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Comment: Do you actually *want* to give Canonical this info (Score 1) 548

by mjasay (#33203882) Attached to: Canonical Begins Tracking Ubuntu Installations

So, I'm biased: I work for Canonical. But I'm guessing many would want to give Canonical this sort of data, so long as it's innocuously used (i.e., for the reasons stated in the original article). I don't want Canonical tracking my every move (that's Google's job ;-), but I do feel fine letting it know that I'm an Ubuntu user, so that Canonical can more effectively count users and make informed decisions based on that information.

Reading the comments above, it seems I'm not alone. I actually went out and installed canonical-census so that Canonical has data on use (i.e., I've added myself to the total Ubuntu user count), as the package is otherwise only installed on OEM installations. But how many of you others (who installed Ubuntu yourselves rather than buying it through Dell or someone else preinstalled) would like an easy, opt-in mechanism for providing this information?

I know there will be plenty with privacy concerns, and I respect that. But I'm guessing many others would be happy to provide this sort of information. (Yes, you can use Synaptic to do this, but as Ubuntu becomes more and more mainstream there will be plenty of people who don't want to get into Synaptic or a command line.)

I'm not suggesting that Canonical has plans to broaden the use of this package. So far as I know, we don't. I'm merely asking whether you'd support making it more easily available and, if so, under what conditions. (Is there some value we could be giving users in exchange for that opt-in, for example?)

Businesses

Mickos urges EU to approve Oracle's MySQL takeover-> 1

Submitted by mjasay
mjasay writes "Former MySQL CEO Marten Mickos has written to EU Commissioner of Competition Neelie Kroes to urge speedy approval of Oracle's proposed purchase of Sun, including the open-source MySQL database. The EU is has been worried that Oracle's acquisition of Sun could end up hurting competition by dampening or killing MySQL's momentum. But in his letter, Mickos separates MySQL, the community, from MySQL, the company, arguing that Oracle's takeover cannot hurt the MySQL community: "Those two meanings of the term 'MySQL' stand in a close mutually beneficial interaction with each other. But, most importantly, this interaction is voluntary and cannot be directly controlled by the vendor." In a follow-up interview with CNET, Mickos indicated that he has no financial interest in the matter, but instead argues he "couldn't live with the fact that [he's] not taking action," and is "motivated now by trying to help the employees still at MySQL and Sun, and by an urge to bring rational discussion to the matter.""
Link to Original Source

Linus Torvalds: "Linux is bloated"-> 1

Submitted by
mjasay
mjasay writes "Linus Torvalds, founder of the Linux kernel, made a somewhat surprising comment at LinuxCon in Portland, Ore., on Monday: "Linux is bloated." While the open-source community has long pointed the finger at Microsoft's Windows as bloated, it appears that with success has come added heft, heft that makes Linux "huge and scary now," according to Torvalds. As Linux gets pulled into an ever-widening array of tasks, from mobile to data centers to desktops, it will almost certainly become even more bloated, all of which begs a question: will Linux become more like Windows over time?"
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Microsoft

Microsoft Releases Linux Device Drivers As GPL 362

Posted by timothy
from the could-easily-be-world's-largest-open-source-distributor dept.
mjasay writes "Microsoft used to call the GPL 'anti-American.' Now, as Microsoft releases Hyper-V Linux Integration Components (LinuxIC) under the GPL (version 2), apparently Microsoft calls the GPL 'ally.' Of course, there was little chance the device drivers would be accepted into the Linux kernel base unless open source, but the news suggests a shift for Microsoft. It also reflects Microsoft's continued interest in undermining its virtualization competition through low prices, and may suggests concern that it must open up if it wants to fend off insurgent virtualization strategies from Red Hat (KVM), Novell (XEN), and others in the open-source camp. Microsoft said the move demonstrates its interest in using open source in three key areas: 1) Make its software development processes more efficient, 2) product evangelism, and 3) using open source to reduce marketing and sales costs or to try out new features that highlight parts of the platform customers haven't seen before."
Microsoft

