Â * Performance improvements
| Â Â * AGFA fonts
| Â Â * Better Bullets (now in upstream OOo)
| Â Â * Simple Solver
| Â Â * GroupWise integration
`----
http://reverendted.wordpress.com/2007/03/13/ooo-novell-edition-now-available-for-windows/
Sun Refuses LGPL for OpenOffice; Novell forks
,----[ Quote ]
| Because of Sun's refusal to accept LPGL extensions in the upstream code,
| Michael Meeks (who recently talked about Sun's OO.o community failings, and
| ODF and OOXML) has announced ooo-build (previously just for build fixes) is
| now a formal fork of OpenOffice to be located at http://go-oo.org/. Â Â
`----
http://slashdot.org/articles/07/10/03/1212234.shtml
Questions I'd like to see asked about the Microsoft-Novell deal
,----[ Quote ]
| The questions asked as part of this study were about as open-ended
| and wishy-washy as you could get. Researchers asked customers
| deploying a mix of Windows, SuSE Linux and Red Hat Linux whether
| they were in favour of more vendor interoperability. They asked
| customers if they believed it would be helpful if Microsoft
| worked more closely with Linux vendors. They asked whether they
| approved of the Microsoft-Novell collaboration. And they
| questioned whether users "take responsibility for the
| intellectual property in the products they ship."
|
| The only question on PSB's list that I found remotely interesting
| was whether users would be any more likely to buy SuSE Linux as a
| result of the Microsoft-Novell deal. Sixty-nine percent said yes.
| (I'm actually surprised this number isn't higher.)
`----
http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=145
Privileged Access on Linux
,----[ Quote ]
| It is the "OpenOffice.org Novell Edition", that is a kind of half fork of the
| official OpenOffice.org. Novell is pulling the strings to get the Gnome
| project to adopt its version as the official Gnome OpenOffice. This fork is
| using the last version of the OOo and adding/changing features to Â
| it to create a different product: the "Novell Edition".
|
| The main difference between the OpenOffice.org Novell Edition and the
| official version of the project is that the Novell Edition is encouraged to
| provide import and export to OOXML. Additionally it includes some add-ons
| that they didn't want to integrate in the official version of OpenOffice.org
| (indeed they chosed an incompatible license to prevent any kind of
| integration of their code in the official project). These add-ons can be seen
| here: http://www.go-oo.org   Â
|
| All this strategy of to divide the "instrumental" OOo project probably is
| under the umbrella of the Microsoft-Novell agreement.
`----
http://www.noooxml.org/forum/t-28990/privileged-access-on-linux
------------------------------
Message-ID: <1733069.J8Uh0yl9dV@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [News] New Development Release of GNOME, Miro 1.1 (Formerly Democracy Player)
Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 02:32:41 +0000
GNOME 2.21.5 released
,----[ Quote ]
| This is the fifth release of the GNOME 2.21.x series, heading towards
| the stable GNOME 2.22.x release. More information about new
| development can be found here: http://live.gnome.org/RoadMap
`----
http://mail.gnome.org/archives/gnome-announce-list/2008-January/msg00067.html
Announcing Miro 1.1: Dramatically Faster BitTorrent
There are two major improvements in this update.
,----[ Quote ]
| First, we have dramatically improved performance for torrent downloading and
| we offer more settings and control (thanks to libtorrent). With this update,
| Miro is truly a powerhouse for torrent feeds, if I do say so myself. Torrents
| are still a difficult and mysterious technology for many users, despite the
| huge bandwidth savings they provide to publishers. We aim to make your
| torrent experience seamless at worst and invisible at best.
`----
http://www.getmiro.com/blog/2008/01/announcing-miro-11-dramatically-faster-bittorrent/
Related:
Miro 1.0 is Here
,----[ Quote ]
| I am incredibly excited to announce the launch of Miro 1.0.
|
| With this launch, we are ready to build a movement for truly open video.
| Weâ??re on a mission, we have a world-class product, we have an amazing
| community, and more and more open channels are being published every day.
| Itâ??s the right time. Â
`----
http://www.getmiro.com/blog/2007/11/miro-10-is-here/
Mozilla gives $100K grant to Democracy makers
,----[ Quote ]
| Mozilla has announced that a $100K has been approved for the
| Participatory Culture Foundation, a Massachusetts-based
| non-profit that aims to make "watching internet video channels [..] as easy
| as watching TV and broadcasting a channel...
`----
http://mozillalinks.org/wp/2007/05/mozilla-gives-100k-grant-to-democracy-makers/
Watch online video? Get Miro
,----[ Quote ]
| In short, Miro makes it so much easier to find and to get video content that
| you won't want to switch to another app just to watch it.
`----
http://www.linux.com/feature/118379
Miro (Democracy Player) for Linux Reviewed
,----[ Quote ]
| At the end of the day, Miro has been one of my favourite methods of
| downloading, maintaining and enjoying user created content. It's been a
| source of joy and discovery for me personally, and I only wish to see them
| gain a better focus on their future direction. Remember, non-profits can
| indeed, generate a profit. It's just a matter of reinvesting those funds into
| the project to better see through the mission of the group as a whole.
`----
http://www.madpenguin.org/cms/?m=show&id=8026
Democracy Player 0.9.6 Released - Last version ever! (before name change)
,----[ Quote ]
| We have just released version 0.9.6 of Democracy Player.
`----
http://www.getdemocracy.com/news/2007/06/democracy-player-096-released-last-version-ever-before-name-change/
http://tinyurl.com/2x6ae2
------------------------------
Message-ID: <1231952.fcmTBNnCIh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [News] PS3 GNU/Linux Without the Installation!
Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 02:36:34 +0000
PS3 Megabox Homebrew Project Is Linux For Commitment-Phobes
,----[ Quote ]
| A modification of open source software Freevo, Megabox brings VOIP, P2P,
| Firefox, 3D Linux gaming, TV recording (not sure how on this one), and
| emulationâ??as well as plenty of other features. Essentially, it's Linux
| without the install, reskinned with a neat media centre interface. The price
| is right (free) so we'll give this a try and tell you what we think.
`----
http://kotaku.com/346073/ps3-megabox-homebrew-project-is-linux-for-commitment+phobes
Access to the full capacity of the Cell seems near too (links at the very
bottom).
Is it games or Blu-Ray driving the PS3 resurgence?
,----[ Quote ]
| Having over 9 million PS3â??s sitting in the worldâ??s living rooms gives Blu-Ray
| obvious penetration numbers to throw on the desk of Studio cigar chomping
| suits. It is easy to make a convincing argument that this, along with
| arguable movie sales themselves may have been the catalyst for Warner to jump
| ship to the Blu-Ray camp.
`----
http://www.itwire.com/content/view/16156/1093/
Last week:
PS3 production cost halved
,----[ Quote ]
| While the Playstation 3 cost Sony somewhere around $800 a console to build
| when it was launched in November 2006, Sony has told Business Week that the
| PS3 now costs about $400 to produce - which is similar to the RRP of the new
| 40GB SKU. Â
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/01/14/ps3-production-cost-halved
StreamMyGame launches Linux player ; Play PC games on your PS3
,----[ Quote ]
| StreamMyGame.com announced today the release of its free Linux Player, an
| application that enables you to play any PC game via a PlayStation 3 running
| Linux.
`----
http://www.kdcstaffs.com/it/main_view.php?nNum=4721&page=&part=Real-Time
Related:
PS3 tops Wii in Japan for first time
,----[ Quote ]
| Sony Corp's (6758.T) PlayStation 3 outsold Nintendo Co Ltd's (7974.OS) Wii
| game console in Japan in November for the first time, raising the prospect
| that Sony might regain its dominance in the global videogame market. Â
`----
http://in.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idINIndia-30766820071130
PS3 overtakes Wii in Japan
,----[ Quote ]
| Some 55,924 PS3s were purchased in the week ending 11 November, compared to
| 34,456 Wiis and just 5817 Xbox 360s. Clearly, the Halo 3 effect and
| Microsoft's price cut have done their work.
`----
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/11/16/japan_wii_ps3_sales/
Price cut boosts PlayStation 3 sales
,----[ Quote ]
| U.S. sales of the PlayStation 3 more than doubled in the weeks after the
| company slashed the video game console's price $100 and launched a low-end
| model, Sony Corp. CEO Howard Stringer told The Associated Press Wednesday.
`----
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071115/ap_on_hi_te/sony_playstation_sales
PS3 + Linux + Firefox = Office 2.0 computing
,----[ Quote ]
| Sony and a technology site are using a conference to show off a confluence of
| next-generation, monopoly-bypassing technology: a Sony Playstation 3
| videogame console running Linux and Firefox as a foundation for
| Web-based "Office 2.0" applications.
|
| IT|Redux, a site run by blogger and tech adviser Ismael Ghalimi, is showing
| off the system at the Office 2.0 Conference in San Francisco. IT|Redux is the
| show organiser.
`----
http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9772115-1.html
PS3 available pre-installed with Linux
,----[ Quote ]
| TerraSoft is now taking direct pre-orders with no delivery
| time guarantees for a Sony PS3 pre-installed with Linux,
| priced at $650.
`----
http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS7863481537.html
Astrophysicist Replaces Supercomputer with Eight PlayStation 3s
,----[ Quote ]
| The interest in the PS3 really was for two main reasons," explains Khanna, an
| assistant professor at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth who
| specialises in computational astrophysics. "One of those is that Sony did
| this remarkable thing of making the PS3 an open platform, so you can in fact
| run Linux on it and it doesn't control what you do."
`----
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/news/2007/10/ps3_supercomputer
Linux petitioners want Sony to open up PS3's graphical innards
,----[ Quote ]
| Access is blocked by the Hypervisor chip so there is no chance of
| getting around it without Sony's approval. And, naturally, Sony
| doesn't want geeks producing 3D games under Linux and undermining
| its investment. It flogs the console in order to make mountains of
| wonga on the highly-priced games folk play on it.
|
| [...]
|
| So now there's a a petition online asking Sony to open up the RSX.
| It's here.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=39112
Linux 3D graphics access on PS3 found Â
,----[ Quote ]
| A method has been found to reach Linux 3D Graphics on the PS3. A number of
| hackers have clubbed together to release a draft kernel module for this along
| with a relevant Xorg driver. Â
`----
http://www.maxconsole.net/?mode=news&newsid=23190
The hunt for HV's FIFO/Push buffer...
,----[ Quote ]
| With your separate module for GPU stuff (3D, Xorg, etc...) will we be able to
| use the kernel sources from Geoff's tree and simply get your kernel modules
| loaded in place of the fb device created by ps3fb.c and ps3fb.h ? Â
|
| Keeping in sync with Geoff's tree is something that would be beneficial for
| those also doing CELL development as it is the tree that gets a lot of work
| from IBM and SCE guys that is CELL related. Â
|
| [...]
|
| Glaurung, nice work. Busy error made FIFO hack for us :). I was sure that
| fifo setup is broken for the second context.
|
| Panajev2001a, I think that it is possibly to make totally independent kernel
| module. You will be able to install it without kernel recompilation.
`----
http://forums.ps2dev.org/viewtopic.php?t=8364&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=211
------------------------------
Message-ID: <3129687.8NV4yZqpUp@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [News] Sun Makes Project Wonderland Open Source
Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 03:01:39 +0000
INTERVIEW: A look at Sunâ??s virtual world for internal collaboration
,----[ Quote ]
| Right now, Project Wonderland is open source and people are free to use it.
| But this whole project has been more popular with people initially than we
| thought it might be. So we have started to work with business development to
| see what Sun could do for customers. Maybe we could provide hosted services,
| or even manage the service (and server) for them behind the firewall. There
| are a lot of different models to explore. But for right now, we want to get
| more people using it here internally.
`----
http://www.computingsa.co.za/article.aspx?id=682842
Related:
Jonathan Schwartz on the future of Sun
,----[ Quote ]
| After just over a year as chief executive, Jonathan Schwartz is
| moving into a new phase as the leader of Sun Microsystems.
`----
http://www.zdnet.com.au/insight/software/soa/Jonathan-Schwartz-on-the-future-of-Sun/0,139023769,339277736,00.htm
http://tinyurl.com/34qfuk
------------------------------
Message-ID: <1618977.f9KgyWL3lR@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [News] [Rival] More Ship Jumping at Microsoft
Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 08:08:11 +0000
Another Microsoft manager jumps from the Live Search ship
,----[ Quote ]
| Mike Nichols, Group Programme Manager for Live Search, has resigned and is
| moving to work for Yusuf Mehdi, Senior Vice President of Strategic
| Partnerships.
|
| [...]
|
| What to make of all the recent resignations and reshufflings among the
| various Microsoft business units? Well, it is reorg season in Redmond. But on
| the Live Search side of the house, itâ??s got to be tough to keep banging your
| head against the wall and making little or no headway in growing your market
| shareâ?¦.
`----
http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1115
It's like a bigger version of Novell falling apart as only a couple of
divisions actually turn profit.
Recent:
Veteran Windows architect resigns from Microsoft
,----[ Quote ]
| On the heels of a week of news of a number of Microsoft executive departures
| and reshufflings, another has come to light. Rob Short, Corporate Vice
| President for Windows Core, has resigned from the company. Â
`----
http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1110
Juniper Networks exec to succeed Microsoft Business Division President Raikes
,----[ Quote ]
| Another reason I consider the Raikes announcement timing odd: Why announce
| Raikesâ?? departure a day after acknowledging the defection of your mergers and
| acquisitions chief Bruce Jaffe? You could make the argument that Microsoft
| wants to get all its defection/churn announcements out of the way at once.
| But Iâ??m not sure Iâ??d look at things the same way, if I were one of the
| companyâ??s â??image makersâ??â?¦. Â Â
|
| Microsoft also announced on January 10 that Bob Muglia, the Senior Vice
| President in charge of Microsoftâ??s Server and Tools Business, is going to
| move out of the Business Division and report directly to CEO Steve Ballmer. Â
`----
http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1101
Microsoft loses top executive in China
,----[ Quote ]
| "Li Gong is currently exploring other career opportunities," Microsoft said
| in a statement to News.com.
|
| [...]
|
| In a September 2005 Business Week interview, Ballmer touted Gong as
| one of several key hires that Microsoft had made.
|
| Most recently, Gong has served as managing director of Windows LiveC
| hina and as Vice President of Microsoft China R&D Group.
|
| Gong's name came up in the case over Kai-Fu Lee, the top Microsoft
| executive whose hiring by Google sparked a multistate legal battle.
`----
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6149735.html
Microsoft losing acquisition playmaker
,----[ Quote ]
| In a previous life Jaffe was the CFO for Microsoft's MSN division, and also
| had roles overseeing acquisitions related to Microsoft's consumer business,
| groups like MSNBC and Microsoft Games. Â
`----
http://www.news.com/8301-13579_3-9847376-37.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
Microsoftâ??s OEM chief defects to Lenovo
,----[ Quote ]
| While so many of us Microsoft watchers were preoccupied with the hasty
| departure of former Microsfot CIO Stuart Scott, the resignation of the
| companyâ??s OEM chief slipped right by most of us. Â
`----
http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=999
Related:
Will Microsoft Survive the Next 10 Years?
,----[ Quote ]
| I am not really an expert in this but when I read all the negative
| headlines and articles I ask myself if Microsoft really will survive
| the next 10 years.
|
| [...]
|
| I am pretty sure that the Open Source Community, the new Ubuntu,
| Google and of course Apple are those companies that are ready for
| our century and they will get more and more people that know what
| they really want.
`----
http://websquirrel.blogspot.com/2007/03/will-microsoft-survive-next-10-years.html
Microsoft Windows hardware leader takes a â??vacationâ??
,----[ Quote ]
| Veteran Softies are dropping like flies lately. The latest Microsoft exec to
| leave is Jawad Khaki, Corporate Vice President of the Windows Hardware
| Ecosystem. Â
`----
http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1002
Danny Thorpe quits the Windows Live development team
,----[ Quote ]
| Danny Thorpe, one of the higher-profile hires Microsoft made to its Windows
| Live team, has decided to leave for greener pastures.
`----
http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=806
Microsoftâ??s open source chief takes on Windows server marketing
,----[ Quote ]
| The change comes amid a long-building storm that exploded in May, when the
| company said that Linux violates 235 Microsoft patents.
`----
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/100807-microsoft-open-source-windows-server.html
Microsoft says Zune executive will leave company
,----[ Quote ]
| Bryan Lee, corporate vice president at Microsoft's entertainment
| and devices division, also played a key role in shaping the Xbox
| game console business and the introduction of its Internet
| Protocol television software.
`----
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-6155200.html
Yet another Microsoft search exec calls it quits
,----[ Quote ]
| In March, Blake Irving, the Corporate VP in charge of the Windows
| Live platform, announced his plans to leave Microsoft, effective
| this summer. Payne announced his resignation from Microsoft shortly
| after Irving made his announcement.
`----
http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=407
at least no chairs were thrownâ?¦
,----[ Quote ]
| A friend of mine was walked out of Microsoft today.
|
| Iâ??m not talking about Stuart Scott, the now former Microsoft CIO who was
| canned for â??violating company policies.â?? No, another friend decided to leave
| the MSN Live Search team and join Google Kirkland. Â
`----
http://selberg.org/2007/11/06/at-least-no-chairs-were-thrown/
Another Microsoft Search reorg: Shum now leads engineering
,----[ Quote ]
| That same month, Windows Live Platform VP Blake Irving resigned, as did Chris
| Payne. the Corporate Vice President in charge of Windows Live Search.
`----
http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=927
Former Microsoft Search Chief Bill Bliss On Early Search Missteps
,----[ Quote ]
| Bill's biggest regret? Not bypassing middle management that wasn't
| listening to him scream about the coming threat of Google and going
| right up to Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer.
`----
http://searchengineland.com/070309-094930.php
Microsoft Search Leader To Leave Company
,----[ Quote ]
| The Microsoft Corp. vice president who led the company's push into
| Internet search is leaving the software giant as the effort he
| helped launch loses ground against lead competitor Google Inc.
