I am sure you may have gone through countless articles about M$ versus Linux, and M$ Novell deal, if you are interested in the subject. I have!. Google news has 2850 articles, if you search on "Novell Microsoft". And if you do a Google blog search on the same subject you get closer to 36000 results.
So how do you find the best articles, stay closer to the core. I visit Groklaw site daily to see the legal matters on it and the still continuing SCO saga. Then I browse sites like ZDNets Mary Jo's blog. What I learn today is that we cannot ask ballmer to lift up his holiday apron and show the code.The explanation come Mary Jo's post. Here is the most important part from one of her posts;
""Microsoft doesn't have to show infringing code. It has to demonstrate that some implementation "reads" on its patent. That implementation could be in grapefruit, tiddly-winks, or a final executable program.
"The 'show-me the code' thing worked with IBM SCO because SCO claims that IBM is infringing on its copyrights. "
So I think ballmer is on a well planned course on his game. Remember Lindows? I think they settled that case to keep copyright on a common word like "windows". May be ballmer and gates lived in huts without windows, prior to 1980's or 1990s, but many a people had windows, a long long long time ago.
That is why ballmer will not come forward with his patents, because some of them might get invalidated, or they are in violation some other patents. Or some patents might be containing such things as prior art. Prior art at Microsoft? Don't laugh, everything is original at M$.
There is another article that gives a yet another view on Eweek, "Is Microsoft Violating Some Patents Covering Open Source?"
Links;
Groklaw
Mary Jo's article (read her prior article on the same subject too)
Is Microsoft Violating Some Patents Covering Open Source?
Sunday, November 26, 2006
Why Ballmer's claim on Linux differs from SCO' claim
PC games Versus Console games.
Although I have latest PC hardware, Dual Core CPU's, SLI Dual graphic cards, 4GB memory , Sata Hard drives, 22" wide LCD displays, I never play games on my PC. But I do have friends who spend countless hours on PC's playing Half life or counter strike.
When I want to play games, I reach for a console, PS2, Game cube, XBOX 360.(I don't have the latest consoles!, I am not the type who stand on th lines to get anything.) There is something different in playing games over the console and 42" latest Plasma TVs. I get immersed in the game, get tired and get back to work on my PC ;).
The only PC game I bought was the Microsoft Flight simulator, but I don't see my self playing it.
So when I saw the article by Playfuls, "Analysis: Did Consoles Kill the PC as a Gaming Platform?" my answer is yes! If all the people feel like I do, then it is certainly dead. But since it is not dead yet, I think there are more people still play games on PC's. But as these console wars, continue, more consoles in the market, I think there will be lesser and lesser PC games.
Go read the Playfuls article, it is a good analysis on the subject.
Links;
Analysis: Did Consoles Kill the PC as a Gaming Platform?
Saturday, November 25, 2006
Get your mobility and freedom back without wheels
Yes, it ’s a walking bike. It walks on four feet and seems to have a good balance. I am not sure if it can climb stairs! But on the road it is slower than a bicycle. But I guess you will have to spend a lot on shoes for this true Moped.
Link;
Four legged bicycle
Friday, November 24, 2006
XBOX 360 gets a rare birthday present
Playfuls news reports about XBOX 360's birthday. Yes M$ has lost millions on this game gear war, it is growing, the loses!, and these Brit gamers are helping a bit.
According to the article,
"a gang of die-hard fans (of Sony's most likely) from England, who hijacked a couple of transports estimated at £1,000,000 worth of Xbox 360 consoles. That's almost $2,000,000!"
Well at least M$ is winning in one direction, loses. And when these reach a certain number, say a few billions, M$ might drop and run.
Article ends with a note;
"The Staffordshire police made an appeal to the public, asking them to report if anyone offers them a shiny new console in suspicious circumstances, "such as in a pub, at a car boot sale or off the back of a lorry"."
Yeah, good luck
Links;
Playfuls Post
Thursday, November 23, 2006
Happy Thanks Giving day!
I thank all of you on this thanks giving day!
Be good on black Friday! Get all the gizmo's, you want.
Kangaroos write laws, Dingos approve them making all Australians criminals.
Weseepeople, has an article about proposed Australian copyright laws that are rushed through the parliment.
One could get quite sick and angry about the consequences of these laws. I am.
Read more at following link;
weseepeople: Proposed Copyright laws turn all Australian to Criminals
Microsoft takes over Firefox.
While M$ and Novell agree to disagree, M$ has quietly acquired Firefox! From the MSfirefox site, the statement;
"Do more by doing less.
Open multiple copies of Microsoft websites in one window with tabbed browsing. See thumbnail images of all Microsoft sites in a single view. Organize multiple tabs of sites into a single tab group of everything Microsoft and save it as a favorite. Opening 30 of your favorite Microsoft sites has never been easier."
Is complimented by the press release;
" REDMOND, Wash. – October. 24, 2006 – Microsoft Corporation (Nasdaq: MSFT) today announced the completion of its acquisition of the Mozilla Firefox Web Browser. The transaction was finalized on Saturday, October 23, 2006. As a result of the acquisition, Microsoft share prices jumped 5.7%. Mozilla Corporation's share prices remained at zero.
So I will not say no more, please visit the MSFirefox site to find out more.
Links;
MSFirefox
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Novell and Microsoft agree to disagree?!
The recent agreement between software giants are bringing out disagreements. The webspace is awash with the information and I get my daily dose from Groklaw.net. Pamela at Groklaw has been an ardent supporter of the Open Source since SCO began it's fud (Fear Uncertinity and Doubt) and that long I have been a member of her Weblog, forum.
Through Groklaw, I landed on this news item, "Novell disputes claim by Microsoft on patents" on Seattlepi.
"
In a twist that underscored the unlikely nature of their alliance, Novell Chief Executive Ron Hovsepian publicly distanced his company Monday from Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer's statement last week that the open-source Linux operating system contains patented Microsoft technology.
"Importantly, our agreement with Microsoft is in no way an acknowledgment that Linux infringes upon any Microsoft intellectual property," Hovsepian wrote in a letter to the open-source community, posted on Novell's Web site. He added, "When we entered the patent-cooperation agreement with Microsoft, Novell did not agree or admit that Linux or any other Novell offering violates Microsoft patents.""
Links;
Friday, November 17, 2006
Is Fleck flaking? No Dashnote needs tweaking!
My previous post I wrote about Fleck;
Geemodo: Fleck is alive and you can leave flecks on any webpage
Which due to too many hits, began to run out of connections yesterday, I got such notices myself, thats is why I went to look at Dashnote.
But again I noticed a comment on Pete's blog by Ranjit telling us about Dashnote. I did go to the site and registered my self. It seems a decent enough product but my feeling is it needs improvement. Fleck furthers itself by providing slick interface compared to the Dashnote. Also Dashnote and Ranjit, You do need to make noise in cases like these! Now you are just another fleck. Just follow Microsoft, release what you got and fix whatever makes biggest noise.
