Published by Robert Pogson May 31st, 2012
in technology.
Oracle’s attempt to tax Android/Linux with patents and mess with Android/Linux with copyrights has been shot down. The jury has decided there was not much copying. The patents fell apart and the judge has just ruled that APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) are not copyright-protected as he should.
So, Oracle has destroyed what little reputation it had in the world of FLOSS, Android/Linux will likely pick up steam and a lot of money has been poured down the drain for nothing.
Judge Allsup:
“So long as the specific code used to implement a method is different, anyone is free under the Copyright Act to write his or her own code to carry out exactly the same function or specification of any methods used in the Java API. It does not matter that the declaration or method header lines are identical. Under the rules of Java, they must be identical to declare a method specifying the same functionality — even when the implementation is different. When there is only one way to express an idea or function, then everyone is free to do so and no one can monopolize that expression. And, while the Android method and class names could have been different from the names of their counterparts in Java and still have worked, copyright protection never extends to names or short phrases as a matter of law.”
I like it. 
Oracle’s attempt to spring the “Java Trap” has failed. Now, all I have to do is keep using LibreOffice, switch to MariaDB and/or Postgresql and stay away from Oracle as much as possible. It would be good if Oracle would reflect on the results of their actions and change their ways but I don’t hold much hope as long as Larry Ellison is in charge. Maybe he will drop out and save the world more annoyance.
see GROKLAW.
- Robert Pogson
Published by Robert Pogson May 31st, 2012
in technology.
It’s about time. The UK now requires proposals for funding IT to consider FLOSS in the mix of solutions. That should take care of a lot of networks, services, databases and desktops. One of my favourite themes is considering price/performance when buying IT. This has the same effect.
I cannot wait to see my country, Canada, do the same. I’d like to see such policies in all taxpayer-funded organizations as well as business. Using FLOSS is the right way to do IT. I don’t think IT-people will get away with claiming “product X only runs under that other OS” much longer. Even politicians can see that stuff has to be done no matter what the software being used.
see Number 10 shuts wallet on closed-source IT projects • The Register.
- Robert Pogson
Published by Robert Pogson May 31st, 2012
in technology.
Fedora is considering getting M$ to sign a bootloader for them so they can boot Fedora GNU/Linux on UEFI hardware. This is a dangerous precedent. Different evil scenarios:
- M$ gets this procedure to become standardized in GNU/Linux and then revokes the signing keys or raises prices prohibitively…
- M$ makes demands to compromise software freedom in a distro before signing the bootloader…
- M$ insists the bootloader phones home (M$) so that M$ knows where to send salesmen…
- M$ shifts to a per-core model instead of flat-rate…
- M$ persuades OEMs to reject the key eventually…
- Distros like Debian GNU/Linux with strong support for software freedom may be cut out of booting from future hardware…“Debian will remain 100% free
We provide the guidelines that we use to determine if a work is free in the document entitled The Debian Free Software Guidelines. We promise that the Debian system and all its components will be free according to these guidelines. We will support people who create or use both free and non-free works on Debian. We will never make the system require the use of a non-free component.”
A dependency on a convicted serial monopolist is not in the best interests of the world. One of the major themes and desirable features of GNU/Linux is independence from M$. The world should be very careful before sacrificing our children to the god, M$.
While UEFI is supposed to be a layer of security against malware, M$ considers Free Software like GNU/Linux to be malware and will not hesitate to use its influence over OEMs to implement this DRM (Digital Restrictions Management) – like tool against GNU/Linux. Of course, M$ is unlikely to get away with anything indefinitely, but that does not matter to M$. When $billions per quarter are being raked in, even one more quarter of excluding GNU/Linux from retail shelves matters. M$ will do anything to accomplish that.
see Fedora 18 to support UEFI Secure Boot – The H Open Source: News and Features.
- Robert Pogson
Published by Robert Pogson May 31st, 2012
in technology.
Another month approaches and we expect to read once again how GNU/Linux is not making it on the desktop as evidenced by NetApplications biased web-sampling:
For the week of April 1, 2012:
| Region |
Share (%) |
| USA |
1.28 |
| USA without Google HQ |
0.62 |
How do they shift the data for a whole country with a few thousand users in California? They count business-use more than anything. Google happens to be a business. All those schools, government offices and individuals count for nothing with NetApplications. Google no more doubles usage of GNU/Linux in USA than they cut usage of that other OS by 5%.
