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GNU is Not Unix

Submission + - OpenBSD in a GPL violation?

Submitted by
Yenya
Yenya writes: "In a message sent to OpenBSD developers as well as the linux-wireless and bcm43xx-devel lists, Michael Buesch, the main developer of the Linux bcm43xx driver for Broadcom WiFi devices, wrote:

[...]We believe that you might have directly copied code out of bcm43xx (licensed under GPL v2), without our explicit permission, into bcw (licensed under BSD license). There are implementation details in bcm43xx that appear exactly the same in bcw. These implementation details clearly don't come from the open specifications at bcm-specs.sipsolutions.net or bcm-v4.sipsolutions.net.
The bcm43xx driver is being developed as a clean room design, based on the reverse-enginered specs, created by another team. As it seems now, the bcw driver in question might just be removed from the OpenBSD source."
PlayStation (Games)

Submission + - PS3 Oblivion Approaching PC Quality Visuals

Submitted by
fistfullast33l
fistfullast33l writes: "After taking a beating in Gamespot's side by side Comparison of Xbox 360 and PS3 graphics, Playstation 3 owners may finally have something to hold over the 360 fans. Both Gamespot and IGN have previews posted yesterday that talk up the graphics and performance improvements over the 360 version. Load times and texture quality and draw distance have been improved, as well as "new shaders dedicated to rendering the foreground cleanly with sharper details, so rocky landscapes now have craggy appearances instead of smooth, non-distinct surfaces," according to IGN. They end with the ultimate hype, "screens from the PS3 version should approach those from high end PCs running Oblivion, which is an impressive feat." How is this possible? Gamespot reports that "Oblivion will make extensive use of the PS3's hard drive by caching multiple gigabytes of data, which seemed to help with load times from what we saw." While there are no official reports of this making it into the new 360/PC expansion Shivering Isles, a rumor on the Gamespot preview says that 1up might have the scoop."
Software

Submission + - Inkscape 0.45 released

Submitted by
Simarilius
Simarilius writes: "Version 0.45 of the vector art package Inkscape 0.45 was officially released Monday and is available for download now for a range of platforms. This release brings the exciting new features developed by the Google Summer of Code 2006 participants, as well as tons of other improvements across the board. Most notably is the new Gaussian Blur feature, which allow softly and naturally blurring Inkscape objects like path, shapes, groups, text, and images. Gaussian blur enables a wide range of photorealistic effects: arbitrarily shaped shades and lights, depth of field, drop shadows, glows, etc. Also, blurred objects can be used as masks for other objects to achieve the "feathered mask" effect. Some great examples of what it can do are available in the screenshot gallery."
Windows

Submission + - NVIDIA responds to complaints about Vista drivers

Submitted by Not Straight
Not Straight writes: NVIDIA has issued an official response to the widespread complaints about the gaming performance of their GeForce cards under Vista. They're 'aware' of and monitoring nvidiaclassaction.org, but they have no plans to remove the Designed for Vista and Ready for Vista labeling from their products as requested by the site. Furthermore, they don't have a firm timeframe for delivering fully-compatible drivers. 'Over the coming weeks NVIDIA and our partners, along with the industry will continue to update Windows Vista drivers to ensure maximum performance on 3D applications and add feature support.' Until then, it looks like most gamers with GeForce cards will be best served by sticking with Windows XP.
Privacy

Submission + - U.S. doesn't sign ban on disappearances

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Jamey Keaten, writes:

Nearly 60 countries signed a treaty on Tuesday that bans governments from holding people in secret detention, but the United States and some of its key European allies were not among them.

The signing capped a quarter-century of efforts by families of people who have vanished at the hands of governments.

"Our American friends were naturally invited to this ceremony; unfortunately, they weren't able to join us," French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy told reporters after 57 nations signed the treaty at his ministry in Paris.

Full Story:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070207/ap_on_re_eu/fr ance_un_disappeared;_ylt=AmvBtfSe6.HGN0Rvsa45QoN0b BAF
Red Hat Software

Submission + - Swedish Armed Forces Chooses Red Hat

Submitted by FFFFHALTFFFF
FFFFHALTFFFF writes: Bussines Wire are reporting that Swedish Armed Forces made a decision to migrate its Windows NT servers replacing for Red Hat Enterprise Linux. According the release the main reason to migrate is "... primarily based on its advanced security features, but additionally the strong support, ease of migration and compatibility with existing in-house software were important factors". The full press release can be read here.

Scott Adams Suggests Bill Gates For President 1224

Posted by kdawson from the not-in-it-for-the-money dept.
gerrysteele writes to point out a recent post to the Dilbert blog, in which Scott Adams discusses the atheist ascendancy in America and rationalizes the need for an atheist leader. From the article: "Ask a deeply religious Christian if he'd rather live next to a bearded Muslim that may or may not be plotting a terror attack, or an atheist that may or may not show him how to set up a wireless network in his house. On the scale of prejudice, atheists don't seem so bad lately. I think that in an election cycle or two you will see an atheist business leader emerge as a legitimate candidate for president. And his name will be Bill Gates."

Cellular Companies Join to Improve Linux 95

Posted by Zonk from the tux-on-the-go dept.
TrdrJoe writes to mention a Reuters article about a group of cell companies joining up to develop an open-source Linux-based OS for many of the market's phones. From the article: "Linux software currently occupies only a tiny proportion of the mobile market, mainly in China, while market leaders Symbian and Microsoft dominate the space. The attraction of Linux for handset makers is that as the code is not owned by any one company competition is likely to be fierce between firms supplying ready-to-use embedded Linux versions for phones, driving down fees, whereas Symbian and Microsoft can keep prices higher."

Microsoft Calls for Truce With GPL and Linux? 464

Posted by Zonk from the dogs-and-cats-you-know-the-drill dept.
An anonymous reader writes to mention an eWeek article discussing Microsoft's efforts to reach out to the open source community. The company is hoping to find a common ground with softare released under the GPL, so that OSS and Microsoft products can interoperate. From the article: "The goal, from both sides, is to meet customer needs, he said, adding, 'This is just the more mature view of the way the world is evolving, and we want to make sure that if customers are choosing Linux or other open-source-based products that we have ways of interoperating and working effectively with that.'" A related article mentions Windows server Expert Jeremy Moskowitzs' call for a truce between the Linux and Windows communities.
User Journal

Journal Journal: Help, a virus

Journal by roalt
Hi

For the first time in maybe 5 years I have been hit by a virus. It was probably one of those blaster variants. Using "stinger.exe" it identified as both "lovsan worm" as "nachi worm".

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