jalovick - Slashdot User

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

Posted by Unknown Lamer on Thursday March 28, 2013 @03:50PM 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 Source of cheap/free computers (Score 5, Informative) 172

by jalovick on Monday March 25, 2013 @10:54AM (#43270891) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Setting Up a Computer Lab In a Developing Country

There is an organisation in Australia called Computer Bank that has been collecting and re-purposing computers for years. There are a number of international organisations that do similar things, some are listed here - http://www.computerbank.org.au/links.

You could also seek sponsorship from a hardware vendor such as Dell - http://www.dell.com/Learn/us/en/aucorp1/corp-comm/corporate-sponsorships, or even Google.

Since it needs to be shipped there, perhaps approach transport companies. Also, some technology recycling companies will supply equipment cheaply or free for the right cause.

Some organisations require that a not-for-profit organisation be established before funds are allocated. You'll have to check your local laws.

Australia Gets Its First Female Prime Minister 419

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday June 24, 2010 @12:27AM from the sheila-in-chief dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Julia Gillard has been elected unopposed to the Labor leadership, seizing power in a bloodless Parliament House coup after Prime Minister Kevin Rudd decided not to contest this morning's leadership ballot. Ms. Gillard will now be sworn in as Australia's first female prime minister. Emerging from this morning's meeting, she said she felt 'very honored' and said she would be making a statement shortly. Treasurer Wayne Swan now steps up as deputy prime minister. He was also elected unopposed."

Submission + - Kogan protects Australians with it's "PORTECTOR" (kogan.com.au)

Submitted by jalovick on Wednesday June 23, 2010 @11:53PM

jalovick writes: With all the talk of Internet filtering in Australia and the high cost to implement the filter, an Australian technology distributor has come up with a cheaper solution to the governments Internet filter. The Kogan "PORTECTOR" — Spams & Scams Internet Portal Filter — http://www.kogan.com.au/shop/portector-spams-scams-internet-portal-filter/ (Warning: Product does not really exist)

Slashdot Top Deals