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Submission + - Fake Tamiflu 'out-spams Viagra on Web' (cnn.com)

Submitted by cin62
cin62 writes: The number of Internet scammers offering fake anti-swine flu drug Tamiflu has surpassed those selling counterfeit Viagra, reports CNN. Since the H1N1 virus, also known as swine flu, was declared a global pandemic last month, there has been an increase in the number of Web sites and junk emails offering Tamiflu for sale. "Every Web site that used to sell Viagra is now selling Tamiflu. We are pretty sure that the same people are making the Tamiflu as are making the Viagra," said Director of Policy for the UK's Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS).
Linux Business

Submission + - Moblin 2 Beta Reviewed

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: Over at PC World, Keir Thomas has written a detailed review of Moblin 2, Intel's new OS created specifically for netbooks. FTA: "Moblin is in no way a "cut down" operating system for netbooks, as I'm sure many fuddy-duddy commentators in the industry would like to see it. Moblin is an example of a platform from which you can launch your online adventures, whatever they may be. It's a jumping off point... What I like more, though, is what Moblin is trying to do. It might be that Moblin doesn't reach its destination but, as often happens with computing, Moblin's gift to the world may turn out to be a proof of concept."
Microsoft

Submission + - Swiss interim judgement: buying Microsoft is risky

Submitted by cheros
cheros writes: It's presently only available in German, sorry — this is in principle a followup of
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/05/26/red_hat_switzerland/. I expect there will be a Redhat press release surfacing at some point.

The Swiss NZZ newspaper reports (at http://preview.tinyurl.com/ldmgmw) that an interim judgement now allows the procurement of Microsoft products & services, with the proviso that such contracts could be annulled by the final judgement.

This means that the purchase of Microsoft products is presently a risk until the final judgement. IMHO this is as effective as banning purchases until then, but without enabling Microsoft to do anything about it (AFAIK, IANAL).

This interim judgement is in principle a confirmation that there is actually a case to answer, and that the existence of viable alternatives is accepted by the court.

In related news, Redmond Microsoft staff recently dismissed are asked to bring their office chairs to a storage room on the executive floor before they leave. No explanation is provided :-)
Networking

Submission + - Dueling facts: Is telecommuting growing or not? (networkworld.com)

Submitted by
coondoggie
coondoggie writes: "Anecdotally you know telecommuting is growing but many days when you get out on the road, it looks like that notion is bunk. And some of it just might be if you give a new study out today from the US Census Bureau much weight: despite rising fuel costs, 77% of commuters continue to drive their cars — alone — most of the time. The kicker is that the survey looks at 2005 figures -the latest it has — from U.S. Census Bureau American Community Service analysis. As for telecommuting, the bureau says approximately 4% us worked from home in 2005. Compare that to a A CDW Government study released in Marc said during the past year, telework growth in the federal government also outpaced the private sector: 35% of Federal teleworkers started teleworking, compared to 10% of private-sector teleworkers. http://www.networkworld.com/community/?q=node/1620 6"

What Microsoft Could Learn from OSS and Linux 271

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the they-seem-to-be-doing-ok dept.
An anonymous reader writes "An article on OSWeekly.com discusses a few things that Microsoft could learn from OSS and Linux. 'As Microsoft continues to understand that open source does not mean they cannot generate a decent profit, I honestly wonder if they will eventually "get" that releasing MS Office code to the open source community is their only option. Since the whole threatening to sue thing will be met with the same fan base response, just like the RIAA, it is certainly not a wise decision. And if Microsoft thinks Open Office is a pain now, try suing people over it, then see how many people refuse to buy their products.'"
Microsoft

Submission + - Hidden Images On Windows Vista DVD

Submitted by
bigwophh
bigwophh writes: "A blog post at Spanish-speaking website inicia.es shows a hidden image of three men standing side-by-side on a Windows Vista Business DVD. So, we decided to investigate further and slapped a Windows Vista Ultimate DVD down on a scanner to see if we could verify the original image and to see if there were any other hidden images to speak of. Well, we were able to verify the hidden image of the three men and found another picture of what appears to be two more faces, and another that looks like a view of Earth from the Moon. A fourth image is also visible, but we haven't been able to make out the details."
Security