I am in the process of (mainly procrastinating) cooking up some ideas in the same line and may be catch you guys later to embed dashnote into my idea, I don't have money to pay Fleck!
Here is the snippet by Ranjit on Pete's Article.
"As it happens, we’ve built something like this at DashNote. We’re a bit coy about making a lot of noise about this since rough edges remain (which will be cleared up in a few days), but it may be worth taking a look. Some key differentiators:
1. You can annotate specific content on the page (text, images, or image regions for things such as photo-tagging)
2. We preserve the notes and the original page (annotations and context)
3. Positional data is also maintained though there are some issues when comments are placed in IE and viewed in Firefox and vice-versa.
Example: http://dashnote.com/snapshot/Trpnlis1RBo"
Links;Dashnote
Fleck blog about running out of connections!
Fleck is alive and you can leave flecks on any webpage
Mashable' Pete has published about the much awaited information about the Amsterdam based Fleck.com. I also visited Fleck and it's blog. There seems to be some controversy about Pete's timing of the publishing the article. Here is a peevee about that, "And we urged them not to publish their articles before Techrunch posted their article. Apparently Pete couldn’t control himself any longer and I had a misunderstanding (see comments) and he published his post moments ago. This is unfortunate and I regret it happened.".
But I am happy that Pete did that because I am flecking away now. I will add this to one of my sites, once I get hang of it.
From Pete's mouth itself ;
"One of the advantages is that Fleck doesn’t necessarily require you to install a browser extension to start adding annotations to web pages - you can start adding notes by entering a URL on the site itself, or just drag and drop a bookmarklet into your browser. Once you start Flecking, you can add notes and bullet points to a page, save it to Fleck, blog it or share it via email. You don’t even need to create an account: Fleck seems to save these notes right in your browser. If you do create an account, however, you can log in on multiple computers. And if you don’t mind downloading another extension, there’s currently one available for Firefox users, with an IE extension in the works. This basic service is free, but they plan to charge $2.99/month for a Pro account. There’s no word yet on what that might include."
Links;
Pete's article
Fleck.com
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Chase and find your friends with Helio GPS Phone
Helio today unveiled a new phone it's first GPS phone,which allows users to track their location or locate their friends via a hand set produced by samsung and google maps.
The Drift as the phone is called is availabe from today from Helio and it's partners.
The Buddy Beacon service would allow a Helio subscriber to locate a friend who also subscribes to the service. Functionality like this is already available in South Korea, where Helio part owner SK Telecom operates.
"We're staying true to our mission of bringing advanced wireless technologies from Korea to the U.S. so Helio members can experience an entirely new wireless world," said Wonhee Sull, President & COO of Helio.
The "Drift" phone, which retails for $225 USD, will feature a 2.12-inch display, Bluetooth, 2.0-megapixel camera, and multimedia support. Additionally, the phone has 128MB of internal memory with the capability to expand through external MicroSD cards.
The Google Maps service would also include live traffic conditions and support for aerial imagery, much like the desktop version of the application.
links;
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Microsoft's best find of the year, Gmail is a Virus
As many have reported but I just finished reading a complete article on the ZDNET's Googling Google blog, Microsoft's virus scanning software Windows Live OneCare detects Gmail as a virus. None of the other virus scanning software does this and one left to wonder if Microsoft is trying to push it's own Live mail ahead of Gmail.
But when I reached the end of the Garett Roger's article, it seems M$ onecare made a tiny mistake;
"I would like to confirm that this was a false positive and let you know that we pushed a fixed signature to Windows Live OneCare users today.
We will investigate how this false positive happened and take steps to minimize the risks of additional incidents." — Ziv Mador, response coordinator in the Microsoft Antimalware team.
Links;
Googling Google
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Firefox 2.0 better at Phishing than IE7!
Washington post's Brian Krebs, I have referred to his articles here before, reports and writes about phishing (blocking) capabilities of two prominent browsers. From his article;
"The newly released Mozilla Firefox 2.0 and Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 Web browsers both include new technology to help flag and block phishing sites -- those authentic-looking Web sites set up by scammers to trick users into entering personal financial information.
So how do the browsers stack up against one another in a no-holds-barred, anti-phishing slug fest? One third-party test that pitted the browsers against two week's worth of phishing sites concluded that Firefox's phish net may have fewer holes than IE's."
Well I am not surprised and it is always pleasure to read Brian's articles. Head over there to get the scoop.
Sunday, November 12, 2006
DCMA at work again, this time with landmark
San Francisco-based Landmark Education, known for its Landmark Forum motivational workshops, is trying to suppress an investigative television news piece critical of its methods. Landmark contends that the documentary infringes its copyright in the Forum course, while citing to copyright registration of the Forum leader's manual. Using the alleged copyright violation as a pretext, Landmark subpoenaed three websites hosting the video -- the Internet Archive, Google Video, and YouTube -- seeking the identities of the anonymous uploaders. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) allows a content owner to issue a subpoena for the identity of an alleged infringer without first filing an actual lawsuit.
"This is a classic example of using a bogus copyright claim to squelch free speech," said EFF Staff Attorney Corynne McSherry. "To the extent that the documentary uses any Landmark material, that use is clearly non-infringing. Landmark is simply trying to use the streamlined DMCA subpoena process to obtain the identities of its critics."
Well DCMA is good for you and your fellow citizens, specially if they are big coporations. Read the rest of the article and motions at EFF, Deep Links site.
Links
Self help group bullies net critics
For EFF's objection to the Internet Archive subpoena: http://www.eff.org/legal/cases/landmark/eff_letter.pdfFor more on Landmark's subpoena campaign:
http://www.eff.org/legal/cases/landmark/
you also can contact;
Corynne McSherry
Staff Attorney
Electronic Frontier Foundation
corynne@eff.org
Kurt Opsahl
Staff Attorney
Electronic Frontier Foundation
kurt@eff.org
Google Docs & Spreadsheets gets 4/5 from PC MAG
Google Docs & Spreadsheets, which I use everyday now, got reviewed by Edward Mendelson
and it is worthwhile reading. It not just because I don't Like the bloated M$ apps, in any case it is Open Office for me for my day to day work on my desktop. The review on PC magazine gives you a picture of what you could do with Google Docs & Spreadsheets.
It describes very well some of the functions that I use very well;
"Though Google Docs doesn't try to match Microsoft Word's overpowering feature set, it does let you create fully formatted documents complete with pictures, tables, and hyperlinks. You can also upload documents as Word, RTF, HTML, OpenOffice, and plain text files and download documents in Word, RTF, HTML, OpenOffice, and PDF formats. The program has more power than you see on the menu. For example, if you upload a Word file with footnotes or endnotes, Writely displays the notes correctly, lets you edit their content, and exports them correctly—although you can't create new notes within Writely unless you make tricky manual edits to the underlying HTML.
