Comment Re:Not as good as you'll expect. (Score 1) 298
I'm sitting in a conference listening to a presentation, and I read your comment and it caused me to actually LOL. Everyone looked at me...
Comment bash, ssh, vim? (Score 1) 1055
I'm a Web developer, not an "actual" programmer, but I love BASH, ssh, and vim.
I find GUI tools get in my way. Like using boxing gloves to play cards.
Comment You can have my cola when... (Score 1) 420
You can have my cola when you pry it from my weak, atrophied hand!
Comment I'm OLD and I'm NOT HAPPY (Score 2, Funny) 370
Oh Hi!
I'm a database admin/weirdo/geek and I have "big issues" (TM) with any and all database technology, and related discussion that does not fit with my myopic view of the world!
This Drizzle does not make me happy.
You kids! GET OFF MY LAWN!
Submission + - BBC refuses to publish Stallman article (gnu.org) 8
Richard Stallman writes: "The BBC invited me to write an article for their column series, The Tech Lab, and this is what I sent them. (It refers to a couple of other articles published in that series.) But the BBC was unwilling to publish it with a copying permission notice, so I have published it here."
Submission + - New York State and ODF
mw13068 writes: A bill which requires the Director of the New York State Office for Technology to study and recommend a document format for preservation of electronic documents has been signed into law as of August 1, 2007, and is effective immediately. The bill, which amends State Technology law section 305 requires the Director of the New York State Office for Technology to:
The Director of the OFT is Melodie Mayberry-Stewart PhD. So, if you have an interest in the adoption of a real open document format (OASIS ODF, rather than Microsoft's OOXML) then Ms. Mayberry-Stewart is the person to send your comments to.
Here's the text of State Technology Law section 305. Paragraph 4 is the new part.
305. Use of electronic records.
1. In accordance with rules and regulations promulgated by the electronic facilitator, government entities are authorized and empowered to produce, receive, accept, acquire, record, file, transmit, forward, and store information by use of electronic means. If any such government entity uses electronic records, it must also ensure that anyone who uses the services of such government entity may obtain access to records as permitted by statute, and receive copies of such records in paper form in accordance with fees prescribed by statute. No person shall be required to submit or file any record electronically to any government entity except as otherwise provided by law. Government entities that obtain, store, or utilize electronic records shall not refuse to accept hard copy, non-electronic forms, reports, and other paper documents for submission or filing except as otherwise provided by law.
2. A government entity shall have the authority to dispose of or destroy a record in accordance with the arts and cultural affairs law, regardless of format or media.
3. An electronic record shall have the same force and effect as those records not produced by electronic means.
4. The director shall study how electronic documents and the mechanisms and processes for obtaining access to and reading electronic data can be created, maintained, exchanged, and preserved by the state in a manner that encourages appropriate government control, access, choice, interoperability, and vendor neutrality. The study shall consider, but not be limited to, the policies of other states and nations, management guidelines for state archives as they pertain to electronic documents, public access, expected storage life of electronic documents, costs of implementation, and savings. The director shall solicit comments regarding the creation, maintenance, exchange, and preservation of electronic documents by the state from stakeholders, including but not limited to, the office of the state comptroller, the office of the attorney general, the state archives, and the state historian. The director shall also solicit comments from members of the public. The director shall report findings and recommendations to the governor, the speaker of the assembly, and the temporary president of the senate on or before January fifteenth, two thousand eight. This act shall take effect immediately.
References/Links:
The text of the bill (now law): http://www.assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?bn=S05599&sh= t
The New York State Law site (navigate to section "STT"): http://public.leginfo.state.ny.us/menugetf.cgi
The New York State Office for Technology: http://www.oft.state.ny.us/
... study how electronic documents and the mechanisms and processes for obtaining access to and reading electronic data can be created, maintained, exchanged, and preserved by the state in a manner that encourages appropriate government control, access, choice, interoperability, and vendor neutrality.
The Director of the OFT is Melodie Mayberry-Stewart PhD. So, if you have an interest in the adoption of a real open document format (OASIS ODF, rather than Microsoft's OOXML) then Ms. Mayberry-Stewart is the person to send your comments to.
Here's the text of State Technology Law section 305. Paragraph 4 is the new part.
305. Use of electronic records.
1. In accordance with rules and regulations promulgated by the electronic facilitator, government entities are authorized and empowered to produce, receive, accept, acquire, record, file, transmit, forward, and store information by use of electronic means. If any such government entity uses electronic records, it must also ensure that anyone who uses the services of such government entity may obtain access to records as permitted by statute, and receive copies of such records in paper form in accordance with fees prescribed by statute. No person shall be required to submit or file any record electronically to any government entity except as otherwise provided by law. Government entities that obtain, store, or utilize electronic records shall not refuse to accept hard copy, non-electronic forms, reports, and other paper documents for submission or filing except as otherwise provided by law.