Submission + - Stupid Hacker Tricks (infoworld.com)

Submitted by
infoworldjason
infoworldjason writes: "Andrew Brandt put together a humorous, partial compendium of infamous boneheaded hackers, spammers, and script kiddies over here at InfoWorld: "But as any IT pro knows, the more complexity you add to a system, the more likely it is that system will fail in unanticipated ways. The same rule applies to criminals who employ complex webs of technology to further their misdeeds. And besides, despite their reliance on technology, cyberoutlaws are not robots themselves. More often than not it's what makes them human — greed, an inflated ego, loose lips — that ends up getting the better of them..." It's somewhat of a new twist on our Stupid User Tricks and More Stupider User Tricks amuse fests."
Censorship

Submission + - Law students sue anonymous message board posters (wsj.com)

Submitted by
The Xoxo Reader
The Xoxo Reader writes: "The Wall Street Journal reports that two female students at Yale Law School have filed suit for defamation and infliction of emotional distress against an administrator and several anonymous posters (identified only by their pseudoynms) at the popular law student discussion board AutoAdmit (a.k.a. Xoxohth). One of the claims is that the posters have violated copyright laws by reposting pictures of the women without their permission. Since AutoAdmit's administrators have previously said that they do not retain IP logs of posters, it is unclear how the plaintiffs will ultimately be able to identify the actual people behind the pseudonyms named in the complaint. Apparently, one method was to post the summons on the message board itself and ask the posters to step forward. The controversy leading to this lawsuit was previously discussed on Slashdot here."
Businesses

Submission + - Is Africa ready for Google and the new era? (peupe.net)

Submitted by
Al Kags
Al Kags writes: "In a groundbreaking move, Google has employed its first African, Joseph Mucheru to help set up its Africa operations in Kenya. Clearly serious about setting up shop in Kenya, Google aims to achieve three things with the move: First, to optimise the use of its applications in Africa, to make Google maps (and earth, I believe) more useful in Africa and to work on Google advertising further to ensure that Google ads are better monetized in Africa.

Mucheru says that they understand that bandwidth is an impediment and they aim to work on this. "Google understands that this is an impediment and is willing to go to the extent of buying international bandwidth that locals don't have to pay the current considerable premium they are."

I should like to hear more about this for sure. Coupled with the fact that my favorite ministry, the Ministry of Information and Communications, headed by the indomitable duo, Mutahi Kagwe and Dr. Bitange Ndemo is working extra hard to get fribre optic connection in East Africa through Kenya by mid 2008, we are in for interesting times.

However, we need to accept, Africa, that the largest impediment to our development is our cultural outlook — not the traditions and customs but the way we do business and our openness to new concepts. I recently had a meeting with a government official with regard to accessing some of the records that they have, digitizing it at my own cost and sharing the digital data with them for them to develop its use by wider sharing it. Amazingly, his first reaction was "absolutely not." Why? Because it is not done in government. When we got over that, we found that there is a huge fear with regard to what the information will be used for.

The same is true for business leaders in Africa. Fears such as "if I have a blog and allow people a free hand to comment on my views, how can I protect myself?" My position is that you only need to protect yourself from obsene and crude remarks but not as a recent executive asked me, from critisism. In fact, if your staff thinks that you are afraid of critisism, then you need to actively change that.

Of course information can be misused and so can the free use of applications such as the comments section of your blog. Of course a nicely elaborate Google Maps and Google earth can be misused by say, terrorists. But then, that cannot stop us from developing. Cars can be used as getaway cars in bank robberies and the like but that does not stop us from developing them?

If your business is to develop, then sharing information and interacting with a wide community is the way to build it in the new era. Its the only way to be ready for the likes of Google and Multiple Choices."
Space

Submission + - Europe unveils new space plane for tourist market (space.com)

Submitted by
mrminator
mrminator writes: "Space.com is reporting that EADS's Astrium division, prime contractor for Ariane 5 rockets and for Europe's contribution to the international space station, announced just a few hours ago that a group of its engineers has spent two years quietly designing a space tourism vehicle that looks like a business jet with exceptionally long wings and a rocket engine. The round trip would last about 90 minutes and carry four passengers and a pilot, with the passengers each paying about 200,000 euros ($267,000) for the experience."

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