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Submission + - OSC response to UK Government OSS Action Plan (opensourceconsortium.org)

Submitted by Ajehals
Ajehals writes: The Open Source Consortium has written to the Minister for Digital Engagement about the Government Action Plan for Open Source, Open Standards and Re-Use to request a meeting to explore the wider issues surrounding the use of FLOSS.

"We generally welcome the positive language, but have requested a meeting to explore some of the wider issues surrounding the use of FLOSS, which do not seem to be mentioned in the report."
Data Storage

Submission + - Ask Slashdot-The best way to keep files organized?

Submitted by
Facegarden
Facegarden writes: "Hello, I didn't know if this was the proper way to ask something for "Ask Slashdot", but hopefully this gets to the right person: I'm a mechanical engineer for a small company of about 7 employees, and I ended up being the IT guy because i'm the most familiar with computers. I recently bought a NAS box with RAID so we can have a safe and secure place to store all of our files, rather than having them strewn about everyone's (windows) computers (some of which are so old i fear for the day they die and lose our data). Anyway, the problem is that everyone needs to be able to access everyone else's data without having to ask whoever put it there where it is or if it is up to date. I currently organize my files in a way that makes sense to me, but it seems to utterly confuse my boss (and in his defense, i definitely rely on my memory too much for some of this stuff). My question is, what is the best way to organize our files so that it makes sense to everyone, or even if it doesn't make sense, it at least follows some protocol or guidelines that one can read to figure it out? Do you guys know of any books or websites with some good suggestions on this kind of thing?

We mostly are talking about product drawings, for both production parts and 1-off projects (and some 1-off projects may slowly become production items, so i'd prefer not to separate them too much), product manuals, product data sheets, in house production data (spreadsheets, etc), product artwork (everything from simple labels we print in house to high quality overlays that are printed by an outside shop), our website data, product photos, and probably a bit more.

One of the biggest problems is how to keep track of which things are up to date, which are in progress, and which are clearly wrong. I'd prefer to figure out a way using just good clean organization in Windows explorer itself, rather than buying some kind of software. The added cost and complexity of extra software would probably make it a no-go at my company, unless it looks like it will really make a difference and be easy for even the simple users to understand (though, actually, we try not to let the simple users make that kind of changes anyway).

Sorry if I'm not more clear on exactly what we need, that's kind of why I'm asking for your help! Thanks, -Taylor Alexander"
The Media

Submission + - UK:TV rivals form on-demand service (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by
Ajehals
Ajehals writes: "BBC Worldwide (a commercial, but wholly owned subsidiary of the BBC), ITV and Channel 4 plan to launch a joint web based TV on-demand service, which will bring together programming from the three major UK terrestrial broadcasters in one place. There is no indication at this point as to whether the service will be cross platform, or what kind, if any DRM solution will be in place to 'protect' content but it has been noted that this service will not replace the current offerings from any of the companies involved. If the service is tied to Microsoft's Windows Operating system it is likely to face opposition from groups currently opposed to certain elements of the planned BBC iPlayer ."
Data Storage

Submission + - Francis Coppola; Please can I have my data back. (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by
Ajehals
Ajehals writes: "According to the BBC, "Film director Francis Ford Coppola has appealed for the return of his computer backup device following a robbery at his house in Argentina on Wednesday. He told Argentine broadcaster Todo Noticias he had lost 15 years' worth of data, including writing and photographs of his family." — As the robbery appears to have also deprived him of the computer with which the "backup device", this must be a major blow, even more so given how easy this kind of thing is to avoid.

Given that there is now more and more important personal data being stored solely electronically, maybe it is time for a drive by government to make people aware not only of the need to back up their data, but then to store that backup securely away from wherever the original data is. Sure this adds inconvenience but not as much as having to replace 10 years of family digital photo's through the cunning use of plasticine, paint and blender."
Hardware Hacking

Submission + - Time to develop a 'quick fix' for climate change. (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by
Ajehals
Ajehals writes: "According to the BBC, Two of Britain's leading environmental thinkers say it is time to develop a quick technical fix for climate change. Writing in the journal Nature, Science Museum head Chris Rapley and Gaia theorist James Lovelock suggest looking at boosting ocean take-up of CO2. Their idea involves huge flotillas of vertical pipes in the tropical seas."
Power

Submission + - Arctic seabed 'belongs to Russia' (Honest) (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by
Ajehals
Ajehals writes: "According to the BBC a "Russian mini-submarine The Mir-I was used to help plant a Russian flag on the Arctic seabed A Russian expedition has proved that a ridge of mountains below the Arctic Ocean is part of Russia's continental shelf, government officials have said. ".

So it looks like Russia is upping the ante with regard to ownership of the potentially natural resource rich Arctic with its work on the Lomonosov Ridge (It sounds Russian, it must be true!), in addition to this mission the Kremlin also announced that four strategic bombers were going to be making flights over the Arctic and the Atlantic Ocean.

With Russia working with its neighbours over the transportation of oil and gas, and its already massive involvement in the European energy market, as well as a renewed involvement on the international stage, and its resumption of other strategic military activities this could be a sign that Russia is finding its way out of its recent troubled past.

Additionally, for those interested Wikipedia has an article about the Mir-I"
Microsoft

Submission + - EU court dismisses Microsoft appeal (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by
Ajehals
Ajehals writes: "Microsoft has lost its appeal against a record 497m euro (£343m; $690m) fine imposed by the European Commission in a long-running competition dispute. The European Court of First Instance has upheld an earlier ruling by the European Commission that Microsoft has abused its dominant market position, Microsoft is now liable to pay 80% of the Commissions legal costs. Microsoft will now be required to ensure its products can operate with other computer systems by sharing information about how its Windows operating system functions, with rival software companies. It will be interesting to see how this ruling affects both the programs bundled with Windows and also Microsoft's more recent Vista release.

This ruling should enable other American, European and Global Software houses to compete more effectively with Microsoft, in turn this should benefit customers with more products that fully interoperate with Microsoft technologies becoming available from third parties and stiffer competition in the IT sector. What benefits this will bring to Open Source projects is unclear, but projects such as WINE and Samba should see a boost if Microsoft is forthcoming with technical information about their implementations. Microsoft now has two months to appeal at the European Court of Justice. "
Microsoft

Submission + - Questions for Microsoft on open formats (bbc.co.uk)

Submitted by
Ajehals
Ajehals writes: "After Microsoft announced it would work with the UK National Archives to help open old digital document formats, Georg Greve and Joachim Jakobs, of the Free Software Foundation Europe, question the US giant's motives. "When the same customers pay one and the same company for first creating a problem and then pay them again for solving that problem, most people would expect the customer to be dissatisfied.""
Operating Systems

Submission + - Dell reinstates XP for Home/Home Office customers

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Looks like Dell might have bowed to consumer pressure and reinstated Winows XP as an option for Home and Home Office users.
Communications

Submission + - Vonage wins permanent stay

Submitted by
i22y
i22y writes: "Vonage today won a permanent stay allowing it to sign up new customers. From their press release: "Vonage sought the stay following an April 6th decision by the U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va. enjoining the company from using certain VoIP technology to add new customers. The permanent stay enables Vonage to add new customers as [they] pursue [their] appeal. Existing customers remain unaffected by the company's ongoing patent litigation.""

Feed Pharmacists' Workload Contributes To Errors (sciencedaily.com)

From feed by sdfeed
High workloads for pharmacists increase the potential for medication errors, says a new study by University of Arizona College of Pharmacy researchers published in the May issue of the journal Medical Care. The study was conducted by a team of researchers led by College of Pharmacy professor Daniel C. Malone, Ph.D.

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