You can invite other people to read or edit your document by entering their e-mail addresses on a form, and a toolbar notifies you if someone else is editing a document at the same time as you are. Revisions are synchronized every few seconds. If someone else deletes a sentence while you're adding words to it, a pop-up lets you preserve the words you were adding, but if you want to get back the sentence that your colleague deleted, you'll have to click on a Revisions tab and extract the sentence from the earlier versions that Writely stores automatically. A convenient button lets you compare two earlier versions, with the differences highlighted by color-coding. "
Links;
Official Google Docs & Spreadsheets Blog: A real treat
PCMAG article
PCMAG Google Docs & Spreadsheets slidshow
M$'s Allchin back tracks on Vista Virus Statement
"I meant Vista is the Virus" no I am just kidding. Anyway Allchin is no spin doctor, he cant spin his butt out of ****, if he had to.
But according to an article published on the official vista blog,
To counter the endless news stories, his official Vista blog carries a clarifying statement about what he actually said. To paraphrase, he explained that his son was able to use Vista without AV protection because it was locked down with parental controls, meaning no instant messaging, email or other common vectors of attack, and this coupled with Vista improved security model meant that it was possible to run without AV in this kind of heavily locked down situation.
What a load of bull Allchin, Put your sons computer on the net and see what happens. Anyway the final result is that Vista needs Virus protection and a firewall. Probably not M$ solution, they tend to hide what you don't know.
" In fact, later in the call, I explicitly made this point again, because I had realized I wasn’t as clear as I should have been."
It is alright Allchin, M$ never have been!
VOIP IP Telephony: Get your CIT310, a phone with Yahoo inside
Noticed this dual mode VOIP/POTS yahoo phone by Linksys.
VOIP IP Telephony: Get your CIT310, a phone with Yahoo inside
ZUNE is in the stores now, pre release! and install error
Someone already got hold of ZUNE here in bay area. FLX-Tech writer got himself a Zune and posted about it. From his article;
"By coincidence i got my hands early on an Microsoft Zune, bought as a regular customer at BestBuy in Union City Landing shopping centre.
They dont seem to care that the release day is next tuesday. They werent displayed in the store itself but i asked a salesmen if i could pre order a Zune. Then he told me they were already in and he could sell one to me. And so he did:"
He/She also has Photos to prove it and I stole the best Photo.
Links;
FLX-Tech article
Saturday, November 11, 2006
Open Source passes anti-trust test
Even Brown from Internetcases.com reports on the Judges opinion on Wallace v. IBM., No. 06-2454 case at The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit . Judge Easterbrook declares, "[t]he GPL and open-source have nothing to fear from the antitrust laws." The case is called Wallace v. IBM., No. 06-2454. [Download a copy of the opinion.]
"Although antitrust law serves the interests of consumers rather than producers, the Supreme Court has permitted producers to initiate predatory-pricing litigation," Judge Easterbrook wrote in the November 9 decision. "This does not assist Wallace, however, because his legal theory is faulty substantively."
Read more at Internetcases
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
All you want to know about any MAC, from 1983-2006
Mactracker provides detailed information on every Apple Macintosh computer ever made, including items such as processor speed, memory, optical drives, graphic cards, supported Mac OS versions, and expansion options. Also included is information on Apple mice, keyboards, displays, printers, scanners, digital cameras, iPod, AirPort Base Stations, Newton, and Mac OS versions.
Make a note of it...
Each of the info windows has a Notes tab that allows you to add your own comments as well as links to Internet addresses, files, and folders that relate to the selected model.
Smart Categories + Smarter Searching
Mactracker 4 gives you the ability create your own categories by selecting a specification item such as processor type, date introduced or your color label. In addition, a new search engine searches the entire database (including your comments) in one stroke and allows you to sort the results by model category, date, or specification in a Spotlight-inspired view.
Best of all you run it from your computer, be it a Mac with MACOSX, windows Machine, iPOD or Mac OS 8-9.22. Just download and run it.
I think it is a very well done project and if you are interested in MACs, a must have.
Links;
MacTracker
Microsoft pays millions (300-400) to Novell in their latest deal and Novell answers community questions.
I still cannot understand what drove Novell to sign pacts with M$. Not many understand it either as both sides are very close mouthed about the deal. This worries me if another FUD session like SCO in the making. M$ had a large hand in the SCO saga and I don't believe that M$ is kissing the hand of Linux.
Trust me I am a paying Linux customer of Novell, It was decided due to corporate policies while Suse was still owned by Suse. But the contracts got carried over. And we remained a loyal customer. I was also a Redhad customer too, Server and workstations. But I switched those to CentOS and I am very happy with the results.
Now I have to worry about Suse too. But before jumping or leaping I need to find out more about the nature of Novell/M$ pact. I am sure it will be dissected as soon as the people have enough information.
For now I visit Groklaw to keep updated. Also I have a few Mono projects under my belt and have to think about them too.
Today I found some answers on the Novell site on an article titled "Novell Answers Questions from the Community"
Here are the questions and Novells answers;
Q1. How is this agreement compatible with Novell's obligations under Section 7 of the GPL?
Our agreement with Microsoft is focused on our customers, and does not include a patent license or covenant not to sue from Microsoft to Novell (or, for that matter, from Novell to Microsoft). Novell's customers receive a covenant not to sue directly from Microsoft. We have not agreed with Microsoft to any condition that would contradict the conditions of the GPL and we are in full compliance.
Novell's end user customers receive a covenant not to sue directly from Microsoft for their use of Novell products and services, but these activities are outside the scope of the GPL.
Q2. Why did Novell make this deal with Microsoft? Was Microsoft threatening a lawsuit?
Novell started discussions with Microsoft in order to solve problems for our customers by improving Linux/Windows interoperability in areas like virtualization, heterogeneous server management, and office document compatibility. By securing a commitment from Microsoft to support the use of Linux and open source software, we have allayed any potential concerns for our customers and removed a barrier to enterprise-wide Linux adoption.
There was no threatened litigation.
Q3. Is this agreement an admission that Linux products from Novell infringe Microsoft patents?
No.
Patent concerns did not drive our entry into this agreement. Novell makes no admission that its Linux and open source offerings infringe on any other parties' patents. Our position has not changed as a result of this agreement.
Q4. With this agreement, will Novell include Microsoft patented code in its contributions to the open source community?
No. Novell will not change its development practices as a result of this agreement. It has always been our policy in all development, open source and proprietary, to stay away from code that infringes another's patents, and we will continue to develop software using these standard practices. If any of our code is found to infringe someone else's patents, we will try to find prior technology to invalidate the patents, rework the code to design around the infringement, or as a last resort remove the functionality.
Novell is committed to protecting, preserving and promoting freedom for free and open source software.