`----
http://online.wsj.com/preview_login.html?url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB117329976478329930.html%3Fmod%3Dyahoo_hs%26ru%3Dyahoo
http://tinyurl.com/2jran7
Microsoft Businesss Solutions Group's Burgum to resign
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft Corp.'s Business Solutions group senior vice president Doug
| Burgum will resign, effective June 30, and leave the company to pursue
| other opportunities, the company said on Tuesday.
`----
http://yahoo.reuters.com/news/articlehybrid.aspx?storyID=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20060912:MTFH70760_2006-09-12_16-35-37_N9C318839&type=comktNews&rpc=44
http://tinyurl.com/h4coe
Database head to leave daily duties at Microsoft
,----[ Quote ]
| Paul Flessner, who leads Microsoft's data storage and platform
| division, will step down from his daily duties after the new year.
`----
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-6131496.html
XBLA's Ross Erickson leaves Microsoft, heads over to Sierra Online
,----[ Quote ]
| Of course, this follows XBLA General Manager Greg Canessa's
| departure a couple weeks back. While having two of the most
| senior Xbox Live Arcade execs jump ship in a two week time
| span after a particularly long string of subpar Wednesdays
| -- nothing, Ms. Pac-Man, Lumines add-on, nothing, Root Beer
| Tapper, Paperboy, nothing -- might seem to imply certain
| disaster, Ross insisted that he and Greg's decided to
| leave under entirely different circumstances.
`----
http://www.joystiq.com/2007/02/20/xblas-ross-erickson-leaves-microsoft-heads-over-to-sierra-onli/
http://tinyurl.com/25s6he
XBLA main man jumps ship
,----[ Quote ]
| In somewhat surprising news, Greg Canessa, the big guy behind
| Xbox Live Arcade, has left the Microsoft compound for PopCap Games.
`----
http://www.destructoid.com/xbla-main-man-jumps-ship-29716.phtml
Microsoft Windows Live VP to resign
,----[ Quote ]
| Blake Irving, a Corporate Vice President in Microsoft's Windows
| Live Platform group, is resigning his post, according to sources
| close to the company.
`----
http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=296
Evangelist Gartenberg back to being analyst
,----[ Quote ]
| After only three weeks at Microsoft as an "evangelist," Michael
| Gartenberg is returning to his old job as vice president and
| research director at JupiterResearch.
`----
http://news.com.com/2061-10805_3-6165381.html?part=rss&tag=2547-1_3-0-20&subj=news
------------------------------
Message-ID: <3952482.k3ujqXpA3U@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [News] More Wins for Linux-based WiFi, Embedded Linux
Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 08:10:47 +0000
Linux phone stack gains predictive typing option
,----[ Quote ]
| Trolltech has agreed to resell Zi Corporation's predictive typing and
| auto-correction software for mobile devices with full hardware or software
| keyboards. The eZiType stack will be available pre-integrated with Qtopia
| Phone Edition (QPE), through Trolltech's Greensuite third-party ecosystem,
| Trolltech said.
`----
http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS3627055734.html
Linux WiFi array certified FIPS 140-2
,----[ Quote ]
| A provider of Linux-based WiFi arrays announced certification by the National
| Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST). The cyptographic module in
| Xirrus's 802.11a/b/g-compliant "WiFi Arrays" has received Federal Information
| Processing Standards (FIPS) 140-2 validation, says the company, opening the
| door to more U.S. government markets.
`----
http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS6580015724.html
Related:
The FCC, FOSS, and software radios: a mixed bag
,----[ Quote ]
| After studying the new rules -- published in the Federal Register last month
| and taking effect today -- the SFLC concluded that the laws are not
| FOSS-restrictive because they "apply to hardware manufacturers who distribute
| SDR devices, regardless if they use FOSS in them or not." And the Centre says
| that since the rules specifically mention the GNU/Linux operating system, the
| FCC is actually acknowledging the importance of open source.
`----
http://www.linux.com/feature/116769
FCC ignores more than 100 years of wisdom
,----[ Quote ]
| In 1883 French cryptographer Auguste Kerckhoffs published a set of six
| design principles for military encryption systems. The second of these
| principles is generally known today under the observation that security
| through obscurity is not security. The Federal Communications Commission
| (FCC) seems not to have read the history books or to be aware of how its
| sister federal agencies develop security standards....
`----
http://www.infoworld.nl/idgns/bericht.phtml?id=002570DE00740E1800257313005EC092
Is The FCC Blocking Wireless Competition?
,----[ Quote ]
| With the nationwide expansion of fibre-optic wiring and digital delivery at
| the turn of the century, the federal government reclaimed and is still
| reclaiming large amounts of spectrum.
`----
http://www.webpronews.com/insiderreports/2007/09/07/is-the-fcc-blocking-wireless-competition
The Spectrum Swindle
,----[ Quote ]
| This is not a call for a privatisation or reformation of the FCC; it is a
| recommendation for its abolition.[20] Along with alternative arbitration
| venues, the current court system could handle any disputes arising from this
| action.[21]
|
| The FCC should not be in the business of gerrymandering the electromagnetic
| spectrum; rather, it should be left to private firms to homestead the
| infinitesimal frequencies and solve any and all problems in courts: just like
| property disputes on parcels of land.
|
| The FCC sells something it neither created nor homesteaded and has
| historically been found incompetent at managing. Worse, it has necessarily
| been partisan in its actions. In addition, the Treasury Department (through
| the FCC) stands to make billions of dollars for something they never made,
| never homesteaded, and have shown gross incompetence at managing. And yet, in
| January, they will both make out like bandits.
`----
http://www.mises.org/story/2815
Is FCC destroying the open Internet?
,----[ Quote ]
| The fact of a shared monopoly is, in many places, just that â?? a fact. When
| carriers are given an exclusive right to provide service on lines they â??own,â??
| the public network-of-networks becomes merely a private network.
|
| Such monopolies, whether public or private, provide enormous temptation for
| mischief. No matter how good the motives of those who create such temptation,
| it follows as night does day that others with less pure motives will follow
| them.
`----
http://blogs.zdnet.com/open-source/?p=1737
------------------------------
Message-ID: <1641023.vQJCMtVj0g@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [News] [Rival] Microsoft Keeps Hush-hush About Stuart Scott's Misconduct
Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 08:14:23 +0000
Microsoft replaces one Scott with another as CIO
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoftâ??s former CIO, Stuart Scott, was terminated for violating company
| policies in November.
`----
http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=1118
Quote for the day:
"The core of this trial is consumer choice and the premise is that consumers
ought to make that decision, not Microsoft. Microsoftâ??s argument that says
Java would have died anyway is a little bit like saying if somebody shoots you
they can defend [themselves] by saying you have cancer."
--David Boies, lead trial attorney DOJ
[ For using BSD, or for bribing OOXML voters? Ed. ]
Related:
Ecuador Tax Agency Closes Microsoft Branch Offices For 7 Days
,----[ Quote ]
| "We have twice requested balances, payment reports and complete tax
| information, but the company hasn't given it to us, so in accordance with our
| laws we have proceeded with the closure," the SRI official in charge of the
| proceeding said. Â
`----
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200710041610DOWJONESDJONLINE000810_FORTUNE5.htm
Microsoft Office raid in Hungary
,----[ Quote ]
| "Such behaviour could lead to the exclusion of competitive products from
| the market and violate European Union rules, according to the authority
| known as the GVH."
`----
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/07/26/ap3957835.html
Microsoft exec dumped stock prior to Red Ring announcement
,----[ Quote ]
| To make matters more murky, the sales were not registered with the Securities
| and Exchange Commission within the mandatory two days of the transaction, a
| result of an alleged "administrative error." Microsoft has since remedied the
| issue by following the "procedures required of late-filers."
`----
http://arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs.ars/2007/08/14/microsoft-exec-dumped-stocks-prior-to-red-ring-addresment
Microsoft's Bach sold more stock before Xbox news
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft Corp. executive Robbie Bach sold $3 million more in company stock
| during the period leading up to an announcement about a costly flaw in its
| Xbox video game console than previously reported, according to a filing
| Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
`----
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/microsofts-bach-sold-additional-stock/story.aspx?guid=%7BBECA3A50-EF33-4161-A111-A43BDC8B0462%7D&siteid=yhoof
Wis. Bill to Require Tax Loophole Data
,----[ Quote ]
| Wisconsin Bill Would Require More Reporting on Tax Loopholes
|
| [...]
|
| A message left with Microsoft was not immediately returned.
`----
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/071219/wi_corporate_taxes.html?.v=4
Microsoftâ??s Club Live fiasco
,----[ Quote ]
| People were using the macro on more than 3 games at a time, on more than 2
| accounts at a time, why Microsoft didnâ??t pick up on the fact that in the
| first few days some people had accumulated enough for 3 Zunes each is beyond
| us. Some were lucky, others, not so much. Â
|
| [...]
|
| So far no one has been banned from using their accounts, which they needed to
| sign up, probably because they did not break any laws, or probably because
| Microsoft didnâ??t want that hassle and liked their new found traffic. Â
`----
http://www.blogthe.net/2007/07/16/microsofts-club-live-fiasco/
Open Source Fights Back
,----[ Quote ]
| Question: The OpenSourceParking.com announcement cites a Netcraft
| report, which found that GoDaddy.com's migration from Linux to Windows
| caused Apache to lose server share. Was this event the sole impetus
| for OpenSourceParking.com?
|
| Perens: Not the first. It's part of a continuing behaviour pattern by
| Microsoft that I think it's fair to call "dirty fighting." GoDaddy was
| using Apache (I assume on Linux) because it was a great technical
| solution. They didn't switch to IIS on Windows Server 2003 for any
| technical reason. The switch was accompanied by a press release by
| GoDaddy, containing Microsoft promotional language. Now, I've changed
| many servers from one thing to another, but I've never made a press
| release about it. GoDaddy wouldn't be doing that unless Microsoft had
| offered them something valuable in return. There has been talk in the
| domain business that Microsoft has been offering the large domain
| registries a wad of cash to switch their parked sites. There is no
| other reason to do this than to influence the Netcraft figures.
`----
http://www.itbusinessedge.com/item/?ci=15108
MS dirty tricks archive trickles back to life
,----[ Quote ]
| The 3,000 document archive from the Comes antitrust trial, which
| disappeared from the web abruptly when Microsoft settled the case last
| week, is beginning to trickle back into view.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/02/21/microsoft_archive_not_lost/
------------------------------
Message-ID: <2294330.azKmzZh9bY@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [News] [OT] Political Censor (AT&T) Increases Internet Filtering
Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 08:21:35 +0000
Should AT&T police the Internet?
,----[ Quote ]
| A decade after the government said that AT&T and other service providers
| don't have to police their networks for pirated content, the
| telecommunications giant is voluntarily looking for ways to play traffic cop.
`----
http://www.news.com/Should-ATT-police-the-Internet/2100-1034_3-6226523.html?part=rss&tag=2547-1_3-0-20&subj=news
[ ISPs and Vendors are not police. Ed. ]
Related:
AT&T admits it censored other bands
,----[ Quote
| It looks like Pearl Jam isn't the only band that has had its politically
| charged comments bleeped from concerts streamed from AT&T's Blue Room Web
| site.
|
| [...]
|
| AT&T quickly apologised for the incident and blamed the company that handles
| the Webcasting for performances on Blue Room.
`----
http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-9759184-7.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
Customers can sue AT&T, after all
,----[ Quote ]
| A federal court in San Francisco has decided that AT&T's wireless contract
| is "unconscionable".
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/20/court_slames_att_wireless_contract_clause/
AT&T takes another step towards filtered network with investment in Vobile
,----[ Quote ]
| AT&T announced earlier this year that was planning to introduce content
| filtering of some sort for all video passing across its network. Exactly what
| AT&T was thinking remained unclear: would the company truly attempt to
| reassemble the fragments of peer-to-peer transmissions, then extract video
| from all sorts of different codecs, then attempt to match it-in real time-to
| some database of copyrighted works? Would such a thing even be possible?
`----
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20071114-att-takes-another-step-towards-filtered-network-with-investment-in-vobile.html
http://tinyurl.com/3a998z
When Networks Collide: AT&T suddenly doesn't like Apple so much.
,----[ Quote ]
| What I believe is troubling the relationship between AT&T and Apple is the
| upcoming auction for 700-MHz wireless spectrum and AT&T's discovery that --
| as I have predicted for weeks -- Apple will be joining Google in bidding.
| AT&T thought its five-year "exclusive" iPhone agreement with Apple would have
| precluded such a bid, but that just shows how poorly Randall Stephenson
| understood Steve Jobs. Steve always hurts his friends to see how much they
| really love him, so AT&T probably should have expected this kind of corporate
| body blow.
`----
http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/2007/pulpit_20071129_003521.html
Hey, AT&T, What's the Value of a Closed Network Again?
,----[ Quote ]
| Closed networks, its proponents maintain, offer a trade-off. Individuals or
| outside developers can't make any changes or improvements to it. But since
| the network and its applications are controlled at a single source,
| individuals are supposed to get an easier experience in which they don't have
| to think about the network, just what they're doing on it. Trust the network.
`----
http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2007/11/hey_att_whats_t.html
How AT&T chewed up, and spat out Net Neutrality
,----[ Quote ]
| In an interview with Business Week in October 2005, Whitacre said
| he thought taking over BellSouth would be rejected by the FCC.
| He also made another memorable comment that began the process
| which culminated in the FCC's approval in December.
`----
http://www.theregister.com/2007/01/10/whitacre_wins_big/
------------------------------
Message-ID: <1656816.mnckJGLrI4@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [News] More Low-cost Laptops Come to India with GNU/Linux
Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 08:24:37 +0000
Intel's Classmate PC Goes on Sale in India
,----[ Quote ]
| The MiLeap X, which runs a version of the Linux operating system, will go on
| sale in India on Jan. 26.
`----
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/141445/intels_classmate_pc_goes_on_sale_in_india.html
Sadly, it's the criminals at Intel that benefit from this. They fought to kill
a charity. Maybe they are even proud, but they continue to do damage control
with media 'placements'. An Intel executive has just _published an article_ in
the WSJ. Why not OLPC? Abuse of corporate power to rewrite history...
Related:
Intel: doing the dirty on OLPC
,----[ Quote ]
| Intelâ??s agreement with the OLPC Foundation included a â??non disparagementâ??
| clause, under which Intel and One Laptop promised not to criticise each
| other, according to Nicholas Negroponte in the latest article in the Wall
| Street Journal.
|
| Still Intel tactics have violated that repeatedly to kill OLPC efforts in
| Nigeria, Libya, Pakistan, India, China and Intel is also still trying to pull
| those tactics in Mexico, Brazil.
| This is simply disgracefull of Intel, scandalous.
|
| But Negroponte has signed an agreement saying that he is not allowed to
| criticise Intel, so he is not allowed to talk about these shameless tactics
| even though Intel is the one violating the agreement.
|
| So only independant voices on the Internet can get those messages of truth
| out about Intels tactics.
|
| In Nigeria, Intel came and donated 3000 laptops to counter OLPC efforts, then
| sells 17 thousand Classmates to Nigeria at a loss.
|
| Then Microsoft corrupted Nigerian officials with 400 thousand dollars to
| install Windows XP on those instead of Mandriva Linux.
`----
http://www.p2pnet.net/story/14124
Laptop-Project Founder Faults Intel
,----[ Quote ]
| Oscar Becerra Tresierra, general director for educational technology at
| Peru's Ministry of Education, says that after the country recently agreed to
| buy 272,500 OLPC laptops for primary-school students, an Intel sales
| Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â ^^^^^^^^^^^
| representative tried "to scare us" by claiming the machines and their power
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
| adapters didn't work. "I don't feel very happy about it," he said. "We Â
| wouldn't like the project to fail because somebody is spreading gossip about
| Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
| the machines that doesn't turn out to be true." Â Â
`----
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119948070480568405.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Laptop Project Blames Intel for Breakup
,----[ Quote ]
| Negroponte said Intel even tried to undo a deal One Laptop had already sealed
| in Peru by citing flaws in the One Laptop "XO" machine and telling government
| ministers "we ought to know, because we are on the board." Such hostile
| comments were prohibited, Negroponte claimed, under the July peace treaty
| that brought Intel into the One Laptop Per Child camp. Â Â
|
| "I want to say we tried, but it was never a partnership," Negroponte
| said. "There's not one single thing in their contract or agreement that they
| lived up to." Â
`----
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hXa0O9XLMsWfaqt-sI9FqFy2IewgD8TVAD7OA
Poor Kids' Laptop Cranks Up
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates earlier this year told the Microsoft
| Government Leaders Forum, "Geez, get a decent computer where you can
| actually read the text and you?re not sitting there cranking the thing
| while you're trying to type" (see Bill Gates Mocks $100 Laptop).
`----
http://www.redherring.com/article.aspx?a=17302
One Laptop Per Child - Production Delays Caused By Microsoft, Intel?
,----[ Quote ]
| I sincerely hope that no matter what the people who are running the
| OLPC project decide, that their project will continue and not get
| bogged down in a play of corporate greed and ambitions.
`----
http://www.lockergnome.com/nexus/blade/2007/04/28/one-laptop-per-child-production-delays-caused-by-microsoft-intel/
Negroponte says Intel should be "ashamed of itself"
,----[ Quote ]
| He is furious that Intel's CEO Craig Barrett called the One Laptop a
| gadget. The Negroponte initiative is caught in the middle of a vicious
| fight between AMD and Intel, he said.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=39733
,----[ Quote ]
| That software effort does not have the support of Mr. Otellini, who
| is concerned about incurring Microsoft's wrath, the executive said.
| The two companies have a long history of tension over who controls
| the hardware and software direction of the "Wintel standard." Intel
| has said it is supporting both operating systems.
`----
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/16/technology/16chip.html?ex=1177560000&en=2ef52cee6b1fb0e3&ei=5099&partner=TOPIXNEWS
Lessons from Africa: How to Kill Your Own FUD
,----[ Quote ]
| So, even as Microsoft claims superior quality over Linux, they act as if they
| don't even buy their own FUD. If they really believed that Windows was
| superior to Linux, they wouldn't have to bribe people with â??marketing helpâ??
| to get them to choose Windows. Â
`----
http://www.linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2007-11-09-030-26-OP-MD-MS
Linux wins Nigerian school desktops back from Microsoft
,----[ Quote ]
| "We are sticking with that platform," said the official, who would not give
| his name.
