Submission + - SCOX files for Chapter 11 1
nadamsieee writes: "The SCO Group, Inc. ("SCO") (Nasdaq: SCOX — News), a leading provider of UNIX® software technology and mobile services, today announced that it filed a voluntary petition for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code." Nuff' said.
Submission + - Open Voting Consortium visits Red Hat Summit '07
nadamsieee writes: Julie Bryce of Red Hat Magazine got the chance to chat a bit with Alan Dechert during the 2007 Red Hat Summit. She asked him some questions; he gave her some answers. Alan stated that "[voting software] is an area ripe for open source software development." Also, when asked how corrupt the current system of voting is, Alan replied "The short answer is that I think the system is quite corrupt, and problems with the voting system are generally underreported in the media."
Submission + - Malware hitches a ride with Windows Update
thefickler writes: The recent "Downloader" trojan that was distributed through spam email in Germany used the same technique as Windows Update to load itself onto unsuspecting users' computers, according to security company Symantec.
Submission + - Crisis Pending for Business Process Patents?
phoey writes: It appears that patents on business processes have finally struck a chord with lawyers, specifically tax lawyers. There is currently a court case (Wealth Transfer Group v. Rowe No. 3:2006cv00024) that will decide (if not settled) whether business processes apply to tax law strategies. It will be interesting to see if the ruling is in favor of carving out an exception for tax law strategies, overturning the ruling from State Street making business processes unpatentable, or neither. State Street Bank & Trust Co. v. Signature Financial Group, 149 F.3d 1368 (Fed. Cir. Jul. 23, 1998).
With little real world experience in law (currently in my second year of law school concentrating in Intellectual Property), I was surprised by the analogy drawn by the patent attorney in the article. He mentions that doctor's have learned to deal with patents on the medical devices they use, so lawyers will have to learn to deal with patents on business processes. The better analogy would be if Doctor's could not perform a particular surgery or surgical technique because it had a business patent. This would most certainly cause outrage in the medical community. As a software engineer, I have seen first hand how patents on business processes (especially obvious ones) can limit innovation in the software development field. It will be interesting to see how the "self-regulating" field of law will resolve this question of patentability of business processes.
With little real world experience in law (currently in my second year of law school concentrating in Intellectual Property), I was surprised by the analogy drawn by the patent attorney in the article. He mentions that doctor's have learned to deal with patents on the medical devices they use, so lawyers will have to learn to deal with patents on business processes. The better analogy would be if Doctor's could not perform a particular surgery or surgical technique because it had a business patent. This would most certainly cause outrage in the medical community. As a software engineer, I have seen first hand how patents on business processes (especially obvious ones) can limit innovation in the software development field. It will be interesting to see how the "self-regulating" field of law will resolve this question of patentability of business processes.
Submission + - MIT hacks XKCD talk with AACS key
Hanji writes: During a talk by popular webcomic author XKCD author Randall Munroe, MIT hackers
dropped hundreds
of labelled playpen balls onto the audience from hatches in the
ceiling. The labels bore XKCD's logo as well as the recently
discovered 16-byte AACS processing key.
Submission + - OIN Stands Ready to Sue Microsoft over Patent FUD
Litigious Bastards Redux writes: "OIN, a patent trust created by IBM, Novell and others to protect Linux, has just issued a press release saying that they stand ready to sue Microsoft to protect Linux. Although Microsoft has stirred up a lot of controversy about how Linux infringes upon their patents, they still haven't listed the actual patents they believe Linux has infringed upon. So far, analysts think that Microsoft fears the legal trouble the GPLv3 could cause for them, are only making noise so that they can make private deals with companies to slow Linux adoption, or that they are being pushed to litigate instead of competing or innovating because migrating to Vista is a pain in the ass and Office's lock-in is being broken by ODF. Only one thing is clear so far: actually litigating these patents would turn Microsoft into another SCO."
