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Comment I disagree (Score 2, Informative) 399

by RalphWigum (#25137171) Attached to: Is Open Source Different In Europe Than In the US?
I also run/program/maintain a relatively small open source initiative for 4 years and have had the exact opposite experience. With the exception of one German company and one Mexican company, all of my donations and customizations, and contributions have come from US companies or individuals. The Europeans are constantly the ones with negative comments on the boards, yet when asked to contribute, do nothing. And when I mean contribute, I will take anything - coding contributions, documentation help... anything. Maybe it is the nature or function of most OS software that determines attitude. Since my software is more directly business/accounting related, perhaps US people are more apt to see the value and ideals behind the software. Perhaps Europeans see the value and ideal behind more technical or "academic" related software?
Sci-Fi

Warner Bros. to Turn All 15 Oz Books Into Movies 249

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the high-probability-of-sucking dept.
Lucas123 writes "After purchasing the rights to the Oz books from Ted Turner Warner Bros., along with Village Roadshow Pictures, will be taking Spawn creator Todd McFarlane's idea to produce movies based on the Oz books. They've obtained the rights to the 14 titles written by 'The Wizard of Oz' author L. Frank Baum, as well as the the fifteenth book ('The Royal Book of Oz'), written by Ruth Plumly Thompson. Screen Writer John Olson's 'vision is of a bit tamer PG movie and hopefully the two can find some middle ground of compromise that will please them both and not hurt the final product.'"
Security

Submission + - OpenDNS Hijacking Google

Submitted by nerdrew
nerdrew writes: My computer's (it's a Mac) default DNS (default, as in the DNS entries are blank in the Network settings) is OpenDNS. A few weeks ago, all of my normal address bar google searches in firefox started being redirected to an OpenDNS search page that looked strangely similar to a google search page. It seems OpenDNS is hijacking the URL below for users of their DNS service. I posted this to a forum, and was chased out by people claiming I shouldn't be using OpenDNS in the first place. As it was set as a default, I didn't have any choice. I had to change it. That's fine for me and I forgot about the problem, until today. I opened by dad's computer to fix something and fired up Safari. Typing "gmail" in the address bar, I expected safari to replace it with gmail.com. Instead, I was taken to an OpenDNS search page. The same thing happened in Firefox. Here is the URL that OpenDNS hijacks. Note, changing the address beyond the domain name takes you to google.com, but unmodified it goes to OpenDNS. http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sou rceid=navclient&gfns=1&q= . http://www.google.com/ still works though. Is this acceptable for OpenDNS to do?
Privacy

Submission + - Tennessee Newspaper publishes searchable hit list

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The Tennessean published a searchable hit list of all legal gun owners in the state. Where does the technological capability to do something cross the ethical lines where it violates one's privacy and safety? Is this any more or less ethical than publishing a list of women who've had abortions or a list of people who have been married multiple times? Just because we can make information easy to access, should we?
Linux Business

Submission + - What is the best open source collaboration tool?

Submitted by Mentalus
Mentalus writes: I'm working for a small company which specializes in writing custom software as a consultant service. We really need some tools for project tracking, some kind of wiki and also a calendar server. The problem is, the choices in this area are enormous! Which tools do you prefer? My former employer uses TRAC, but is there a better alternative?
Communications

Submission + - A good mobile phone with no camera?

Submitted by SuperG
SuperG writes: It seems like every mobile phone out there has a camera on it these days. The only ones without cameras are low-end models with poor battery life, poor reception, and minimal features. And low-end means the cool factor is nonexistent as well. I often visit facilities where phones with cameras are not allowed, so I end up being incommunicado with my current camera phone. Is there a good (in terms of battery life, call quality, build quality, and style points) phone without a camera out there in the US market?
GUI

Submission + - Cross platform XML GUI. What to choose?

Submitted by mindflow
mindflow writes: Sooner or later most of the new software development with Microsoft as platform will be done after the dot.net 3.0 model. This means the ability to better organize software projects towards matching designer and programmer roles. I believe this is an important move and one which I will try to pursue. However I still believe that cross platform ability is important. A quick search for xml gui java on google results in a plethora of interesting projects. At this point it seems difficult to predict what will become a popular standard, if any. Therefore I would like to try this question on the readers of slashdot. What should I pursue if I want to develop cross platform xml based gui applications? And will any of these technologies become a standard for web applications?

