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Patents

Submission + - European Open Source Software Strategy leaked (wikileaks.org)

Submitted by
Elektroschock
Elektroschock writes: "A working draft of the European Union Open Source Software Strategy was published by Wikileaks. According to Wikileaks meta information it was co-authored by Jonathan Zuck from the Association for Competitive Technology (ACT), a lobby hitman for Microsoft; The European Commission lets ACT and CompTIA participate in all working groups of the European Open Source Strategy which defines Europe's future open source approach. A blue editor questions the objectives: 'Regarding the "Europe Digital Independence" our [working] group thinks it is, in general, not an issue.' "European digital independence" is a phrase coined by EU-Commissioner V.Reding, that is what her European Software Strategy (ESS) was supposed to be about. She didn't reveal that lobbyists or vendors with vested interests would write the strategy for the Commission. The leaked document's language on patent licensing sounds a bit odd and controversial to me given the recent frontal patent assaults on the European automative business by Microsoft."
Microsoft

Submission + - M$ Ignoring Windows 7 Beta Tester Feedback. (pcworld.com)

Submitted by
twitter
twitter writes: "Windows 7 beta testers don't think M$ is interested in their feeedback.

Windows 7 is being rushed to market without adequate testing or even acknowledgement of beta user feedback. ... Microsoft isn't taking their feedback seriously, even when filed through their private beta tester feedback channels. Development team responses like "won't fix" or "by design" seem to be the the norm for even serious issues, leading many testers to conclude that the product was feature complete (i.e. no longer subject to significant modification based on tester input) long before they received their first code drop.

I feel sorry for those brave technical beta testers, many of whom have invested a good portion of their personal and professional lives helping Microsoft to assess the readiness of each new Windows version. Wake up, folks. It's all been a big lie.

This is more evidence that Windows 7 is just another pretty face on Vista. "Feedback" for non free software has always been a poor substitute for software freedom but freedom is not compatible with DRM and other parts of M$'s business model."
Windows

Submission + - Draconian DRM revealed in Windows 7 4

Submitted by
TechForensics
TechForensics writes: "A few days' testing of Windows 7 has already disclosed some draconian DRM, some unrelated to media files. A legitimate copy of Photoshop CS4 stopped functioning after we clobberred a nagging registration screen by replacing a .dll with a hacked version. That's not so much a surprise, but what WAS a surprise: Noting that Win7 allows programs like Photoshop to stealthily insert themselves in your firewall exception list. Further, that the OS is crippled towards allowing large software vendors to penetrate your machine. Even further, that that crippling is responsible for disabling of a program based on a modified .dll. Remote attestation, anyone? And then finding that the OS even after reboot has locked you out of your own Local Settings folder; has denied you permission to move or delete the modified DLL; and refuses to allow the replacement of the Local Settings folder after it is unlocked with Unlocker to move it to the Desktop for examination (where it also denies you entry to your own folder). Setting permissions to "allow everyone" was disabled! Re media files, the days of capturing an audio program on your PC are gone if the program originated on your PC. The inputs of your sound card are severely degraded in software if the card is also playing an audio program (tested here with Grooveshark). Under XP you could select "Stereo Mix" or similar under audio recording inputs and nicely capture any program then playing. Microsoft appears to be pandering to Big Music for its own reasons unrelated to consumer satisfaction. This may be the tip of the iceberg. Something *really nasty* is lurking under the surface of Win7. Being in bed with the RIAA is bad enough, but locking your own files away from you is a device so outrageous it may kill the OS for many persons. Many users will not want to experimenting with a second sound card or computer just to record from online sources, or boot up under a Linux that supports ntfs-3g just to control their files. (You never seem to know in Windows 7 when the "Access Denied" message is going to strike.) It is certainly beginning to be crystal clear why the coming WinFS will not be a good thing for userland, and a Very Good Thing for Microsoft and its partners."
Censorship

Submission + - You Own Your Event Video After All. (eff.org)

Submitted by
twitter
twitter writes: "The EFF has won a case on behalf of animal rights activists that has huge implications for customer event recording.