`----
http://www.computerworlduk.com/management/government-law/public-sector/news/index.cfm?newsid=6124
http://tinyurl.com/27ycq9
[Mandriva CEO:] An open letter to Steve Ballmer
,----[ Quote ]
| Wow! Iâ??m impressed, Steve! What have you done for these guys to change their
| mind like this? Itâ??s pretty clear to me, and it will be clear to everyone.
| How do you call what you just did Steve, in the place where you live? In my
| place, they give it various names, Iâ??m sure you know them. Â
|
| Hey Steve, how do you feel looking at yourself in the mirror in the morning?
|
| Of course, I will keep fighting this one and the next one, and the next one.
| You have the money, the power, and maybe we have a different sense of ethics
| you and I, but I believe that hard work, good technology and ethics can win
| too. Â
`----
http://blog.mandriva.com/2007/10/31/an-open-letter-to-steve-ballmer/
Not Such a Harsh Toke, Actually
,----[ Quote ]
| This is socially, economically, politically and otherwise innovative. It is
| good for democracy too in some of the few remaining places that good thing is
| having trouble getting hold. We regard that thing too lightly, I fear. Â
|
| The Gates | Otellini axis directly hurts us deeply. To me, it is a
| particularly American shame.
`----
http://fussnotes.typepad.com/plexnex/2007/11/not-such-a-hars.html
Intel slapped with new antitrust investigation
,----[ Quote ]
| New York state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has launched an antitrust
| investigation of Intel, after his office served a wide-ranging subpoena on
| the chip giant. Â
|
| Cuomo is investigating whether Intel violated state and federal antitrust
| laws by coercing customers to exclude its main rival, Advanced Micro Devices
| (AMD), from the worldwide market for PC central processing units (CPUs),
| Cuomo said in a news release. Â
|
| The subpoena seeks information on Intel's pricing practices and possible
| attempts to exclude competitors through its market power, Cuomo's office
| said. Â
`----
http://www.techworld.com/opsys/news/index.cfm?newsID=11099&pagtype=all
US antitrust group urges Intel investigation
,----[ Quote ]
| The American Antitrust Institute (AAI), a Washington DC lobby group, has
| written an open letter to the Federal Trade Commission urging an
| investigation of Intel's allegedly monopolistic business practices. Â
|
| [...]
|
| AAI say its insistence of an investigation is based on allegations by AMD in
| a private case and information obtained by the EC's complaint, which have not
| been made public Â
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/30/aai_wants_intel_probe_expansion/
Intel urged to give more data on flash unit deal
,----[ Quote ]
| ...U.S. Federal Trade Commission has requested additional information on the
| company's deal with STMicroelectronics...
`----
http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUKWNAS317820070830?rpc=44
The Fight for Fair and Open Competition
,----[ Quote ]
| AMD is an undisputed technology and innovation leader.
|
| However, Intel's abusive, illegal monopolistic behaviour is preventing
| businesses and consumers alike from choosing freely between AMD and Intel Â
| products.
`----
http://breakfree.amd.com/en-us/antitrust.aspx
EC says Intel influenced bids for computer projects
,----[ Quote ]
| The third type of allegation, however, was new, and sounded like a variety of
| predatory pricing. â??In the context of bids against AMD-based products for
| strategic customers in the server segment of the market,â?? the commission
| press release said, â??Intel has offered CPUs on average below cost.â?? Â
`----
http://legalpad.blogs.fortune.com/2007/08/03/ec-says-intel-influenced-bids-for-computer-projects/
Negroponte says Intel should be "ashamed of itself"
,----[ Quote ]
| He is furious that Intel's CEO Craig Barrett called the One Laptop a
| gadget. The Negroponte initiative is caught in the middle of a vicious
| fight between AMD and Intel, he said.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=39733
AMD chief condemns Intel 'abuses'
,----[ Quote ]
| In 2005, after the Japan Fair Trade Commission found Intel guilty of
| offering illegal rebates to Japanese PC makers, AMD filed an anti-trust
| suit against its competitor in the U.S. District Court in Delaware. The
| case has not been decided.
`----
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2007/06/21/amd_ceo_condemns_intel_abuses/
AMD: Intel Destroyed Evidence in Antitrust Case
,----[ Quote ]
| In an unpublished statement to the U.S. District Court of Delaware,
| AMD alleges Intel allowed the destruction of evidence in pending
| antitrust litigation.
`----
http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=6352
Video: Henri Richard comes out swinging at Intel during AMD press conference
,----[ Quote ]
| [AMD's Henri Richard:] "I am sick and tired of being pushed around
| by a competitor that doesn't respect the rules of fair and open
| competition."
`----
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Berlind/?p=363
Investors sue Dell on payments from Intel: WSJ
,----[ Quote ]
| An investor lawsuit seeking class-action status accuses Dell Inc. of
| improper accounting in its relationship with chip giant Intel,
| according to a media report published Thursday evening.
|
| [...]
|
| The suit alleges that Dell received at times as much as $1 billion
| a year in "secret and likely illegal" kickbacks in the form of
| "e-Cap" or "exception to corporate average pricing" payments"
| from Intel to ensure that Dell used no other chip supplier,
| according to The Journal.
`----
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/investors-sue-dell-payments-intel/story.aspx?guid=%7B400315B0%2DE375%2D4920%2DB300%2D784220BEFE35%7D&siteid=yhoo&dist=yhoo
Lenovo got financial help from Intel, claim
,----[ Quote ]
| Journalists on the title said Lenovo is being paid a "pretty
| penny" from Intel to use its chips.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=37670
,----[ Quote ]
| In 2005, a unit of Shenzhen Donjin countersued, saying Intel engaged
| in monopolistic practices.
`----
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070514/china_intel_settlement.html?.v=7
Intel's anti-trust memos started vanishing from the top
,----[ Quote ]
| Chairman Craig Barrett, CEO Paul Otellini and sales chief Sean Maloney
| have appeared on a list of Intel employees thought to have deleted
| e-mails possibly relevant to AMD's anti-trust lawsuit against its
| larger rival. The missing e-mails have thrust a livid state of mind
| onto AMD's lawyers who have very serious problems with Intel's
| rather lax document retention policy.
|
| [...]
|
| CEO Otellini appears to have been one of these troublesome employees.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/11/intel_tortellini_episode/
------------------------------
Message-ID: <6492917.M2jW00nbuv@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [News] US Government Might Abandon Old Desktop Paradigm
Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 08:25:34 +0000
US OMB pushes for software as a service
,----[ Quote ]
| A top official with the U.S. White House's Office of Management and Budget
| (OMB) gave her strongest endorsement yet to software as a service, saying
| Wednesday it can help federal agencies cut development costs.
`----
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/17/AR2008011701046.html
Related:
FAA May Ditch Microsoft's Windows Vista And Office For Google And Linux Combo
,----[ Quote ]
| Bowen said he's in talks with the aviation safety agency's main
| hardware supplier, Dell Computer, to determine if it could
| deliver Linux-based computers capable of accessing Google
| Apps through a non-Microsoft browser once the FAA's XP-based
| computers pass their shelf life.
`----
http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=197800480
Can Google and Linux Topple Microsoft?
,----[ Quote ]
| The story had a certain flair. In early March, the chief information
| officer of the Federal Aviation Administration, David Bowen, was
| reportedly considering forsaking Microsoft Windows and Office in
| favour of the Linux operating system and the Web-based Google Apps
| Premium office suite.
`----
http://www.linuxinsider.com/rsstory/57534.html
------------------------------
Message-ID: <2647609.9podWtPSzP@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [News] [Rival] Microsoft OOXML Manipulation/Fraud in Croatia (Again!)
Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 08:27:53 +0000
Microsoft trying to delay ODF adoption in Croatia
,----[ Quote ]
| In April 2007. Office for e-Croatia (governmental body responsible for all
| things e-related) proposed introduction of ODF format as a national standard.
|
| [...]
|
| However, in this particular case, Microsoft announced objections shortly
| before the deadline, thus delaying the resolution of the proposal, and maybe
| even forcing rejection of the proposal. Due to the secrecy that shrouds the
| work of CSI, I can't tell what the objections are, nor whether Microsoft has
| majority of its business partners as members of the panel (although it is
| very likely so), but the last minute objections are confirmed.
|
| [...]
|
| Even if things don't turn out that way, there's the possibility that
| Microsoft might force OOXML acceptance by sheer voting power within the
| panel, although I believe that in the case of OOXML failing ISO approval,
| Microsoft would not dare to display such power over entire nation, at least
| not while in the limelight.
|
| [...]
|
| What does, however, is the fact that Microsoft and business partners are
| clearly abusing CSI panel for their own selfish interests, where they as
| members should think only of the benefit for the people of Croatia.
`----
http://www.oddparity.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=28&Itemid=1
Related:
Digitally Free Schools
,----[ Quote ]
| Marco Fioretti started new personal initiative which will hopefully make lots
| of parents and teachers understand why they cannot ignore FOSS and Free
| Culture anymore in the interest of their own children. He's going to publish
| a directory of Digitally Free Schools, that all parents may check when
| choosing a new school for their children. Â Â
`----
http://kost.com.hr/blog/index.php?title=digitally_free_schools&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1
Croatian government defined open source policy
,----[ Quote ]
| Today, Croatian goverment specified how to handle open source in
| government offices, ministries and agencies. Document is called Open
| source policy and it gives good push to open source implementation
| in government bodies.
`----
http://kost.com.hr/blog/index.php?title=croatian_government_defined_open_source_&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1
Croatian government adopts free software policy
,----[ Quote ]
| Basically it feels that proprietary software leads to too much dependence on
| suppliers, which can damage the market competition.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=33120
Croats embrace open source software
,----[ Quote ]
| The Croatian government has decided to dump proprietary software and
| move entirely to Open Source.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=33860
Corrupt countries were more likely to support the OOXML document format
,----[ Quote ]
| Is this just a random coincidence? The median of the CPI index of the above
| mentioned 70 countries is 3.95. Of the most corrupted half (CPI index less
| than 3.95) 23 or 77% voted for approval (approval or approval with comments)
| and 7 or 23% for disapproval; 5 abstained. Of the least corrupted half (CPI
| index more than 3.95) 13 or 54% voted for approval and 11 or 46% voted for
| disapproval; 11 abstained - see the table below.
`----
http://www.effi.org/blog/kai-2007-09-05.en.html
Microsoft accused of more OOXML standards fiddling
,----[ Quote ]
| However the 11 new countries are refusing to say how they will vote. These
| include Cote d'Ivoire, Cyprus, Ecuador, Jamaica, Lebanon, Malta, Pakistan,
| Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Uruguay and Venezuela. Most people seem to think
| that these have been put there by Vole to make sure the standard gets pushed
| through.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=42106
------------------------------
Message-ID: <4729926.2VSqJFsplM@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [News] [Rival] Burton Group Has Possible Track Record of Microsoft Shilling
Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 08:29:41 +0000
Report fuels OpenOffice vs. OOXML debate
,----[ Quote ]
| OpenOffice.org has dismissed an analyst report from Burton Group which claims
| that Microsoft's Office Open XML document format is preferable to the
| OpenDocument Format.
|
| [...]
|
| Burton Group also attracted controversy in August 2007 when it warned
| businesses against the use of Google Apps, another free software competitor
| to Microsoft Office.
`----
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-6226607.html
Yesterday:
OOXML: the propaganda war has begun
,----[ Quote ]
| The arguments put forward by the Burton group do not hold much water - OOXML
| is not anti-competitive, it will become more widespread in use (due to the
| widespread use of Microsoft Office), ODF is driven by anti-Microsoft
| sentiment more than any technical merit, etc. Sun Microsystems comes in for
| quite a bit of bashing. Â Â
`----
http://www.itwire.com/content/view/16153/1090/
Related:
OOXML Questions Microsoft Cannot Answer in Geneva
,----[ Quote ]
| At Left: Highly respected Martin Bryan. As outgoing Conveyor of ISO/IEC
| JTC1/SC34 WG1 he accused MS of stacking his group and said, â??The days of open
| standards development are fast disappearing. Instead we are
| getting â??standardisation by corporation,â?? something I have been fighting
| against for the 20 years I have served on ISO committees.â?? Â Â
|
| The trend is that Microsoft is opening up the boring legacy bits of OOXML, in
| stupefying detail, while neglecting to document the pieces actually needed
| for interoperability at a competitive level, like macros, scripting,
| encryption, etc. In essence, Microsoft is opening up and releasing the file
| format information that competitors like OpenOffice.org have already figured
| out on their own, while still at the same time restricting access to the
| information needed to compete. And the more MS realises it has to open up the
| specification, deprecate and modernise OOXML, what do you get? You get XML.
| XML is XML. Strip out the non-XML garbage from OOXML and you will have the
| OpenDocument Format. Â Â Â Â
|
| [...]
|
| We need for MICROSOFT TO ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS. Rather than hiding all the
| information we need and trying to cloak OOXML as ODF, we ask Microsoft to
| please get off the sinking ship, collaborate with the global community (which
| will welcome Microsoft) and help develop one universal file format for all. Â
| Long term, Microsoft can only benefit from cooperating with the market!
`----
http://www.fanaticattack.com/2008/ooxml-questions-microsoft-cannot-answer-in-geneva.html
What Will and Won't Be Discussed at February's BRM on MSOOXML
,----[ Quote ]
| So if you had concerns about Microsoft's patent policy, forgeddaboudit.
| It's been magically erased, and any comments are out of order.
|
| [...]
|
| They have chosen a room that can seat only 120 people for reasons unknown, so
| there may not be room for all the delegates. Let me guess. The head of the Â
| delegation is a Microsoft guy, and the ones who can't fit in the room are the
| ones who have issues with the proposed format? You think? Hey, some of us
| remember the games that were played already over rooms too small for IBM and
| Sun. Â Â
|
| This is starting to look really, really bad. At a minimum, you have to say
| this is the very opposite of an open process. I can't help but notice too
| that Brown lists Rick Jelliffe's as one of the "cool blogs" he recommends on
| Brown's blog. I think that is what novelists would call foreshadowing. Â
`----
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20071211055139790
Portugal will send Microsoft to the BRM
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft, as president of the Portuguese Technical Committee, is already
| controlling who will be at the BRM for Portugal. The Head of Delegation will
| be... Microsoft! Â
`----
http://www.noooxml.org/forum/t-27501/portugal-will-send-microsoft-to-the-brm
IBM is still locked out of the Portuguese OOXML meeting
,----[ Quote ]
| In spite of various communications, we [IBM] are still locked out and will
| not be allowed to participate. Microsoft will be there, as well as a special
| Microsoft guest, as will various Microsoft business partners, and others. Â
`----
http://www.sutor.com/newsite/blog-open/?p=1755
Microsoft's Stephen McGibbon to represent Ireland at the BRM?
,----[ Quote ]
| There are rumours circulating in Ireland that Microsoft's Stephen McGibbon
| might be part of the Irish delegation to attend the BRM in Geneva. Microsoft
| is already controlling the Portuguese delegation, you can expect that they
| will control half of the table at Geneva. O'MyGod! Â
`----
http://www.noooxml.org/forum/t-29606/microsoft-s-stephen-mcgibbon-to-represent-ireland-at-the-brm
Opinion: Einstein's definition of insanity...
,----[ Quote ]
| But ISO standards have a much more political dimension to them than Internet
| (IETF) or World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) standards. Every country can vote, Â
| although not all chose to do so. Over the past few weeks, some strange and
| rather irregular national positions have come to light. My favourites were
| Cuba voting "Yes" to the fast-tracking of OOXML, even though Microsoft is
| prohibited by the US Government from selling any software on the island that
| might even be able to read and write the new format, and Azerbaijan's "Yes"
| vote, even though OOXML as defined isn't able to express a Web URL address in
| Azeri, their official language. Â Â Â
`----
http://www.linuxformat.co.uk/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=632
Corrupt countries were more likely to support the OOXML document format
,----[ Quote ]
| Is this just a random coincidence? The median of the CPI index of the above
| mentioned 70 countries is 3.95. Of the most corrupted half (CPI index less
| than 3.95) 23 or 77% voted for approval (approval or approval with comments)
| and 7 or 23% for disapproval; 5 abstained. Of the least corrupted half (CPI
| index more than 3.95) 13 or 54% voted for approval and 11 or 46% voted for
| disapproval; 11 abstained - see the table below.
`----
http://www.effi.org/blog/kai-2007-09-05.en.html
Microsoft accused of more OOXML standards fiddling
,----[ Quote ]
| However the 11 new countries are refusing to say how they will vote. These
| include Cote d'Ivoire, Cyprus, Ecuador, Jamaica, Lebanon, Malta, Pakistan,
| Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Uruguay and Venezuela. Most people seem to think
| that these have been put there by Vole to make sure the standard gets pushed
| through.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=42106
------------------------------
Message-ID: <4638674.jLF1tXltqI@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [News] [Rival] Microsoft Made Page Rendering Dangerous, Fatal
Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 08:34:50 +0000
Poisoned websites attack visitors
,----[ Quote ]
| Once installed on a Windows machine the malicious code steals passwords,
| browser data as well as login names for bank accounts and online games.
|
| [...]
|
| Mr Heron said the code injected on the websites scanned the machine of any
| visiting Windows user to see if any one of 13 separate vulnerabilities were
| present.
`----
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7193993.stm
At least the BBC were told off to the point where they explicitly
say "Windows", not "computers". It's due to complaints from readers (Mac
users, not just Linux).
