Nice retrospective by computer world."After batting around some ideas for a new system, Thompson wrote the first version of Unix, which the pair would continue to develop over the next several years with the help of colleagues Doug McIlroy, Joe Ossanna and Rudd Canaday. Some of the principles of Multics were carried over into their new operating system, but the beauty of Unix then (if not now) lay in its less-is-more philosophy." Unix turns 4
Learn how to better integrate scripts with command-line tools. Examine using shell_exec(), exec(), passthru(), and system(); safely passing information to the command line; and safely retrieving information from it. See how to integrate closely with underlying shell commands and folding any return values into your interfaces and processes.
The battleground has shifted from the Operating System to the hypervisor, and Linux has a clear role to play. One of the most important modern innovations of Linux is its transformation into a hypervisor. Learn about KVM and Lguest and why the most important modern innovations of Linux is its transformation into a hypervisor
The ideas in this article may help you breathe life (and some additional security) into your old machines and make better use of Linux on aging hardware. A lack of physical memory can severely hamper Linux performance. Llearn how to accurately measure the amount of memory your Linux system uses. You also get practical advice on reducing your memory requirements using an Ubuntu system as an example.
This article compares and contrasts some of the innovations of the latest releases of AIX 6.1, Solaris 1, and HP-UX. Learn the differences on how to work with certain tasks, such as networking and performance tuning. Also, see at a high level some of the virtualization differences among these big three. You decide what you prefer best.
Some nice info in this."Most of the time, your screen's capabilities should be identified using something called EDID - Extended Display Identification Data. This is a chunk of information sent from your display to your graphics card, and normally contains information such as your screen's model and manufacturer, resolution timings and display size. X then uses this data to create appropriate resolutions and bit depths that make optimal use of your hardware." Modify xorg.conf for better per
As data centers grow in both size and complexity, the ability to manage the configuration of each and every server from a central location becomes increasingly important. Two popular Open Source configuration management solutions exist: cfengine and Puppet."Puppet is written in Ruby, is easily installed, and as we will see, can be setup and taken live in less than fifteen minutes!" Puppet + subversion in 15 minutes
Android, a complete operating environment based upon the Linux V2.6 kernel, promises to be a market-moving open source platform that will be useful well beyond cell phones. In this article, learn about the Android platform and how it can be used for mobile and nonmobile applications, then build your first Android application. This simple first app you build will get you started quickly, but beleive me, you'll want to do more after that.
Why is virtualization so important? The short answer is that virtualization enables businesses to lower their technology Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), while increasing their Return on Investment (ROI). What do the top UNIX vendors have to offer with respect to virtualization? Find out what virtualization is more scalable. Here's a look at HP's Virtual Server Environment (VSE), Sun's xVM, and IBM's PowerVM.
I want an ebook reader like device. But am way to cheap to get anything I have seen on the market. If the Kindle was $15 I think I would be carrying one around. Well if there was more of an electronic version discount for the books at least.""Effectively what [Pixel Qi is] doing is creating a hybrid display that combines the best of E Ink and regular LCDs," says Robert Barry, director of business development for Team Research, a company that makes an e-book reader called the Astak Mentor
"MySQL's clustering storage engine is a unique take on database clustering, unlike Oracle's or Microsoft SQL Servers solutions. As with those, it has its strengths and weaknesses, so you'll of course need to test, test, and test some more before you can decide if the technology is right for your application, and organization. New features that are in development include the ability to add nodes while the cluster is up and running, storing data and index information on disk, and much more.
Who needs GUIs?"Based on ncurses, MOC (music on console) is a popular, text-based audio player which can play various audio formats, including Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, MP3, MP4, WMA and WAV. The release I'm going to talk about in this article is 2.5.-alpha3, as it comes with Debian Lenny." MOC: Text based audio player
nikki4 writes to tell us that in giving some major improvement tweaks to its existing voice recognition tool for the Smartphone, Google is aiming for new translator software that will provide instant translation of foreign languages. "The company has already created an automatic system for translating text on computers, which is being honed by scanning millions of multi-lingual websites and documents. So far it covers 52 languages, adding Haitian Creole last week. Google also has a voice recognition system that enables phone users to conduct web searches by speaking commands into their phones rather than typing them in. Now it is working on combining the two technologies to produce software capable of understanding a caller’s voice and translating it into a synthetic equivalent in a foreign language."
