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Submission + - Linux Foundation Makes Open Source Boring (computerworlduk.com)

Submitted by superapecommando
superapecommando writes: According to Glyn Moody:

In the early days of free software, the struggle was just to get companies to try this new and rather unconventional approach, without worrying too much about how that happened. That typically meant programs entering by the back door, surreptitiously installed by in-house engineers who understood the virtues of the stuff — and that it was easier to ask for forgiveness after the event than for permission before.

[The Linux Foundation tries] to take all the fun out of free software. They are about removing the quirkiness and the riskiness that has characterised free software in business for the last decade and a half, and seek to replace it with nice, safe systems that senior management will instantly fall in love with. In a word, they seek to make open source boring for the enterprise. That's not only good news for companies, it's a really important step for the Linux Foundation.
Ubuntu

Submission + - "Ubuntu Server" launches world-dominantion map app (ubuntu.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The Ubuntu Server team is celebrating the anticipated release of 10.04.1 by launching a world domination map web application. For the impatient, you can click here here to see the current state of the map. Basically this is a world map showing an Ubuntu logo on each city where Ubuntu server has been spotted. Ubuntu server users are encouraged to hit that web application and click a link causing the web application to use the visitor's IP address to record their city and put an Ubuntu logo on top. The process is fully anonymous however. For cool command line based methods to register your Ubuntu server, check out this blog post by a Canonical employee. Ubuntu server 10.04.1 is expected to be released around mid next week

Submission + - patching the linux desktop

Submitted by jjohn_h
jjohn_h writes: If you believe Phoronix

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=ODQ3Mw

the Linux desktop is going to become responsive. They say it isn't responsive right now in respect to high work loads.

I say it is not responsive under any workload — on the basis of experience with Gnome in Ubuntu, current and previous, on sundry PCs. (I cannot remember KDE 3.5 and I have dumped KDE4.)

Thunderbird, Firefox, Opera, OpenOffice, file managers are sluggish under Gnome, although they (or equivalents) are not under Windows XP on the same hardware. Maybe the applications are to blame and not the desktop? But what about Gnome's Help? That's a help feature that takes seconds to launch and has a latency on each and every click.

After years of usage, I dare say: for common tasks on the same hardware Windows XP is snappy and Gnome is not. Phoronix is expecting relief from a kernel patch for high loads. I wouldn't mind getting relief from any patch for low loads.
Government

Submission + - Is Europe building Big Brother? (csmonitor.com) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Everyone knows governments are interested in collecting citizens' internet data but it's not just the US and UAE. The European Union is pulling in both directions on the issue, arguing both for and against automated surveillance and imposing an onerous data retention regime, reports the CS Monitor. One Irish group, Digital Rights Ireland is suing its own government on the issue and plans on taking the matter to the European Court of Justice.
Microsoft

Submission + - Salesforce Seems to Pay Patent Royalties for Linux

Submitted by FlorianMueller
FlorianMueller writes: The Register reports on a "strangely worded statement" according to which Microsoft and Salesforce.com have settled their patent dispute, with the net effect that Salesforce pays Microsoft an undisclosed amount of royalties for patents "in the areas of operating systems, cloud services and customer relationship management software." The reference to "operating systems" suggests very strongly that Salesforce joins Amazon.com, HTC, TomTom, Samsung and who-knows-how-many-others in paying royalties to Microsoft for using Linux. The Open Invention Network (created by IBM, Red Hat and others five years ago) claims that it shields Linux from patent claims. But where is the OIN when it's actually needed? Apparently large companies like Amazon and Salesforce determined that the OIN couldn't help them and decided to pay. One can only wonder what the OIN's agenda actually is.
Security

Submission + - Feds storing checkpoint body scan images (cnet.com) 2

Submitted by AHuxley
AHuxley writes: The US Transportation Security Administration claimed last summer, that "scanned images cannot be stored or recorded."
It turns out that some police agencies are storing the controversial images.
The U.S. Marshals Service admitted that it had saved ~35,314 images recorded with a millimeter wave system at the security checkpoint of a single Florida courthouse.
The images where stored on a Brijot Gen2 machine. The Electronic Privacy Information Center, an advocacy group, has filed a lawsuit asking a federal judge to grant an immediate injunction to stop the TSA's body scanning program.
Mozilla

Submission + - running Mono directly in the browse (dot.org)

Submitted by tux
tux writes: Perhaps the time has come to experiment embedding the ECMA CLI inside the browser. Not as a separate plugin, and not as a plugin island, but as a first-class VM inside the browser. Running side-by-side to the Javascript engine. ...

We could do this by linking Mono directly into the browser. ...

The only question is what browser to target first Firefox or Chrome.
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft gets its FAT Patent back in Germany (h-online.com)

Submitted by Dj
Dj writes: The German appeals court has overturned a 2007 ruling by the German Federal Patent Tribunal that Microsoft's patent on the FAT file-system with short and long names was not enforceable.
Linux

Submission + - Can Linux Adoption Ever be Accurately Gauged? (earthweb.com)

Submitted by richie
richie writes: When discussing Free software, the term "installed base" seems rather popular. It is installation, not embedment or preinstallation, that tailors a product to the owner's personal needs. Unfortunately, installed base, as opposed to market share, proves to be a tricky thing to gauge
Security

Submission + - Maybe Users Aren't So Funny After All (computerworld.com) 1

Submitted by CWmike
CWmike writes: Kenneth van Wyk writes, I can't stop thinking about my experience last month when I had to reload Windows XP for a friend. It makes me think we need to reconsider how we in the security world have failed the consumer. Should it really be necessary for a consumer to be a security expert to safely use a computer? That seems to be our message. 'You should have known not to click that link,' we say. 'Why would you trust that that e-mail actually came from your mother?' We get disgusted that users keep falling for old tricks. But what are we doing to actually help these people? We should start by better understanding the misconceptions about e-mail and Web site safety that pervade the user base. Don't get me wrong — I'm not claiming there's some simple solution to this mess. The problems are pervasive, and they're not going to be easily solved. But the status quo is broken. Our systems — from their operating system cores and through the e-mail clients, Web browsers, etc. — need to help our users do things securely. They need to be resilient to users doing what users do, and not get sick and die every time a user 'misbehaves.'" By and large, these things have not been adequately anticipated in our mainstream systems.
Wikipedia

Submission + - Wikipedia's Assault on Patent Encumbered Codecs (videoonwikipedia.org) 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The Open Video Alliance is launching a campaign today called Let's Get Video on Wikipedia asking people to create and post videos to Wikipedia articles (good, encyclopedia style videos only!). Because all video must be in patent-free codecs (theora for now), this will make Wikipedia by far the most likely site for an average internet user to have a truly free and open video experience. The campaign seeks to "strike a blow for freedom" against a wave of h.264 adoption in otherwise open html5 video implementations.
Google

Submission + - Microsoft tests browser compliance (microsoft.com)

Submitted by timeshuffle
timeshuffle writes: Test browsers, except for their current version, Interent Explorer 8 .. "Download the latest Windows web browser". Is it fair testing a future release against the current versions of the rest ? Also the original stand alone SVG files appear to be missing.

"This website contains several collections of test pages that were developed in conjunction with the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) working groups. These tests make it possible to validate a browser's compliance with specific web standards"

See also SVG Demo

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