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Comment Re:Stupid!! (Score 1) 298

The situation with the gimp was different. They identified the fact that not everyone needs a tool shed, so could just use a toolbox. With this issue, a user of the OS would be reasonably confident that they have a word processor by default, which they wouldn't if they did not have a connection to the internet. Although I don't know of a total replacement for all of open office, abiword is an example of a possible light weight word processor.

Submission + - Hi-tech exam cheating increases says Ofqual

Alex Clarke writes: More than 4,400 people were caught cheating in last year's GCSEs and A-levels in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the exams watchdog says. The main way pupils cheat is by using mobile phones.
Schools are being sold detection equipment to trace devices being used secretly in exam rooms. But pupils are also being targeted by websites openly selling "exam cheat equipment", including concealed ear-pieces to receive information.
Tackling cheats who try to use mobile phones is a difficult challenge for examiners.

The jamming of signals is not allowed, because that might interfere with other equipment. And there have been doubts about the practicality of other tactics, such as sealing rooms with materials which block mobile phone signals. There have also been suggestions that exam halls could have CCTV cameras installed.

Submission + - Parliament: Record companies "blackmail" users

Kijori writes: "Lord Lucas, a member of the UK House of Lords, has accused record companies of blackmailing internet users by accusing people of copyright infringement who have no way to defend themselves. "You can get away with asking for £500 or £1,000 and be paid on most occasions without any effort having to be made to really establish guilt. It is straightforward legal blackmail." The issue is that there is no way for people to prove their innocence, since the record company's data is held to be conclusive proof, and home networking equipment does not log who is downloading what. Hopefully, at the very least, the fact that parliament has realised this fact will mean that copyright laws will get a little more sane."
Education

Submission + - NZ school goes open source amid Microsoft mandate (cio.com.au)

Dan Jones writes: Those inventive Kiwis are at it again, this time building an entire school IT system out of open source software (in less than two months) despite a deal between the New Zealand government and Microsoft that effectively mandates the use of Microsoft products in the country's schools. Albany Senior High School in the northern suburbs of Auckland has been running an entirely open source infrastructure since it opened in 2009. It's using a range of applications like OpenOffice, Moodle for education content, Mahara for student portfolios and Koha for the library catalogue. Ubuntu Linux is on the desktop and Mandriva provides the server. Interestingly, the school will move into new purpose-built premises this year, which includes a dedicated server room designed based on standard New Zealand school requirements, including four racks each capable of holding 48 servers for its main systems. The main infrastructure only requires four servers, suggesting an almost 50-fold saving on hardware requirements.

Comment Re:TOO MANY LINKS man! (Score 2, Informative) 415

I saw Chrome's "process manager" for the first time the other day and was quite impressed. The fact that Google collects information via Chrome, and its limited extension/plugin repository (which doesn't provide the functionality I want) has so far kept me from giving it much of a serious look, but now, I'm having second thoughts.

You should look at iron then: http://www.srware.net/en/software_srware_iron.php
It's google chrome minus the google.

Wireless Networking

Submission + - Princeton University Blocks IPv6 on Wireless (dailyprincetonian.com) 1

cwolfsheep writes: In a move meant to provide "faster, more reliable wireless service," network administrators at Princeton University have begun filtering out IPv6 traffic on their wireless access points. OIT Support Services Director Steven Sather stated that since IPv6 is not in use at the university, the network traffic (generated largely by an influx of Apple hardware) is considered "wasted." It should be noted that recent Linux & BSD-based distributions, as well as Windows Vista and 7, all enable IPv6 support and/or use it to some degree.
The Courts

A New Libel Defense In Canada; For Blogs Too 146

roju writes "The Globe and Mail reports that the Canadian Supreme Court has created a new defense against claims of defamation, allowing for reporting in the public interest. They specifically included bloggers as eligible, writing: '...the traditional media are rapidly being complemented by new ways of communicating on matters of public interest, many of them online, which do not involve journalists. These new disseminators of news and information should, absent good reasons for exclusion, be subject to the same laws as established media outlets.' and 'A review of recent defamation case law suggests that many actions now concern blog postings and other online media which are potentially both more ephemeral and more ubiquitous than traditional print media. ... [I]t is more accurate to refer to the new defense as responsible communication on matters of public interest.'"

Comment Re:To be fair... (Score 3, Insightful) 225

It's not the supposed legality of the site that is the main problem in my view, it is the fact that they were not given much time before the site was pulled down. According to the site this is not very common, usually sites have a few days to respond. Coupled with the fact that the office is closed for christmas, there domain may 'expire'. The EFA has also accepted to help, which means it must not be as clear cut as mentioned above.

Media

Lack of Manpower May Kill VLC For Mac 398

plasmacutter writes "The Video Lan dev team has recently come forward with a notice that the number of active developers for the project's MacOS X releases has dropped to zero, prompting a halt in the release schedule. There is now a disturbing possibility that support for Mac will be dropped as of 1.1.0. As the most versatile and user-friendly solution for bridging the video compatibility gap between OS X and windows, this will be a terrible loss for the Mac community. There is still hope, however, if the right volunteers come forward."
Censorship

Submission + - Australia could finally get R18+ games (goodgearguide.com.au)

angry tapir writes: "Australia might finally get an adults only, R18+ classification for computer games, with the federal government releasing a discussion paper summarising the key arguments for and against an R 18+ classification. Submissions are currently being sought from the community on whether the Australian National Classification Scheme should include an R18+ category for computer and video games. In the past the board responsible for classifying games and movies has banned some titles outright because of the lack of an adults only classification — Aliens Vs. Predator is just the most recent in a long line. The Attorney-General's report on the issue can be downloaded here."

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