Q5. Novell's November 2 press release states that, "Novell will also make running royalty payments based on a percentage of its revenues from open source products." Are these payments for a patent license to Novell?
No. Novell has no license or covenant not to sue from Microsoft under this agreement. The payments are for Microsoft's covenant directly to Novell's customers. By the same token, Microsoft's customers receive the same covenant from Novell in return for payment from Microsoft to Novell.
Q6. Will Novell's involvement with the Open Invention Network (OIN) change due to this agreement with Microsoft?
No. The Open Invention Network is an independent organization formed to protect many commonly distributed open source and free software packages, including Linux, from legal attacks, no matter where an attack comes from. OIN provides coverage to the entire Linux industry by providing a form of retaliatory protection for Linux distributors and users that might be targeted in patent litigation.
Novell is a founding member of the OIN and remains strongly committed to its mission. We have contributed valuable resources to OIN and will continue to participate in OIN in the future. Novell remains firmly in support of the goal of creating an environment of open innovation in the Linux world, without worry about the threat of patent lawsuits.
The value of OIN's patents as a deterrent remains critical to the entire Linux industry, including Novell, and is not affected by our agreement with Microsoft.
Q7. What does your investment in Office Open XML mean to your commitment to the Open Document Format?
Open Document Format ("ODF") is the default file format of OpenOffice.org, and Novell is firmly committed to advancing ODF as a file format and a standard. We devote the bulk of our OpenOffice.org development efforts to ODF.
We also understand the need for Linux desktop systems to provide compatibility with Microsoft Office file formats. By supporting Office Open XML in OpenOffice.org, and by contributing to efforts to translate between ODF and Office Open XML, we will achieve better interoperability between Linux and Windows desktop systems. This will allow more businesses to choose Linux desktops freely.
Read Novell's statement on file formats for office applications.
Q8. What does this mean for Mono and its inclusion in non-SUSE distributions? Does Mono infringe Microsoft patents?
We maintain that Mono does not infringe any Microsoft patents. This agreement does not impact the rights and abilities of other distributions to bundle and ship Mono.
Novell is the leading contributor to Mono and we remain committed to the Mono project. Mono is a community project with many constituents and collaborators from companies, universities, governments and individuals.
The Mono project has a set of rules it uses to handle patents that might read on its implementation. The general policy is to work around, remove, or find prior technology on any patents that might read on any implementations in Mono. We continue to support this policy.
Links;Groklaw
Novell
Mono Project
Microsoft pays millions (300-400) to Novell in their latest deal and Novell answers community questions.
I still cannot understand what drove Novell to sign pacts with M$. Not many understand it either as both sides are very close mouthed about the deal. This worries me if another FUD session like SCO in the making. M$ had a large hand in the SCO saga and I don't believe that M$ is kissing the hand of Linux.
Trust me I am a paying Linux customer of Novell, It was decided due to corporate policies while Suse was still owned by Suse. But the contracts got carried over. And we remained a loyal customer. I was also a Redhad customer too, Server and workstations. But I switched those to CentOS and I am very happy with the results.
Now I have to worry about Suse too. But before jumping or leaping I need to find out more about the nature of Novell/M$ pact. I am sure it will be dissected as soon as the people have enough information.
For now I visit Groklaw to keep updated. Also I have a few Mono projects under my belt and have to think about them too.
Today I found some answers on the Novell site on an article titled "Novell Answers Questions from the Community"
Here are the questions and Novells answers;
Q1. How is this agreement compatible with Novell's obligations under Section 7 of the GPL?
Our agreement with Microsoft is focused on our customers, and does not include a patent license or covenant not to sue from Microsoft to Novell (or, for that matter, from Novell to Microsoft). Novell's customers receive a covenant not to sue directly from Microsoft. We have not agreed with Microsoft to any condition that would contradict the conditions of the GPL and we are in full compliance.
Novell's end user customers receive a covenant not to sue directly from Microsoft for their use of Novell products and services, but these activities are outside the scope of the GPL.
Q2. Why did Novell make this deal with Microsoft? Was Microsoft threatening a lawsuit?
Novell started discussions with Microsoft in order to solve problems for our customers by improving Linux/Windows interoperability in areas like virtualization, heterogeneous server management, and office document compatibility. By securing a commitment from Microsoft to support the use of Linux and open source software, we have allayed any potential concerns for our customers and removed a barrier to enterprise-wide Linux adoption.
There was no threatened litigation.
Q3. Is this agreement an admission that Linux products from Novell infringe Microsoft patents?
No.
Patent concerns did not drive our entry into this agreement. Novell makes no admission that its Linux and open source offerings infringe on any other parties' patents. Our position has not changed as a result of this agreement.
Q4. With this agreement, will Novell include Microsoft patented code in its contributions to the open source community?
No. Novell will not change its development practices as a result of this agreement. It has always been our policy in all development, open source and proprietary, to stay away from code that infringes another's patents, and we will continue to develop software using these standard practices. If any of our code is found to infringe someone else's patents, we will try to find prior technology to invalidate the patents, rework the code to design around the infringement, or as a last resort remove the functionality.
Novell is committed to protecting, preserving and promoting freedom for free and open source software.
Q5. Novell's November 2 press release states that, "Novell will also make running royalty payments based on a percentage of its revenues from open source products." Are these payments for a patent license to Novell?
No. Novell has no license or covenant not to sue from Microsoft under this agreement. The payments are for Microsoft's covenant directly to Novell's customers. By the same token, Microsoft's customers receive the same covenant from Novell in return for payment from Microsoft to Novell.
Q6. Will Novell's involvement with the Open Invention Network (OIN) change due to this agreement with Microsoft?
No. The Open Invention Network is an independent organization formed to protect many commonly distributed open source and free software packages, including Linux, from legal attacks, no matter where an attack comes from. OIN provides coverage to the entire Linux industry by providing a form of retaliatory protection for Linux distributors and users that might be targeted in patent litigation.
Novell is a founding member of the OIN and remains strongly committed to its mission. We have contributed valuable resources to OIN and will continue to participate in OIN in the future. Novell remains firmly in support of the goal of creating an environment of open innovation in the Linux world, without worry about the threat of patent lawsuits.
The value of OIN's patents as a deterrent remains critical to the entire Linux industry, including Novell, and is not affected by our agreement with Microsoft.
Q7. What does your investment in Office Open XML mean to your commitment to the Open Document Format?
Open Document Format ("ODF") is the default file format of OpenOffice.org, and Novell is firmly committed to advancing ODF as a file format and a standard. We devote the bulk of our OpenOffice.org development efforts to ODF.
We also understand the need for Linux desktop systems to provide compatibility with Microsoft Office file formats. By supporting Office Open XML in OpenOffice.org, and by contributing to efforts to translate between ODF and Office Open XML, we will achieve better interoperability between Linux and Windows desktop systems. This will allow more businesses to choose Linux desktops freely.
