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Submission Summary: 0 pending, 13 declined, 2 accepted (15 total, 13.33% accepted)

Linux

LSE breaks world record in trade speed with linux->

Submitted by LingNoi
LingNoi writes "The London Stock Exchange has said its new Linux-based system is delivering world record networking speed, with 126 microsecond trading times.

The news comes ahead a major Linux-based switchover in twelve days, during which the open source system will replace Microsoft .Net technology on the group'(TM)s main stock exchange. The LSE had long been criticised on speed and reliability, grappling with trading speeds of several hundred microseconds.

The 126 microsecond speed is “twice as fast” as its main international competitors, the London Stock Exchange said. BATS Europe and Chi-X, two dedicated electronic rivals to the LSE, are reported to have an average latency of 250 and 175 microseconds respectively. Netiher company immediately provided details. But many of the LSE'(TM)s older and more traditional rivals offer speeds of around 300 to 400 microseconds. Nevertheless, Linux is now standard in many exchanges including the New York Stock Exchange."
Link to Original Source
Movies

Blender open movie "project Durian" in pro->

Submitted by LingNoi
LingNoi writes "Yesterday all project Durian artists arrived in Amsterdam for the pre-production week, a week of discussions, reviews, brainstorms, pipeline designs, styling proposals, watching clips, and of course a lot of fun to get to know each other. Durian is part of Blender's open movie project. This movie will be 5-8 minutes long like the previous movies and have a martial arts theme. Not much else is known at this point."
Link to Original Source
Games

IGDA split over quality of life issues->

Submitted by LingNoi
LingNoi writes "Arguments between members of the IGDA (International Game Developers Association) have been red hot over recent controversy because of a "Studio Heads on the Hotseat" panel video.

The fighting started when IGDA board members (that also happen to be studio executives) which were taking part in the discussions made it clear their favour for "crunch time", a method of doing overtime on a game to make very tight deadlines. It has been seen as hypocritical that an organisation whose goal is to create a better quality of life for developers is lead by studio executives who are happy to overwork employees.

The IGDA released a response which didn't take side on the issue. Other board members however have been much more reactive with one calling an IGDA member that quit over the issue "a whiney little bitch""
Link to Original Source
It's funny. Laugh.

Pirates angry at their "releases" being pi->

Submitted by LingNoi
LingNoi writes "TorrentFreak is running a story on a private bit torrent tracker website and how a bunch of angry releasers who are upset that someone was redistributing their ripped music.

One member was quoted saying..

Someone is leaking our torrents, we lose our exclusives? Find him in the logs! BURN HIM!

In the end the person leaking "their work" turned out to be one of their best releasers."
Link to Original Source

Software

UK IPO undertakes study of software patents->

Submitted by LingNoi
LingNoi writes "A recent press release by UK Intellectual Property Office mentions that it will be undertaking a study after Symbian won an appeal in the high court on its patent application. Symbian argued that the way it loads dll libraries into memory is not completely software related and the judges (with their many years of computer programming experience) agreed.

Symbian's patent application describes how a library of functions (DLL), which can be called on by multiple application programs running on a computer, is accessed. In particular, it provides a way of indexing these library functions to ensure the computer will continue to operate reliably after changes are made to the library. The Court of Appeal has held that this invention is not solely a computer program because as a matter of practical reality there is more than just a better program, there is a faster and more reliable computer.

It seems that the UK patent office is not going to try an appeal the decision, instead they will wait to see the decision of the European Patent Office (EPO) with regards to software patents from Europe.

In the light of this development, the UK-IPO will not seek to appeal the Symbian judgment further. The UK-IPO agrees with the Court of Appeal in that it would now be premature to seek a view from the House of Lords when European practice is likely to be settled shortly by a decision of the EPO's Enlarged Board of Appeal. The UK-IPO will have an opportunity to submit observations to the Enlarged Board of Appeal on the questions put to it. In order to inform any such observations the UK-IPO will undertake a study to determine the economic impact of patenting computer programs.

There are dark times ahead for the UK software industry, if the decision from the EPO is that software is patentable then the UK IPO would most likely follow. However don't worry yet, it seems little has changed as the UK IPO will continue business as usual, apart from a small loop hole.

Although the Court of Appeal did not accept the UK-IPO's view on the patentability of Symbian's invention, the UK-IPO believes that the Court has confirmed that the so called "Aerotel/Macrossan" test, established by the Court of Appeal in a previous case External Link, provides a legitimate approach to analysing whether an invention should be refused as no more than a computer program. The Court of Appeal declined to follow the EPO approach, considering it unclear at present. Therefore, the UK-IPO will continue to use the Aerotel/Macrossan test but in doing so it will take account of the Court of Appeal's judgment in the Symbian case whenever appropriate.

"
Link to Original Source
Government

UK government want to monitor every email and text->

Submitted by LingNoi
LingNoi writes "GCHQ (a British intelligence agency) bosses want to monitor internet usage and text messages sent in Britain, and keep records of individuals' internet use. £1 billion to fund the first stage has already been given out with the potential cost rising up to £12 billion.

Shadow Home Secretary Dominic Grieve said the proposal marked "a substantial shift in the powers of the state to obtain information on individuals".

The article goes on to explain that if all communications information was centrally stored then links could be made between terrorist cells and other sympathisers could be identified."
Link to Original Source

Government

EU government making the switch to Linux?->

Submitted by LingNoi
LingNoi writes "Days after there was talk over if Microsoft should be excluded from EU government sales, the EU is now testing the use of a GNU/Linux environment as a possible replacement for their parliament's office.

The distribution tested was Ubuntu and there seems to be a signs of change with British MEP James Nicholson stating, "The Parliament will continue to monitor Open Source developments and if possible will try to use this type of software.""
Link to Original Source
Media (Apple)

iTunes pirates music and then keeps all the money->

Submitted by LingNoi
LingNoi writes "The Flashbulb, aka Benn Jordan, who records and publishes his own music became so outraged when he discovered that iTunes was effectively pirating his music, that he uploaded copies of his latest album to BitTorrent.

"Even after having a lawyer working for me on this matter, this is the one and only response we've EVER been able to get from Apple:"

Dear Benn,
I understand that you are writing to the iTunes Store because you are upset about finding your own album "The Flashlight" and some of your other album as well on the iTunes Store, and that you feel that you are owned royalties for this music that his being purchased. I am sorry that you have to found this upsetting. My name is Wendy, and I would be happy to link you to right people to talk to about this issue

"So, who's the pirate I should go after? A kid who downloads my album because it isn't available in non-DRM format and costs $30 on Amazon? Or a huge multi-billion dollar corporation that has been selling thousands of dollars worth of my music and not even acknowledging it?""
Link to Original Source
PC Games (Games)

First commerical open source game in development

Submitted by LingNoi
LingNoi writes "Blender's project Apricot has begun work on creating the first open source commerical title scheduled for release on Windows, Linux and Mac platforms. The project is being funded by the Blender and Crystal Space communities in an effort to address the problems that professionals face in the games industry with regards to using Blender 3d and Crystal Space engine.

Discussions have already begun on improvements that can be made on the blender forums."

It's lucky you're going so slowly, because you're going in the wrong direction.