ZDOne - Slashdot User

Submission + - Nokia urges Linux developers to be cool with DRM (zdnet.co.uk)

Submitted by

superglaze

on Thursday June 12, 2008 @05:07AM

superglaze writes: "Wondering what Nokia's plans for open source are? According to the handset giant's software chief, getting open source developers to accept things like digital rights management, commercial IPR and SIM locks would be a good start. From ZDNet UK:

Jaaksi admitted that concepts like these "go against the open-source philosophy", but said they were necessary components of the current mobile industry. "Why do we need closed vehicles? We do," he said. "Some of these things harm the industry but they're here [as things stand]. These are touchy, emotional issues, but this dialogue is very much needed. As an industry, we plan to use open-source technologies, but we are not yet ready to play by the rules; but this needs to work the other way round too.""

Submission + - Running Mac OS X on standard PCs (zdnet.co.uk)

Submitted by

ZDOne

on Wednesday May 14, 2008 @06:14AM

ZDOne writes: "ZDNet's reviews team have been tinkering with the various ways of running OS X on standard PCs. They found that with the right hardware components, a standard PC running Mac OS X Leopard is, at first sight, no different from a genuine Apple Mac. Special CPU extensions such as Intel VT-x provide support for software solutions like Parallels Desktop for Mac. Even Adobe Photoshop, which queries a Mac to verify its authenticity, runs fine on a standard PC thanks to EFI emulation. However the article points out that it's a pretty technical proposition at the end of the day and beyond all but the most powerful power users. And then there is the legal question. Don't even think about trying to put OS X on your PC without first purchasing a legitimate copy of Mac OS Leopard."

Submission + - Unixers take UK standards body to court over OOXML (zdnet.co.uk)

Submitted by

superglaze

on Thursday May 01, 2008 @11:45AM

superglaze writes: "Halfway through the two-month window of opportunity (where OOXML's ISO standardisation can be derailed by a formal objection by a national standards body), the UK Unix Users Group is trying to force the Birtish Standards Institution to do just that, after the BSI approved of OOXML in the ISO vote. According to ZDNet UK: "the UKUUG is hoping a judicial review would find the BSI decision to be flawed and reverse it... People will be called as witnesses to show there are serious problems with the BSI's processes"."

Submission + - Analyst admits open source will quietly take over (zdnet.co.uk)

Submitted by

ZDOne

on Friday April 04, 2008 @12:09PM

ZDOne writes: "In a few years' time, almost all businesses will use open source, according to analyst Gartner — which has up to now been fairly cautious, or downright negative, in its previous predictions about community developed software. "By 2012, more than 90 percent of enterprises will use open source in direct or embedded forms," predicts a Gartner report, The State of Open Source 2008, which sees a "stealth" impact for the technology in embedded form: "Users who reject open source for technical, legal or business reasons might find themselves unintentionally using open source despite their opposition." But despite being more positive about the future potential of open source, the analyst's predictions have still come in for criticism from some open source supporters for not going far enough."

Submission + - Why Apple's iPhone is like a 1981 IBM PC (zdnet.co.uk)

Submitted by

ZDOne

on Thursday March 27, 2008 @06:48AM

ZDOne writes: "Apple might have finally come around to allowing third party developers to create applications for the iPhone but only up to a point. ZDNet UK claims Apple is leaving itself vulnerable to the competition and to a loss of lustre by blocking background tasks on the device. "Perhaps it doesn't trust application designers or users very much. Perhaps it wants the best software for itself, where it can limit what it can do in order not to upset its telco friends. Whatever the reason, it reflects badly on Apple. The iPhone is not an iPod; it's a smartphone connecting to a universe of fast-changing data on behalf of innovation-hungry users. The sooner it stops pretending to be a 1981 IBM PC, the better it will be for everyone.""

Submission + - Comparing the OLPC, Classmate and Eee (zdnet.co.uk)

Submitted by

ZDOne

on Monday March 03, 2008 @11:43AM

ZDOne writes: "Small and inexpensive notebooks designed primarily for schoolchildren — particularly in developing countries — have been a hot topic ever since Nicholas Negroponte's One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project began in 2005. Production XO laptops became available in November 2007. ZDNet UK's reviews team has got its hands on three of the leading models: the OLPC XO, the Asus Eee and the Intel Classmate to find out which is really the most child-friendly and practical."

Submission + - Ten things holding back tech development (zdnet.co.uk)

Submitted by

ZDOne

on Tuesday November 27, 2007 @08:39AM

ZDOne writes: "ZDNet UK has put together a list of the main blockers that are preventing technology from achieving its true potential in terms of development and progress. Microsoft's strangle hold on the desktop makes the list as does operator lock-in and controversially the lack of real global wars/disasters. The article claims that these days, warfare still results in misery and death, but the technological benefits are harder to appreciate. There's not much in a stealth fighter or bomb-disposal robot that helps away from the battlefield. The "war on drugs" and the "war on terror" both sound good but have generated little of note, beyond copious government expenditure on ever more inventive ways to annoy their own citizens."

Submission + - The dumber Android is, the better say experts (zdnet.co.uk)

Submitted by

ZDOne

on Thursday November 08, 2007 @01:47PM

ZDOne writes: "ZDNet UK is reporting that it will not be known until the Android software development kit comes out on Monday whether the Gphone will be strictly Java-based but security experts claim that the less smart a phone is, the less vulnerable it is. Android developers should stick to a semi-smartphone platform because the Java sandbox can protect against the normal kinds of attacks, experts claim."

Submission + - Berners-Lee challenges 'stupid' male geek culture (zdnet.co.uk)

Submitted by

ZDOne

on Friday September 21, 2007 @01:08PM

ZDOne writes: "The inventor of the world wide web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, has called for an end to the "stupid" male geek culture that disregards the work of capable female engineers, and puts others off entering the profession. Berners-Lee said that a culture that avoided alienating women would attract more female programmers, which could lead to greater harmony of systems design. "If there were more women involved we could move towards interoperability. We have to change at every level," he said."

Submission + - Microsoft bullies UK developer (zdnet.co.uk)

Submitted by

ZDOne

on Friday June 01, 2007 @06:18AM

ZDOne writes: "Microsoft has shown that once again despite having a near bottomless marketing budget — it is supremely talented at coming across as ruthless and uncaring. The boys at Redmond have demanded — with very unsubtle lawyers' letters — that a London-based Windows developer withdraws a version of his free debugging tool from distribution, and is claiming that the tool breaches its licensing conditions. What's this about Microsoft finally seeing the light around the benefits of an open source community approach to software development — we are not convinced.

Microsoft angered by UK developer

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/0,1000000121,3928 7310,00.htm"

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