Submission + - Our Solar System is Perpendicular to Milky Way
eldavojohn writes: "Recent data from the Voyager I & II space craft has revealed that our galaxy is passing through the Milky Way at an angle between 60 and 90 degrees to the disc shape our galaxy forms. From the article, "The findings, detailed in the May 11 issue of the journal Science, suggest the magnetic field in the galactic environment surrounding our solar system is pitched at a sharp angle and not oriented parallel to the plane of the Milky Way as previously thought." The paper in Science explains more about the observations of the magnetic field that exists just outside our solar system and the motivation for drawing this conclusion from it. Definitely revolutionizes the way we thought about our solar system in our galaxy."
Students Embarrass eBay With Firefox Add-On 269
An anonymous reader sends along a posting from the Grooveking blog on a group of Stanford students who got together to help promote Firefox and ended up releasing a long overdue eBay Toolbar for Firefox before Mozilla and eBay could release their jointly developed extension in Europe. Mozilla's COO said the preemptive release of the eBay Toolbar had ruffled some feathers among European eBay execs. "Besides basic search features, it removes external ads on the site and allows users to see thumbnail pictures on ALL search items, even those sellers didn't pay for. An eBay toolbar has been long overdue... eBay can't be too enthusiastic about this toolbar since it cuts directly into its main sources of revenue: ads and thumbnail fees. But eBay users get a really good deal."
Submission + - OIN Comments On Microsoft Article In Fortune
nadamsieee writes: Jerry Rosenthal, chief executive officer of Open Invention Network, issued the following statement today: "A recent article in Fortune Magazine raises — or more precisely, re-raises — tired, old allegations about the Linux operating system for the sole purpose of perpetuating unwarranted fear, uncertainty and doubt among current and potential Linux users and distributors... We stand ready to leverage our IP portfolio to maintain the open patent environment OIN has helped create." Groklaw, as always, provides perspective.
Submission + - Vista interface "a step back" says analyst
thephydes writes: Vista's user interface is a step backwards compared to Windows XP, an analyst has suggested.
http://www.techworld.com/opsys/news/index.cfm?news id=8120
An interesting read. I'll let you make your own judgement.
Submission + - New Fair Use Bill introduced today to change DMCA
An anonymous reader writes: WashingtonPost.com notes that Reps Boucher(D-Va) and Dolittle(R-Calif) today introduced the FAIR USE Act that updates the DMCA to "make it easier for digital media consumers to use the content they buy." Boucher's statement on the bill says "The Digital Millennium Copyright Act dramatically tilted the copyright balance toward complete copyright protection at the expense of the public's right to fair use..." Backing the bill is the Consumer Electronics Association, the Home Recording Rights Coalition, the American Library Association and others.
Submission + - Trolltech Qtopia Greenphone and SDK Review
An anonymous reader writes: The Greenphone comes at a time when there are countless mobile Linux platforms, but not many of them are open for easy development. This little device aims to fill a niche for a community-oriented mobile development platform. How does it perform? Linuxlookup.com reviews the Trolltech Qtopia Greenphone and SDK.
Submission + - MP3's Loss, Open Source's Gain
nadamsieee writes: "Eliot Van Buskirk has an interesting piece over at Wired about the fall-out from Microsoft's recent courtroom loss to Alcatel-Lucent over MP3 patents. From the article: "Alcatel-Lucent isn't the only winner in a federal jury's $1.52 billion patent infringement award against Microsoft this week. Other beneficiaries are the many rivals to the MP3 audio-compression format... Now, with a cloud over the de facto industry standard, companies that rely on MP3 may finally have sufficient motivation to move on. And that raises some tantalizing possibilities, including a real long shot: Open-source, royalty-free formats win.""
Vista Worse For User Efficiency Than XP 546
erikvlie writes "Pfeiffer Consulting released a report on User Interface Friction, comparing Windows Vista/Aero with Windows XP and Mac OS X. The report concludes that Vista/Aero is worse in terms of desktop operations, menu latency, and mouse precision than XP — which was and still is said to be a lot worse on those measures than Mac OS X. The report was independently financed. The IT-Enquirer editor has read the report and summarized the most important findings."
