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Oracle

Submission + - Calling Time on Oracle's Claims of MySQL FUD (computerworlduk.com)

Submitted by
WebMink
WebMink writes: "Last month, the wider MySQL community called foul on Oracle's failure to publish test cases with the most recent MySQL release. But Oracle claimed this week at a conference in Brussels that talk of it winding in control of MySQL is "just FUD".

An insider to Oracle's thinking suggests that the community's grievances are indeed real but Oracle's motivation is internal politics and not malice towards the community. Could the hurt be healed by taking an idea from Apache?"
Education

Submission + - Gates and others offer $150,000 to start open source community (infoworld.com)

Submitted by
WebMink
WebMink writes: "With an impending deadline for America's schools to satisfy new federal reporting requirements on academic achievement, a new alliance of state educators is creating a system of open source software to help schools gather and submit the data that the rules require. To get the whole thing started, the Gates Foundation and Carnegie are funding two $75,000 awards for the open source developers who create the in-school software. The winners could also become the lynchpins of a new industry in academic software."
Iphone

Submission + - iPhone 5 Scorns Standards Promise To European Commission (computerworlduk.com)

Submitted by
WebMink
WebMink writes: "Back in 2009, Apple signed an agreement aimed at reducing electronic waste resulting from mobile phone accessories. But this week's launch of the iPhone 5 shows them reneging on that commitment. Instead of including a micro-USB connector on the iPhone, as they agreed to do along with the rest of the phone industry, they created yet another proprietary connector. At a stroke, they have junked earlier iPhone accessories, forced a new industry in Apple-only accessories to arise and broken their promise to the EC. It's a huge missed opportunity both for their customers and for the environment."
Patents

Submission + - Easy Fix For Software Patents Found In US Patent Act (infoworld.com)

Submitted by
WebMink
WebMink writes: "What if there was an easy, inexpensive way to bring software patents under control, that did not involve Congress, which applied retrospectively to all patents and which was already part of the US Patent Act? Stanford law professor Mark Lemley thinks he's found it. He asserts that the current runaway destruction being caused by software patents is just like previous problems with US patent law, and that Congress included language in the Patent Act of 1952 that can be invoked over software patents just like it fixed the earlier problems. All it will take is a future defendant in a patent trial using his read of a crucial section of the Patent Act in their defence to establish case law. Can it really be that easy?"

Comment Re:Facts From OSI (Score 2) 158

by WebMink (#40930851) Attached to: Open-Source Movements Bicker Over Logo

The only questions remaining - why didn't the OP check with you, why didn't Slashdot editors check with you, and why hasn't there been an article update already?

Actually the IDG journalist involved did contact me; the text I posted above was copied from my reply to him! He even quoted the "build bridges" bullet...

Comment Facts From OSI (Score 5, Informative) 158

by WebMink (#40930421) Attached to: Open-Source Movements Bicker Over Logo

I'm OSI's current president. Here are the facts that are missing from the OP:

  1. OSI has not sent any legal notice to OSHWA, does not want to and has no plans to do so.
  2. OSHWA approached OSI last year to ask about the relationship between the OSHW and OSI logos, which their internal discussion had identified as a problem.
  3. Since then, there has been an ongoing conversation between OSI & OSHWA. It's not been perfect, but everyone involved is a volunteer doing their best in a complicated situation.
  4. Last week OSHWA decided to consult its members/stakeholders about the matter before next steps with OSI.
  5. The template trademark agreement from OSI that they published was not a proposal or demand, it was just an example document to assist them in making a proposal to OSI. It was requested by OSHWA prior to a meeting between OSI & OSHWA on June 29.
  6. The discussions are ongoing and it's unhelpful to treat this as a conflict; neither OSI's Board nor (as far as I have been told) OSHWA's board do.
  7. OSI is very keen indeed to devise an approach that brings maximum benefit to the whole open source community and which builds bridges to strengthen it.
  8. When OSHWA's data-gathering ends (August 16) OSI will be ready with a strong proposal that fixes things.
Java

Submission + - Sun Admitted JavaME Was Fragmented Without Any Help From Android (computerworlduk.com)

Submitted by WebMink
WebMink writes: The heart of Oracle's case against Google was that Android was fragmenting Java. But as Sun admitted repeatedly — notably at JavaOne in 2009, as the video linked from this article shows — Java ME was already a thoroughly fragmented platform in need of remediation. Has Oracle's decision to fire its one-shot Java defences at the wrong target cost it the ability to "defend" Java again?

