Showing headlines posted by TxtEdMacs

Microsoft Shafting Its Resellers - Welcome to the club. Here's what they say: "Microsoft has stunned some in the British reseller community by allowing a discount dealer to sell secondhand volume licenses, opening the floodgates for a used-software market." Note that this is UK only (so far), but it just might indicate someone within Microsoft wants to stop any incipient drift away from its OS. Just guessing.

Old, but new to this site, a bit of early history on a project to build an open source warning system. The interesting part, however, is the discovery that monitoring systems of the raw data are already in operation for differing purposes. Moreover, in at least one case the director of such a site wanted to disseminate such warnings. Furthermore, the core problem is not technological, but political will. One case is cited where the knowledge of the impending wave's arrival was known but the warning not given, because of the potential harm to the tourist industry! So here Open Source plays the role of shaming those in charge to do the "Right Thing". An odd role for technology. [Read the lower quarter for this discussion.]

The lawsuit covers x86 microprocessors, used to run PC operating systems, including Microsoft Windows, Solaris and Linux systems. AMD said its lawsuit alleges that Intel has coerced customers away from dealing with AMD, and was based on evidence obtained from 38 companies.

Sun had been trying to seal a new alliance with I.B.M. for the last year, and executives at both companies said Monday that pressure from large customers had been a central factor in forcing the renewed alliance. [An understatement from Jonathan Schwartz]: "To be honest, we've had a little bit of a chill in our I.B.M. relationship ..." Story also cites AMD new chips and software: Java plus WebSphere.

Want to break the lock on mainstream media? So do these folks, and they are inviting us to blow the business wide open.

Within hours Netscape 8 went from 0 to 41 bugs. It's even worse, Netscape development has been outsourced and was supposedly in beta since February. Moreover, despite the initial claims about security, the fixes available for Firefox 1.0.4 were left out of the original release. Contrast their claims upon release (it's sad, but with the outsourcing there is hope that more prompt, complete flaw fixes may happen with the browser in AOL hands in name only).

Remember SCO telling everyone they hoped to file their 10K prior to their delisting meeting with Nasdaq? Bob Mims of the Salt Lake Tribune tells us what happened yesterday at the meeting in Washington, and what leaps out is that they did not file the 10K:

A new version of the Mozilla Firefox browser fixes a flaw that made users vulnerable to online fraud. [A bit late, but nonetheless, informative considering its source. They are telling of the previously released version 1.0.1.]

Remember Jeff Merkey? He's the guy who tried to buy a license to take the Linux kernel proprietary last year, among many other exploits. He has now posted a message, claiming "another Linux patent," pointing to U.S. Patent 6,862,609, granted on March 1 to a certain Jeff Merkey. The patent itself (which appears to cover a scheme for running a RAID array over an FDDI-like network) is not particularly threatening, but it is interesting to note that he has assigned the patent to the Canopy Group. Anybody who wondered who Jeff was working for need wonder no longer. [Need not be a subscriber to see this summary.]

"A CNet columnist, Molly Wood, totally misunderstands what Firefox, and open source software, are all about. She's arguing that now that Microsoft has said it will issue an update of its browser, we can write Firefox off."

It says: The European Parliament has thrown out a bill that would have allowed software to be patented. But I have seen this so often only to read another back door approach is immenient. What's the scoop on this?

The author's title is: Migration Stories. This discussion struck a cord because he cites the general policy of companies that suppress technical personnel from commenting on actual or planned Linux implementations. However, he has the pleasure of contrasting two exceptions that are freely allowed to discuss their company's Linux activities. Quite the opposite from the norm and personal experience. [Subscription required]

Found this as a link in Groklaw discussing the delay of IBM's request for a summary judgement. Essentially the developers of "enterprise" level applications and customers are ignoring the SCO threats. The atmosphere in Linux World (2005) seems to be very upbeat. Here is the link to the Groklaw story.

MS's nightmares: the sale of IBM'S PC unit could result in it switching from Windows to Linux in what is projected to be the world's largest market for PC's. Moreover, Intel could become a victim too if the new company switches over to the PPC, which runs Linux quite nicely. Furthermore long term there could be a general lessening of any need for MS software. One should note, however, there are already noises about "Home Land Security" and DOD vetoing the sale.

Five years ago, I.B.M. established a Chinese software development lab, which today has 500 engineers working on Linux projects alone. (I.B.M. is the leading corporate supporter of Linux, a free operating system that is an alternative to Microsoft Windows.) Warning: this is a business article looking at this corporation's global goals and methods, where Linux plays a decidedly subsidiary role!

Here's a theory you hear a lot these days: "Microsoft is finished. As soon as Linux makes some inroads on the desktop and web applications replace desktop applications, the mighty empire will topple." Although there is some truth to the fact that Linux is a huge threat to Microsoft, predictions of the Redmond company's demise are, to say the least, premature.

A bit overwrought title, but an interesting view of the minority browsers and their impact on internet sites. Focus is mainly on FireFox. While I have read opinions similar to those expressed here, the source adds interest particularly the semi-threating manner in which they are presented. And this is an academic site too.

Note the heavy use of the default Mac browser and the hefty numbers for FireFox. Skewed true, but very recently IE was at the 90% range for this site! Remember too that this probably is not a techie haven site, more likely regular folk interested in politics.

Look I did not discover this story, but I think it gives perspective to some of the problems Microsoft is confronting and they are not all Linux/Free/Open Source driven. Indeed, I think the headline on the SlashDot entry is a misnomer. Moreover, Google denies it intends to compete for the desktop. The importance is that MS is being challenged by another corporate entity that is really unpredictable and innovative. Furthermore, that challenge emanates from a Linux based company! Microsoft has been too comfortable too long and it senses it is in danger.

Most of the content has appeared here in one form or another, however, for the general population this includes a fair amount of detail on the history and goals of Mozilla and the FireFox browser vis a vis the Internet Explorer.