Bonum Certa Men Certa

Links 28/5/2012: Android 4.0 Spreads, VirtualBox 4.1 Released





GNOME bluefish

Contents





GNU/Linux



Free Software/Open Source



  • The Galician Autonomous Region of Spain has a Plan 2012 to use Free Software
    Years ago it was Extremadura switching to GNU/Linux over a weekend, more recently Andalucia switched. Now Galicia is investing nearly €1 million in promotion of FLOSS for business and government. They have already saved €2.5 million last year.


  • Puppet Partners with EMC on Open Source Razor
    The open source Puppet configuration management system is widely used to get software onto servers. Now the developers behind Puppet are going a step further, taking aim at bare metal provisioning in an open source effort with EMC called Razor.


  • Events



  • Web Browsers



  • Oracle/Java/LibreOffice

    • VirtualBox 4.1 update brings Linux 3.4 fixes
      The eighth update to the 4.1.x branch of VirtualBox has been published with compile fixes for the recently released Linux 3.4 kernel. The new version, 4.1.16, of the open source desktop virtualisation application improves the overall stability of the software by rectifying various regressions, including some that could lead to crashes, and a problem that caused some rpm-based packages to have an incorrect help file path on Linux hosts.


    • Java creator unhappy with Oracle trial outcome
      Most observers are applauding Google its successes in the Oracle v. Google case... but not everyone is thrilled about it.

      The jury for the Oracle vs. Google trial delivered their verdict for the second phase of the case--the patent phase--and as you probably know by know, found absolutely no patent infringement on the part of Google.

      With no patent infringement found, and only minor infringement found in the earlier copyright phase of the trial, Judge William Alsup dismissed the jurors early, since the planned damages phase was pretty much rendered moot by yesterday's decision.

      The trial is not over, of course: Alsup will probably rule on damages himself, and there's still his ruling on the copyrightability of application programming interfaces to come sometime next week. That API ruling is now arguably the most important remaining part of the case.




  • Funding

    • Help create a new free standard, by funding a great Kickstarter project!
      As part of a project to create a non-DRM fixed media standard for high-definition video releases, Terry Hancock has launched a Kickstarter campaign which will produce two Lib-Ray video titles and player software to support them ("Sita Sings the Blues" and the "Blender Open Movie Collection").




  • Openness/Sharing

    • Flarf and the prospect of open source poetry
      From the beginnings of human literature, there has been an instinct to identify with the community, the collective, more than with any individual author. Many of our most valuable texts have been created by social groups and belong to those groups. Multiple, anonymous authorship brought China its cherished Classic of Poetry, gave England Beowulf, and even accounts for parts of the Christian Bible, such as the book of Hebrews—author unknown. The Bible, by the way, tells not one definitive account of the story of Christ, but four that contain conflicting details. So despite the current celebrity mystique surrounding the individual, named author, it's safe to say that at the core of human civilization lie values of collaboration, shared experience, and shared ownership. And certain movements in literature today remind us of those values.




  • Programming

    • Libc++ Has Landed
      As I reported on Phoronix earlier this month and was widely-carried by other news outlets after that, FreeBSD 10 will using the LLVM/Clang compiler and deprecate GCC. The BSD camp wants to get rid of the GPL-licensed compiler from the Free Software Foundation and replace it with the younger but promising Apple-sponsored and BSD-style-licensed LLVM and Clang; see the earlier Phoronix articles on the topic for greater detail.






Leftovers

  • Microsoft corrects itself: 'We expect fewer people to use Windows 8'
    Microsoft doesn’t really expect that 500 million "users" will have Windows 8 next year, but it’s still juggling the numbers.

    The company has said reported comments by chief executive Steve Ballmer on Windows 8 uptake in 2013 are a "restatement of data" by a company employee in December 2011, and that these stats relate to Windows 7 licence upgrades.

    Ballmer was reported by the AFP to have told the Seoul Digital Forum in South Korea this week: “500 million users will have Windows 8 next year.”




  • Finance



  • Copyrights

    • Analysis of the Copyright (Amendment) Bill 2012
      There are some welcome provisions in the Copyright (Amendment) Bill 2012, and some worrisome provisions. Pranesh Prakash examines five positive changes, four negative ones, and notes the several missed opportunities. The larger concern, though, is that many important issues have not been addressed by these amendments, and how copyright policy is made without evidence and often out of touch with contemporary realities of the digital era.

      There are some welcome provisions in the Copyright (Amendment) Bill 2012, and some worrisome provisions. Pranesh Prakash examines five positive changes, four negative ones, and notes the several missed opportunities. The larger concern, though, is that many important issues have not been addressed by these amendments, and how copyright policy is made without evidence and often out of touch with contemporary realities of the digital era.

      The Copyright (Amendment) Bill 2012 has been passed by both Houses of Parliament, and will become law as soon as the President gives her assent and it is published in the Gazette of India. While we celebrate the passage of some progressive amendments to the Copyright Act, 1957 — including an excellent exception for persons with disabilities — we must keep in mind that there are some regressive amendments as well. In this blog post, I will try to highlight those provisions of the amendment that have not received much public attention (unlike the issue of lyricists' and composers' 'right to royalty').