Related:
In zombies we trust
,----[ Quote ]
| A little over a year ago, I wrote an editorial where in back-of-the-envelope
| style (.pdf) I estimated that perhaps 15-30% of all privately owned computers
| were no longer under the sole control of their owner. In the intervening
| months, I received a certain amount of hate mail but in those intervening
| months Vint Cert guessed 20-40%, Microsoft said 2/3rds, and IDC suggested
| 3/4ths. It is thus a conservative risk position to assume that any random
| counterparty stands a fair chance of being already compromised. Â Â Â
`----
http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=661
Over 50% of corporate desktops infected with malware: IronPort
,----[ Quote ]
| The report also reveals that more than 50% of corporate desktops
| worldwide are infected with some type of spyware with the rate of
| infection as high as 70% in the United States. Trojans or malicious
| system monitors represented over 7% of the infections. Rootkits and
| trick loaders, which reinstall spyware and other obfuscation techniques,
| make remediation very difficult thus prevention is the key to stopping
| these threats.
`----
http://www.crn-india.com/breakingnews/stories/66870.html
Botnet 'pandemic' threatens to strangle the net
,----[ Quote ]
| Cerf estimated that between 100 million and 150 million of the
| 600 million PCs on the internet are under the control of hackers,
| the BBC reports.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/26/botnet_threat/
------------------------------
Message-ID: <1599638.9UoIV4dXBz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [News] Wine-based Installation for Linux Simplified Greatly with PlayOnLinux
Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 08:37:28 +0000
PlayOnLinux
,----[ Quote ]
| To sum it up, POL is a promising frontend installer for Windows and Dos
| programmes. Although there are some scripts that are outdated (POL uses Wine
| 0.9.37 to run MSOffice 2003, and the IE6 installation script - which uses the
| IE4Linux script - doesn't work properly on the current 0.9.53), the advantage
| of POL online repositories (and consequently an active community
| contributing) gives it the upper end in updating installation scripts for
| supported programmes.
`----
http://wine-review.blogspot.com/2008/01/playonlinux.html
More examples of the maturity of Wine below. Any beginner can use it easily (no
CLI).
Related:
Does WINE + Linux support more Windows apps than Vista?
,----[ Quote ]
| WINE supports most of the applications which are made for Windows
| 2.0 up to Windows XP. WINE has the ability to run different versions
| of IE, run most of Adobe's products, run World of Warcraft, Half Life
| 2, Microsoft Office 2003, XP, 2000 and 97, Visio, Quicken,
|
| * Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars
| * Need for Speed Carbon
|
| [...]
|
| What about drivers, hardware support, and upgrades?
|
| Want to upgrade you XP to Vista? no chance. might as well do a fresh
| install and shell out $300.
`----
http://jagtalon.wordpress.com/2007/04/30/does-wine-linux-support-more-apps-than-vista/
Stop Wine From Beating Your Windows Apps With The Ugly Stick
,----[ Quote ]
| Ubuntu 8.04 is planned to have usability improvements for Wine, among these
| improvements is a theme for Wine applications that matches the GTK theme.
| Canâ??t wait until April?
`----
http://tombuntu.com/index.php/2008/01/04/stop-wine-from-beating-your-windows-apps-with-the-ugly-stick/
Wine 0.9.53 Released
,----[ Quote ]
| This is release 0.9.53 of Wine, a free implementation of Windows on Unix.
|
| What's new in this release:
| Â - RunOnce and Run entries now executed on startup.
| Â - Beginnings of support for emulated disk devices.
| Â - Many Richedit improvements.
| Â - Nicer looking colour dialogue.
| Â - Lots of bug fixes.
`----
http://winehq.org/?announce=0.9.53
Seven Versions Of WINE Benchmarked
,----[ Quote ]
| The performance in the fourteen 3DMark 2001 SE and 3DMark 2003 tests were
| fairly consistent in the releases between WINE 0.9.44 and WINE 0.9.50 --
| generally only swaying a few frames in either direction -- though the
| performance overall has slightly declined and we were surprised by a few of
| the results. Â Â
`----
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=938&num=1
Winefix - improved desktop integration for Wine
,----[ Quote ]
| A script called winefix. In short, it allows Wine applications to be run just
| as easily as those native to Linux, meaning that they can be linked to or run
| from any directory, whether from a terminal or even a file manager like
| nautilus. It also handles some of the more awkward Wine extensions like .lnk
| and .msi, akkowing them to be run with a double click.
`----
http://wine-review.blogspot.com/2007/10/winefix-improved-desktop-integration.html
Wine is Getting Good
,----[ Quote ]
| Wine is at version 0.9.47. As it nears version 1.0, it's becoming clear that
| the goals of the project are being met.
`----
http://www.tuxmachines.org/node/21069
Wine-doors 0.1 aka Vinegar Finger
,----[ Quote ]
| I am proud to announce that after just over a year, 809 changes, and before
| LUG Radio Live wine-doors 0.1 has been branched in SVN, A tarball is
| available from the downloads page, if anyone builds debs and rpms Iâ??ll use
| them honest.
`----
http://www.wine-doors.org/wordpress/?p=24
Wine-doors 0.1.1 (oenology oidium)
,----[ Quote ]
| Wine-doors 0.1.1 has been released with some minor changes;
|
| * Fixed bugs with file not found handling for applications such as
| dreamweaver
| * Added multiple URLs in a pack
|
| [...]
`----
http://www.wine-doors.org/wordpress/?p=37
------------------------------
Message-ID: <4620845.iUbm89YHrb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [News] [Rival] Microsoft's Recent Patent Application Claimed "Stupid", Can Backfire
Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 08:33:16 +0000
Microsoft patent filing is stupid rather than evil
,----[ Quote ]
| In a nutshell, this patent filing would appear to be suggesting that groups
| of computer users engaged in a similar type of activity can be monitored in
| order to provide community network based help with tasks. By recording
| metabolic data it is possible to determine levels of stress and frustration
| during the performance of a given task, say creating a new spreadsheet, which
| would trigger the help system into action. Other users who have successfully
| performed that same task recently could then be asked to help the struggling
| member of this worker community.
|
| Of course, such technology has the potential to be put to a use which impacts
| negatively upon the privacy of the individual. To be honest though, this one
| seems to have a much greater potential to be one that gets filed under bad
| ideas quickly forgotten, right next to Microsoft Bob in fact...
`----
http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry1973.html
With 'quality' patents like this, Microsoft tries to scare people off
GNU/Linux. This will boomerang. See this:
RIAA told to pay legal fees for harrassed defendant
,----[ Quote ]
| The case was then dismissed with prejudice, meaning Andersen could attempt to
| recover attorneys' fees from the RIAA. Andersen also dismissed her own
| countersuit without prejudice in order to pursue a separate malicious
| prosecution lawsuit against the RIAA.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/01/17/tanya_andersen_riaa_attorneys_fees/
With all of Microsoft's lawsuits by proxy gradually being exposed (evidence
rising from the ashes), lawsuits against Microsoft can come. Some are already
planning to sue Microsoft's for its OOXML frauds and crimes.
Related:
Battle for the transparency   Â
,----[ Quote ]
| It's been a while now, and I'm still trying to enforce HZN (Croatian national
| standards body, or CSI) to disclose the information on members of their TC
| that voted unconditional yes for Microsoft OOXML. (more about that on
| Croatian blog Fuzzy on www.linux.hr) Â
| It's no more about OOXML. It's about transparency, about my right to know who
| are the people that declare standards, and about my right to hold them
| responsible for their actions. Â
| They're stubborn. So am I. I have reached the point where the only sensible
| thing to do is to - sue them. Which is what I'm set up to.
`----
http://www.oddparity.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10&Itemid=99999999
,----[ Quote ]
| Just yesterday I was sitting in the relevant meeting of SNV/UK14
| (http://www.snv.ch/), that decides how Switzerland will vote. The
| chairman (Hans-Rudolf Thomann) explained the following rules:
|
| - we are here to create standards, not to reject them
| - if we reach consensus (>=75%) to vote for Microsoft, we will vote
| for Microsoft
| - if we only reach a majority (>=50%) to vote for Microsoft, we
| will vote for Microsoft
| - if we reach a majority to vote against Microsoft, we will vote
| for Microsoft
| - if we reach consensus to vote against Microsoft, we will abstain
`----
http://www.noooxml.org/forum/t-15521/swiss-cheese
Microsoftâ??s secretive standards orgs in Former Yugoslavia
,----[ Quote ]
| Croatian laws keep its national bodyâ??s votes secret, so the only way for the
| Croatian public to find out how the process went would be if a board member
| illegally leaked information out of CSI. This is, of course, unlikely to
| happen. And the Serbian national standardisation body is not officially
| formed, so those two votes were easy for Microsoft, and probably not only
| ones around the globe.
`----
http://www.linuxworld.com/news/2007/092407-ooxml.html?page=1
Microsoft Tech Ed 2007: OpenXML
,----[ Quote ]
| He was asked "Why did Microsoft push OOXML through the "Fast Track" process
| instead of the standard ISO process? Wouldn't they get less resistance than
| faced now?"
|
| His response was very frank: "Office is a USD$10 billion revenue generator
| for the company. When ODF was made an ISO standard, Microsoft had to react
| quickly as certain governments have procurement policies which prefer ISO
| standards. Ecma and OASIS are 'international standards', but ISO is the
| international 'Gold Standard'. Microsoft therefore had to rush this standard
| through. Its a simple matter of commercial interests!"
`---- ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
http://www.openmalaysiablog.com/2007/09/microsoft-tech-.html
Evidence of Microsoft Influencing OOXML Votes in Nordic States
,----[ Quote ]
| "This is how a standard is bought," Bosson wrote later. "I left the meeting
| in protest - pissed off."
`----
http://www.betanews.com/article/Evidence_of_Microsoft_Influencing_OOXML_Votes_in_Nordic_States/1188335569
Microsoft Memo to Partners in Sweden Surfaces: Vote Yes for OOXML - Updated
,----[ Quote ]
| He acknowledges that the rules might need to be changed.
`----
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20070829070630660
The OOXML Problem
,----[ Quote ]
| Another thing, by introducing a "new fancy" document format, MS can hold a
| tighter grip round existing customers and get more on the false pretence that
| they've "opened up".
`----
http://phun-ky.net/2007/08/the-ooxml-problem
Rejecting OOXML
,----[ Quote ]
| All the CIOs say they want is XML documents; unfortunately they aren't as
| aware as Georg Greve, above, that Microsoft's implementation of XML is
| exceedingly half-hearted.
`----
http://fussnotes.typepad.com/plexnex/2007/08/rejecting-ooxml.html
------------------------------
Message-ID: <1689379.qSRqnmtAmq@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [News] Scientific Linux 5.1 is Released, Other Distributions Also
Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 11:28:14 +0000
Scientific Linux 5.1 - i386 & x86_64
,----[ Quote ]
| Scientific Linux 5.1 is finally out. This release has the ability to easily
| make sites (customised Scientifc Linux distributions). The ability to make
| sites was missing from SL 5.0. We also managed to add back some of those
| packages that didn't make it into SL 5.0, as well as a few packages new for
| this release.
`----
https://www.scientificlinux.org/news/sl51
Another new release of Linux (in Spanish) at:
http://www.k-demar.org/
There are a couple more minor releases today.
Related:
Scientific Linux live CD/DVD previews RH5
,----[ Quote ]
| A preview of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, which won't be released
| for about a month, is available via the latest Scientific Linux 5
| (SL5) alpha live CD/DVD, released this week. Built from source
| packages for RHEL 5, SL5 sports a 2.6.18 kernel and either the
| KDE or GNOME desktops.
`----
http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS7261819287.html
Scientific Linux rolls out live CD/DVD update
,----[ Quote ]
| The Scientific Linux project today released a set of live CDs and DVDs
| of the latest version of their Red Hat-based distribution, v4.4, for
| both i386 and x86_64 architectures. The live CD/DVD, featuring a 2.6.9
| kernel and the GNOME desktop environment, can also boot from a USB
| port, the team said.
`----
http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS6595974437.html
[Release:] Scientific Linux 4.5
,----[ Quote ]
| Scientific Linux release 4.5 is based on the rebuilding of RPMS out of
| SRPMS's from Enterprise 4 AS, including Update 5.
`----
https://www.scientificlinux.org/news/sl45.x86_64
[Scientific Linux 5.0 Live CD Released]
,----[ Quote ]
| SL is a Linux release put together by Fermilab, CERN, and various
| other labs and universities around the world. Its primary purpose
| is to reduce duplicated effort of the labs, and to have a common
| install base for the various experimenters.
`----
https://www.scientificlinux.org/news/
[Scientific Linux 5.0 Just Released]
,----[ Quote ]
| SL is a Linux release put together by Fermilab, CERN, and various
| other labs and universities around the world. Its primary purpose
| is to reduce duplicated effort of the labs, and to have a common
| install base for the various experimenters.
`----
https://www.scientificlinux.org/
------------------------------
Message-ID: <1335610.X18vKq1IFP@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [News] Novell's Antitrust Lawsuits Aggainst Microsoft Carries on
Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 11:30:12 +0000
Novell's Suit Against Microsoft Cites Decline of WordPerfect
,----[ Quote ]
| WordPerfect, a once-popular software programme, is making something of a
| comeback -- this time as Exhibit A in Novell Inc.'s multibillion-dollar
| antitrust suit against Microsoft Corp.
|
| The lawsuit is a byproduct of the U.S. government's landmark case against
| Microsoft that was settled more than six years ago after the world's biggest
| software maker was declared an illegal monopolist. A handful of other private
| suits against Microsoft still await resolution, and no claim is bigger than
| Novell's.
`----
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=azE3HU7AoBu4&refer=news
Not looking great neither for Novell nor for Microsoft.
[ Oh, they'll pretend to fight it out in court for a while, before
Microsoft agree to a payment which will be just enough to keep Novell
afloat for another couple of years so that Microsoft continue to be able
to sell "SuSE" vouchers and de Icaza continues to support the tainting
of open-code with Microsoft code. Ed. ]
Subject: Novell corporate shuffles
,----[ Quote ]
| This article talks about the possibility of Novell being bought out by
| another company. That would solve none of the objections that the open source
| community has about the Microsoft-Novell agreement. The purchasing company
| would have to assume the obligations imposed on Novell by the
| Microsoft-Novell agreement and the purchasing company would also own SuSE.
| The fight between open source and Novell's successor would continue unabated.
| I would much prefer a sale or corporate shuffle of some sort where the
| obligations imposed by the Microsoft-Novell agreement would remain with
| Novell or its new parent and SuSE would be either independent or owned by a
| company with no ties whatsoever to the company which owns Novell's end of the
| Microsoft-Novell agreement.
|
| Such an arrangement would leave Novell with a pile of money and a dying
| Netware business. Obviously Novell would have to develop a new business
| strategy. I would like to suggest that Novell has already found one
| possibility. Microsoft's ability to do software development has died.
| Microsoft contracted with Novell to produce open source software written to
| include Microsoft's patents, software interfaces, data formats, and network
| interfaces. Novell is executing this contract with a proficiency in
| developing software that Microsoft cannot hope to match. I suggest that
| Novell develop a business in contracting with Microsoft to develop Microsoft
| proprietary software and Microsoft can lay off their bloated, ineffective
| software development bureaucracy.
`----
http://www.linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2008-01-17-022-26-OS-SS-0001
Related:
Time for Novell to Settle the SCOre
,----[ Quote ]
| SCO Group Latest News about SCO Group is going down. Microsoft,
| Sun Microsystems and the greedy investors that abetted SCO in
| its campaign to loot Unix and Linux vendors and their
| customers have abandoned ship.
|
| [...]
|
| As for the payment made by Novell, it validates the arrangement
| as a business contract by setting up an exchange of consideration.
| I'm not a lawyer, but I believe that if Microsoft just handed a
| bouquet over to Novell to prevent Novell v. Microsoft, Microsoft
| could later welsh on the deal by contesting the alleged misdeeds
| that Novell used as leverage.
|
| This is all conjecture, of course, but two absolute truths remain:
| Payback is, indeed, a bitch, and Microsoft is entitled to a share.
| And at present, it sucks to be Steve Ballmer.
`----
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/rsstory/55269.html
------------------------------
Message-ID: <1566418.4u9rYJOpHT@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [News] Blogger Covering Patent Trolls Receives Threats, Barrionuevo Becomes FFII President
Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 11:33:28 +0000
A Note About Civility
,----[ Quote ]
| It is absolutely unacceptable for people to post threats in the comments.
| They will be deleted as soon as I see them. I was just made aware of one such
| threat posted over a month ago, and was appalled. I don't care if the threats
| are meant to be sympathetic towards me, it will be deleted.
`----
http://trolltracker.blogspot.com/2008/01/note-about-civility.html
Watch the comment. He already has a bounty of his head because of a patent
troll called Ray Niro.
FFII President Pieter Hintjens Has Stepped Down.
,----[ Quote ]
| According to the report cited above, FFII Vice-President Mr Barrionuevo
| (Spain) follows Mr Hintjens as FFII President.
`----
http://www.ipjur.com/2008/01/ffii-president-pieter-hintjens-has.php3
Related:
Ray Niro Offers $5,000 Bounty For Information On My Identity
,----[ Quote ]
| Yes, Ray Niro has decided to offer $5,000 to find out who I am. According to
| the article, he wants to know "who is saying all those nasty things" about
| him. I don't think that's fair. I may have disparaged the validity of Acacia
| U.S. Patent 5,253,341, and I may have claimed that Niro was asserting
| the '341 patent against me just to shut me up, as he did to Greg Aharonian so
| many years ago (something that the article's author also implies), but that's
| not nasty. Is it? Â Â Â
`----
http://trolltracker.blogspot.com/2007/12/ray-niro-offers-5000-bounty-for.html
------------------------------
Message-ID: <2497095.anUF26DqkQ@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [News] Google Brags Charity, Recommends NASA Uses Free Software
Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 15:59:24 +0000
Google's Schmidt: NASA should collaborate with public
,----[ Quote ]
| The US space programme should look to collaboration and open systems to drive
| the next wave of human exploration and innovation, Google Chairman and CEO
| Eric Schmidt said Thursday.
`----
http://www.linuxworld.com.au/index.php?id=1865415457&rid=-50
Google philanthropy targets global warming, poverty, and disease
,----[ Quote ]
| SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - Google's philanthropic arm on Thursday said it is
| taking aim at global warming, poverty, and pandemics with millions in cash
| and the Internet giant's global resources.
|
| Google.org executive director Larry Brilliant said the group had a "brutal"
| job selecting priorities from the world's ills and crafting five core
| initiatives it feels best match Google's strengths.
