ldholtsclaw - Slashdot User

Comment Re:An the solution is.... (Score 1) 696

by ldholtsclaw on Friday July 25, 2008 @01:38PM (#24338081) Attached to: MoBo Manufacturer Foxconn Refuses To Support Linux

Ultimately, there ought to be some law requiring that companies that claim to support a particular spec or standard actually fulfill that obligation or at least have a good faith effort to implement it.

There already are Truth in Advertising laws.

It's been my experience that, when you think "there ought to be a law ...", there already is one. The problem is the law being either selectively enforced or not enforced at all. And, typically, the more a law favors the public over corporations, the less likely it will be enforced.

But ... IANAL (so what do I know?)

Submission + - Take Action: Norwich, CT Julie Amero Porn Case

Submitted by aurispector on Wednesday February 28, 2007 @09:14AM

aurispector writes: Here's a link to an article about the Julie Amero porn case in Norwich, CT providing information, links and suggestions on how to help. http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/20070228/tc_pcworl d/129226 If you had any doubts about how wrong this is, the article includes copies of emails from a juror and a detective involved in the case. Included are the email addresses of people in government with actual power to do something about the conviction.

Submission + - Legal Battle For AACS Begins

Submitted by henrypijames on Tuesday February 27, 2007 @11:14PM

henrypijames writes: As widely expected, the MPAA has learned nothing from the debacle of its failed prosecution against DVD Jon (of DeCSS) and is now releasing its army of lawyers to fight against the circumvention of AACS (the successor of CSS): Upon the reception of a DMCA takedown notice, SourceForge has immediately terminated its hosting of BackupHDDVD (a tool to backup HD DVD movies, as its suggestes). The project leader is seeking advice on how to proceed.

MP3's Loss, Open Source's Gain 331

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday February 27, 2007 @05:13PM from the chicken-or-the-ogg dept.

nadamsieee refers us to a piece up at Wired on the fallout 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."

British Government Comes Out Against 'Pure' Software Patents 91

Posted by Zonk on Tuesday February 27, 2007 @11:59AM from the keeping-software-out-from-under-lock-and-key dept.

uglyduckling writes "The British Government has issued a response to a recent petition calling for 'the Prime Minister to make software patents clearly unenforcible'. The answer is reassuring but perhaps doesn't go far enough, and gives no specific promises to bring into line a patent office that grants software patents (according to the petition) 'against the letter and the spirit of the law'. The Gowers Review that it references gives detailed insight into the current British position on this debate, most interestingly recommending a policy of 'not extending patent rights beyond their present limits within the areas of software, business methods and genes.'"

Submission + - Junk Faxes

Submitted by olddoc on Thursday February 22, 2007 @11:31AM

olddoc writes: I am having a growing problem with junk faxes. Unlike email, it costs me money when I get a fax so junk faxes really tick me off. A while ago, I gave my number to a removal number and now I am getting more junk faxes than ever! Does anyone know how to make them pay? What devious methods can I use to get even? Can I sign up for a phone number that will drive up their costs when I call the toll free removal number? What have other readers done?

Journal Journal: Dell may be considering pre-installed Linux

Journal by Ashtead on Wednesday February 21, 2007 @12:58PM

While Steve Ballmer is making threatening noises, DELL has been listening to their customers, and found out that there is big interest for pre-installed Linux. Dell was having some problems with sales earlier on, so this appears to be an attempt to improve this.

Very interesting. Maybe the untapped market here is bigger than anyone thought?

Submission + - Linux.com | ESR gives up on Fedora

Submitted by JReagan1990 on Wednesday February 21, 2007 @12:08PM

JReagan1990 writes: ESR has left Fedora for Ubuntu: "I have watched Ubuntu rise to these challenges as Fedora fell away from them. Canonical's recent deal with Linspire, which will give Linux users legal access to WMF and other key proprietary codecs, is precisely the sort of thing Red-Hat/Fedora could and should have taken the lead in. Not having done so bespeaks a failure of vision which I now believe will condemn Fedora to a shrinking niche in the future. This afternoon, I installed Edgy Eft on my main development machine — from one CD, not five. In less than three hours' work I was able to recreate the key features of my day-to-day toolkit. The after-installation mass upgrade to current packages, always a frightening prospect under Fedora, went off without a hitch." http://enterprise.linux.com/article.pl?sid=07/02/2 1/1340237

Visual Basic on GNU/Linux 383

Posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday February 21, 2007 @11:41AM from the but-why-you-might-ask dept.

jeevesbond writes "The Mono Project announced that it has developed a Visual Basic compiler that will enable software developers who use Microsoft Visual Basic to run their applications on any platform that supports Mono, such as Linux, without any code modifications."

Submission + - History According to Jesus Taught in NJ

Submitted by

fistfullast33l

on Wednesday February 21, 2007 @10:23AM

fistfullast33l writes: "A fight is brewing in Kearny, New Jersey a 16 year old student and his school district over the teachings of the student's history teacher. According to the NY Times, the student did not think the teacher's lectures in class were relevant to the subject matter, so he started recording the teacher in class. On the tapes, "Mr. Paszkiewicz is heard telling the class that there were dinosaurs aboard Noah's ark and that there is no scientific basis for evolution or the Big Bang theory of the origin of the universe." Matthew LaClair, the student, was reprimanded by the school for turning the tapes in (apparently students aren't allowed to secretly record lectures) and has been harassed by students. He has threatened to sue the school district. According to WNBC in NY, the teacher claims "he was merely answering a question posed to him in a question-and-answer session, according to Demetrios Stratis, a Fair Lawn lawyer who said he represented the teacher.""

Submission + - Ballmer repeats threats against Linux

Submitted by

ErrorBase

on Wednesday February 21, 2007 @05:57AM

ErrorBase writes: "CNet Informs us about a Resent repeat of threats to linux users. More or less 'use SUsE or pony up to MicroSoft'. Will people actually fall for more FUD? MicroSoft must have scared itself silly by making deals with open-source purveyors and with that stepping past the third stage of Mohandas Gandhi's list."

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