    • ACTA









Recent Techrights' Posts

Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC), Inc. vs. Vizio, Inc. Is Costing the Free Software Foundation Money
FSF subpoena and deposition
They Try to Replace the Creators of GNU/Linux and Hijack Their Word, Work, and Reputation
gnu.org is down at the moment; now I'm told it's back but very slow. DDoS?
Links 05/05/2024: Political Cyberattacks From Russia and Google Getting a Lot Worse
Links for the day
 
Death of Michael Anthony Bordlee, New Orleans, Louisiana
Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
The Revolution Continues
Today we've published over 20 pages and tomorrow we expect more or less the same
Death of Dr Alex Blewitt, UK
Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
Following the Herd (or HURD)
Society advances owing to people who think differently and promote positive change, not corporate shills
Thiemo Seufer & Debian deaths: examining accidents and suicides
Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
Gemini Links 05/05/2024: Infobesity and Profectus Beta 1.0
Links for the day
Running This Site Mostly a Joyful Activity
The real problem or the thing that we need to cancel is this "Cancel Culture"
Australia Has Finally Joined the "4% Club" (ChromeOS+GNU/Linux)
statCounter stats
Debian as a Hazardous Workplace Where No Accountability Exists (Nor Salaries)
systematic exploitation of skilled developers by free 'riders' (or freeloaders) like Google, IBM, and Microsoft
Clownflare Isn't Free and Its CEO Openly Boasted They'd Start Charging Everyone to Offset the Considerable Losses (It's a Trap, It's Just Bait)
Clownflare has collapsed
Apple Delivered Very Disappointing Results, Said It Would Buy Its Own Shares (Nobody Will Check This), Company's Debt Now Exceeds Its Monetary Assets
US debt is now 99.98 trillion dollars
FSFE Still Boasts About Working Underage People for No Pay
without even paying them
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, May 04, 2024
IRC logs for Saturday, May 04, 2024
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
The Persecution of Richard Stallman
WebM version of a new video
Molly de Blanc has been terminated, Magdalen Berns' knockout punch and the Wizard of Oz
Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
[Meme] IBM's Idea of Sharing (to IBM)
the so-called founder of IBM worshiped and saluted Adolf Hitler himself
Neil McGovern & Debian: GNOME and Mollygate
Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
[Meme] People Who Don't Write Code Demanding the Removal of Those Who Do
She has blue hair and she sleeps with the Debian Project Leader
Jaminy Prabaharan & Debian: the GSoC admin who failed GSoC
Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
Jonathan Carter, Matthew Miller & Debian, Fedora: Community, Cult, Fraud
Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
Techrights This May
We strive to keep it lean and fast
Links 04/05/2024: Attacks on Workers and the Press
Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/05/2024: Abstractions in Development Considered Harmful
Links for the day
Links 04/05/2024: Tesla a "Tech-Bubble", YouTube Ads When Pausing
Links for the day
Free Software Community/Volunteers Aren't Circus Animals of GAFAM, IBM, Canonical and So On...
Playing with people's lives for capital gain or "entertainment" isn't acceptable
[Meme] The Cancer Culture
Mission accomplished?
Germany Transitioning to GNU/Linux
Why aren't more German federal states following the footsteps of Schleswig-Holstein?
IRC Proceedings: Friday, May 03, 2024
IRC logs for Friday, May 03, 2024
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
Alexander Wirt, Bucha executions & Debian political prisoners
Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
Links 03/05/2024: Clownflare Collapses and China Deploys Homegrown Aircraft Carrier
Links for the day
IBM's Decision to Acquire HashiCorp is Bad News for Red Hat
IBM acquired functionality that it had already acquired before
Apparently Mass Layoffs at Microsoft Again (Late Friday), Meaning Mass Layoffs Every Month This Year Including May
not familiar with the source site though
Gemini Links 03/05/2024: Diaspora Still Alive and Fight Against Fake News
Links for the day
[Meme] Reserving Scorn for Those Who Expose the Misconduct
they like to frame truth-tellers as 'harassers'
Why the Articles From Daniel Pocock (FSFE, Fedora, Debian Etc. Insider) Still Matter a Lot
Revisionism will try to suggest that "it's not true" or "not true anymore" or "it's old anyway"...
Links 03/05/2024: Canada Euthanising Its Poor and Disabled, Call for Julian Assange's Freedom
Links for the day
Dashamir Hoxha & Debian harassment
Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
Maria Glukhova, Dmitry Bogatov & Debian Russia, Google, debian-private leaks
Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
Who really owns Debian: Ubuntu or Google?
Reprinted with permission from disguised.work
Keeping Computers at the Hands of Their Owners
There's a reason why this site's name (or introduction) does not obsess over trademarks and such
In May 2024 (So Far) statCounter's Measure of Linux 'Market Share' is Back at 7% (ChromeOS Included)
for several months in a row ChromeOS (that would be Chromebooks) is growing
Links 03/05/2024: Microsoft Shutting Down Xbox 360 Store and the 360 Marketplace
Links for the day
Evidence: Ireland, European Parliament 2024 election interference, fake news, Wikipedia, Google, WIPO, FSFE & Debian
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Enforcing the Debian Social Contract with Uncensored.Deb.Ian.Community
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 03/05/2024: Antenna Needs Your Gemlog, a Look at Gemini Get
Links for the day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, May 02, 2024
IRC logs for Thursday, May 02, 2024
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day