The EFF, in its continuing effort to push back on bogus DMCA takedown notices has successfully convinced the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association to settle a lawsuit that the EFF filed on behalf of some animal rights activists. They had been attending rodeos and filming things they believed represented cruelty towards the animals — and then posting those videos on YouTube. The PRCA issued DMCA takedown notices, apparently not realizing that they don't actually own the copyright on those videos (whoever shot them does), and thus they were violating the DCMA ... It's quite common for sporting events or other events to believe they own the copyright on any photographs or video shot during the events, but hopefully settlements like this will give them a quick lesson in how copyright law works.

The Activists were awarded $25,000 for their troubles.

I don't see this opening the floodgates of free culture but it does give people the right to record events and create new works of value from the result. Videos that are simply recordings of live performances will probably still get the smack down, but there may now be nothing to keep you from recording such things for criticism and other fair use. Sooner or later, people will allow non commercial sharing of such works. Camera technology will make it impossible to stop but canned performances will never replace live events. When networks are free, we will be able to share our recordings with our friends who were unable to attend. Keep up the good work EFF, every step in the right direction is good news."
Patents

Submission + - M$ Extorts Patent Deals from Google, Dell, Others (informationweek.com)

Submitted by
twitter
twitter writes: "It has been difficult to ignore M$'s continued patent attack on free software and the whole of IT. M$ is putting as positive a spin as they can on Google acquiring two way sync for Exchange, with their friendly press amplifying the chest thumping of senior M$ lawyers. How pathetic it is that anyone would need a patent to sync the way PDAs have for more than a decade. In other news M$ has snared Dell in East Texas and people are starting to complain about the 500 or so deals M$ has managed to extort from companies in secret."
Microsoft

Submission + - M$'s Multiboot Sabotage (boycottnovell.com)

Submitted by
twitter
twitter writes: "Slashdot has covered Vista's multiboot problems but Vista's low adoption numbers means that most of us have never been faced with the problems first hand. Boycott Novell presents several nightmare stories and relates it to historic email to show that M$ does these kinds of things with malice. M$ developers, faced with competition from OS/2, declare:

This is WAR ... I believe we should design Janus [to] blow away the OS/2 sys files and render OS/2 useless ... [and] disable OS/2 2.0 in *all* cases.

The intention above is obvious and the spirit carries through into Vista and Vista SP1. Anyone tempted by hype to look at Vista or Windows 7 should be aware of these issues."
Microsoft

Submission + - M$'s Attack on GNU/Linux at Walmart (boycottnovell.com)

Submitted by
twitter
twitter writes: "2006 M$ email made available by the Comes vrs. Microsoft trail sheds new light on M$'s effort to fight GNU/Linux . Walmart was selling about $200,000 of GNU/Linux computers a week and everyone was happy with it. M$ immediately formed a task force to investigate, intimidate or bribe every part of the distribution chain. Boycott Novell does a good job of displaying the evidence and putting it in context. Read it and understand how M$ has manipulated even large vendors like Walmart by wrecking their suppliers."
Microsoft

Submission + - Why You Should Never Trust TCO Favorable to M$ (boycottnovell.com)

Submitted by
twitter
twitter writes: "Ever wonder why Garner and Forrester TCO studdies favor M$ against all evidence and common sense? Boycott Novell has found internal email from 1997 which shows that M$ has been buying TCO study methodology all along and using the results to destroy competitors. Several methods of compensation are exposed by the email along with the blatant admission that they, "Successfully lobbied and changed the Gartner Group TCO model to show Windows as providing the lowest overall TCO". The techniques seen here against Network Computing were easily translated into later FUD against GNU/Linux, "Get the Facts" and the SCO and Novell copyright and patent attacks. Most of these studdies were discredited at the time, but now you have proof that they were wrong by design not accident."
Microsoft