`----
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5itJ72AGRnN-POBR6fiWivZVN6Mkw
Larry Brilliant sounds like a fake name.
Web 2.0 to the rescue
,----[ Quote ]
| InSTEDDâ??s Palo Alto-based team â?? which includes former Microsoft (MSFT)
| executives â?? will tap $5 million from Google.org (Googleâ??s philanthropic arm)
| plus money from the Rockefeller Foundation to develop technology tools for
| humanitarian organisations, the United Nations and other groups.
`----
http://greenwombat.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2008/01/17/web-20-to-the-rescue/?source=yahoo_quote
Related:
Penguins in space: NASA picks open source for lunar mission
,----[ Quote ]
| According to Popular Mechanics, Ares project manager Steve Cook noted that
| the specifications for the Ares I design are â??open-source and
| non-proprietaryâ?? in order that other companies can bid on future contracts.
| The ability to avoid vendor lock-in is a significant argument in favour of the
| use of open source software for long-term projects, particularly for
| government agencies. Â Â
`----
http://blogs.the451group.com/opensource/2007/12/13/penguins-in-space-nasa-picks-open-source-for-lunar-mission/
Interview: The driver behind NASA's Mars Rovers
,----[ Quote ]
| It all runs on a collection of high-end Linux boxes -- nice systems, but
| commodity PC hardware. Since 3-D visualisation is a big part of the job, the
| Linux boxes sport bonzer NVIDIA graphics cards. Â
`----
http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/index.php/id;563338166;pp;1
NASA Selects SGI to Provide Largest Shared-Memory System in the World
,----[ Quote ]
| The new system will be the first supercomputer to operate 2,048 processor
| cores and 4TB of memory under a single copy of Linux -- creating the
| largest Linux single system image (SSI) in the world. Â
`----
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/prnewswire/AQM07923072007-1.htm
FlightLinux blasts off again
,----[ Quote ]
| Patrick Stakem wants everyone to know that the newest iteration of
| FlightLinux is not just for NASA rocket scientists. The special hardened
| distribution that earlier this century orbited the Earth on an unmanned
| satellite is set to move into active duty again, this time as a civilian
| project. Â Â
`----
http://www.linux.com/feature/115329
First Public Release of CLARAty Software
,----[ Quote ]
| With this release, a total of 44 CLARAty modules (~100K lines of code) are
| now available under the JPL Open Source Licence. This release is intended to
| share with the robotics community some of the core robotic modules which were
| jointly developed with NASA Ames Research Centre, Carnegie Mellon, and
| University of Minnesota. This first release represents about 10% of all
| CLARAty modules and 30% of the generic modules planned for future release. Â Â
`----
http://www-robotics.jpl.nasa.gov/news/newsStory.cfm?NewsID=69
NASA tests Linux for spacecraft control
,----[ Quote ]
| On the software side, embedded Linux vendor Wind River says it was selected
| to "support the development of NASA's New Millennium Programme Space Technology
| 8 (ST8) Dependable Multiprocessor." As part of its role in supporting the
| project, the company will supply its Platform for Network Equipment, Linux
| Edition (PNE-LE) for use on the DM system. Â Â
`----
http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS5714800202.html
Open-Source Software and Its Role in Space Exploration
,----[ Quote ]
| FOSS explores our Solar System. We send robots to the moon, Mars
| and beyond to flyby, orbit or land. FOSS goes with them, pervasive
| in the real-time operating systems, math libraries and file systems.
| Consider the robotic decisions of where to rove, and realise the power
| given the human race by the Free Software Foundation's (FSF)
| compilers, libraries, build scripts and so on.
`----
http://www.cio.com/article/111950/Open_Source_Software_and_its_Role_in_Space_Exploration
http://tinyurl.com/2kcyvw
NASA enlists HP in multibillion-dollar tech contract
,----[ Quote ]
| This includes desktop PCs, workstations, and blade PCs enabled to
| run Unix and Linux operating systems; as well as printers and servers.
`----
http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-9722103-7.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
At NASA, Windows Vista Isn't Ready For Launch
,----[ Quote ]
| Space agency among the growing list of federal agencies that
| have put a temporary hold on Windows Vista rollouts.
`----
http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=199201229
NASA tests Linux-based planetary surface exploration robots
,----[ Quote ]
| A Linux-based NASA lunar rover is on manoeuvres -- and Internet webcams
| -- this week in the Arizona desert near Meteor Crater.
|
| [...]
|
| The K-10 runs Red Hat Linux, which NASA says was chosen for its large
| user base and application compatibility. Additionally, NASA notes that,
| "Linux's flexibility and scalability enable us to easily add, remove,
| and extend devices with minimal difficulty."
`----
http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS4892438264.html
Avoiding Hubble trouble: The software plan for NASA's new space telescope
,----[ Quote ]
| "Once you get into millions of lines of code, it's really difficult
| for a new programmer coming onto a project to make a change or
| understand how different subsystems relate to each other," he says.
|
| [...]
|
| It's hard to estimate how much money will be saved because of the
| decision to use open standards software. It could be a few million
| dollars, or 10 times that, Cammarata says.
`----
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/011907-software-hubble-nasa.html?page=2
NASA Expands Order for Innova Robotics & Automation's Universal Robot
Controller to Enhance Ground Testing
,----[ Quote ]
| In addition, Innova will provide an external clock synchronisation
| signal to NASA's Linux-based host PC that will function as the
| "heart beat" that triggers the initiation of commands to the robotic arm.
`----
http://www.marketwire.com/mw/release_html_b1?release_id=219764
Young Scientists Design Open-Source Programme at NASA
,----[ Quote ]
| "NASA is recognising the value of free and open-source software in
| other sectors," said Cowan-Sharp, a contractor at NASA Ames in
| Mountain View, California. "CosmosCode is going one step further
| by allowing NASA scientists to begin a software project in the
| public domain, leveraging the true value of open-source software
| by creating an active community of volunteers."
`----
http://www.wired.com/science/space/news/2007/04/cosmoscode_0409
------------------------------
Message-ID: <1594265.c0ZTquEbXo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [News] [Rival] Microsoft Technical Evangelist Hates Windows Home Server
Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 16:01:02 +0000
News Briefs: 1-17-08
,----[ Quote ]
| Windows Home Server Anti-evangelism. Microsoft technical evangelist Volker
| Will is really unhappy about Windows Home Server. I'm a big fan of the
| product marketing, but Will's anti-endorsement has me wondering about getting
| a HP MediaSmart Server as planned.
`----
http://www.microsoft-watch.com/content/security/news_briefs_11708.html?kc=MWRSS02129TX1K0000535
Some other bad news in the page. Bad times for Microsoft, which is still in
buybacks mode, so pains will be disguised -- for now.
Related:
Windows Home Server bug corrupts files
,----[ Quote ]
| Given that the point of Windows Home Server is to allow you to store
| your media files, a bug in the storage process that could result in
| corrupted files is bound to get attention.
|
| Microsoft has issued a support document for the 13 or so (just
| kidding) people using Windows Home Server, the company's latest
| product for those attempting to build the digital home of the future.
| Apparently there's a flaw in the way Windows Home Server works with
| certain Microsoft applications, such as Windows Vista Photo Gallery,
| that could result in corrupted files if you use those applications to
| save files to the server. A list of the specific applications can be
| found in the support document.
`----
http://www.news.com/8301-13579_3-9838093-37.html?tag=newsmap
Related:
A Non-obvious Use for Debbie (a Debian 4.0 Home Server)
,----[ Quote ]
| So far Debbie has worked in all of the relatively simple roles I've put her
| to. AVI, MOV and JPG files all work well on either the Linux or Windows
| clients when served by Debbie. PDFs work in either Linux or Windows. They
| even work when accessed by browser plug-ins, either FireFox 2 or IE6 or 7.
| Copying files to and from Debbie by the kids has been easy to implement.
`----
http://community.zdnet.co.uk/blog/0,1000000567,10007038o-2000440676b,00.htm
Welcome to the Ubuntu Home Server Project
,----[ Quote ]
| Ubuntu Home Server (UHS) will be an edition of the Ubuntu operating system
| which allows users to administer their home network. Â
`----
http://www.ubuntuhomeserver.org/
Who needs Windows Home Server with Linux around?
,----[ Quote ]
| Is this a joke? I only recently started paying attention to Windows Home
| Server, since I tend to focus more on desktop operating systems and
| enterprise server systems. So I didn't realise until now that WHS is really
| just a vanilla file server. Â
`----
http://www.linux-watch.com/news/NS9015653445.html
Will bad backups doom Windows Home Server?
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft just announced it's working on Windows Home Server, which
| among other features, will automatically back up files on all PCs in
| the home. But if the product uses the same kind of brain-dead backup
| built into Windows Vista, this is a product that will be dead on arrival.
|
| The backup tool built into Windows Vista may be the worst utility
| every packed into an operating system. It doesn't allow you to back
| up individual files, folders or even file types. Instead, you have to
| back up every single file and folder of broad generic types.
|
| For example, if you want to back up a single picture, you have to back
| up every single graphic of every graphic file type on your entire PC,
| including all the graphics that Vista itself uses. This means you can
| be forced to back up hundreds of gigabytes of files if you only want
| to back up a few family photos.
`----
http://www.computerworld.com/blogs/node/4303
Windows Home Server fan club [Shills?] beats me up for asking if WHS is
Microsoftâ??s next flop
,----[ Quote ]
| Literally within minutes of each other (strangely coincidental), I received
| two e-mails â?? one from a colleague and the other from someone who concealed
| their identity â?? that basically told me I was out of line for questioning the
| chances that Microsoftâ??s Windows Home Server will succeed. Â Â
`----
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Berlind/?p=851
Home Servers Hold Big Promise, Limited Appeal
,----[ Quote ]
| While Vista's been grabbing all the headlines and hype, Microsoft's gone and
| released another new operating system, and servers running it will probably
| be the coolest gadgets most consumers won't rush out to buy. Â
`----
http://www.smartmoney.com/Techsmart/index.cfm?story=20070906&afl=yahoo
,----[ Quote ]
| In an entry on the Home Server blog, programme manager Chris Sullivan
| said that the group has received nearly 2,400 bug reports so far from
| beta testers, and still had 495, or about 21% of the total, classified
| as "active."
`----
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9014183&intsrc=news_ts_head
Will Windows Home Server be Microsoftâ??s next flop?
,----[ Quote ]
| If you buy-off on the theory that the world seems to be heading in the
| opposite direction that Microsoft wants to lead it, then you canâ??t help but
| wonder what the long term prospects for an offering like Windows Home Server
| are. Not good, if you ask me. Â
`----
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Berlind/?p=791
------------------------------
Message-ID: <6946374.gKsdZrWnpe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [News] [Rival] Microsoft Looks for Suckers to Hurt ODF, Finds Shill
Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 16:05:20 +0000
Microsoft wants open sourcers to write an OOXML translator
,----[ Quote ]
| One has to wonder where Microsoft thinks it's going to find anyone competent
| who's willing to write open source BSD licensed code that can only benefit
| the Vole itself, without any compensation except a promise not to get sued.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/01/17/vole-gull-open-sourcers-write
Only someone like de Icaza will accept the challenge...
[ He's probably on the beta right now... Ed. ]
Gold Certified Shill alert:
Intermedia Compliant With iPod
,----[ Quote ]
| Business e-mail solutions provider and Microsoft Gold Certified
| partner, Intermedia, has announced that it now supports business e-mail on
| Apple's iPod. Intermedia-hosted Exchange customers can now access their
| business e-mail via secure IMAP using any up-to-date iPod.
`----
http://www.inc.com/news/articles/2008/01/0117ipod.html?partner=yahoofeed
Ecosystem shills. Stuffing ballots on demand and all...
Related:
Portugal will send Microsoft to the BRM
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft, as president of the Portuguese Technical Committee, is already
| controlling who will be at the BRM for Portugal. The Head of Delegation will
| be... Microsoft! Â
`----
http://www.noooxml.org/forum/t-27501/portugal-will-send-microsoft-to-the-brm
IBM is still locked out of the Portuguese OOXML meeting
,----[ Quote ]
| In spite of various communications, we [IBM] are still locked out and will
| not be allowed to participate. Microsoft will be there, as well as a special
| Microsoft guest, as will various Microsoft business partners, and others. Â
`----
http://www.sutor.com/newsite/blog-open/?p=1755
Microsoft's Stephen McGibbon to represent Ireland at the BRM?
,----[ Quote ]
| There are rumours circulating in Ireland that Microsoft's Stephen McGibbon
| might be part of the Irish delegation to attend the BRM in Geneva. Microsoft
| is already controlling the Portuguese delegation, you can expect that they
| will control half of the table at Geneva. O'MyGod! Â
`----
http://www.noooxml.org/forum/t-29606/microsoft-s-stephen-mcgibbon-to-represent-ireland-at-the-brm
Opinion: Einstein's definition of insanity...
,----[ Quote ]
| But ISO standards have a much more political dimension to them than Internet
| (IETF) or World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) standards. Every country can vote, Â
| although not all chose to do so. Over the past few weeks, some strange and
| rather irregular national positions have come to light. My favourites were
| Cuba voting "Yes" to the fast-tracking of OOXML, even though Microsoft is
| prohibited by the US Government from selling any software on the island that
| might even be able to read and write the new format, and Azerbaijan's "Yes"
| vote, even though OOXML as defined isn't able to express a Web URL address in
| Azeri, their official language. Â Â Â
`----
http://www.linuxformat.co.uk/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=632
Whither OOXML?
,----[ Quote ]
| Strangely, however, Microsoft appears to be soft-pedaling its own standard.
| At GOSCON last week there was a panel on document formats, with reps from
| IBM, Sun, Adobe, and Microsoft present. Each of the company representatives
| got to speak for five minutes and present his company's perspective on
| document formats. Â Â
|
| In his presentation, Matusow appeared to be backing away from OOXML as a key
| technology. If you look at the slide he presented...
|
| ...you can see that the positioning now is that the tool is key, and the
| document format secondary, which, to my mind, is a bizarre assertion,
| although it's one that aligns with a positioning that, above all, must keep
| Microsoft's tools in a predominate position. Â
|
| It appears to me that, having realised that the force-feeding of OOXML into
| an international standards body is problematic, Microsoft is now trying to
| present a soft TCO story which emphasises sunk costs and pre-existing product
| versions as a reason to stay on the Microsoft path, along with an
| incomprehensible assertion that two document standards would be a good thing
| (this last is the most oddball position of all; how can anyone state with a
| straight face that the world would be well-served by having two incompatible
| editable file formats?). Â Â Â Â
`----
http://advice.cio.com/bernard_golden/wither_ooxml
Corrupt countries were more likely to support the OOXML document format
,----[ Quote ]
| Is this just a random coincidence? The median of the CPI index of the above
| mentioned 70 countries is 3.95. Of the most corrupted half (CPI index less
| than 3.95) 23 or 77% voted for approval (approval or approval with comments)
| and 7 or 23% for disapproval; 5 abstained. Of the least corrupted half (CPI
| index more than 3.95) 13 or 54% voted for approval and 11 or 46% voted for
| disapproval; 11 abstained - see the table below. Â Â Â
`----
http://www.effi.org/blog/kai-2007-09-05.en.html
Microsoft accused of more OOXML standards fiddling
,----[ Quote ]
| However the 11 new countries are refusing to say how they will vote. These
| include Cote d'Ivoire, Cyprus, Ecuador, Jamaica, Lebanon, Malta, Pakistan,
| Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Uruguay and Venezuela. Most people seem to think
| that these have been put there by Vole to make sure the standard gets pushed
| through. Â Â
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=42106
------------------------------
Message-ID: <2417062.hsrILVSfo2@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [News] Latest Free Software and Open Source Success Stories (Batch)
Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 16:07:11 +0000
Hats off to those who made free software into a successful business
,----[ Quote ]
| The genius of the successful open-source companies, therefore, was to
| recognise a value niche between the chaos of truly free software and the
| large license fees of proprietary software like Windows. They sell
| open-source subscriptions at a fraction of proprietary licence fees--that
| offer a stable, supported product to risk-averse corporate customers.
|
| Add it up, and it's worth a pretty penny--or a billion dollars to Sun.
`----
http://blog.pennlive.com/shoptalkmarketing/2008/01/hats_off_to_those_who_made_fre.html
New Study Indicates That Open Source Softwareâ??s Presence Will Increase from
Approximately 10 Percent of Key User on-Premise Software in 2007, to between
15 Percent and 20 Percent by 2010
,----[ Quote ]
| Last month, we looked at user adoption plans and data to frame a typical
| roadmap of enterprise-level open source adoption. This month, we look in more
| depth at specific user business software categories, to see which will lead
| and which will follow on the path to open source.
`----
http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20080117005473&newsLang=en
News: Open-Source Solutions Alliance, Releases 2008 Web Business Market
Predictions
,----[ Quote ]
| The nonprofit, vendor-neutral organisation dedicated to accelerating the
| growth of open source interoperability, The Open Solutions Alliance (OSA),
| has released its 2008 Predictions Survey findings, which polled open-source
| CEOs on forecasts for the coming year.
`----
http://www.thehostingnews.com/news-open-source-solutions-alliance-releases-2008-web-business-market-predictions-3929.html
Grandchaos goes open source
,----[ Quote ]
| Tcheleskov Ivanovitch announces the release of a first Grandchaos album on
| the Swiss label Urgence Disk Records.
`----
http://www.side-line.com/news_comments.php?id=28526_0_2_0_C
Enhydra Shark 2.1-1, Open Source Workflow Engine, Released
,----[ Quote ]
| Version 2.1.1 of Enhydra Shark has been released. Enhydra Shark is an
| open-source Java available workflow engine, with WfMC and OMG Workflow
| Management Facility compliant.
`----
http://www.sda-india.com/sda_india/psecom,id,22,site_layout,sdaindia,news,22925,p,0.html
Open Source for the Rust Belt?