Read Novell's statement on file formats for office applications.
Q8. What does this mean for Mono and its inclusion in non-SUSE distributions? Does Mono infringe Microsoft patents?
We maintain that Mono does not infringe any Microsoft patents. This agreement does not impact the rights and abilities of other distributions to bundle and ship Mono.
Novell is the leading contributor to Mono and we remain committed to the Mono project. Mono is a community project with many constituents and collaborators from companies, universities, governments and individuals.
The Mono project has a set of rules it uses to handle patents that might read on its implementation. The general policy is to work around, remove, or find prior technology on any patents that might read on any implementations in Mono. We continue to support this policy.
Links;Groklaw
Novell
Mono Project
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Samsung SPH-P9000-MIT,It is a phone, it is a computer, it is a MP3 player
AP reports a new gadget by Samsung SPH-P9000-MIT. So what is this gadget do? Well it is a three-way gadget that's a phone, personal computer and music player tailored for an emerging wireless broadband technology, wimax. MIT in this cas stands for Mobile Intelligent Terminal
The Mobile Intelligent Terminal was unveiled at a Samsung-sponsored industry conference on Mobile WiMax, which is just coming into use and promises fast broadband connections over long distances.
The device weighs about a pound and contains a fold-out keyboard, 5-inch screen and 30 gigabyte hard drive. It runs the full version of Microsoft Corp.'s Windows XP operating system and also supports the CDMA mobile phone communications standard, which is used in South Korea and other countries including the United States.
The SPH-P9000 is not the smallest mobile device you will find, but it exchanges it’s portly exterier for some increased usability. The device folds out from it’s 143 x 92 x 29.7 mm dimension to have a full qwerty keyboard and viewable upright 5″ WVGA screen for some un-cramped typing and viewing of documents and movies on the Windows XP based OS.
The device has an MP3 player and 1.3 megapixel camera along with a 30 GB hard drive and altogether weighs 560 grams. The Samsung SPH-P9000 is expected to be launched in Korea by the end of the second quarter, 2007, Suwon.
The Suwon, South Korea-based company said it plans to launch the device in South Korea during the first half of 2007. Samsung didn't mention any plans for marketing the device in the U.S. and other markets. It also didn't provide a price.
WiMax has been strongly backed by Samsung, which is cooperating with U.S. companies Intel Corp., Sprint Nextel Corp. and Motorola Inc. to commercialize it in the United States. South Korea is the first country to commercialize WiMax, which promises fast wireless broadband connections and mobile roaming. Limited trials of Mobile WiMax are under way in South Korea, with plans to cover the capital, Seoul, by early next year. Sprint Nextel has said it aims to launch WiMax networks in some U.S. markets by late 2007, working with Samsung, Motorola and Intel.
Banking on Samsung's confidence on WiMax technology that it will soon become a global standard, a top executive said Tuesday, "We have established a standard in (South) Korea, but it won't take long to spread throughout the world," Lee Ki-tae, president of Samsung's telecommunication network business, told reporters.
Friday, November 03, 2006
Just the right note pad for that lab project.
If you ever used (Who has not?) note pads, the good old paper version, I am sure you had legal pad in your hand and wished if you had a graph pad instead. On the other hand you may have had a graph paper in your and and drew lines on it to make it look like a legal pad.
Doane Paper has just what you need. He has combined legal pad with graph paper. And I think it is a cool idea. These are the things that patenting worth it's purpose. Duane has a patent pending on it and is good old innovation, idea, result and a patent business. I do not approve patents in software and ideas. But this I would have patented my self, if I came with the idea.
On the single sheet of his paper representing the site, you can download a sample of the paper in PDF or Jpeg (next article is about jpeg patent!) format, or you can order a three pack of the pads.
Well done Doane
Links;
Doane Paper
Thursday, November 02, 2006
SUN shines on Qnext Desktop Messaging
News Release;
Qnext Corp. announced today that its groundbreaking peer-to-peer communications suite will be featured prominently on java.com as a showcase for Java™ innovation. This exposure will include a main feature banner on the java.com homepage and an additional listing in the "What's Cool" section. Each month, java.com reaches over seven million unique visitors who can browse the latest games, tools and applications that utilize Java technology.
Qnext is a category-breaking application that uses a single Java-based client to securely deliver P2P services such as Universal Instant Messaging (Qnext, MSN, AIM, Yahoo, ICQ), Video Conferencing, Voice over IP, File Transfer, File Sharing, Group Text Chat, Online Games, Photo Sharing and Remote PC Access.
"Since our launch at the JavaOne 2004 show in June, Qnext has established a rapidly growing network of early adopters in over 50 countries stretching around the world," said Oren Asher, Chairman & CEO of Qnext Corp. "Millions of visitors to java.com will now see Qnext prominently displayed and be able to learn why the media has been describing Qnext as the most powerful IM client on the market".
To correspond with the java.com showcase, Qnext will be releasing a special skin with the Java Powered™ logo for Qnext that incorporates the look and feel of the Java Powered brand. Banner advertisements for java.com will also be running on the Qnext home page and within the Qnext client.
"Java Powered products like Qnext demonstrate the innovation coming from the Java development community," said Cathy Guthrie, Director of Java Initiatives, Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Java technology powers all of the core functionality of Qnext including the ability to run on multiple platforms and devices. All services deployed in Qnext are Java plug-in's which allows Qnext to easily deploy new services that offer tremendous value for the consumer and business users. Qnext is currently available for the Windows & Linux operating systems and is a Java Desktop System Ready application.
Qnext is completely free for all users and can be downloaded by visitingwww.qnext.com.
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
With a two weeks (about) old trademark, utube sues youtube!
According to Sara Goo, Washington Post, Universal Tube & Rollform Equipment Corp., of Perrysburg, Ohio, sued YouTube Inc. Earlier this week, claiming that millions of people confused its Web site, utube.com, for the online video site where people watch entertaining home-made videos.
YouTube, which stands to be $1.65 billion richer after Google Inc. completes its purchase, because the trademark was only registered on October 18th. I am not a lawyer so I do not know the legal implications, but it is obvious that court will see this trademark info. It is up to the judge to decide I guess.
Sara has mentioned that she has emailed Youtube for a response and she might post it if she gets a reply.
Trademark info was provided by comment by Jake.
Links
Sara Goo
Youtube
utube (Huh no link, go find your self)
utube trademark registry if link does not work, search for trade mark ID 77023852.
MPAA sucks wrong pole again
Techdirt reports about another mishap by ever popular MPAA. This time they seem to have sued a guy for MPAA did not have copyright.