Submission + - How M$ Beats GNU/Linux in Schools. (boycottnovell.com)

Submitted by
twitter
twitter writes: "Ever wonder why schools still use Windows? Boycott Novell has extracted the details from 2002 M$ email presented in the Comes vrs Microsoft case and other leaks. What emerges is M$ desperate battle to "never lose to Linux." At stake for M$ is more than a billion dollars of annual revenue, vital user conditioning and governmental lock in that excludes competition, and software freedom for the rest of us. Education and Government Incentives [EDGI] and "Microsoft Unlimited Potential" are programs that allows vendors to sell Windows at zero cost. Don't take my word for it, go read the email for yourself.

M$'s nightmare scenario has already been realized in Indiana and other places. Windows is not really competitive and schools that switch save tens of millions of dollars. Because software is about as expensive as the hardware in these deals, the world could save up to $500 million each year by dumping M$. Now that the cat is out of the bag, it's hard to see what M$ can do other than what they did to Perter Quinn."
Privacy

Submission + - M$ Makes Deal to Suck Data from Facebook. (youtube.com) 2

Submitted by
twitter
twitter writes: "Steve Ballmer announced a disturbing deal with Facebook at CES today,

You can now connect Facebook with Windows Live. The updates you make on Facebook and the photos you share will automatically also be published in your Windows Live network ...

If you had any doubt that M$ was able to suck down your Facebook, this should end it.

He also announced that Dell and Verrizon would have M$ search preinstalled as a default on every small business and consumer PC and every US cell phone respectively. My prediction: people will avoid both because they trust Google and don't like Windows Live search. It seems that the bad things M$ says about Google mostly reflect M$'s privacy invading desires."
Government

Submission + - Vietnam using more OpenOffice, Mozilla, Linux (vietnamnet.vn)

Submitted by
christian.einfeldt
christian.einfeldt writes: "The Vietnamese Ministry of Information and Communications has issued an administrative ruling increasing the use of Free Open Source Software products at state agencies, increasing the software's use both in the back office and on the desktop. According to the new rule, 100% of government servers must run Linux by June 30, 2009, and 70% of agencies must use OpenOffice.org, Mozilla Firefox, and Mozilla Thunderbird by the end of 2009. The regulation also sets benchmarks for training and proficiency in the software. Vietnam has a population of 86 million, 4 million larger than that of Germany, and is one of the world's fastest-growing economies."
Government

Submission + - 1,000 Russian schools using Linux (www.osor.eu)

Submitted by
christian.einfeldt
christian.einfeldt writes: "Linux has been installed in over one thousand schools in Russia, and is part of a much larger over-all deployment of Linux in the Russian military and other government institutions, according to one IBM official speaking at the Latvian Open Technology Conference in Riga on 12 November:

'The Russian military has been working on its own version of GNU/Linux, parts of which have recently been declassified by the All-Russian Scientific and Research Institute of Control Automation in the Non-Industrial Sphere (Vniins). According to Guriev, many specialised version of GNU/Linux distributions are produced, often in response to requests by local governments. In three Russian regions, most of the PCs in use in about a thousand schools have been switched over to GNU/Linux.'

"
Microsoft

Submission + - M$ Shakes Down Old Folks and Charities. (news.com.au)

Submitted by
twitter
twitter writes: "From the bait and switch dept.

MICROSOFT will charge the Australian Aged Care Industry IT Council $70 million over the next 18 months as it forces users to pay full commercial rates for previously discounted software. Is this M$'s way to make up for falling traditional software sales?

Aged care providers are shocked by Microsoft's decision to revoke their not-for-profit status, which gave them access to its products at a heavily discounted rate.

A Microsoft spokesman said a recent review had uncovered "a number of ineligible entities, including a range of commercial organisations, that were using Academic Volume Licensing programs" under the belief they qualified.

At least three projects were put on hold by Aged Care. Never trust important business to a software license that may be revoked at any time."

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