,----[ Quote ]
| Yes, I bring up this idea to foster a home-grown open-source industry because
| I am a geek, but I truly think it makes sense. In countries such as India and
| Brazil, leaders have seen the value of promoting local solutions that not
| only decrease their dependence on Microsoft but also improve local expertise
| and create more jobs. Why can't a state or region develop its own economy as
| such, too? Start by promoting open-source solutions and open file formats in
| all levels of government, including schools. Follow up by offering students
| courses and degrees that give them the skills to compete to create those
| solutions.
`----
http://www.linuxjournal.com/node/1006091
osCommerce: The Industry's Past, Present and Future
,----[ Quote ]
| This is the second in a series on osCommerce, the popular free, open-source
| shopping cart alternative, and the industry it has spawned.
`----
http://www.ecommerce-guide.com/solutions/technology/article.php/3722381
------------------------------
Message-ID: <7802644.0hWfZInXhG@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [News] Sun Microsystems a Good Home for MySQL, Will Fix Issues
Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 16:02:37 +0000
How and why MySQL grabbed $1bn in five weeks
,----[ Quote ]
| "It has been like walking around in a candy story," Mickos said, after
| looking over Sun's vast computing labs.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/01/18/open_season_10/
Users say Sun needs to fix what's broken at MySQL
,----[ Quote ]
| Google Inc. and other MySQL users have created patches designed to fix the
| performance problems. But MacAskill said that the open-source vendor has yet
| to add the patches to the database, despite requests that it do so from him
| and other users.
`----
http://www.linuxworld.com.au/index.php?id=2121879293&rid=-50
Related:
A bright future for MySQL
,----[ Quote ]
| MySQL is an example of a disruptive technology. At first, it was too puny for
| the proprietary databases to notice, and satisfied only small users. But its
| powers grew, and the size of the companies using it also increased. It cannot
| match the upper limits of DB2 capability at this point, but it will be
| interesting to see if and when that day comes. But it doesnâ??t have to; it is
| already transforming most of the database market. May Sun invest the money
| (and employ the open source software developers) to take it to the top.
`----
http://enterpriselinuxlog.blogs.techtarget.com/2008/01/17/a-bright-future-for-mysql/
Five Questions Facing Sun Micro's MySQL Acquisition
,----[ Quote ]
| Ever work for a small company that was acquired by a big, legacy technology
| company? Ever work in a nimble organisation where decisions were made in an
| instant -- rather than debated in a committee? As a fast-moving Web 2.0
| pioneer, MySQL will need to adjust to Sun's more mature culture. On the flip
| side, Sun will need to maintain the best of MySQL's fast-moving, creative,
| open culture.
`----
http://seekingalpha.com/article/60555-five-questions-facing-sun-micro-s-mysql-acquisition?source=yahoo
Sun Microsystems Announces Agreement to Acquire MySQL
,----[ Quote ]
| Sun Microsystems, Inc. has said that it has entered into a definitive
| agreement to acquire MySQL AB, an open source icon and developer of one of
| the worldâ??s fastest growing open source databases for approximately $1
| billion in total consideration. The acquisition accelerates Sun's position in
| enterprise IT to now include the $15 billion database market. Today's
| announcement reaffirms Sun's position as the leading provider of platforms
| for the Web economy and its role as the largest commercial open source
| contributor says Sun.
`----
http://www.linuxelectrons.com/news/general/15752/sun-microsystems-announces-agreement-acquire-mysql
------------------------------
Message-ID: <1350612.gO9Apuopux@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [News] A Production-ready KDE 4.1 Just Months Away
Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 16:08:27 +0000
KDE 4's next step, version 4.1 in 2008
,----[ Quote ]
| After years of development and preparation, the KDE open source desktop
| community celebrated the much-anticipated version 4.0 release this month, but
| the word among the project's leaders is version 4.1 will only be a further
| six to nine months away.
`----
http://www.linuxworld.com.au/index.php?id=1390174457&rid=-50
Editorial: KDE 4.0, A Call for Perspective
,----[ Quote ]
| KDE 4.0 was released last week and all hell seemed to break loose. What I
| view as a solid first step in a very positive reaction was met with some
| applause, but generally scorn and complaints. I think some perspective is
| needed, and I humbly offer to try and provide some. Iâ??d like to take issue
| with some things I see that are just plain wrong.
`----
http://www.linuxtechdaily.com/2008/01/editorial-kde-40-a-call-for-perspective/
KDE4: Get More Widgets
,----[ Quote ]
| KDE 4.0 by default comes with just few necessary widgets. To get access to
| few more widgets install the extragear-plasma package for your distribution.
`----
http://linux.wordpress.com/2008/01/18/kde4-get-more-widgets/
Related:
Ten Tips for KDE 4.0 Beginners
,----[ Quote ]
| # Enabling KWin effects
| KWinâ??s new 3D effects work great on my computer, but they were not enabled by
| default. To turn them on, open System Settings and click Desktop. Simply
| check the Enable desktop effects box and click Apply.
`----
http://tombuntu.com/index.php/2008/01/15/ten-tips-for-kde-40-beginners/
------------------------------
Message-ID: <2072635.hxZNWphsau@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [News] Linux with and Against the Macs (Symbiotic?)
Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 16:12:13 +0000
CommuniGate Systems Opens the Door for Mac and Linux High-Performance
Calendaring and Scheduling With the CalDAV Standard
,----[ Quote ]
| With the new CalDAV support, Mac OS users can reap huge benefits through
| shared calendaring and scheduling, without having to rely on Microsoft client
| or server products.
`----
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/communigate-systems-opens-the-door-for-mac-and-linux-high-performance,258337.shtml
Applies to Linux users too:
'Mac people' more open, liberal than PC users
,----[ Quote ]
| People who prefer Apple's Macintosh computers over PCs have long been
| considered to be on the artsy, hip end of the personality spectrum -- and now
| a study proves that "Mac people" indeed are more liberal and open-minded than
| average folks.
`----
http://www.linuxworld.com/news/2008/011708-mac-people-more-open-liberal.html?fsrc=rss-linux-news
Hardware and preinstallation as an Apple advantage?
The Mac and Windows Alternative: My Linux Laptop
,----[ Quote ]
| Having the difficulties that I did has convinced me that the biggest benefit
| to an Apple Mac over Linux isn't really the Mac's desktop or operating
| system. Let's be honest here, the Mac is basically just Unix and the
| Gnome/KDE Linux desktops are quickly catching up to the whole Mac experience.
| No the biggest benfit to a Mac over Linux is that Apple has installed the
| Unix operating system for you. Until more PC and laptop manufactures get
| behind Linux, Mac will continue to reign in the arena of the Unix/Linux
| dektop installed on the home PC and laptop. That would make me sad, except
| I'm too happy using my Linux laptop to do anything but smile.
`----
http://cmsreport.com/node/1530
Not too sure about the hardware...
Mail DVD sparks "brisk trade" at repair shop
,----[ Quote ]
| A free DVD given away with the Mail on Sunday has created a "brisk trade" at
| Apple repair stores, according to a PC Pro reader.
|
| As we reported on Monday, last Sunday's free Jazz Singer DVD was printed on a
| new format called EcoDisc, which is half as thin as an ordinary DVD and can
| get stuck in certain Apple slot-loading drives.
`----
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/156954/mail-dvd-sparks-brisk-trade-at-repair-shop.html
Linux, unlike Apple, cannot afford to do the PR game and hide flaws such as the
ones below.
Related:
Leopard is the New Vista, and It's Pissing Me Off
,----[ Quote ]
| Before Apple makes any more smug OS-related attacks on Microsoft, it ought to
| take a good look in the mirror.
`----
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704,2223921,00.asp
Apple's Xmas gift: wireless networking problems
,----[ Quote ]
| In October, the Apple faithful received the latest, greatest update to their
| much-vaunted operating system, Mac OS X. As with every other upgrade, it has
| a wonderful name: Leopard. Â
`----
http://www.itwire.com/content/view/15705/1091/
10.5.1 Fixes Numerous Leopard Flaws
,----[ Quote ]
| 10.5.1 also reportedly fixes problems in storing wireless network passwords
| and using Disk Utility, and it addresses five Mail flaws. A bug that resulted
| in "potential data loss issue when moving files across partitions in the
| Finder" has been corrected; this issue cropped up when using Command-drag to
| move, not copy, files in the Finder across local hard drives and mounted
| volumes. Â Â
`----
http://db.tidbits.com/article/9318
Massive Data Loss Bug in Leopard
,----[ Quote ]
| Aaaand â?¦ poof!
|
| The directory on our Desktop is now gone. The directory shown in the C$ mount
| will only contain files that were copied entirely before the connection was
| disrupted, but nothing more (in the demonstration case, thereâ??s only one file
| in "test", so nothing was copied successfully). Â
|
| [...]
|
| Whereâ??s the rest of our data?
|
| Apple, please FTFF already. This is unacceptable.
`----
http://tomkarpik.com/articles/massive-data-loss-bug-in-leopard/
Leopard early adopters suffer for the rest of us
,----[ Quote ]
| Mac OS X 10.5.1 will likely arrive around Thanksgiving with fixes for most of
| the problems encountered by the brave early adopters.
`----
http://www.news.com/8301-13579_3-9809571-37.html
Some Leopard upgraders see 'blue screen of death'
,----[ Quote ]
| A significant number of Mac owners upgrading to Leopard on Friday reported
| that after installing the new operating system, their machines locked up,
| showing only an interminable -- and very Windows-like -- "blue screen of
| death." Â
`----
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=printArticleBasic&articleId=9044378
New iMacs plagued by interface freezing issues
,----[ Quote ]
| A growing number of users have reported that Apple's aluminum all-in-one
| computers suffer from a flaw that locks up the interface, rendering the
| system all but inert until a reboot. Â
`----
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/07/10/03/new_imacs_plagued_by_interface_freezing_issues.html
------------------------------
Message-ID: <1958386.QtVtk6yFfp@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [News] Secunia Added to New Credibility Index with Poor Rating for FUD
Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 16:13:46 +0000
Red Hat bugs - another open source PR hit?
,----[ Quote ]
| Red Hat's Mark Cox quickly pointed out in a blog that a) the number was
| wrong, b) it counted flaws in all the third party products associated with
| Red Hat's OS, and worst of all c) it counted several bugs six times, since it
| added up fixes made for the same bug, on multiple Red Hat products.
|
| [...]
|
| Even if there were a greater number of reported bugs on these open source
| products, that would not equal lower security. It could just mean that there
| is more publicity for known bugs in the open source world (as we saw
| recently, when code-checker Coverity announced it had found around 8000 bugs
| in open source projects, I commented here that this was actually good news
| for open source).
|
| Obviously, whether or not Secunia deliberately got its sums wrong, it remains
| the case that "open source security flaws" is a much more arresting headline
| than "Microsoft security flaws" - for exactly the sam reason that "man bites
| dog" is more interesting than "dog bites man".
`----
http://community.zdnet.co.uk/blog/0,1000000567,10007077o-2000469549b,00.htm
Linux is scaring quite a few people. It's disruptive to their careers.
Recent:
Weâ??re not thieves. We just canâ??t read contracts (McAfee and Open Source)
,----[ Quote ]
| There is a lot of FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt) spread about Free/Libre
| and Open Source (FLOSS) licenses. While companies dependant on older
| competing business models suggest these licences are complex or â??ambiguousâ??,
| the reality is quite the opposite. Â
`----
http://blogs.itworldcanada.com/insights/2008/01/11/we%E2%80%99re-not-thieves-we-just-can%E2%80%99t-read-contracts-mcafee-and-open-source/
http://tinyurl.com/39pjml
McAfee throws some FUD at the GPL
,----[ Quote ]
| In its annual report, Windows security software vendor McAfee told its
| investors that open source software licence terms it vaguely characterised
| as " ambiguous" might "result in unanticipated obligations regarding our
| products."
|
| [...]
|
| That statement says several things. First, it reveals that McAfee does use at
| least some open source software derived code in its products. Second, it
| betrays that McAfee has misappropriated that open source software and thus is
| committing copyright infringement, because it doesn't distribute that open
| source software derivative source code. Third, by calling its products that
| include open source software code "proprietary", McAfee shows that it really
| doesn't want to shoulder its GPL licence obligations, but instead wants to
| both have its cake and eat it too.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/01/05/mcafee-throws-fud-gpl
McAfee to pay $13.8 million to settle backdating lawsuits
,----[ Quote ]
| McAfee has taken two major steps toward closing the stock-option backdating
| scandal that has plagued the company for the past two years.
`----
http://news.yahoo.com/s/infoworld/20071222/tc_infoworld/94209
------------------------------
Message-ID: <5203788.dIGrNeHL8X@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [News] Wii a Wiinner Console, XBox360 Get Class-action Lawsuits
Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 16:16:28 +0000
Video game sales see December blowout
,----[ Quote ]
| Nintendo, Activision lead in games; Wii is top console for the year
`----
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/nintendo-activision-lead-video-game/story.aspx?guid=%7B4727D700%2D0946%2D4C22%2DAC39%2D3D905600DB66%7D&siteid=yhoof
http://tinyurl.com/3aphee
Microsoft in Trouble Over Xbox Live Downtime
,----[ Quote ]
| Downtime with Xbox Live may cause Microsoft (MSFT) to post another
| Xbox-related charge. Microsoftâ??s Xbox Live service, its internet connectivity
| application for the Xbox 360, was down during the crucial end of the Holiday
| season.
`----
[ "The holiday season" being xmas? Ed...]
http://seekingalpha.com/article/60663-microsoft-in-trouble-over-xbox-live-downtime
Related:
Microsoft sued over Xbox outage
,----[ Quote ]
| The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Houston, claims Microsoft's outages
| represent a breach of contract and negligent misrepresentation for which the
| software maker is liable. The suit doesn't claim specific damages, but notes
| the amount is in excess of $5 million. Â
`----
http://www.news.com/8301-13860_3-9840766-56.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
Microsoft adCenter Faces Four Days of Outage?
,----[ Quote ]
| Iâ??m not an active user of Microsoftâ??s adCenter, so I need your help with
| validating reports that the service has been offline for many users for the
| last four days. Â
`----
http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2007/08/microsoft-adcenter-faces-four-days-of-outage.html
Professional success is a Bitch
,----[ Quote ]
| I landed my first job 3 months ago as a fresh college drop-out
| systems engineer. Not much interesting to tell you about that
| other then that we are now running GNU/Linux on our office server
| for over 2 months now with zero downtime. We successfully upgraded
| from Microsoft SBE to GNU/Linux.
`----
http://passionfornonsense.blogspot.com/2007/05/professional-success-is-bitch.html
http://tinyurl.com/37uwz2
Microsoft.com Goes Down
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft.com was showing a plain "MSCOM RENDERING PLACEHOLDER" for
| a couple of minutes just a few minutes ago. With the Symantec hack
| attack going on, is this an orchestrated attack?
`----
http://www.thecollegevoice.com/news/f6a54d18a92007823f9d55cc44b56abb
NHS Direct all better
,----[ Quote ]
| NHS Direct is back online this afternoon after going on the sick
| with a server error earlier today.
|
| According to Netcraft, the Windows 2000 server at the bargain
| basement hypochondriac magnet modern, accessible public healthcare
| resource was rebooted today. See here.
|
| Whatever malady did for the box, it was "unexpected", as the message
| on the site explained for most of today.
|
| NHS Direct was unavailable for comment at time of writing.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/10/nhsdirect_back/
Linux Migrations Made Simpler Â
,----[ Quote ]
| Running a Microsoft Windows NT server these days is a brave (or,
| perhaps, stupid) thing to do: Support for the product has finished,
| and as far as Microsoft is concerned, the product should be put in a
| rest home for retired software. Windows Server 2000 is also getting
| long in the tooth, and in a few years it too will reach the end of
| its support lifecycle and be looking for its rocking chair and
| slippers.
`----
http://www.serverwatch.com/tutorials/article.php/3650561
------------------------------
Message-ID: <2301814.BPc4bOUGJo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [News] New FOSS Interviews: OLPC, Gaia, Autopackage
Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 16:17:44 +0000
Interview: OLPC's Michail Bletsas Part 1 [of 2]
,----[ Quote ]
| We caught up with OLPC's Chief Connectivity Officer, Michail Bletsas, to
| speak about these issues and the future of One Laptop Per Child.
`----
http://www.gearlog.com/2008/01/interview_olpcs_michail_bletsa.php
Interview with Thomas Hansen, organiser of the Gaia Programming Contest
,----[ Quote ]
| I had the chance to interview Thomas Hansen, who recently announced the Gaia
| Programming Contest (â?¬10,000 reward). Here are his enlightening answers!
`----
http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/blogs/interview_with_thomas_hansen_organiser_of_the_gaia_programming_contest
A conversation with the autopackage team
,----[ Quote ]
| Hopefully, these ideas will help the Linux platform to surge forward, even if
| autopackage does not win as wide an acceptance as we hope it will.
`----
http://www.linux.com/feature/124325
Related:
Intel-powered XO is too expensive and consumes too much power
,----[ Quote ]
| 2 days before Intel CEO Paul Otellini would unveil the Classmate 2 or the
| Intel-powered XO at the CES, Intel announced that they are quitting the OLPC
| board. Â
|
| Intel claims that they are quitting because of Nicholas Negroponte wanting
| them to stop the promotion of the Classmate/Eee to education in third world
| countries, but I think that the real reason is that Intel does not have a
| good enough processor for the OLPC project to use as an alternative to the
| AMD Geode LX-700. Intel has not been able to develop a processor to match the
| price, power consumption and performance requirements of the OLPC project.
| Paul Otellini could have looked like a fool at the CES if he had to unveil an
| Intel powered XO that was performing worse in terms of price and power
| consumption compared to the AMD powered one. Â Â Â Â
`----
http://charbax.com/2008/01/04/intel-diamondville-and-menlow-processors-not-low-costpower-enough/
Intel: doing the dirty on OLPC
,----[ Quote ]
| Intelâ??s agreement with the OLPC Foundation included a â??non disparagementâ??
| clause, under which Intel and One Laptop promised not to criticise each
| other, according to Nicholas Negroponte in the latest article in the Wall
| Street Journal. Â
|
| Still Intel tactics have violated that repeatedly to kill OLPC efforts in
| Nigeria, Libya, Pakistan, India, China and Intel is also still trying to pull
| those tactics in Mexico, Brazil. Â
| This is simply disgracefull of Intel, scandalous.
|
| But Negroponte has signed an agreement saying that he is not allowed to
| criticise Intel, so he is not allowed to talk about these shameless tactics
| even though Intel is the one violating the agreement. Â
|
| So only independant voices on the Internet can get those messages of truth
| out about Intels tactics.
|
| In Nigeria, Intel came and donated 3000 laptops to counter OLPC efforts, then
| sells 17 thousand Classmates to Nigeria at a loss.
|
| Then Microsoft corrupted Nigerian officials with 400 thousand dollars to
| install Windows XP on those instead of Mandriva Linux.