Excerpt from techdirt;
Shawn Hogan has received plenty of attention in the last year for his decision to fight the MPAA over the lawsuit they filed against him, claiming he had shared the movie Meet the Fockers via a file sharing program. The problem? Hogan didn't actually share the movie, has never downloaded it, and actually owns the DVD of the movie in question. The MPAA made it clear that if he just paid them $2,500, they would forget the whole thing -- which certainly has the feel of extortion. So, Hogan decided to fight the case in court to prove they were wrong, and said he wouldn't let them back out and run like they've done in other cases. All this, despite the fact that it would probably cost him over $100,000 in legal fees. Hogan decided it was worth it on principle. However, in preparing for the case, it looks like Hogan and his lawyer discovered that the studio might not actually have the rights to the movie.
Links;
Techdirt article
Go Digg it
Monday, October 30, 2006
Free book on Asterisk IPPBX setup
All those who dabble or dibble in VOIP, Asterisk, Get this book.
VOIP IP Telephony: Free Asterisk Book AsteriskTFOT
Friday, October 27, 2006
Bittorrent pirate Admin goes to jail,
Torrentfreak reports;
The 23 year old Grant Stanley has been sentenced to five months in prison, followed by five months of home detention, and a $3000 fine for his role in the private BitTorrent tracker Elitetorrents. This ruling is the first BitTorrent related conviction in the US.
Earlier He had admitted that he was guilty of pirating software, Via Elitetorrents, snatched by the FBI operation better known as 'Operation D-Elite.
Operation D-Elite was carried out by the FBI with help from the MPAA in May 2005, and resulted in the shutdown of one of the largest private BitTorrent trackers at that time.
Go read the article and the following conversation at Torrentfreak and DIGG it if you like the article.
Slashdot also carries a conversation. Where I first learned about this news.
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
iTunes Doubletwisted, detuned.
Jon Lech Johansen has "reverse engineered" the FairPlay system by Apple that prevents iTunes downloads from being played on any MP3 player other than iPods. Bummer.
Mr Johansen, also known as DVD Jon, rose to fame at the age of 15 when he wrote and distributed a program called DeCSS that cracked the encryption codes on DVDs.
Mr Johansen first distributed a program to bypass the Apple system, called QTFairUse, in 2003. Since then several versions of the program have been distributed to keep up to date with new versions of iTunes and FairPlay. Although these hacks were distributed on the web for free but were difficult to use without technical know-how, meaning not everyone could detune and Itune. But now there is another twist to this, Mr Johansen and DoubleTwist plan to commercialise the technology. Currently iTunes controls 88% of the legal music download market, while 60% of those possessing a portable music player own an iPod.
So what does this fairplay does? All music sold through iTunes uses the FairPlay system that restricts the use of the downloads. Purchased music can only be moved between five computers and played on an Apple iPod. Downloads cannot be transferred to players made by other manufacturers, such as Creative or Sony.The new "workaround" could help companies like these sell iTunes compatible products that could start to scratch away at the iPod's dominance.
His latest feat could help companies such as Microsoft Corp., Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., which have all announced plans over the past few months for music download services combined with new devices to challenge Apple. So take a byte, DeTune iTune.
Monday, October 23, 2006
Firefox 2.0 will be released tomorrow, but you can download it today!
We all have been waiting for Firefox 2.0, which will let M$ to spend few years to catch up, (Firefox 1.5 was caught up by IE7 but all I know is reports and what I ran on Vista beta.). Anyway I happened to be running Firefox 2.0 right now, down loaded from this site. I don't know how it leaked but I am happy!
Thanks Firefox.
Sunday, October 22, 2006
Friday, October 20, 2006
Fix your Asterisk, 1.0, 1.2 etc
Ravenii reports;
VOIP IP Telephony: Asterisk remote heap overflow
A security Advisory has been issued on Asterisk open source PBX, IPPBX. Please fix as soon as possible, any application or servers using Asterisk like TRIXBOX, should fix this overflow. I am running Asterisk 1.4-beta2 and not affected.
Thursday, October 19, 2006
San Francisco Google Free Wireless gets a Blow, almost literally
After reading this article VOIP IP Telephony: San Francisco picks Google for its Wireless!, I was waiting happily to connect my notebook or ipaq to free wireless from Google and earthlink, the chosen vendors from multiple picks.
I have been waiting too long, much too long. I thought it was on the way but I read today, on Davis Freeberg's blog about a townhall meeting. My jaw fell! Why do we have to deal with these stupid uneducated politicians? As David says I can understand if city has to pay or tax payers money is used to provide these services, activity groups has right to protest, but not violently, as may have happened as David describes.
David's description of opposition to free wireless;
"Some of the crazier demands that were suggested at the meeting included a “requirement” for every San Francisco renter to sign a lease addendum with their landlords before being allowed to install a WiFi card in their PC, forcing Google to agree to transport kids back and forth to the Zoo in their Google busses and a requirement for EarthLink to pay the electrical costs for running computers in order to prevent brownouts."
made me laugh and pity the stupid dumbnuts.
But I was sad to see this that this deal might go down the drain. Yes nothing comes free, but there are many a users in San Francisco that do dial up networking, so 300K connection, free will benefit many a folks.
I think those nuts should study the city of Mountan view; VOIP IP Telephony: Google wi-fi (goofi) approved by Mountainview City.; may be I will move there!
There is good discussion going on adavid'sds site and you better hurry over there, you might even get hints of as whom to vote for in next city elections.
Well here is the link to David's article.
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
ALL Video to PSP, portable TV, you name it, gadget
I read about this in boingboing and I think I want one. But I am getting another gadget today, so it has to wait. I will write about my gadget tomorrow! it is a networked DVD player!
What BB writes about is;
Gadget turns all your video into iPod/PSP/phone/laptop video,
Neuros Recorder 2 and there is also Recorder 2 plus!
BB further says;
"It's seems ridiculous that you can record a TV show to play back on your TV, but you have to buy it again if you want to watch it on your iPod, phone or PSP. Why do you need to buy a DVD and an iPod version? Why can't you "home-tape" your media to something more convenient, the way you could with your old LPs? Thank (or curse) the entertainment companies: they have threatened to sue any company that makes a better digital VCR (they put one manufacturer, ReplayTV, out of business, by sucking up all their dough with legal fees). They've even proposed legislation to close the "analog hole" that makes this recording without permission possible. That's right, Hollywood's media-savvy technophobes really think that they'll be able to convince Congress to help them with something called the "A-Hole problem." Hey, if the shoe fits."
Neuros, which produce the gadget, also has a link to explain why SONY would not do this!
Go ahead and read the article.
links;
BB Gadget turns all your video into iPod/PSP/phone/laptop video,
Neuros Recorder 2, Recorder 2 Plus and more
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Whopper of a USB Flash Memory Stick
Toransendo as transcend is known in day to day Japanese speak, has JetFlash™2A (16GJF2A) ready to ship.
16GB is larger than most of the hard disks shipped with note book a few years back. I still have two notebooks that I use for Network testing and analysis, with 20GB hard drives.