MikeChino writes "As battery manufacturers race to produce more efficient lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, some scientists are looking to make the cars themselves a power source. Researchers are currently developing a new auto body material that can store and release electrical energy like a battery. Once perfected, scientists hope the substance will replace standard car bodies, making vehicles up to 15 percent lighter and significantly extending the range of electric vehicles."
An anonymous reader writes "According to 4chan's owner and administrator 'moot,' Verizon has explicitly blocked all traffic on their network from boards.4chan.org, where all of 4chan's boards are located. Moot explains that only traffic to and from port 80 is being dropped and they were able to confirm that it was intentional. 4chan's downtime for Verizon users has been in effect for at least 72 hours since Saturday, February 7."
With the Oracle/Sun merger finally completing at the end of January, one former Sun worker has taken the time to reflect a bit on the extravagant compensation and golden parachutes that the former executives at Sun are receiving for failing at their jobs. "I think it's fair to say that, for all the miscues that eventually led to its demise, the company created many products and technologies of value along the way, enough so that Oracle thought it was worth it to acquire them and try to keep them going. However, I think that it's equally fair to conclude that, after years of running losses, including about $2 billion in fiscal 2009, so that a buyout was necessary to avoid looming bankruptcy, Sun's executives did nothing to deserve lavish rewards, by any conceivable meaning of the word 'deserve.' But what actually happened is by now a familiar story. [...] And here's a prediction that I feel quite certain of: if, against expectations and my hopes, Ellison drops the ball and things start going south for Oracle, it's the employees who will suffer for it, and he'll be doing just fine."
A study conducted by researchers at University College London shows that boredom can kill you. The researchers found that people who reported feeling a great deal of boredom were 37 per cent more likely to have died by the end of the study. Martin Shipley, who co-wrote the report said, "The findings on heart disease show there was sufficient evidence to say there is a link with boredom."
GJdeBoer writes "The book is aimed at people who are managing a network and would like to get insight into the performance of that network. It covers the installation and configuration of the Cacti application. In the preface the book states that it's not necessary to be a Linux Guru to use the book and that exactly is the case. The book builds up your knowledge about Cacti and the necessary steps to configure it for your network, and it teaches you about Net-SNMP and RRDTool, the building blocks of Cacti." Read on for the rest of GJdeBoer's review.
With the oh-so-dreaded Hallmark holiday on the horizon we are flooded with tips and tricks (mostly designed to sell us things our mates cannot live without) of how to please/capture/sedate the ones we care for. One writer even suggests ways to capture the interest of a geeky girl. That said, what are some of the crazier romantically inspired, geeky V-day stunts or activities that you or someone you know has executed to terrible success or failure?
Recently there was much gnashing of teeth as SourceForge (who shares a corporate overlord with Slashdot) started programmatically blocking users in certain countries to comply with US export restrictions. Thankfully they didn't let it end there and have found a way to put the power back in the hands of the users. "Beginning now, every project admin can click on Develop -> Project Admin -> Project Settings to find a new section called Export Control. By default, we've ticked the more restrictive setting. If you conclude that your project is *not* subject to export regulations, or any other related prohibitions, you may now tick the other check mark and click Update. After that, all users will be able to download your project files as they did before last month's change."
SpuriousLogic writes "Linus Torvalds, the inventor of the Linux kernel, has an absolute disdain for mobile phones. All of the ones he has purchased in the past, the man writes on his personal blog, ended up being 'mostly used for playing Galaga and Solitaire on long flights' even though they were naturally all phones run on open source operating systems. Things have changed now, he adds, now that he has caved and bought Google's Nexus One a couple of days ago."
An anonymous reader writes "Zero-day vulnerabilities have become prized possessions to attackers and defenders alike. As the recent China-Google attack demonstrated, they are the basis on which most of the successful attacks are crafted these days. There is an underground market growing around these vulnerabilities, but there are also 'white markets' — set up by VeriSign, TippingPoint, Google — where they buy zero-day flaws and alert the companies so that they can patch their products before the vulnerabilities can be taken advantage of."
