norwoodites - Slashdot User

Submission + - IBM launching an open desktop solution

Submitted by

DJ_Maiko

on Monday February 12, 2007 @06:36AM

DJ_Maiko writes: "IBM just announced their intent to release an open desktop solution which they're calling "Open Client Offering." The new offering will make it possible for big businesses to present their employees with a choice of running Linux, Macintosh or Windows software on desktop PCs, using the same underlying software code, which will cut the cost of managing Linux or Apple relative to Windows. If this project succeeds, it will make it unnecessary for companies to pay Microsoft for licenses for items that don't rely on Windows-based software. IBM plans to also roll this out in-house to 5% of their 320,000 employees worldwide. This sure seems like a promising endeavor.

From the article:
"We worked with the open source community and found a way to write software once that will work regardless of operating system. It will run on Windows, Macintosh or Linux," said Scott Handy, IBM's vice president of Linux and open source.

So what do you guys think, will this (finally) displace Windows as the flavor du jour in the business marketplace?"

Submission + - Sex-ed the Tex-ed way

Submitted by zoltamatron on Sunday February 11, 2007 @08:21PM

zoltamatron writes: The SF Chronicle is running a story about the Bush administration's abstinence only sex-ed program and how there is no evidence to show that it works any better than the comprehensive education it replaces. Still, California is one of only three states that does not participate in the program that pushes the Texas born curriculum. From the article:

"California took a very progressive approach," [Douglas Kirby] said. "Texas pushed abstinence and made it a little more difficult for teens to receive contraceptives. Pregnancy did go down between 1991 and 2004, but Texas had the second-lowest decline of all states, 19 percent. California had the second-greatest decrease, 46 percent."
The article says there is more than $1 billion in federal money going to these programs.

Feed Mattel Play TV: Born Not to Run (wired.com)

From feed by wiredfeed on Sunday February 11, 2007 @08:12PM

Kids won't break a sweat playing Mattel Radica's football and baseball games. GadgetLab goes to the International Toy Fair in New York.

Submission + - EU bans sock-puppet blogs

Submitted by PhilipMarlowe9000 on Sunday February 11, 2007 @07:52PM

PhilipMarlowe9000 writes: Businesses which write fake blog entries or create whole wesbites purporting to be from customers will fall foul of a European directive banning them from "falsely representing oneself as a consumer".

From December 31, when the change becomes law in the UK, they can be named and shamed by trading standards or taken to court.

The Times has learnt that the new regulations also will apply to authors who praise their own books under a fake identity on websites such as Amazon.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/art icle1361968.ece

Submission + - Girls of Engineering pin up calendar ?

Submitted by bongey on Sunday February 11, 2007 @07:21PM

bongey writes: Thought this was funny , seems some engineering students got together and talked some of the woman engineers at U of I to take some racy photos for a calendar . Needless to say the title of the calendar is smart is sexy . All I can say is where can I get a copy. http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/246420,CST-NWS- calendar07.article

Submission + - "Star Trek Gamers" Blacklisted By Bethesda

Submitted by sandus on Sunday February 11, 2007 @01:21PM

sandus writes: The largest Trek game fansite StarTrek-Gamers.com was officially blacklisted by Bethesda Softworks not long ago. To discover the reasoning behind this decision the Fallout news site NMA has conducted an in-depth interview with StarTrek-Gamers' webmaster, Victor. From the interview:

NMA: Star Trek Gamers has been officially blacklisted by Bethesda. Why, do you feel, did Bethesda do this?

Victor: They did it for several reasons. One of them being that one or two other major fansites haven't officially come out in public on their front page and panned Legacy, only the STG did.

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