Back to the JetFlash™2A 16GB Flash memory stick, is USB2.0, it has maximum read and write speeds of 25/20MB.
But that is not all, it comes with a slew of software, alas for windows only, Automatic login to accounts via saved passwords (Don't loose that stick!), data backup and E-mail backup, secure Zip Encryption or password protected), and Bookmarking.
Price is unknown at the moment.
Read more here, Japanese transcend site.
Saturday, October 14, 2006
Don't be a skype supernode, or how not to be!
Voip IP Telephony
VOIP IP Telephony: How to be or not to be a skype supernode?
explains how you can use skype for your day to day communications and yet not become a supernode. Usually Network admins, ISPs oppose use of Skype due to bandwidth consumption by the Skype application. Usually this happens when the computer, a node, becomes a supernode. The Skype has developed over the years and have attracted millions of users. So to support millions of users, Skype needs thousands, may be hundreds of thousands of Supernodes. So if you are skype a user may be you ought to read it.
But be forewarned, if all skype users do not want to become suppernodes, skype will collapse!
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Google Doc's at web application harbor.
Today I tried my Google Doc, formerly Writley, and I liked it. (I have been using Google spreadsheets for a while now.) Not much
different from my Open Office write. I also noticed that I could email a
document to my account at writley.com! I could also upload using browser
based interface. The document types that you could upload are;
*Documents*
* HTML files and plain text (.txt).
* Microsoft Word (.doc), Rich Text (.rtf), OpenDocument Text (.odt)
and StarOffice (.sxw).
*Spreadsheets*
* Comma Separated Value (.csv).
* Microsoft Excel (.xls) files and OpenDocument Spreadsheet (.ods).
I emailed my self this document to my docs account and it appeared there in seconds and the rest will be done on writely, oops google doc. All the amenities for documenting is available to me, if I knew how to. I can embed links and images as I would do at the blogger editor too.
Best thing is spelling check! I do need it and sometimes I get confused in the blogger editor. But I had to add GOOGLE, google to my dictionary!
Well that covers almost a half of many office suites. I think a casual user can do entirely without any office suite on his / her computer if he /she has a n Internet connection. You can write, calculate, save and share your documents.
I tried uploading some docs and spread sheets from the open office suite and it worked. I also saved documents as M$ file formats within the open office and they also worked. I will try from office , tomorrow, a real M$ office 2003 documents to see how they behave. (I still have to learn to format!!)
Later I noticed on google blog, this snippet;
Get a taste of the Google Docs & Spreadsheets combo with our mini tour. Really, though, the best way to get a flavor is to sample it for yourself. Anyone can use it -- after you log in just click on the links for New Document, New Spreadsheet, or Upload(lets you upload your desktop files) to get going. Help yourself and let us know (via this new D&S Google Group) what you think.
There is also a blog dedicated to Google docs and you can read the first article here.
Only thing you need is a google account.
PDF spammers giving you Haxdoor rootkit
Malware being spammed as PDF from retail stores by ZDNet's Suzi Turner -- Reports surfaced today of spam purporting to be from Dell, Walmart, Circuit City or Sony confirming an order for a Sony Vaio computer with a PDF attachment, but the attachment is, in fact, a very nasty piece of malware named Haxdoor. Text of email: Subject: Order ID : 37679041 Dear Customer, Thank you for ordering from our internet shop. If [...]
What ever you do if you get an email from above sources, do not hesitate, you know you did not order it, so delete it immediately.
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
M$ has one up on RIAA, sues Ghosts
The release of FairUse4WM is sure to have irritated Microsoft a lot. The software allowed any user to strip the Windows Media Digital Rights Management (DRM) software from legally downloaded files, thus allowing him or her to do whatever he pleased with them like loading them on to iPOD. As the release of a anti-FairUse4WM had proved to be just a temporary solution, Microsoft now seeks to put an end to this threat the best way it can: with a lawsuit. However, the company might have a lot of trouble in the court.
M$ started the anti-FairUse4WM by sending out odd takedown notices against people who host copies of FairUse4WM, a program that lets you get more use out of the music and video you buy by breaking off the DRM.
Microsoft takedown notices to FairUse4WM hosters is asserting that FairUse4WM violates Microsoft's copyrights in Windows Media Player. This proved to be an odd claim -- it may be that FairUse4WM is a DMCA violation because it circumvents Windows Media Player, but it's quite a stretch to say that it violates Microsoft's copyright. But with the endless supply of lawyers M$ has at hand they might prove it.
Here is one such notices posted on forum.doom9.org.
But it seems that M$ is still not happy and went on filling a law suit against the creators of FairUse4WM software.
But still it has to find those creators. By looking at the filling M$ does not know much yet about those who created the software, like most of us!, it has named ""viodentia"" as the ring leader of the team (supposed to be about 10).
To unearth the real names behind those ghost or nick names, M$ plans to subpoena e-mail service providers. May be that will unearth those programmers.
It is so funny to read comments on the digg story, the best so far for me is;
Fastest Windows Patch: Two Weeks
Fastest Windows Media DRM Patch Three Days
But Apple's iTUNES is not faring better either, here is a comment about Apple, "I speak from experience. Because I buy a new Powerbook every ten months, and because I always order the new models the day they're announced, I get a lot of lemons from Apple. That means that I hit Apple's three-iTunes-authorized-computers limit pretty early on and found myself unable to play the hundreds of dollars' worth of iTunes songs I'd bought because one of my authorized machines was a lemon that Apple had broken up for parts, one was in the shop getting fixed by Apple, and one was my mom's computer, 3,000 miles away in Toronto."
All I know is that this whole DRM thing is silly. Only music I listen is on the radio and TV, and I wonder how long that will last, way these mega billionairs go. I think these things bother and scare me more than north Korean dummy for a dictator does.
I think people ought to look more in the direction of EFF
Read here a talk EFF fellow gave in front of a Microsoft crowd, he started his speech with;
"Here's what I'm here to convince you of:
1. That DRM systems don't work
2. That DRM systems are bad for society
3. That DRM systems are bad for business
4. That DRM systems are bad for artists
5. That DRM is a bad business-move for MSFT"
If you did not know what EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) it is time you did, go over there, see what they do and if that is your cup of tea, join, you might save your children's cups of teas.
New gadget tax in Europe alarms manufacturers
Electronics manufacturers railed against a European tax on recordable discs and music players like iPods on Friday, even as a Dutch industry group was getting ready to impose new local levies on recordable media. According to PC Magazine's news article.
Nokia Multimedia chief Anssi Vanjoki, Philips Consumer Electronics head Rudy Provoost and others urged the European Commission to reform the "antiquated system of rough justice" as the law comes up for evaluation this year.
New taxes would mean an mp3 player like an Apple
"This will lead to double or triple taxation. Soon, a consumer will pay rights to the artists when he buys on iTunes, then again when he buys a blank disc and undoubtedly it will be extended to mobile phones which can also store music," he said.