Barence writes "Mozilla is ready to exorcise support for Mac OS X 10.4 from Firefox's development code, closing the door on Apple's aging OS. The foundation stopped supporting 10.4, codenamed Tiger, in September 2009, but, according to Josh Aas, a Mozilla platform engineer, "we left much of the code required to support that platform in the tree in case we wanted to reverse that decision." We had come to a point where we need to make a final decision and either restore 10.4 support or remove this (large) amount of 10.4 specific code," he notes on the Mozilla developer planning forum."
Gwmaw writes "The space shuttle Endeavour bolted off its seaside launch pad on Monday on a voyage to install the last two main pieces of the International Space Station. The 4:14 a.m. EST (0914 GMT) blastoff from the Kennedy Space Center shattered the predawn tranquility with a deafening roar and a brilliant tower of flames that momentarily turned the dark Florida sky as bright as day." HD video of launch attached.
An anonymous reader writes "A new Google domain — 1e400.net, a nod to the company's famously misspelled name — is now the net's 44th most visited site. Google says the domain is used to 'identify servers' on its internal network, hinting that reverse DNS plays a role. The domain was registered in September and launched in October, about the same time Google unveiled Spanner, a new addition to its backend infrastructure designed to shift loads automatically among its data centers."
Intel officially announced its long delayed Tukwila "mission-critical" server processor today - now officially dubbed the Itanium 9300 series - providing a few more details about the 2-billion transistor part and giving some color on why it was over three years late.…
Open Source code repository SourceForge.net has pulled a U-turn on a widely unpopular decision to ban users from accessing its website from countries under US trade restrictions.…
Oracle issued an emergency patch for its WebLogic Server almost two weeks after a white-hat hacker disclosed a vulnerability that allows criminals to remotely execute commands on the webserver with no authentication necessary.…
Microsoft says that extensive testing and conversations with OEMs indicate that Windows 7 is handling notebook batteries exactly as intended - despite user claims that upgrades to the new OS have caused significant degradation to battery life.…
Customers of FAST's Enterprise Search Platform (ESP) on Linux or Unix better develop a taste for Windows or look elsewhere for their enterprise search.…
The prosecution of a Swedish man charged with breaching the computer networks of NASA and Cisco Systems and making off with sensitive source code will be transferred to Swedish authorities, US federal prosecutors said Monday.…
Google has managed to get some decent press by announcing that, in a few years, it might be able to translate speech - something iPhone owners can already do.…
Owners of unlocked iPhones who want to upgrade to the recently released OS 3.1.3 and want to retain the ability to use whatever Sim meets their needs can now do so. The iPhone Dev Team have released a suitable version of its PwnageTool utility.…
Top flight outsourcing firm Tata Consulting Services appeared to have lost control of its website to hackers today, with the domain apparently being touted for sale.…
James Bottomley has announced this year's Linux Storage and Filesystems Summit, which will be held just prior to LinuxCon in Boston on August 8 and 9. It will be held in conjunction with the Virtual Memory (VM) summit, so there will be three tracks (storage, filesystems, VM) as well as joint meetings for all participants. Proposals for discussion topics and requests for invitations are being solicited; click below for the full announcement. "Presentations are allowed to guide discussion, but are strongly
discouraged. There will be no recording or audio bridge, however
written minutes will be published as in previous years."
There are concerns in the GNOME accessibility development community about what the Oracle takeover of Sun means for the efforts led by Sun's Accessibility Project Office (APO). Orca project lead Willie Walker has been laid off and is looking for work, possibly in areas that will not allow him to continue contributing to Orca. In addition, assistive technology specialist Joanmarie Diggs has published an open letter to Oracle concerning the future of the APO and its work. "Last week, Oracle laid off two more members of Sun's already-decimated APO. One of those let go happened to be both the Orca project lead and the GNOME Accessibility project lead, Willie Walker. I truly hope this was an oversight on Oracle's part, and one that will be rectified very soon. Because if it is not, and if no other company steps forward to continue this work, the accessibility of the GNOME desktop will become the open source equivalent of an unfunded mandate, doomed ultimately to fail."
ComputerWorld reports on the outcome of the charity auction at linux.conf.au. "A $12,750 donation from Linux Australia on the night brought the total funds raised for the air rescue service to more than $33,000. [...] 'Free open source software is founded on generosity and these supporters have certainly taken that value to heart,' Life Flight Trust CEO David Irving said in a statement. 'The funds raised will enable 13 people to receive emergency flights, which is a great outcome for the community.'"
