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IBM frees patents for everyone...->

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes "From the website: "IBM wants to encourage broad adoption of the Covered Specifications listed below. Therefore, IBM irrevocably covenants to you that it will not assert any Necessary Claims1 against you for your making, using, importing, selling, or offering for sale Covered Implementations2. However, this covenant will become void, and IBM reserves the right to assert its Necessary Claims against you, if you (or anyone acting in concert with you) assert any Necessary Claims against any Covered Implementations of IBM or of any third party. This covenant is available to everyone directly from IBM, and does not flow from you to your suppliers, business partners, distributors, customers or others. So, if your supplier, business partner, distributor, customer or other party independently takes an action that voids the covenant as to itself, IBM reserves the right to assert its Necessary Claims against that party, even though this covenant will remain in effect for you. By making this irrevocable patent covenant with regard to the Specifications listed below, IBM does not represent that it holds any or all Necessary Claims regarding the Open Specifications you choose to implement." Find the specific patent listings here: http://www-03.ibm.com/linux/opensource/isplist.sht ml"
Link to Original Source
Software

Open Standards Threatened in Europe->

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes "From Open Standards: 'On June 29 2007, the European Commission agency IDABC published a document revising the European Interoperability Framework (EIF) and the Architecture Guidelines (AG). This second version wants to 'update' the previous version of the EIF but, contrary to the first version, it threatens explictely the good process of more open standards that had been a long time push of IDABC. "EIF v2.0 should facilitate the most profitable business model(s) of cost versus public value, under proper recognition of intellectual property rights, if any. The support for multiple standards allows a migration towards open standards when appropriate in the long run." There are unacceptable drawbacks from the previous "EIF 2004" that promoted the use of open standards as defined in this European definition, the use of free and open source softwares as well as XML.'

Who also reads 'Microsoft and OOXML out again to find some weak spot' between the lines? Help signing the campaign and sending complaining emails in the request for comments."
Link to Original Source
Microsoft

Microsoft Excludes GPLv3 From Linspire Deal 342

Posted by ScuttleMonkey
from the v3-is-a-hard-sell dept.
rs232 writes to tell us that Microsoft is excluding any software licensed under the new GPLv3 from their recent patent protection deal with Linspire. "Microsoft has since been treating GPLv3 software as though it were radioactive. 'Microsoft isn't a party to the GPLv3 license and none of its actions are to be misinterpreted as accepting status as a contracting party of GPLv3 or assuming any legal obligations under such license,' the company said in a statement released shortly after GPLv3 was published on June 29. In addition to excluding GPLv3 software from the Linspire deal, Microsoft recently said that it wouldn't distribute any GPLv3 software under its SUSE Linux alliance with Novell, even as it maintains in public statements that the antilawsuit provisions in the license have no legal weight. "
Security

Mozilla Patches Firefox; Warns About Using IE->

Submitted by Growmash
Growmash writes "Mozilla has rolled out Firefox 2.0.0.5 with patches for a total of 9 nine vulnerabilities, including cover for the controversial IE-to-Firefox code execution attack vector. Even after plugging the hole, Mozilla inserted a blunt message into its alert: "This patch does not fix the vulnerability in Internet Explorer." The open-source group is also urging Web surfers to use Firefox to browse the web "to prevent attackers from exploiting this problem in Internet Explorer.""
Link to Original Source
Space

My Favorite Moon: Iapetus->

Submitted by
Daniel Markham
Daniel Markham writes "Saturn's moons are some of the strangest moons in the solar system. Out of all of this weirdness, Iapetus strikes me as one of the strangest. It's got an odd mix of colors, is oddly shaped, and has the big freaking wall or ridgeline running down the middle of it. Makes it look like a moon with a screw top.

Since some of the original Cassini pictures were released a couple of years ago, there's been a lot of speculation about Iapetus because of the wierdness of the images coming back. Some are calling it The Great Wall of Iapetus

Now comes news that the mystery of the Great Wall might have been solved. Scientists at JPL are saying that Iapetus might be one of the oldest moons in the solar system, and because of radioactive decay, the moon could have shrunk, forming the ridgeline.

The jury is still out, however. One thing is for certain: the more public speculation and involvement in the story, the more interest there is in NASA and the Cassini mission. Cassini is tasked with another close fly-by of walnut-shaped, Pac-Man-looking Iapetus in September. Let's hope for something that keeps the public interested."
Link to Original Source
Security

Bill Gates Should Buy Your Buffer Overruns 196

Posted by CmdrTaco
from the we're-having-a-sale-today-on-core-dumps dept.
Slashdot regular Bennett Haselton has written in with his latest essay. He starts "WabiSabiLabi generated some controversy recently by announcing their eBay-like site for security researchers to sell security exploits to the highest bidder. But WabiSabiLabi didn't create the black-and-grey market for security exploits, they merely helped draw attention to it. There's nothing that companies like Microsoft can do about the black market where security exploits sell for tens of thousands of dollars, but there's one obvious thing they can do to help protect users: offer to buy up the security vulnerabilities themselves. If they did that, then the exploits would probably never make it onto a black-market auction in the first place, because the "white hat" researchers would have found them and reported them first. Thus I think WabiSabiLabi is doing the world a favor, by shining a spotlight on the black market that thrives when companies won't pay for security bug reports." Click that magical little read more link below to continue the thought.

A sinking ship gathers no moss. -- Donald Kaul