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Comment Re:Waitaminute: (Score 1) 316

by hostguy2004 (#30450092) Attached to: Busybox Developer Responds To Andersen-SFLC Lawsuits
I agree with you, Bruce. It seems like your issue is that they didn't acknowlege your contribution in BusyBox, with regard to this lawsuit. BusyBox is widely used and your contributions are invaluable to the project. I can see why your upset. Just because someone else took over maintainance and development, doesn't remove your right as a copyright holder. Regards, John

Comment Re:Stability - IE7/IE8 (Score 1) 891

by hostguy2004 (#29399187) Attached to: Why Users Drop Open Source Apps For Proprietary Alternatives

On the verge of dumping firefox after years of use. 3.5.2 was horrible. 3.5.3 crashed within the first 5 minutes of use. The #1 reason I would dump any SW product is stability. If it can't perform its intended function without crashing then nothing else matters. Lets just hope I don't need to switch to Chrome to get this to post.

One of my laptops has an issue with IE7/IE8 crashing on certain pages. I'm almost certain this is a javascript issue somehow, but I haven't found a solution on Google. Firefox 3.5.2 works fine on the same laptop. Should I go out and tell everyone IE7 is junk, and IE8 crashes after 5 minutes?
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft Puts C# and the CLI under Community Prom (technet.com) 3

Submitted by FishWithAHammer
FishWithAHammer writes: Peter Galli of Microsoft posted a blog entry on Port25 today, regarding the explicit placement of C# and the Common Language Infrastructure (the ECMA startard that underpins .NET) under their Community Promise:

It is important to note that, under the Community Promise, anyone can freely implement these specifications with their technology, code, and solutions. You do not need to sign a license agreement, or otherwise communicate to Microsoft how you will implement the specifications. ... Under the Community Promise, Microsoft provides assurance that it will not assert its Necessary Claims against anyone who makes, uses, sells, offers for sale, imports, or distributes any Covered Implementation under any type of development or distribution model, including open-source licensing models such as the LGPL or GPL.

This clears the way for Mono to be fully integrated into GNOME, and Boycott Novell can go back to crying in their corner.
Cellphones

Submission + - iPhone, a next potential thin client? (blogspot.com)

Submitted by
garnser
garnser writes: "I've blogged about this before but after discussing it with friends and colleagues recently I got a new eye-opener. Looking at thin clients on the market today many of them has equal or less performance compared to the iPhone 3G(S). As you may know Citrix has release an application called Citrix Receiver allowing you connect to a Citrix server and control Microsft Windows applications from your iPhone. As this may be a step in the right direction it's really not enough as you're limited by the size of your screen on the iPhone. Looking at patents filed by Apple there's one that comes to mind within this category; #20080002350. This patent describes how you would be able to dock your MacBook (Pro) in an iMac looking device (see MacRumors). I haven't read the details of what this patent covers as far as which devices that's potential candidates but the iPhone surely could be one in conjunction with a remote X like environment like Sun offers using it's thin clients. Another touch which Gizmodo posted about is to make something similar to what Asus is planning to release soon. A keyboard with a built-in computer. However in this case the computer would be the phone and the keyboard would really just be a docking-station. So Apple, hopefully you're R&D department has someone reading blogs and ideas how Apples products could be utilized, and if so, dump the projector stupidity and give us a solution to use the iPhone as a thin client."
The Courts

Submission + - Jammie Thomas Moves to Strike RIAA $1.92M Verdict (blogspot.com)

Submitted by
NewYorkCountryLawyer
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes: "Jammie Thomas-Rasset has made a motion for a new trial, seeking to vacate the $1.92 million judgment entered against her for infringement of 24 MP3 files, in Capitol Records v. Thomas-Rasset. Her attorneys' brief (PDF) argues, among other things, that the 'monstrous' sized verdict violates the Due Process Clause, consistent with 100 years of SCOTUS jurisprudence, since it is grossly disproportionate to any actual damages sustained. It further argues that, since the RIAA elected to offer no evidence of actual damages, either as an alternative to statutory damages, or to buttress the fairness of a statutory damages award, the verdict, if it is to be reduced, must be reduced to zero."
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft's Community Promise and ECMA 334/335 (technet.com) 5

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Microsoft has announced their Community Promise regarding ECMA 334/335, which seems to be quite open and clear that C# can be freely implemented.

FTA: "It is important to note that, under the Community Promise, anyone can freely implement these specifications with their technology, code, and solutions. You do not need to sign a license agreement, or otherwise communicate to Microsoft how you will implement the specifications. The Promise applies to developers, distributors, and users of Covered Implementations without regard to the development model that created the implementations, the type of copyright licenses under which it is distributed, or the associated business model.