Linus has taken some time off from playing
with his new phone to release the 2.6.33-rc7prepatch. "I have to admit
that I wish we had way fewer regressions listed by this time... But we've
certainly fixed a few things, and it's been a week, so here's -rc7. I wish
I could say that it's the last -rc, but I strongly doubt that, and we'll
almost certainly have at least one more." See the
full changelog for the details.
Occasionally, your editor will be struck by a series of topics all
associated with a common theme. The recent fuss about Android's presence
(or the lack thereof) in the mainline kernel ties in well with a couple of
other items of notice: the Nexus One phone and the role of free software on
the Android platform in general.
Click below (subscribers only) for a discussion of Android from three
different points of view.
The Linux Foundation has announced
the 2010 edition of the "We're Linux" video contest. "The contest is calling all community members and amateur filmmakers to share with the public what a 30-60 second Linux-focused spot for the Super Bowl might look like. This theme is not a requirement for entry; however, videos that can demonstrate the benefits of Linux to the general public are likely to receive more community votes. The submissions should aim to inspire people to use Linux, create conversations among the public, and convey the power and ideals of Linux."
Ryan Paul takes
a look GIMP 2.8. "The venerable GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP) is undergoing a significant transformation. The next major release, version 2.8, will introduce an improved user interface with an optional single-window mode. Although this update is still under heavy development, users can get an early look by compiling the latest source code of the development version from the GIMP's version control repository."
Canonical has announced
that its new chief operating officer will be Matt Asay. "'As more
companies and people are embracing Ubuntu for their day-to-day computing,
we felt it critical to bring in a person who knew not just open source, but
has a long experience in making Linux relevant to businesses and users
alike,' said Jane Silber, current COO and upcoming CEO, Canonical. 'We
think Matt brings to Canonical the perfect blend of industry, executive and
community savvy'"
The Register
reports
on changes to the UK government's open source policy.
"The UK government has rejigged its open source and open standards software procurement policy, following pressure from OSS vendors last autumn.
Early last year the Cabinet Office revised its rules on public sector open source software purchases, but many OSS players complained that the policy amendments didnt go far enough.
Others grumbled that the government was failing to police its own rules."
(Thanks to Paul Sladen).
Registration is now open for the first ever Texas Linux Fest. It will be held at the Monarch Event Center in Austin on Saturday April 10. There will also be evening social events on Friday and Saturday. "Exhibit space is filling up quickly, but if your company, organization, or open source project would like to reserve a booth, you can do so by visiting www.texaslinuxfest.org/sponsorship. There is still time for interested parties to submit a talk for consideration before the February 15 deadline." Click below for the full announcement.
Novell has filed its first motion in limine [PDF], the full title of which is Motion in Limine No. 1 to Exclude Evidence and Argument Concerning Claims Not Included in SCO's Appeal or the Tenth Circuit's Limited Mandate. It's making me chuckle.
Ah! The mandate rule. Since the judge, the Hon. Ted Stewart, highlighted it in one of his recent orders, as had Judge Cahn before him, Novell's response is, Fine. Let's all live by the mandate rule. Judge Stewart denied one of Novell's summary judgment motions, holding that the Tenth Circuit "remanded this matter to the Court for trial on those four specific issues identified in the mandate," and that "[b]ecause of the specific nature of the mandate, the Court is not free to explore matters outside of it."
So what's good for the goose should be good for the gander. Obviously, we'll find out now what Judge Stewart is made of, since it was his order that brings this motion in limine's argument to the fore. To deny Novell's motion, Judge Stewart has to more or less admit he goofed in his order on Novell's summary judgment motion on the slander of title special damages claim (or alternatively that he was too strict about the mandate rule in his order on Novell's 60(b) motion), which I earlier indicated I thought he had. What to do? What to do?
Now, judges are used to acknowledging their own errors, as it's part of their job to be reviewed by their superiors in the chain if not always by their betters. So that isn't likely to be a problem. I discern, then, that unless the fix is in, as they say, this motion in a normal universe would be granted. In short, I think we are about to find out if we are in a normal universe in Utah for the upcoming SCO v. Novell trial, beginning on March 8, or not.
Recently, an ex-Microsoft executive, Dick Brass, in a New York Times Op Ed piece, Microsoft's Creative Destruction, asked the question, why didn't iPad come from Microsoft? Why doesn't it lead the way in innovation?