Microsoft releases Linux devices drivers as GPL->

Submitted by
mjasay
mjasay writes "Microsoft used to call the GPL "anti-American." Now, as Microsoft releases Hyper-V Linux Integration Components (LinuxIC) under the GPL (version 2), apparently Microsoft's calls the GPL "ally." Of course, there was little chance the device drivers would be accepted into the Linux kernel base unless open source, but the news suggests a shift for Microsoft. It also reflects Microsoft's continued interest in undermining its virtualization competition through low prices, and may suggests concern that it must open up if it wants to fend off insurgent virtualization strategies from Red Hat (KVM), Novell (XEN), and others in the open-source camp. Microsoft said the move demonstrates its interest in using open source in three key areas: 1) Make its software development processes more efficient, 2) product evangelism, and 3) using open source to reduce marketing and sales costs or to try out new features that highlight parts of the platform customers haven't seen before."
Link to Original Source

Comment: Re:Crybaby (Score 2, Interesting) 141

by mjasay (#28574199) Attached to: Open Source Facing a Difficult Battle For Cloud Relevance
That's the point (read the full article). We keep expecting open source to topple old hegemonies, but the reality is that it's simply helping to create them (Google) and keep them in check (everyone, including Google). That's a very important role, but it's not the BigCo Destroyer role we too often assign to open source.
Software

Open Source Facing a Difficult Battle For Cloud Relevance 141

Posted by ScuttleMonkey
from the someone-get-a-rock-and-a-sling dept.
A recent eulogy for open source's relevance to cloud computing by Redmonk analyst Stephen O'Grady caught the attention of Matt Asay, who breaks down the difficulty of this David and Goliath problem. "In a world where horsepower matters more than the software feeding those 'horses,' in terms of the entry cost to compete, and where big vendors like Amazon and Google are already divvying up the market, the odds of a small-fry, open-source start-up challenging 'Goliath' are slim. It's not a new argument: Nick Carr has been suggesting for some time that only a few, big companies can afford relevance in this hardware-intensive business. Given this fact, O'Grady thinks the best we can hope for (and he thinks it's pretty important) is 'a loose coalition or confederation of [open-source] projects and vendors that will together comprise an increasingly viable top to bottom alternative to some of the cloud providers today.' He includes projects like Puppet (Reductive Labs) and Hadoop in this mix, but is careful to point out that he doesn't see a full-fledged, open-source alternative seriously challenging the closed platforms of Google, Amazon, Salesforce, and the other mega-clouds."
Businesses

Does the bazaar need the cathedral?->

Submitted by
Matt Asay
Matt Asay writes "Walk the halls of any open-source conference and you'll see a large percentage of attendees with ironically un-open-source Apple laptops and iPhones. One reason for this seeming contradiction can be found in reading Matthew Thomas' classic "Why free software usability tends to suck": open-source advocates like good design as much as anyone, but the open-source development process is often not the best way to achieve it. Open-source projects have tended to be great commoditizers, but not necessarily the best innovators. Hence, Red Hat CEO Jim Whitehurst recently stated that Red Hat is "focused on commoditizing important layers in the stack." This is fine, but for those that want open source to push the envelope on innovation, it may be unavoidable to introduce a bit more cathedral into the bazaar. Without an IBM, Red Hat, or Mozilla bringing cash and discipline to an open-source project, including paying people to do the "dirt work" that no one would otherwise do, can open source hope to thrive?"
Link to Original Source
Microsoft

Microsoft losing 10% IE market share every 2 years->

Submitted by
mjasay
mjasay writes "Mozilla's Asa Dotzler points to some interesting long-term trends in browser market share, noting that "browser releases aren't having any major impact on the macro trends," which suggests that a better IE will likely have little impact on its sliding market share. The most intriguing conclusion from the data, however, is that Firefox could surpass IE market share as early as January 2013 if Firefox continues to gain 5 percent every year, even as IE drops 5 percent each year. In the past, Microsoft might have fought back by tying IE to the browser to block competition, but with the EU keeping a close antitrust eye on Microsoft and the U.S. Obama administration keen to make an example of an antitrust bully, Microsoft may have few good options beyond good old fashioned competition, which doesn't seem to be working very well for the Redmond giant, as the market share data suggests. Microsoft's loss of IE market power, in turn, could have serious consequences for the company's efforts to compete with Google on the Web."
Link to Original Source

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