`----
http://www.p2pnet.net/story/14124
------------------------------
Message-ID: <1384573.KNjedQP22T@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [News] [SOT] FreeKnowledge.EU Launched, Creative Commons CC0 Also
Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 16:20:28 +0000
Free Knowledge & Free Technology Conference 2008
,----[ Qyuote ]
| The Free Knowledge & Free Technology Conference (FKFT) is the first
| international event that focuses on the production and sharing of free
| educational and training materials about Free Software
`----
http://freeknowledge.eu/projects/fkft2008
The Creative Commons CC0 project
,----[ Quote ]
| CC0[http://creativecommons.org/projects/cczero] is a Creative Commons
| project designed to promote and protect the public domain by 1) enabling
| authors to easily waive their copyrights in particular works and to
| communicate that waiver to others, and 2) providing a means by which
| any person can assert that there are no copyrights in a particular work,
| in a way that allows others to judge the reliability of that assertion.
`----
http://lwn.net/Articles/265351/
Related:
Libraries Defend Open Access
,----[ Quote ]
| In an open letter last month, Rockefeller University Press castigated the
| publishers' sock-puppet outfit, PRISM, for using distorting rhetoric in a
| coordinated PR attack on open access. N Â
`----
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/09/08/1739235&from=rss
Announcing the Open Library
,----[ Quote ]
| Early this year, when I left my job at Wired Digital, I thought I could look
| forward to months of lounging around San Francisco, reading books on the
| beach and drinking fine champagne and eating foie gras. Then I got a phone
| call. Brewster Kahle of the Internet Archive was thinking of pursuing a
| project that I'd been trying to do literally for years. Â Â
|
| [...]
|
| So today I'm extraordinarily proud to announce the Open Library project. Our
| goal is to build the world's greatest library,
`----
http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/openlibrary
Wikipedia Founder Joins EC Open Access Campaign
,----[ Quote ]
| Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales said he signed a petition calling
| on the European Commission to give the public open access to
| taxpayer-funded scientific research because it was "simple and
| obvious" that the public should have access to research they
| had funded. "Public money should result in public benefit,"
| he added.
`----
http://www.linuxinsider.com/rsstory/56443.html
Push for open access to research
,----[ Quote ]
| "Cancer patients seeking information on new treatments or parents
| searching for the latest on childhood development issues were often
| denied access to the research they indirectly fund through their
| taxes" Â
`----
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6404429.stm
------------------------------
Message-ID: <3689117.SbrubjeYDt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [News] Great Reviews of SimplyMEPIS 7.0 and Neuros
Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 16:22:18 +0000
SimplyMEPIS 7.0 is a keeper
,----[ Quote ]
| SimplyMEPIS has always been and remains one of my favourite Linux
| distributions because of its no-nonsense approach to the user desktop. It
| contains virtually all the things I desire in a desktop and does so in a
| logical and easy-to-use manner. Its selection of included software is
| well-rounded and intuitive without a lot of overlap. It is one of the rare
| systems that is equally appropriate for new users and the experienced. I
| always keep a version of SimplyMEPIS installed so that no matter what else I
| do to my laptop, I will always have at least one system that will work when I
| need it.
|
| SimplyMEPIS continues to be at the top of the short list of systems I
| recommend when asked which Linux distro to try. It is one of the best
| distributions available today. It is SimplyWONDERFUL.
`----
http://www.linux.com/feature/124919
Review: Neuros OSD
,----[ Quote ]
| Need some helpful suggestions of what kind of things you can do with a Neuros
| OSD? How about getting the OSD to play nicely with Tivo? Neuros is even
| offering a cash bounty for the folks who get this done.
`----
http://www.linuxjournal.com/node/1006086
Related:
SimplyMEPIS-7.0 - Beyond Dapper!
,----[ Quote ]
| In conclusion, the more attractive SimplyMEPIS 7.0 is lightning fast even
| though its graphical interface is powered by KDE 3.5.8. As a matter of fact,
| it feels faster and more stable than SimplyMEPIS 6.5. Setting  up SimplyMEPIS
| 7.0 was super easy, as usual! Â I could easily surf the shared directory of
| SimplyMEPIS 7.0 from Windows XP once the installation was over, Â and I could
| also easily surf the shared directory of Windows XP from SimplyMEPIS 7.0.
| Almost zero effort was needed to make this work! Should you need a KDE
| desktop which can be easily set up within a few minutes, Â there no doubt that
| SimplyMEPIS 7.0 is the right choice. Â Â Â Â
`----
http://www.linuxseekers.com/content/view/227/1/
ReviewLinux.Com: First Look SimplyMEPIS 7.0
,----[ Quote ]
| Just in time for the holidays. Â SimplyMEPIS 7.0 final release has arrived and
| we thought we would do a quick first look at this new Linux OS. Â
|
| Installation went smoothly and we had no problems installing it to our test
| system.
|
| Below are some images of SimplyMEPIS 7.0:
`----
http://www.reviewlinux.com/?m=show&id=9038
SimplyMEPIS 7.0 Screenshots
http://www.thecodingstudio.com/opensource/linux/screenshots/index.php?linux_distribution_sm=SimplyMEPIS%207.0
A Holiday Present for Everybody: MEPIS 7.0 is Released
,----[ Quote ]
| MEPIS has released SimplyMEPIS 7.0. The isos for the 32 and 64 versions are
| in the released directory at the MEPIS subscriber site and public mirrors.
| MEPIS 7.0 offers up to date user applications delivered on top of a Debian
| stable core. Â
`----
http://www.mepis.org/node/14187
MEPIS 7.0-rc2: See Fedora
,----[ Quote ]
| I tried MEPIS 6.0 and 6.5 a while back because it seemed like a good
| distribution. The best of Ubuntu, Debian, and Knoppix all rolled into one
| with some extra goodies a la Mint- who wouldn't want it? It turned out to be
| a decent distribution, but a solid one at best. Â
| All this is (hopefully- it's the last RC, but it's still just an RC) going to
| change with version 7.0.
`----
http://distrogue.blogspot.com/2007/12/mepis-70-rc2-see-fedora.html
Another Day Another Distro - Part 8 - SimplyMEPIS 7.0 Beta 6
,----[ Quote ]
| This time around I decided to try out another distribution I'd never used
| before in the shape of MEPIS. I started off with simplyMEPIS 6.5 which seemed
| a bit dated but luckily it was pointed out to me that 7.0 is due out very
| soon. I noticed simplyMEPIS 7.0 AntiX had been released recently but it's a
| lightweight distribution for older hardware and it's probably not fair to
| compare that to the larger distros directly. I might look at lightweight
| distros in their own right in future. Â Â Â
`----
http://adventuresinopensource.blogspot.com/2007/11/another-day-another-distro-part-8.html
MEPIS 7.0 Beta5: Improvements and OpenOffice 2.3
,----[ Quote ]
| Good news for MEPIS users! The MEPIS documentation team has released a new
| MEPIS User's manual under a Creative Commons Licence. With over 60 pages, the
| manual covers many questions from installation, to network configuration, to
| using applications. Â
`----
http://www.mepis.org/node/14087
KDE 4.0 Beta 1 w/ MEPIS
,----[ Quote ]
| The first beta of KDE 4.0 was released earlier this month and Warren Woodford
| of the MEPIS project has now built a version of SimplyMEPIS 7 that is based
| upon Debian Etch with the 32-bit and 64-bit KDE 4.0 Beta 1 packages. Â
`----
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=805&num=1
MEPIS releases KDE 4 Beta 1 Live DVDs
,----[ Quote ]
| In a statement, Jos Poortvliet of the KDE Project said, "The KDE project is
| happy to see MEPIS Linux leading the way in bringing the next-generation
| desktop technology to their users. This decision of early adoption of KDE 4
| by the MEPIS developers will ensure a premier KDE experience for the users.
| We hope KDE 4 will be appreciated, and we look forward to the constructive
| comments from the MEPIS community." Â Â
`----
http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS4591036732.html
MEPIS founder clarifies MEPIS/Ubuntu relationship
,----[ Quote ]
| Woodford [MEPIS]: Again it's a matter of what you mean by those words.
| Mark [Shuttleworth] and I talked it over before I switched to Ubuntu.
| He's clear that MEPIS is an independent distro. And yet, it is fair
| to say on the Ubuntu site that MEPIS is a derivative of Ubuntu,
| from the point of view that we use the Ubuntu packages. And we
| use them by choice, because they meet our needs and they're
| the best available. That reference at the Ubuntu site says
| that we endorse Ubuntu, and we do.
`----
http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS7900729752.html
MEPIS 7.0 Beta6: The Final Round of Updates
,----[ Quote ]
| The first RC is scheduled to be released around Nov 10 and a second RC around
| the 17th. Final is tentatively scheduled for Nov 24.
`----
http://www.mepis.org/node/14176
The Neuros OSD: A New Paradigm for Consumer Devices?
,----[ Quote ]
| Surprisingly one of the media establishment's darling devices at the 2008
| Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is fully open, runs Linux and invites
| hacking - er, customisation. The device is the Neuros OSD, a $200 video
| recorder that allows you to archive, organise and play back all of your video
| media, such as live television, DVDs, VHS tapes, etc. The acronym "OSD"
| stands for "open source device". Hot dog, this is our kind of gadget! Â Â
`----
http://www.linuxjournal.com/node/1006049
PCLinuxOS 2008 MiniME Preview !
,----[ Quote ]
| PCLinuxOS is an English only Live CD initially based on Mandrake Linux that
| runs entirely from a bootable CD. Data on the CD is decompressed on the fly,
| allowing up to 2GB of programmes on one CD, including a complete X server, KDE
| desktop, OpenOffice.org and many more applications all ready to use. In
| addition to the Live CD, you can also install PCLinuxOS to your hard drive
| with an easy-to-use Live CD Installer. Additional applications can be added
| or removed from your hard drive using a friendly apt-get front end via
| Synaptic Package Manager. Â Â Â
`----
http://tuxenclave.wordpress.com/2008/01/08/pclinuxos-2008-minime-preview/
What This Gadget Can Do Is Up to You
,----[ Quote ]
| The OSD has not only open hardware, but also open software: it is based on
| the Linux operating system. Neuros Technology encourages hacking of the
| device; it has contests with cash rewards for new applications for the OSD.
| One winner, for instance, designed a programme that lets people use it to watch
| YouTube on their televisions. Â Â
`----
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/06/business/06novel.html?ref=business
ArsGeek reviews the Neuros OSD
,----[ Quote ]
| The first two observations I made when I opened my Neuros OSD were that the
| unit was a lot smaller than I was expecting (about five and a half inches by
| five and a half inches in size) and that it looked nice. This was no flat
| looking boxy apparatus, nor was it a standard component. It was curved, it
| was sleek, black and more aerodynamic than any other DVR Iâ??ve come across. Â Â
|
| I liked the size and the look immediately. Not only was this thing slick
| looking, but I could easily grab the RCA cables and the Neuros and bring it
| over to a friends house to watch whatever Iâ??d recorded. Â
`----
http://www.arsgeek.com/?p=2831
Review: The Linux Powered Neuros OSD
,----[ Quote ]
| The future is very bright for this little piece of open source goodness. I
| look forward to seeing how it grows and improves. Â
`----
http://www.raiden.net/?cat=2&aid=326
The Linux-based Neuros OSD
,----[ Quote ]
| Neuros Technology did it again: one more of their interesting media products
| hits the market, and this time it uses Linux. We used the Neuros OSD this
| past week and here's what we think about it. Â
|
| [...]
|
| Overall, Neuros seems to get it. Extensibility, plus a powerful product.
| Hopefully HD abilities and failing that, S-Video out, will be available on
| the next major revision of the product. Sure, it doesn't feel as cool as an
| AppleTV, but it does so much more! Â
|
| Rating: 8/10
`----
http://www.osnews.com/story.php/18832/The-Linux-based-Neuros-OSD/
Product alert: Neuros Open Source Device
,----[ Quote ]
| With an Open Source basis, the potential for the developer community to make
| grand extensions to the Neuros OSD could be huge. Â
`----
http://www.pcauthority.com.au/news.aspx?CIaNID=63630
YouTube on the TV with the OSD
,----[ Quote ]
| Neuros is certainly not the only ones bringing net video to the TV, but we
| are probably the only CE company doing it with open source. Nowhere is the
| intersection between free software and free speech more obvious. If the
| connection between the internet and the TV falls into the hands of a
| proprietary vendor's closed solution, then the hard won free speech victory
| of he internet will fall far short of its ultimate potential. Â Â
`----
http://open.neurostechnology.com/node/905
Apple TV hacked already
,----[ Quote ]
| Enthusiasts from Something Awful forum were annoyed by the general
| lack of third party movie support for Apple's latest product, Apple
| TV - and went on to create something useful with it. Awkward and
| Sabretooth modified Apple's little box and got it working with
| Xvid files with no problems.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=38498
Linux is running on APPLE TV
,----[ Quote ]
| I've got the linux kernel booting on my Apple TV. It was not easy,
| but after reading over the information on how they got it workin on
| the mac mini, I was finally able to figure out how to make it work
| on the ATV also.
|
| There are sevral changes that need to be made to the lilo bootloader
| just to get it to boot the kernel. It does not boot fully into linux
| yet, but it gets pretty far before giving a kernel panic. There are
| still a lot of drivers missing that will need to be compiled in to
| get it to boot up all the way, but this is a start.
`----
http://www.appletvbbs.com/showthread.php?t=61
A logo programme I can get behind
,----[ Quote ]
| Neuros is a device manufacturer with a simple focus: it creates devices that
| let you record video from almost any source into a digital format (MPEG-4)
| that can then be played on almost any device. The trick: its devices connect
| to your video output sources (VCR, DVD player, etc.) using standard analogue
| RCA cables, avoiding digital copy-protection technologies like HDCP or CSS. Â Â
`----
http://blogs.cnet.com/8301-13526_1-9835832-27.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
Unlocked Open Source Anti-DRM Logo
http://gizmodo.com/335830/unlocked-open-source-anti+drm-logo
Linux hacker bounty aims TiVo at mobile gadgets
,----[ Quote ]
| A TiVo upgrade/repair specialist and a vendor of tiny Linux-based DVRs
| (digital video recorders) have partnered on a coding contest. DRVupgrade and
| Neuros will pay $3,500 for hacks enabling Neuros's gadget DVR to track TiVo
| selections, recording the same content for playback on mobile devices. Â
`----
http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS8485261245.html
------------------------------
Message-ID: <1359707.K270qyQkv6@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [News] [Rival] Microsoft to Intrude Brains for Advertisers
Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 16:31:05 +0000
Microsoft's investigation into the subconscious
,----[ Quote ]
| When a Microsoft Corp. patent application for a method of sorting brain waves
| surfaced late last year, it drew quips that the company now plans to read PC
| users' minds, in addition to selling them software.
`----
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/why-microsoft-so-interested-our/story.aspx?guid=%7B5FC1EC89%2DA444%2D4BD9%2DB436%2DFD8BBE879E26%7D&siteid=yhoof
http://tinyurl.com/2rom8x
Related:
Microsoft patents the mother of all adware systems
,----[ Quote ]
| 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? Â Â
`----
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070717-microsoft-patents-the-mother-of-all-adware-systems.html
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Forget-about-the-WGA-20-Windows-Vista-Features-and-Services-Harvest-User-Data-for-Microsoft-58752.shtml
Will Microsoft Put The Colonel in the Kernel?
,----[ Quote ]
| "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.' Â
`----
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/07/14/043200
------------------------------
Message-ID: <1461434.odHNiAykIy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [News] People Beg to Stay Away from Vista, Linux+Hardware Cheaper Than Vista
Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 16:24:53 +0000
Save Windows XP
http://www.youchoose.net/campaign/save_windows_xp
Update: 30,000 ask Microsoft to save Windows XP
,----[ Quote ]
| San Francisco - Thirty thousand people have now signed InfoWorld's "Save XP"
| petition, which was launched four days ago. Roughly half were from the U.S.
| and the rest from other countries.
`----
[ Guys, just install linux! Ed. ]
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/infoworld/20080118/tc_infoworld/94692
New Linux PC costs less than a single Windows Vista licence
,----[ Quote ]
| Compare that $200 investment to the three tiers of Windows Vista available
| and it becomes clear why Microsoft has so much disposable income.
|
| These are the latest prices from Amazon.com for Windows Vista in the box:
|
| - Windows Vista Home Basic - $161.99
|
| - Windows Vista Home Premium - $218.99
|
| - Windows Vista Ultimate - $329.99
|
| New Linux PC costs less than a single Windows Vista licence
`----
Related:
Novell Says Desktop Linux Costs At Least $300 Less than Vista
,----[ Quote ]
| Novell Inc said on Wednesday that its recently released
| SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop will cost users over $300
| less than Microsoft Corp's forthcoming Windows Vista
| operating system, and encouraged users to look at their
| desktop operating system options.