Under the Community Promise, Microsoft provides assurance that it will not assert its Necessary Claims against anyone who makes, uses, sells, offers for sale, imports, or distributes any Covered Implementation under any type of development or distribution model, including open-source licensing models such as the LGPL or GPL."

Apparently the subject of Mono was a hot topic at the Gran Canaria Desktop Summit in Richard Stallman's speech, and when asked if Microsoft could resolve the situation RMS said that Microsoft could come out and be more clear. Will Microsoft's announcement be enough to settle this issue finally?
The Internet

Submission + - BT drops Phorm -- More Pressing Priorities? 1

Submitted by Tom DBA
Tom DBA writes: The Register reports in http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/07/06/bt_phorm/ that "BT has abandoned plans to roll out Phorm's controversial web monitoring and profiling system across its broadband network, claiming it needs to concentrate resources on network upgrades...BT's announcement comes a day before MPs and peers of the All Party Parliamentary Communications Group are due to begin an investigation of internet privacy. Their intervention follows the EU's move to sue the UK government over its alleged failure to properly implement European privacy laws with respect to the trials, drawing further bad publicity to the venture."

Shouldn't the story read BT "have"?

Comment MOD Parent Up - !Flambait (Score 2) 403

by hostguy2004 (#28506661) Attached to: Investigators Suspect Computers Doomed Air France Jet
You are correct in stating that a pitot tube malfunction is not a computer malfunction. The question becomes how did the pilots handle that. Your 100% correct in stating that a plane could accelarate through "coffin corner" and break apart. I'm suprised that there isn't a better web reference than WSJ for updates to an aircraft story.
Medicine

Submission + - Doctors Scan Photo ID for Treatment (philosecurity.org)

Submitted by
Sherri Davidoff
Sherri Davidoff writes: "Spurred by the FTC's "Red Flags Rule," more health care clinics are requiring photo identification and storing high-resolution copies in their computer systems. Ironically, this probably puts patients at greater risk of identity theft, not less. From the article: "Walking into the doctor's office, I was surprised to see a new sign which read: 'Red Flag Identity Theft Rule: We are now required by law to ask for a Photo ID at the time of each visit. Please have your Photo ID ready for the receptionist to scan.' As an avid bicyclist, I wasn't carrying a driver's license. 'I'm sorry, we'll have to reschedule you,' said the receptionist.

"Everyone should have access to medical care- not just people who have registered with the government and obtained a photo ID. Furthermore, patients should have the right to health care without being forced to give up control of our personal information. As a patient, I don't really want a copy of my Photo ID stored on a crappy unpatched Windows box at my doctor's office. Today's patients do not even have the right to know how well doctor's offices and hospitals are secured, even in the face of constant reports of medical data breaches. That's sick.""
Intel

Submission + - Experts: 'predatory pricing' for Intel Atom legal (computerworld.com)

Submitted by ericatcw
ericatcw writes: Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang claimed last week that Intel was selling its Atom processor plus its graphics chipset to netbook makers for just $25, versus $45 for the Atom alone. That, Huang argued, was "unfair" and effectively locking Nvidia's competing Ion chipset out of the netbook market, though he also says he has no plans to sue. That's wise, says one anti-trust legal expert, Michael Cooper, who says Intel is not violating any U.S. anti-trust laws with its prices, even if they are "predatory" and less than what it costs Intel to make the chips. According to Cooper, a former anti-trust prosecutor for the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission turned private practice lawyer, "Intel is not obligated" to even sell the Atom chip to Nvidia.

Comment Re:Listen to the Nerds (Score 1) 345

by hostguy2004 (#27943037) Attached to: IE Losing 10% Market Share Every Two Years

Microsoft has had a pretty tarnished name among the nerd community for a long time. Is it any wonder that their products are losing market share? It's really only inertia that's propping them up now. ALL of the following are gaining market share at the expense of Microsoft:

When did Microsoft have a good name in the nerd community? 1975 before objecting to the sharing of Altair Basic?
The Internet

Internet Could Act As Ecological Early Warning System 63

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the keep-your-crowd-source-off-of-mine dept.
Wired is reporting that ecologists think the internet could act as an early ecological warning system based on data mining human interactions. While much of this work has been based on systems like Google Flu Trends, the system will remain largely theoretical for the near future. "The six billion people on Earth are changing the biosphere so quickly that traditional ecological methods can't keep up. Humans, though, are acute observers of their environments and bodies, so scientists are combing through the text and numbers on the Internet in hopes of extracting otherwise unavailable or expensive information. It's more crowd mining than crowd sourcing."

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