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Google

Google Pledges Not To Sue Any Open Source Projects Using Their Patents 153

Posted by Unknown Lamer from the now-and-forever dept.
sfcrazy writes "Google has announced the Open Patent Non-Assertion (OPN) Pledge. In the pledge Google says that they will not sue any user, distributor, or developer of Open Source software on specified patents, unless first attacked. Under this pledge, Google is starting off with 10 patents relating to MapReduce, a computing model for processing large data sets first developed at Google. Google says that over time they intend to expand the set of Google's patents covered by the pledge to other technologies." This is in addition to the Open Invention Network, and their general work toward reforming the patent system. The patents covered in the OPN will be free to use in Free/Open Source software for the life of the patent, even if Google should transfer ownership to another party. Read the text of the pledge. It appears that interaction with non-copyleft licenses (MIT/BSD/Apache) is a bit weird: if you create a non-free fork it appears you are no longer covered under the pledge.

Comment ksplice anyone (Score 1) 287

by cryoman23 (#40405955) Attached to: Fedora Introduces Offline Updates
So as one project aim to help with linux uptime(http://www.ksplice.com/) another aims to shoot it down?! I love linux but can't we all agree that reboots should only be forced when actually required(and maybe not then even, just say "Hey reboot pal"), otherwise just restart the effected programs/services

Comment Re:um... (Score 0) 287

by cryoman23 (#40405919) Attached to: Fedora Introduces Offline Updates
as far as i can tell its not, looks kinda like another ploy to make linux look/feel windows like... personally i like my machine to have massive amounts of uptime... and then hear about my friends needing to reboot every other day because of some update :)
Businesses

Submission + - Ready for your payroll software update? (hotair.com)

Submitted by SEWilco
SEWilco writes: A federal payroll tax reduction for two months is being pushed by the President. Paying less money to the government seems good, but if the law is changed it will change the payroll taxes in January and February. Here in Slashdot many of us can well imagine what that will do to the many payroll systems which are already programmed with the 2012 tax rates.
Cellphones

Submission + - There are now more cell phones in the U.S. than pe (bgr.com)

Submitted by zacharye
zacharye writes: For the first time, the number of wireless devices connecting to cellular networks in the United States and its territories over the past six months has surpassed the country’s total population. A semi-annual survey conducted by the CTIA found that wireless subscriber connections now total 327.6 million while the population of the U.S. and its territories is now 315.5 million people. This means the wireless penetration rate in the U.S. in now 103.9% according to the CTIA, marking the first time that wireless penetration has surpassed 100% in the U.S...
Hardware

Submission + - Punchcards to iPads: The history of input devices (extremetech.com)

Submitted by
MrSeb
MrSeb writes: "As we glide our fingers over the screens of our smartphones and tablets, or chatter to our computer instead of typing at it, it is easy to forget how far input devices have evolved since the first automated computing devices were introduced just over a century ago. After all, from the invention of the printing press in 1440 until the innovation of the paperback, and more recently the e-book, reading changed very little. From punchcards to Palm Graffiti to iPads, and whole lot more in between, ExtremeTech has compiled a history of every significant computer input device that is sure to bring back memories."

Comment Re:Buncha keys should go (Score 0) 968

by cryoman23 (#34486196) Attached to: Google Wants To Take Away Your Capslock Key
function keys- few programs use them but they serve on my netbook for things like brightening and dimming the screen, locking the screen, ajusting sound levels, etc caps lock- a few games use it and there are situations were it is legitimatly used (some have pointed out database programming) windows key- i use that one because of its lack of use, its my push to talk button in teamspeak since it seams to have no other use menu key- it can die

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