But the much more important question is why Microsoft, America's most famous and prosperous technology company, no longer brings us the future, whether it's tablet computers like the iPad, e-books like Amazon's Kindle, smartphones like the BlackBerry and iPhone, search engines like Google, digital music systems like iPod and iTunes or popular Web services like Facebook and Twitter.
Aside from the obvious answer that monopolies don't usually bestir themselves unless they have to,
I thought I'd highlight one of the exhibits we been transcribing (or describing) from the Comes v. Microsoft antitrust litigation. That case settled, but not before gifting the world with what can only be described as a true history of Microsoft in the 3,000 or so exhibits the judge ordered made available to the public.
It's
Exhibit 7219 [PDF], and it's a flurry of emails from 2003, when the Microsoft top tier executives at Microsoft first heard about iTunes. Bill Gates said that Microsoft was "a bit flat footed again" by Steve Jobs and urged the troops to come up with something matching or better quick. Did they? Jim Allchin asked how in the world Jobs got the music companies to go along, and his assessment of the situation is short: "We were smoked."
Novell has filed a second request for an extension of time to file its appeal with the US Supreme Court. It would like until March 4th.
And Judge Ted Stewart has issued his trial order for the trial in Utah in SCO v. Novell, which begins on March 8:
02/04/2010 - 626 - TRIAL ORDER with instructions to counsel: 15 day Jury Trial set for 3/8/2010 08:30 AM in Room 142 before Judge Ted Stewart. Final Pretrial Conference set for 2/25/2010 02:00 PM in Room 142 before Judge Ted Stewart. Signed by Judge Ted Stewart on 02/04/2010. (asp) (Entered: 02/04/2010)
More exactly, the judge tells the parties to come up with a joint trial order by the February 25th pretrial conference. He doesn't know these lawyers yet as well as we do. They don't agree on much of anything. He also provides instructions on how to file jury instructions together, unless they can't agree and then he tells them to file separately, but "the court expects the parties to meet, confer, and agree upon the wording of the substantive instructions for the case." That's exactly what they couldn't do the first time [PDF]. This is what they finally came up with.
There is an article by Mark Webbink, Esq., "Packaging Open Source", in the International Free and Open Source Software Law Review, Vol 1, No 2 (2009) that I think you'll find interesting. It compares various FOSS licenses and how they handle compilations and collective works. The context of the article is specifically packaging Linux with an application into a software appliance, but the descriptions of the licenses and how they work are broadly useful in other contexts as well. I am republishing the article here because many of you face choices about what license you will use on your works, so you also need to understand, and others of you are lawyers who would like to understand FOSS licenses better.
Mark was at Red Hat and is now Visiting Professor of Law and Executive Director of the Center for Patent Innovations at New York Law School. He's also on the board of the Software Freedom Law Center. So whether you are a lawyer trying to understand FOSS licenses or a programmer trying to decide what license to use on your work, X marks the spot. The article is also available as a PDF.
I couldn't help but notice the part that SCO lawyers apparently didn't understand about GPLv2:
Finally, GPLv2 does not include an express patent license grant. Rather, in Section 6 the GPLv2 makes clear that no other restrictions can be imposed on recipients, which would include any restriction arising from a patent held by the distributing party. In section 7 the GPLv2 makes clear that, if conditions are imposed on the distributing party that would interfere with the rights granted under the license, the distributing party is not to redistribute the software.
Hence, as I read it, their SCOsource license, which purported to restrict rights previously granted by the GPL, was in violation of GPLv2, and SCO was not allowed to redistribute Linux, but it did, repeatedly. Even lawyers misunderstand FOSS licenses sometimes, but in the end, it costs you, so it's worthwhile to take the time to learn how the licenses work if you plan to benefit from the software attached to the license.
You will also note that I am not alone in finding the Artistic License, the one that is in the toy trains litigation, an unholy mess, or as Webbink more tactfully puts it:
It is worth noting that the Artistic License, version 2 does not appear to be widely used at this time, and perhaps for good reason. I have included it here to indicate another variation in approach and to demonstrate the need for careful drafting.
OSI, in my view, was derelict is approving the first version, and it ought to remove all versions from any approved list before it causes more trouble.
Yes, the flow of money out of SCO never ends, it seems, and so Pachulski Stang has filed a couple of more bills in the SCO bankruptcy. At some point it has to end for them. They withdrew from the case back in November on the 16th, and here we are in February, and they are filing bills for September and November, but not October. That must still be on its way. That alone seems odd.