2. A government entity shall have the authority to dispose of or destroy a record in accordance with the arts and cultural affairs law, regardless of format or media.
3. An electronic record shall have the same force and effect as those records not produced by electronic means.
4. The director shall study how electronic documents and the mechanisms and processes for obtaining access to and reading electronic data can be created, maintained, exchanged, and preserved by the state in a manner that encourages appropriate government control, access, choice, interoperability, and vendor neutrality. The study shall consider, but not be limited to, the policies of other states and nations, management guidelines for state archives as they pertain to electronic documents, public access, expected storage life of electronic documents, costs of implementation, and savings. The director shall solicit comments regarding the creation, maintenance, exchange, and preservation of electronic documents by the state from stakeholders, including but not limited to, the office of the state comptroller, the office of the attorney general, the state archives, and the state historian. The director shall also solicit comments from members of the public. The director shall report findings and recommendations to the governor, the speaker of the assembly, and the temporary president of the senate on or before January fifteenth, two thousand eight. This act shall take effect immediately.
References/Links:
The text of the bill (now law): http://www.assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?bn=S05599&sh
The New York State Law site (navigate to section "STT"): http://public.leginfo.state.ny.us/menugetf.cgi
The New York State Office for Technology: http://www.oft.state.ny.us/
Submission + - Google ups Linux support with OIN licence
E5Rebel writes: "Google has increased its support for the open-source Linux operating system by becoming Open Invention Network's first end-user licensee. Set up in 2005, OIN is an intellectual property company focused on acquiring and pooling patents to protect Linux against patent infringement attacks.
http://www.computerworlduk.com/technology/operatin g-systems/nix/news/index.cfm?newsid=4440"
Submission + - New Mass. draft proposal allows OOXML (consortiuminfo.org)
mw13068 writes: "New story from Standards Blog:
The Massachusetts Information Technology Division (ITD), the state agency that effectively launched the voyage of ODF around the world in August of 2005, has released a new version of its Enterprise Technical Reference Model. And this new draft includes Microsoft's OOXML formats as an acceptable "open format." http://www.consortiuminfo.org/standardsblog/articl e.php?story=20070702101415578"
The Massachusetts Information Technology Division (ITD), the state agency that effectively launched the voyage of ODF around the world in August of 2005, has released a new version of its Enterprise Technical Reference Model. And this new draft includes Microsoft's OOXML formats as an acceptable "open format." http://www.consortiuminfo.org/standardsblog/artic
Submission + - GPL Launch
Joe Blakesley writes: "Today, the Free Software Foundation announced that version 3 of the GNU General Public License will be released on Friday, June 29 at noon (EDT). Live video footage of the GPL's unveiling by Richard M. Stallman will be available as a stream on the FSF's website."
Submission + - GPLv3 upgrade set for Friday (infoworld.com) 1
InfoWorldMike writes: "A controversial update to the GNU GPL (General Public License) is set to be released Friday by the Free Software Foundation, a representative of the organization said on Tuesday. GPL version 3 is arriving 16 years after version 2 of the license for open-source software. Questions remain, however, about who exactly will adopt it. Among improvements is a copyright technology not found anywhere in the world with the goal of providing uniformity in different jurisdictions, said Brett Smith, licensing compliance engineer for the foundation. An explicit patent provision in GPL 3 means people who contribute to free software cannot sue users for patent infringement, Smith said. This was not clear in the GPL previously. The foundation in version 3 provides what has been described as "patent-insurance" in response to the Microsoft-Novell arrangement. Will you buy this patent insurance?"
Submission + - Update on NYS ODF bill
mw13068 writes: "Here's an update on the NYS bill S5599a "To direct a study by the Director of the state Office For Technology on the future of electronic document policy for New York State."
As of yesterday (6/20) the bill has become an amendment to another similar bill, and has passed the senate and assembly. Next step is the Governor.
Original Bill: http://www.assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?bn=A08961
New/Amended Bill: http://www.assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?bn=s5599a
The current acting "Director of the state Office For Technology" is Melodie Mayberry-Stewart. So when the bill passes, that's who New Yorkers should our future correspondence in support of the OASIS Open Document Format to. http://www.cio.state.ny.us/"
As of yesterday (6/20) the bill has become an amendment to another similar bill, and has passed the senate and assembly. Next step is the Governor.