Feed Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before: CNET Could Be Next To Get Bought (techdirt.com)

From feed by techdirtfeed
Following Google's purchase of DoubleClick, there's been a lot of talk about further deals in the internet advertising space. So far, Yahoo has made a purchase, while Microsoft is said to be interested, but has yet to bite. While all of the speculation has driven up shares of online advertising firms, it's also been good for investment banks, which love to see this kind of activity, whether it's in their clients' best interest or not. So now analysts are coming out with all kinds of recommendations, as banks look to keep the internet MA momentum alive. Although it has nothing to do with online advertising, an analyst at Banc of America is tossing out the idea that CNET could be the next to be acquired at a healthy premium, if one were to use the same valuation metrics as the DoubleClick deal. Of course, the line that CNET is about to be acquired is one of the longest-running rumors there is, despite the fact that no company has publicly shown any interest in buying it. Also, to make a comparison between it and DoubleClick on a valuation basis is simply sloppy, relativistic reasoning. Along with yesterday's (nonsensical) rumor that Google could be a Dow Jones suitor, it's become acceptable to throw out out any combination of companies (particularly if one is Google or Yahoo) and argue for a tie-up, even if it doesn't make much sense.
Media

Submission + - Do We Need Another OS Platform?

Submitted by tupac
tupac writes: We have been battling it out between Apple's OS X, Microsoft's Windows and Linux for a long time now. Is it time for us to come up with a fourth platform to completely shift the computing industry? OSWeekly.com writer Brandon Watts ponders in his latest column. "One of the advantages that alternative operating systems have is that they're usually composed of small development teams, so changes and new ideas can be implemented, tested, and released quickly without having to be coordinated by numerous different groups within a major corporation. In addition, whereas an operating system like Windows relies on abundance of what can be considered as legacy code, these smaller operating systems have a chance to start fresh and build a great product from the ground up.
United States

Submission + - You Played Violent Games - Why Can't Your Kids?

Submitted by
Daayon Vaughn
Daayon Vaughn writes: "Well I think it is really evolved around the parent. The parent must take full responsibility of what the child is doing such as playing violent video games since the parent is the one who buys it. Yes, video games are very violent now days so parents must take full percaution of what is going on in their house. The parents should maybe get the kids race car games or sports and try to avoid shooting and fighting. That way the kids can get adjusted to different kinds of games instead of violence and brutality."
Wii

Publishers Scrambling for Wii Titles 328

Posted by Zonk from the that's-a-recipe-for-shovelware-kids dept.
Bloomberg is reporting on the publisher scramble for Wii titles, prompted by the console's explosive popularity since its launch late last year. Though the article focuses on EA's initial coolness on the console, they certainly weren't the only company that initially missed the bus. "Electronic Arts wasn't the only publisher slow to see Wii's appeal. New York-based Take-Two Interactive Software Inc., maker of Grand Theft Auto games, had no Wii titles when the player was released and now plans to have three this year, said spokesman Jim Ankner. Activision Inc., based in Santa Monica, California, plans to release six Wii games this year, giving the second-largest publisher a total of 11, said spokeswoman Maryanne Lataif." Though that's great news for Wii gamers, the question is: how many of these titles are going to be 'shovelware'?
The Courts

In EU, Internet Use From Work May Be Protected 146

Posted by Zonk from the just-because-they-can-see-you dept.
athloi wrote with a link to an Ars Technica article on a case involving the right to privacy on the internet. "A Welsh university employee has successfully sued the UK government in the EU court of human rights over monitoring of her personal internet use from work. According to the complaint, the woman's e-mail, phone, Internet, and fax usage were all monitored by the Deputy Principal (DP) of the college, who appears to have taken a sharp dislike to her. The woman claimed that her human rights were being abused, and pointed specifically to Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which governs private and family life." The courts agreed; despite a lack of a notion of 'privacy' in English law, the EU convention forced their hand. The ruling doesn't try to dissuade employers from monitoring employees, but does encourage them to inform employees about surveillance.

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