Sunday, October 08, 2006
Is IE7 on Vista better and Secure that IE6 on XP?
It is not a security analysis but an attempt to mess up IE7 on Vista. Aptly named "IE7 in toolbar mayhem" .
It took the browser through some interesting turns. What I noticed in this prank is the fact that once you accept ONE UAC prompt in IE7 it disables the protection for subsequent browsing until you completely restart IE7. This would make it easy for malware to install itself without alerting you (too much) that it is doing so.
Other thing is still evident that a less educated user still could get spyware/malware into the system via IE7.
Well M$ I think it is bug that need to fix;) I hope not many others left hidden.
The article took IE7 from this;
to this with much more in between.
Thursday, October 05, 2006
WGA = SPP, SPP=Kill Switch, Killed Vista => Linux Desktop!
All the Linux fans and developers of desktop software should rejoice! Today is the day of the beginning of new era for Linux desktops and distros. The server side of Linux is taking care of itself with the likes of Redhat, SUSE, Centos and the likes. But the desktops are in the form of waking up. Some of them are already in the acceptable form of cooperate desktop.
Well today's blogsphere is awash with news about SPP or the new version of WGA that will come with Vista. Knowing the way WGA behaved, SPP will also will lead to false positives. There is a difference right now. Imagine you are a big cooperation with 1000's of machines running M$ vista. Since M$ is focusing on eliminating piracy of Volume licensed keys, (Volume license allows a cooperation to use a single key on multiple machines), guess what is going to happen!
Lone user of XP that was falsely recognized as a pirated copy may spend time on the phone to get his copy validated again. But a cooperation or business with hundreds or thousands of desktops does not have time to do so. Frustration will build up.
These cooperation's and users are bound to windows because of applications they use. These applications are the life blood of their day to day work. If these applications ran on any platform, I don't think these companies care. So why they are not selecting Linux?
Knowledge!! The Linux distributions like Xandros have done a lot on their distribution and Xandros can run most of the business applications. Most of the other proprietary applications (likes of Oracle etc) are slowly moving to web and dependency on OS is slowly veining.
So Linux should plan to bring about a marketing campaign tied to Vista release. Plan to promote Linux aggressively as Vista is released and bring the campaign to it's peek in about six months after Vista is out.
So the people knows when Vista, goes down, that they have another path. Xandros and like distros could offer two license per single license of Vista at a lower price. Before you know, Linux will overtake M$.
SO back to SPP, There are number of places that you can read about and better written than here are, the best aggregation of the best articles are at Computerworld's IT Blog watch. It give you enough ideas and links to other bloggers that write well on the subject.
I specially liked the way he ended the article;
"But the Best Headline award goes to Harpreet Kaur:
Microsoft To Rip Your Head Off If You Pirate Vista"
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
zunelicious
Zune ads found in New York. And according to the author of the blog, it does not say what Zune is!
He has pictures comparing Zune to iPod and Zune seems to be bigger!
But the best comment on the site and One that made me laugh....
"How often do I have to reboot it?"
Bahahahahaha :)
zunelicious
Firefox vulnerability is a HOAX and Speaker had Dinner with Microsoft !
Update II, People seems to doubt the source of the picture, It is from "Mischa Spiegelmock's" own website and it is from a collection of photos he took while attending " Seattle Mindcamp".
Take a screen capture!
Update; The hoaxer had dinner with Microsoft!, the link at the bottom.
At Toorcon this weekend, two speakers claimed they found vulnerabilities in the Javascript VM. and media was awash with many a gleeful reports. Some even claimed the vulnerability count to 30.
So Mozilla team got to work. and according to Window Snyder of Mozilla team;
"So far weÂ’ve been able to reproduce a denial of service issue based on the information they gave during their talk. In some cases this causes a crash based on an out of memory error. Based on the information we have at this time we have not been able to confirm whether an attacker can achieve code execution. "
Since there were not detectable problems, Mozilla team contacted the speakers. After all it turned out to be a hoax. They say it was a joke but I doubt it. Read more because they might be M$ fans.
Here is the full post from Mozilla Developer News;
"We got a chance to talk to Mischa Spiegelmock, the Toorcon speaker that reported the potentialJavaScriptt security issue referenced earlier. He gave us more code to work with and also made this statement and agreed to let me post it here:
The main purpose of our talk was to be humorous.
As part of our talk we mentioned that there was a previously known Firefox vulnerability that could result in a stack overflow ending up in remote code execution. However, the code we presented did not in fact do this, and I personally have not gotten it to result in code execution, nor do I know of anyone who has.
I have not succeeded in making this code do anything more than cause a crash and eat up system resources, and I certainly havenÂ’t used it to take over anyone elseÂ’s computer and execute arbitrary code.
I do not have 30 undisclosed Firefox vulnerabilities, nor did I ever make this claim. I have no undisclosed Firefox vulnerabilities. The person who was speaking with me made this claim, and I honestly have no idea if he has them or not.
I apologize to everyone involved, and I hope I have made everything as clear as possible.
Sincerely,
Mischa Spiegelmock
Even though Mischa hasn‚’t been able to achieve code execution, we still take this issue seriously. We will continue to investigate.
-Window Snyder"
But after that I did some searching for "Mischa Spiegelmock" and he seemed to have had dinner wMicrosoftsoft and Amazon, Proof wphotosotos from speaker own site.
The other guy seemed to be non-existant who came for the ride along!, as far as I am concerned.
This is an insane Joke mister.
Monday, October 02, 2006
Sunday, October 01, 2006
Seitz / DALSA 160MP monster of a digital camera.
Seitz has released information on a 160MP digital camera. When I first saw the information, I was awed but I think I will stick to my $799.00 8MP Olympus for a while. This monster is around $30000.00. But it is worth at least to go through the details. If you see the sample photos and if you in any way like photographs, you would wish just to hold it and click away a few frames. These few frames will be transfered over Gigabit interface to a tethered Apple Mac mini or similar computer. The Digital 3 scan back sensor has been designed and developed exclusively for Seitz by DALSA Corporation. In this multi-year project specialists around the world have brought together the best capabilities in digital technology, computer science, image optimisation and knowledge of photography applications to build a camera system that goes beyond the imaginable. Here is the PDF of the product info and sample images. The Seitz home page is here.
For the starters here is a sample image from the product information page which was taken by Alois Stutz;
This is a 6 X 17 image. But I can't get a true size image and this will have to do. Ok lets look at he camera now, no let's see the camera in somebody's hand. It will give you a more perspective how this monster of a hand held camera will behave in your arms.
I think it is a quite handfull!.
Here are some tech information about the camera;
How about some features;
large format cameras
one second!
- full mobility for outdoors assignments (with camera, portable
mini-computer, handheld control device)
- possibility to use in studio and run software on
computer with free choice of operating system (Mac OS,
Windows, Linux)