Submission + - Wikileaks Shows Cloud Too Risky For Business (computerworlduk.com)

Submitted by
WebMink
WebMink writes: ""It used to take a bailiff and a man with an axe for the door, but the cloud makes it so much easier. If I told you that your entire business infrastructure could be taken offline by a government employee, or even a commercial provider, without judicial review, useful explanation or workable recourse, perhaps because a politician has philosophical issues with your activities, would that worry you? Yet it seems that the most popular brands on the market for cloud computing and web services place you at that risk if you follow the trend to cloud hosting for business infrastructure.""

Submission + - Love it or hate it, we must defend Wikileaks (computerworlduk.com)

Submitted by
WebMink
WebMink writes: "Whether you approve of Wikileaks or not (and the author clearly isn't a fan), the weakness it exposes in web and cloud service provision and the reaction it will provoke from legislators must concern us all. Despite the writer's distaste for Wikileaks (and The Pirate Bay) themselves, the article calls on us to defend their ability to exist against the coming onslaught of Internet-toxic legislation."

Submission + - DRM Is Toxic To Culture (computerworlduk.com)

Submitted by
WebMink
WebMink writes: "Digital Restriction Methods (DRM) aren't just a nuisance that treats all customers as if they had stolen what they actually paid for. They also threaten our future cultural heritage. It's possible that you think that unauthorised use of copyrighted music, films and books is such a serious problem that it's worth giving away a little of your convenience and freedom in exchange for stopping it. This article lays out the issues and sounds the alarm that we need to act before ACTA makes this worse permanently."

Comment Re:Apple isn't doing Sun's work for them.... (Score 4, Informative) 436

by WebMink (#33996254) Attached to: Gosling Reacts To Apple's Java Deprecation
While saying "Apple isn't blocking Sun/Oracle's ability to ship Java for the OS X platform" sounds wonderful, it neglects reality. I'm guessing you should read both Gosling's posting and my article. Gosling explains:

It simply isn't true that “Sun (now Oracle) supplies Java for all other platforms”. IBM supplies Java for IBM's platforms, HP for HP's, even Azul systems does the JVM for their systems (admittedly, these all start with code from Snorcle - but then, so does Apple). In the beginning, Microsoft provided Java for Windows ... Apple was the same ...

and I explain:

Having Oracle take over the development would be hard for several reasons:

  • First, the Java port in use includes a lot of Apple know-how that is not generally available (such as private interfaces) to make Java integrate well rather than using just X11.
  • Second, it belongs to Apple, so Oracle would either have to receive a copy of Apple's implementation or start again with all the UI and platform native code.
  • Third, distribution would move outside Apple's update mechanism so keeping it patched and secure would be difficult - a new installer and update mechanism will be needed.
  • Fourth, the new AppStore rules will make sure there's negligible demand for consumer Java on the Mac.

Your view would make a good Apple PR position but doesn't address the actual complexities of the situation.

Comment Re:What are the negative consequences? (Score 2, Interesting) 436

by WebMink (#33996204) Attached to: Gosling Reacts To Apple's Java Deprecation
There are perfectly fine versions of both LibreOffice and indeed OpenOffice.org for the Mac, and many people haven't used NeoOffice in an age (and I don't think it depends on Java anymore anyway). Whatever the consequences of Jobs ditching Java might be (and I assert they are significant) they don't include a threat to open source office productivity apps.

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