180697
submission
El_Oscuro writes:
There is an article on
arstechnica about the MS/Novell agreement. The deal specifically excludes patent protection for "clone products." In the agreement, a clone product is broadly defined as "a product (or major component thereof) of a Party that has the same or substantially the same features and functionality as a then-existing product (or major component thereof) of the other Party ... and that has the same or substantially the same user interface, or implements all or substantially all of the Application Programming Interfaces of the Prior Product." The text of the clone product definition subsections is very cumbersome to read, but it specifically mentions OpenOffice, Wine, and OpenXchange by name without asserting that they are necessarily clone products.
136295
submission
CatrionaMcM writes:
BBC news reported that Gregory Straszkiewicz, a UK resident, was fined £500 and sentenced to a conditional discharge for 12 months.
"Gaining unauthorised access to a computer is an offence covered by the Computer Misuse Act. In Straszkiewcz's case, he was prosecuted under the Communications Act and found guilty of dishonestly obtaining an electronic communications service."
Apparently he was seen on several occasions using a laptop in a car parked outside someone else's house.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4721723.stm