And of course there are no MORs from the Chapter 11 trustee yet, despite their representation at the last hearing that they would file the MORs for October and November and hopefully December in January.
October. Did something happen in October that they would like us not to notice until after the March trial? I notice that October was the month SCO settled with AutoZone. Could that be it? We'll have to wait and see, but it's not usual to file for September, then skip a month, and then bill for November. And where exactly are SCO's filings with the SEC? What is going on?
The parties have filed their proposed witness lists in SCO v. Novell, so this is who you'll probably see testifying, either in person or by deposition, as well as the exhibits the parties expect they will use at trial in March:
02/01/2010 - 623 - Proposed Exhibit List and Witness List (Supplemental Rule 26(a)(3) Disclosures) by Plaintiff SCO Group.. (Normand, Edward) (Entered: 02/01/2010)
SCO's is a supplemental list, because it filed its original list in August of 2007, so it has added some new names to the complete list, Ryan TIbbits, Andrew Nagle, and Erik Hughes. Here's the original list [PDF]. I don't remember an order saying the parties could supplement their lists. Novell seems to think that they can only supplement their exhibits if the court or SCO agree, so Novell submits a proposed supplemental list of exhibits as Exhibit C, in case that happens. The rest is the same as back in August of 2007, when Novell filed its list [PDF].
Here's Rule 26, which is the rule that governs such lists.
Thursday was the deadline to file objections to the amended Google Books Project settlement agreement, and many have done so, Amazon, the Open Book Alliance (which represents Amazon, Microsoft and the Internet Archive), the usual competitors. Here's The Public Index, which has the filings, including the latest objections filed and a list of those who have requested to speak at the Fairness Hearing on February 18.
Some Authors Guild authors, like Garrison Keillor and Scott Turow are satisfied now, as are the families of John Steinbeck and Woody Guthrie, while others are not happy, and in fact, it's up to each one to decide. Except lawyers are in this, so there are now legal dustups. One author, Ursula Le Guin, has gotten hundreds of authors to sign a petition [PDF] asking the judge to exempt the US from the agreement. That would kill it, of course, but legal filings don't always tell you what a case is really all about. You may have noticed that in the SCO litigations.
The Indian Reprographic Rights Organization (IRRO), a copyright society in India is suing Google over its book scanning. They filed in New York, alleging copyright violations for scanning books without notifying the authors first. Larry Lessig has written the most thoughtful and on-point critique, and he hates aspects of it, specifically what is happening to fair use and to culture if you have to get permission now for use that was in the past not permissions-based, not that he blames Google as much as copyright law and the super-control technology now provides authors. It's well worth reading. The fair use issue was
what I was unhappy about when the first version of the settlement was announced, if you recall. And I still feel the same way. But here's who I really blame: publishers. I see it as comparable to Apple trying to set up iTunes and having to deal with the music industry. Remember all that?
I have another Comes v. Microsoft exhibit to share with you, Exhibit 9542 [PDF], a November 22, 2002 email to Jim Allchin and Orlando Ayala from Mike Oldham. It has to do with a planned meeting on the 25th between the two companies, on their "Better Together" theme. I think it will explain some things we've sometimes wondered about. One thing is clear. Microsoft was seriously concerned about Linux. And HP? Somewhat flexible, I'd say. Note the part about "the HP plan of record" to "bring a new Linux powered device into the mid-range marketplace" regarding NAS devices (network attached storage devices) and how Microsoft was able to convince them not to do that.
Well, here we go. The new judge in the redo of SCO v. Novell, the Hon. Ted Stewart, has issued his decision on the two Novell summary judgment motions, and I've only skimmed them, but it looks like if it's Novell, he says mostly no and if it favors SCO he says yes, which is what I expected. That means the hearing set for February 4 has been cancelled. No oral argument. Weird. And he ruled on a motion that I don't see anyone asking him to decide.