Original Bill: http://www.assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?bn=A08961
New/Amended Bill: http://www.assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?bn=s5599a
The current acting "Director of the state Office For Technology" is Melodie Mayberry-Stewart. So when the bill passes, that's who New Yorkers should our future correspondence in support of the OASIS Open Document Format to. http://www.cio.state.ny.us/"
Submission + - Proposed Amendment Would Ban All DVD Copying
Ynefel writes: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2148802,00.as p
"A proposed amendment to the current copy protection license governing DVDs would completely ban all DVD backups, and prevent DVD playback without the DVD disk being present inside the drive.
The proposed amendment was made public in a letter sent by Michael Malcolm, the chief executive of Kaleidescape, a DVD jukebox company which successfully defeated a suit by the DVD Copy Control Association (DVD CCA) this past March. The proposed amendment is scheduled for a vote on Wednesday, according to Malcolm. "
etc, etc, etc
Submission + - Say NO to the M$ OpenXML format as an ISO standard (noooxml.org)
magesor writes: "Say NO to the Microsoft Office format as an ISO standard
There is a petition that I just copy here:
There is a petition that I just copy here:
"I ask the national members of ISO to vote "NO" to the ballot on the Microsoft Office OpenXML (OOXML) specification to become an ISO standard for the following reasons:
Petition
- There is already a standard ISO26300 named Open Document Format (ODF): a dual standard adds cost to industry, government and citizens;
- There is no provable implementation of the OOXML specification: Microsoft Office 2007 produces a special version of OOXML, not a file format which complies with the OOXML specification;
- There is missing information from the specification document, for example how to do a autoSpaceLikeWord95 or useWord97LineBreakRules;
- More the 10% of the examples mentioned in the standard do not validate XML conformity;
- There is no garantee that anybody can write a software that fully implements the OOXML specification without being liable to patent damages or patent license fees;
- This standard conflicts with other ISO standards, such as ISO 8601 (Representation of dates and times), ISO 639 (Codes for the Representation of Names and Languages) or ISO/IEC 10118-3 (cryptographic hash);
- There is a bug in the spreadsheet file format which forbids to enter any date before the year 1900: such bugs affects the OOXML specification as well as software versions such as Microsoft Excel 2000, XP, 2003 or 2007.
- This standard has not been created by bringing together the experience and expertise of all interested parties (such as the producers, sellers, buyers, users and regulators), but by Microsoft alone.
EOOXML objections
Submission + - FSF Releases "Last Call" Draft of GPLv3 (fsf.org)
mw13068 writes: "From the FSF Website: http://www.fsf.org/news/gpl3dd4-released
The new draft incorporates the feedback received from the general public and official discussion committees since the release of the previous draft on March 28, 2007. FSF executive director Peter Brown said, "We've made a few very important improvements based on the comments we've heard, most notably with license compatibility. Now that the license is almost finished, we can look forward to distributing the GNU system under GPLv3, and making its additional protections available to the whole community."
The FSF has also published an essay by Richard Stallman on the benefits of upgrading to GPLv3. "Keeping a program under GPLv2 won't create problems," he writes. "The reason to migrate is because of the existing problems which GPLv3 will fix, such as tivoization, DRM, and threats from software patents. . . . Further advantages of GPLv3 include better internationalization, gentler termination, support for BitTorrent, and compatibility with the Apache license.""
The new draft incorporates the feedback received from the general public and official discussion committees since the release of the previous draft on March 28, 2007. FSF executive director Peter Brown said, "We've made a few very important improvements based on the comments we've heard, most notably with license compatibility. Now that the license is almost finished, we can look forward to distributing the GNU system under GPLv3, and making its additional protections available to the whole community."
The FSF has also published an essay by Richard Stallman on the benefits of upgrading to GPLv3. "Keeping a program under GPLv2 won't create problems," he writes. "The reason to migrate is because of the existing problems which GPLv3 will fix, such as tivoization, DRM, and threats from software patents. . . . Further advantages of GPLv3 include better internationalization, gentler termination, support for BitTorrent, and compatibility with the Apache license.""
Submission + - MSFT's SUSE coupons have no expire date
mw13068 writes: In a recent article in the Seattle Post Intelligencer FSF General Council Eben Moglen points out: "The [Microsoft SUSE] coupons have no expiration date, and Microsoft can be sure that some coupons will be turned into Novell in return for software after the effective date of GPL 3. Once that has happened, patent defenses will, under the license, have moved out into the broad community and be available to anybody who Microsoft should ever sue for infringement."
Groklaw is also covering the story in it's inimitable way.
Groklaw is also covering the story in it's inimitable way.