`----
http://www.cbronline.com/article_news.asp?guid=8E18CA2B-8485-4E5F-B433-B05DD6AF9F0C
------------------------------
Message-ID: <2858026.PUYg8h9jKE@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [News] Btrfs Coming to the Linux Kernel
Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 16:26:55 +0000
Btrfs Online Resising, Ext3 Conversion, and More
,----[ Quote ]
| Chris Mason announced version 0.10 of his new Btrfs filesystem, listing the
| following new features, "explicit back references, online resising (including
| shrinking), in place conversion from Ext3 to Btrfs, data=ordered support,
| mount options to disable data COW and checksumming, and barrier support for
| sata and IDE drives".
`----
http://kerneltrap.org/Linux/Btrfs_Online_Resizing_Ext3_Conversion_and_More
Related:
Linux: Btrfs, File Data and Metadata Checksums
,----[ Quote ]
| Chris Mason announced an early alpha release of his new Btrfs
| filesystem, "after the last FS summit, I started working on a new
| filesystem that maintains checksums of all file data and metadata." He
| listed the following features as "mostly implemented": "extent based file
| storage (2^64 max file size), space efficient packing of small files,
| space efficient indexed directories, dynamic inode allocation, writable
| snapshots, subvolumes (separate internal filesystem roots), checksums on Â
| data and metadata (multiple algorithms available), very fast offline
| filesystem check". Â Â Â Â
`----
http://kerneltrap.org/node/8376
------------------------------
Message-ID: <2599318.q6CVCrjQ87@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [News] [Rival] Microsoft Snubs Industry Standards, Attacks Google by Proxy?
Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 16:29:09 +0000
OpenGL - Microsoft left?
,----[ Quote ]
| Small comment again. Got into a discussion over OpenGL. Now, as I've posted
| before, I hold that DirectX is a dead format. It's a proprietary API that
| locks developers out of the maximum number of systems they can publish on.
|
| [...]
|
| The second is... Microsoft. What makes this even more odd is that I know that
| unlike Nintendo, Microsoft used to be part of the OpenGL Architecture Review
| Board. So...
|
| The next time someone says to you that Microsoft supports open Standards...
| point out that Microsoft left OpenGL in 2003... and hasn't made any effort to
| rejoin.
`----
http://zerias.blogspot.com/2008/01/opengl-microsoft-left.html
Viacom's $1 Billion Lawsuit Of YouTube: Google Replaces Attorneys On The Case
,----[ Quote ]
| The lawsuit was filed in march last year, and in May, Google hired Phil Beck,
| a partner with Bartlit Beck Herman Palenchar & Scott LLP, to lead its
| defense. Beck has represented George W. Bush in Florida during the 2000
| presidential election, and Microsoft (NasdaqGS: MSFT - News) during its
| anti-trust trial.
`----
http://biz.yahoo.com/paidcontent/080117/1_318813_id.html?.v=1
Viacom and Microsoft are business partners and this is sort of like a lawsuit
by proxy -- a friend helps a friend.
Related:
Microsoft Befriends Google's Foes
,----[ Quote ]
| After a government- and monopoly-inspired period in which Microsoft had
| to pretend to be a gentle force for global good, the company is being
| forced to return to its ruthless roots. Ironically, it is doing this
| in part by decrying the unfair practices of a competitor and
| shamelessly sucking up to the Establishment.
`----
http://www.forbes.com/2007/03/06/microsoft-google-blodget-tech-cx_hb_0306blodget.html?partner=yahootix
http://tinyurl.com/3bewws
,----[ Quote ]
| To that point, Soapbox was littered with pirated videos. This put
| Microsoft in a pickle. The software giant was agreeing to distribute
| content for entertainment companies whose copyright was commonly
| violated at its video-sharing site.
`----
http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-9725064-7.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
Legal Titans Glare At Each Other Across Google-Viacom Battlefield
,----[ Quote ]
| The Viacom versus Google case is going to be an interesting showdown.
`----
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/03/each_side_digs_.html
Viacom: 'Daily Show' clips just the beginning
,----[ Quote ]
| In the meantime, there's still the matter of that $1 billion lawsuit. Viacom
| earlier this year sued Google over the misappropriation of copyrighted
| content on YouTube.
`----
http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9799914-7.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
------------------------------
Message-ID: <1828035.spceGCkr7U@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [News] Raising Children on GNU/Linux; IBM Foresees Bright Future
Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 16:33:02 +0000
How to get your kids started young on Linux
,----[ Quote ]
| Being the responsible parent that I am, it is essential that I raise my
| children with the ability to think for themselves and make the right
| decision. This means making sure that they are raised using Linux.
`----
http://www.suseblog.com/?p=287
IBM's Forecasts Strong Earnings
,----[ Quote ]
| Stellar performance overseas prompted IBM Corp. to upgrade its outlook for
| 2008 despite economic uncertainty at home, raising the question of whether an
| increasingly diverse IBM still should be considered a bellwether for other
| U.S. tech companies.
`----
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080118/earns_ibm.html?.v=2
IBM Boosts 2008 Outlook; Shares Jump
,----[ Quote ]
| IBM on Thursday forecast 2008 earnings well ahead of Wall Street expectations
| after results showing a strong international performance, and its shares
| jumped 5 percent.
`----
http://www.cnbc.com/id/22712027/site/14081545?__source=yahoo|headline|quote
text|&par=yahoo
Recent:
IBM Profits Rise 24% Year-on-Year in the 4th Quarter
,----[ Quote ]
| "The broad scope of I.B.M.'s global business - led by strong operational
| performance in Asia, Europe and emerging countries - drove these outstanding
| results," said Samuel J. Palmisano, the company's chief executive, in an
| accompanying statement. Â
`----
http://linux.sys-con.com/read/484839_p.htm
Related:
Incubating Innovation
,----[ Quote ]
| IBM's  Emerging Business Organisation, for example, has produced businesses
| based on innovative technologies such as Linux, generating over $2 billion in
| annual revenues. Hewlett-Packard has grown its printing business to be the
| dominant source of its profits. Â
`----
http://www.forbes.com/claytonchristensen/2007/12/21/ibm-hp-incubator-leadership-clayton-in_sw_1221claytonchristensen_inl.html
http://tinyurl.com/2v2t8l
Inna Kuznetsova, Global Executive for Linux, IBM Â
,----[ Quote ]
| Sitting at the helm of IBM's strategy pulpit on Linux is Inna Kuznetsova, who
| recently took over the role from long-time IBM Linux executive Scott Handy.
`----
http://www.internetnews.com/dev-news/article.php/3699706
,----[ Quote ]
| "We've moved past the ideology," said Sutor, in Salt Lake City
| Thursday to attend graduation ceremonies at Neumont University."
| Many people have figured out that there are a number of ways tom
| ake money from the 'open source' model."
|
| [...]
|
| The litigation has been characterised as part of a proxy war being
| waged by Microsoft against Linux, seen as a prime challenger to
| Windows. Microsoft has been a prime funding source for SCO, but
| earlier this month stunned open-sourcers by announcing a development
| pact for Novell's Suse-brand of Linux.
|
| IBM is watching the apparent about-face with interest - and
| skepticism. "I don't see [Microsoft] doing very much yet for open
| source that isn't at arm's length," Sutor said. "Possibly this is
| a way of perpetrating previous [anti-Linux] strategy while
| superficially looking better."
`----
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_4679245?source=rss
Is IBM open source's little friend?
,----[ Quote ]
| ...That is because one of the big post-Linuxworld features is all about
| IBM, and how IBM is going to use open source to beat big, bad Microsoft.
|
| [...]
|
| The story, from Motley Fool, says IBM is going to get Linux running faster
| on its proprietary chips, go after smaller customers using the cost
| benefits of open source, and push an "open health care framework" to
| push computers into smaller medical offices.
`----
http://blogs.zdnet.com/open-source/?p=758
Ballmer rattles intellectual property sabre at Linux
,----[ Quote ]
| You would have thought that by now Ballmer would have learnt his
| lesson. After all, it was Microsoft that fueled up the SCO IP rocket,
| aimed it at Linux, and then watched as SCO's anti-Linux lawsuits have
| blown up.
|
| SCO's IP claims against Linux have been proven time and again to ben
| othing more than bad jokes. Is there any reason to think that Microsoft's
| IP claims wouldn't be more of the same?
|
| Yes, there is one key difference. Microsoft, if it actually had
| anything to show, would likely be relying on patents rather than
| copyrights, against Linux. However, there's just couple of wee
| little problems with that approach.
|
| First, let's assume that Microsoft isn't filled with morons. So,
| instead of threatening to sue customers -- and we all know how wellt
| hat worked out for SCO, don't we? -- they'll have to sue a big Linux
| vendor. Let's say, they decide to pick on Red Hat.
|
| Now, as it just so happens, Red Hat isn't the only company that
| distributed RHEL (Red Hat Enterprise Linux). There's this other
| company named Oracle, which recently got into the RHEL business.
| Larry Ellison may call his version "Unbreakable Linux," but Oracle
| makes no bones about it: Unbreakable Linux is RHEL.
|
| Microsoft might think it could break Red Hat down with a long enough
| lawsuit, but Oracle? Do the boys in Redmond really want to spend the
| rest of the next decade locked in battle with Larry Ellison? I don't
| think so.
|
| Besides, does Microsoft think IBM will stay on the litigation sidelines,
| if it decides to play the patent card? IBM makes a lot of its billions
| from Linux, and I can't see Big Blue paying Microsoft off to continue
| using its favourite operating system.
|
| [...]
|
| So, from where I sit, if Microsoft really wants to try to slug it out with
| Linux in the courts, it will first have to deal with other industry
| heavyweights. It will also have to deal with all the negative PR that will
| result from taking on a much smaller company. And, after all that,
| Microsoft will still have the problem that trying to hit Linux on patents
| will be like trying to give the north wind a good punch in the jaw -- it
| simply can't be done.
`----
http://www.linux-watch.com/news/NS7228555922.html
------------------------------
Message-ID: <66710063.l3DgG5BvdI@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [News] [Rival] Windows Vista Breaks Itself, Thanks to Microsoft
Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2008 16:38:15 +0000
Omnipass + Windows Visa + Windows Update = Problems?
,----[ Quote ]
| I recently came into contact with a brand new Lenovo laptop (3000 N100 model)
| loaded with Windows Vista Business on it. The laptop came preloaded with the
| Omnipass Fingerprint Security application. This application is written by
| Softex Incorporated.
|
| I ran into an issue with the application after I performed a normal Windows
| Update. After the installation of a number of updates, the machine restarted
| as per normal after applying the updates.
`----
http://hayden-tennent.blogspot.com/2008/01/omnipass-windows-visa-windows-update.html
He should really have a look at this (Microsoft broke Vista and admit it):
Recent:
Microsoft Admits Vista Update Glitch
,----[ Quote ]
| A patch to prepare for first service pack went to users of editions that
| didn't need the update.
`----
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,141317/article.html
Vistas first 2008 â??reliabilityâ?? update blue screens
,----[ Quote ]
| After my laptop installed the batch of updates released on the 9th of January
| my laptop began endlessly rebooting. It blue screens as soon as is starts to
| load Vista. To make things even better even safe mode does the same thing. Â
`----
http://grantusmaximus.com/web/2008/01/11/vistas-first-2008-reliability-update-blue-screens/
Vista Update Craters Microsoft Word
,----[ Quote ]
| Keeping your software up to date is very important from a security
| perspective, but when doing so blows away your productivity because of poor
| installation or compatibility quality issues, life is very painful. Â
|
| Microsoft. You get a grade of F for this round of patches.
`----
http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/23685
Vista â?? a/k/a MOPH (My Own Personal Hell)
,----[ Quote ]
| â??â?¦My conclusion is now that NO ONE who values their sanity, their time, their
| psyche and general sense of well-being should use Vista. At all. Under any
| circumstances. In fact, after giving it more than a fair shake over 11 months
| of daily use, I know think it deserves to be classified internationally as a
| Weapon of Mass Data Destruction. In fact, perhaps the best way to defeat Al
| Quaida or any other terrorist group would be to send them free copies of a
| particularly brain-dead version of Vista like â??Home Basicâ?? - it would stop
| them in their tracks, as it has done with me and so many others.â??
`----
http://rossipsa.com/?p=169
Holy Crap: Did Bill Gates Just Say Windows Sucks?
,----[ Quote ]
| We asked a simple question: what Microsoft product could have used a little
| more polish before release? The answer astounded us. We would just like to
| thank Bill Gates for his honesty and his openness.
`----
http://gizmodo.com/342920/holy-crap-did-bill-gates-just-say-windows-sucks
Related:
Patch Tuesday brings quiet though serious start to 2008
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft wasn't joking when it classified as critical one of the
| vulnerabilities addressed by this month's security updates. A flaw in TCP/IP
| processing can be exploited by sending maliciously crafted packets, giving
| the attacker complete control of the targeted system. Â
`----
http://www.itwire.com/content/view/16016/1054/
2008 kicks off with critical Vista/XP patch
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft's first set of security bulletins for 2008 may be slim, but will
| include a fix for a critical vulnerability in XP and Vista.
`----
http://www.itwire.com/content/view/15956/53/
Windows Vista: Sold but not deployed
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft says it remains happy with enterprise sales of Vista -- however,
| the software behemoth acknowledges that many businesses which have bought
| Vista licences are yet to deploy the software. Â
`----
http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/software/soa/Windows-Vista-Sold-but-not-deployed/0,130061733,339284495,00.htm
Acer: PC industry 'disappointed' with Vista
,----[ Quote
| Acer president Gianfranco Lanci became the first major PC manufacturer to
| openly attack Microsoft over the Windows Vista operating system in the
| Financial Times Deutschland on Monday. Â
|
| Lanci said the operating system was riddled with problems and gave users and
| businesses no reason to buy a new PC, according to the report. Taiwan-based
| Acer is the world's fourth-largest PC manufacturer, after HP, Dell and
| Lenovo.
|
| "The whole industry is disappointed with Windows Vista," Lanci said.
`----
http://www.techworld.com/opsys/news/index.cfm?RSS&NewsID=9579
Ugly view mars Windows Vista birthday
,----[ Quote ]
| According to latest data from NPD, Microsoft is shipping fewer boxed copies
| of Windows Vista than it did Windows XP at the same point in the operating
| systems' lifecycles. Â
`----
http://www.regdeveloper.co.uk/2007/11/30/vista_birthday/
The Vista Death Watch
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft has extended the life of Windows XP because Vista has simply not
| shown any life in the market. We have to begin to ask ourselves if we are
| really looking at Windows Me/2007, destined to be a disdained flop. By all
| estimates the number of Vista installations hovers around the number of Macs
| in use. Â Â
|
| How did this happen? And whatâ??s going to happen next? Does Microsoft have a
| Plan B? A number of possibilities come to mind, and these things must be
| considered by the company itself. Â
`----
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704,2209837,00.asp?kc=PCRSS03079TX1K0000584
Lenovo offers downgrade from Windows Vista to Windows XP
,----[ Quote ]
| My colleague Stian just sent me this interesting link regarding my
| experiences with Windows Vista. Since I assume the link will NOT have the
| visual appearence it has right now for very many more hours (days) I've
| created a screenshot of how it looked when I went into the site. Â
`----
http://jaxed.org/lenovo-offers-downgrade-from-windows-vista-to-windows-xp.blog
Windows Vista kicked out of Olympics PCs
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft's latest version of Windows is too risky to implement for the
| important computers managing the 2008 Olympic summer games in Beijing, said
| the event's computer supplier and sponsor Lenovo. Â
`----
http://www.electronista.com/articles/07/08/08/no.vista.on.olympic.pcs/
DSG continues retailer woes
,----[ Quote ]
| DSG, the company formerly known as Dixons, became the latest British retailer
| to report a drop in profits for the summer months today. But it wasnâ??t all
| down to the rotten weather â?? this time it was also Microsoftâ??s fault. Â
`----
http://www.managementtoday.co.uk/newsalerts/article/748756/dsg-continues-retailer-woes/
Dell casts doubts on Vista
,----[ Quote ]
| Dell today revealed that it will restore the option to use Windows XP on
| some of its home systems, marking a potentially damaging blow to
| Microsoft's hopes for the newer Windows Vista.
|
| [...]
|
| While a popular request through the company's IdeaStorm website, the
| choice was substantially outnumbered by requests for pre-installed
| Linux, US-based technical support, and other features -- pointing to a
| larger general demand for the change. The turnaround may be a reflection of
| an overall backlash against Vista, observed IDC analyst Richard Shim.
`----
http://www.macnn.com/articles/07/04/19/dell.casts.doubts.on.vista/
Prediction: Linux will Eat Microsoft on Most Desktops
,----[ Quote ]
| Now, compare that to a $500.00 desktop running Linux and OpenSource
| applicaitons. That would be about $50,000. The difference? Two or three
| employees, a huge bonus, a couple of vehicles, whatever. Not small. Â
`----
http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2007/12/prediction_linux_will_eat_micr.php
Microsoft's Big Problem in a Small Box
,----[ Quote ]
| Vista is a big operating system that demands monster graphics and dual-core
| processors. But what if the market pines for a whole lot less? Â
|
| [...]
|
| The mass move to mobile computing is a destabilising force and harbinger of
| change. Microsoft's position would be better if Vista didn't demand so much
| when the market wants so little. Â
`----
http://www.microsoft-watch.com/content/desktop_mobile/microsofts_big_problem_in_a_small_box.html?kc=MWRSS02129TX1K0000535
http://tinyurl.com/2sg6xy
Linux is about to take over the low end of PCs
,----[ Quote ]
| Opinion -- Sometimes, several unrelated changes come to a head at the same
| time, with a result no one could have predicted. The PC market is at such a
| tipping point right now and the result will be millions of Linux-powered PCs
| in users' hands. Â
|
| [...]
|
| Microsoft will fight this trend tooth and nail. It will cut prices to the
| point where it'll be bleeding ink on some of its product lines. And Windows
| XP is going to stick around much longer than Microsoft ever wanted it to.
| Still, it won't be enough. By attacking from the bottom, where Microsoft can
| no longer successfully compete, Linux will finally cut itself a large slice
| of the desktop market pie. Â Â Â
`----
http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS2414535067.html
------------------------------
End of Cola Digest
--
| Mark Kent -- mark at ellandroad dot demon dot co dot uk |
| News Digester |
|
|