It isn't hard to see why mediation wouldn't work for the parties in the
Apple v. Psystar litigation, just by reading what each has filed with the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in a form called the Mediation Questionnaire:
01/22/2010 - 3 - Filed (ECF) Appellee Apple Inc. Mediation Questionnaire. Date of service: 01/22/2010. [7205615] (JGG)
01/24/2010 - 4 - Filed (ECF) Appellant Psystar Corporation Mediation Questionnaire. Date of service: 01/22/2010. [7205736] (KDC)
The form is a mediation form that they have to fill out within a week of a filing for appeal, telling the court about the case, so their mediation service can figure out what the issues are, or in this case, why mediation would be a wasted effort.
It's a total he said/she said thing. Here's the only thing they agree about: "Both Psystar and Apple agree that this case is not suitable for mediation." But this form is of real interest, in that it gives us our first real indication of what Psystar's appeal is going to be about. It has filed a notice of appeal, but it won't file its brief until May. So this is our first substantive clue.
Red Hat has a new website, opensource.com, where they intend to explore how open source affects more than just software, and they're publishing articles on open source in education, business, law, and government. And life. It's designed to be a community forum, one way to give back to the community, as expressed by Red Hat's CEO Jim Whitehurst in his welcoming article, and they hope you'll join in the conversation.
I thought I'd introduce you to the website's rich content by posting an article from the Law section. It's by Richard Fontana, who is Red Hat's Open Source Licensing and Patent Counsel, and I know him and trust him from being on the committee that he chaired in the revision of GPLv3. I can republish his article, because it's under a Creative Commons license, Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported, which means you are free to republish it and share it with others under those terms as well. I think you'll want to, because he explains very clearly the legal rights that are implied by free, not just open source, software, and its extension to other areas, and why open source, while necessary, is not enough.
The Notice of Agenda [PDF] is up, letting us know what will be handled on the 27th in bankruptcy court. All that is on the schedule is the motion [PDF] by Edward Cahn, SCO's Chapter 11 trustee, to approve SCO board members issuing some stock options to themselves after they forgot to timely do so, without first seeking approval or apparently even telling Mr. Cahn first. The story is they voted in August to issue them, but then they forgot to actually do so for some months.
I don't know why they bother with all the paperwork. In bankruptcy court in Delaware, the corporate debtor always wins and creditors get nothing, from what we've seen, or at least 99% of the time. They seem to like it that way.
[ Update: What'd I tell you? The judge has already signed the order. I have it for you.]
Approving this motion ... well, it sticks in my craw, for all the reasons I painstakingly outlined when SCO filed this beaut of a motion, mainly because of SCO's 2004 Change of Control Agreement, which I believe means this motion will drain money from the company, not pull it in, when it comes to the end of the almost impenetrable plan, but I'm not the one who gets to decide.
Guess why Microsoft suddenly decided it wanted to be more interoperable? It's so it can get customers to quit using Linux and switch to Windows & .NET.
Exhibit 7068 [PDF] in the Comes v. Microsoft antitrust litigation exhibits list tells us what happened with Intel. It is a 4-page email thread with Bill Gates and others at Microsoft all about trying to get Intel to switch from Linux/Unix to Windows for their development environment. Gates calls it a jihad. What stood in the way, according to the email report on what Intel was telling them: "Linux apparently meets over 90% of their current EDA needs." Intel said Linux interoperability was better, they could port code more easily, EDA ISVs "got burnt with poor experiences with Windows NT" and so were "wary of taking steps in this direction".
Remember when Microsoft told us it was interested in greater interoperability with Linux because their customers were demanding it? That part is true, as I'll show you. But the purpose of developing greater interoperability at the request of Intel, according to this exhibit, was so that Microsoft could get Intel to switch its development environment from Linux to Windows. Intel's Paul Otellini had reportedly asked his people to figure out how to do that. But in 1999, Microsoft and Intel had cooperatively done a comparison test project, testing Windows and Linux against each other, and Linux performed better. Way better. And so after identifying 100 or so Microsoft work items, Intel decided to go with Linux. The email thread is about whether Intel could now switch back.
1999. Think about what that means in the SCO v. IBM context, where SCO alleges that it wasn't until IBM got involved in Linux -- years after 1999 -- that Linux suddenly worked well in the enterprise. Seems they are, at best, mistaken.
The email thread begins with a report on a telephone conference with some Intel and Windows folks, to see what could be done to get Intel off of Linux and back on Windows.
By the way, are two monopolies allowed to work together to figure out how to gang up on one of the monopoly's competitors? Just asking.
Trust me, though, you won't find this exhibit on any Microsoft Get the Facts-style websites.