Maybe it’s time people cut out repetition of the “1%” lie.
UPDATE World – (World – Mountain View – Sunnyvale) = 0.95% – 0.89% in April 2012, so the folks at Google are supposedly 6% of the world’s users of GNU/Linux… Yeah, right. Do the maths. 10K/109 is 0.00001 %.
- Robert Pogson
Published by Robert Pogson May 31st, 2012
in technology.
If anything indicated GNU/Linux is mainstream, Samsung releasing a product based on GNU/Linux for desktop and notebook is. The ChromeOS devices are great for people needing mobility or less clutter on desks who mainly use web/cloud apps. As such, a large fraction of consumers or business-users could fit. The price is not cheap but at least the products are small.
A lot of people use PCs differently than they did just a decade ago. Think FaceBook… I know people who spend hours on a single site all day long and only use local resources to upload images. A Chromebook would work for them. A lot of businesses have staff who deal with a single web application all day long. A Chromebook would work for them. I expect Samsung is convinced there is a market and will do the right promotion to stimulate it. That will get GNU/Linux on more retail shelves which is a good thing.
see Samsung refreshes ChromeOS hardware with first desktop system • The Register.
- Robert Pogson
I have long advocated GNU/Linux plus thin clients be the keystone of IT in schools. There are lots of advantages:
- easy, centralized control of all software and hardware,
- easy and quick software updates,
- less money spent on licensing software,
- improved performance because of the superior hardware (storage, memory, CPU and networking) on servers,
- FLOSS licensing, particularly the GPL, makes it easy to respect copyright while having very flexible IT, and
- significant savings on hardware and power consumption.
A bunch of these are mentioned in an article by BC Hydro, but they mostly emphasize reduced power consumption because slowing the growth of electrical energy demand reduced capital outlay for the utility, and preserves the environment. PCs from a few years ago used 100W+ but a modern thin client can run at about 40W.
This is a good news story for FLOSS and education.
see BC Hydro – Saanich schools save big with diskless computers.
- Robert Pogson
Published by Robert Pogson May 29th, 2012
in technology.
Dell has been quietly grinding out a design for a rackmounted server using ARMed CPUs. You can get over 2000 CPU cores in a rack with a ton of RAM and storage for a few watts per core. HP, Calxeda and others are also working on this. The OS, of course, will be GNU/Linux, likely Ubuntu GNU/Linux, because of software already ported to ARM.
Dell is still only shipping to select customers so prices and general availability may be a ways off, but someone has to test them under fire…
I expect some time in 2012 this will be a viable option for all the big guys. I expect prices will fall when volume production ramps up.
see Dell ARMs up for hyperscale servers • The Register.
- Robert Pogson
Published by Robert Pogson May 29th, 2012
in technology.
Samsung has been growing like Topsy but is running out of opportunities. I have a few suggestions:
- Produce GNU/Linux + FLOSS PCs based on ARM. Samsung has all the pieces and the shelf-space to bring it to market in a big way. They had success with Android/Linux on small gadgets. They can extend the technology a bit and do the marketing. They should try Debian GNU/Linux rather than Android/Linux for better performance but keep Android around to run those legacy apps. Add telephony to the PC. Using ARM and FLOSS will provide an advantage over the competition and provide larger margins than Wintel.
- Produce a system that will allow a smartphone to be a phone, tablet, server or desktop system. With FLOSS the software is no problem. Create standards for hardware interconnection of gadgets.
- Share. Start with a good idea and invite others to contribute. That way you will get to market sooner and under budget.
see Digitimes – Samsung under presure to seek new growth engines, says Research and Markets.
- Robert Pogson
Published by Robert Pogson May 28th, 2012
in Teaching and technology.
I have lived and worked off the beaten track. I know how casual people can be about legally copying or using software. China is reputed to be one of the most disrespectful countries for copyright. Recent numbers by the BSA and China show a decrease in illegal copying but there is a huge discrepancy in the magnitude. The BSA’s numbers are a bit “round” which suggests they may be pulled from thin air. If we correlate use of IE6 (23.8% in China) with illegal copying, China’s official numbers seem more reasonable.
If illegal copying is that low (38%) in China and M$’s revenue is as low (only 10% of usage paid) as Ballmer said, then use of GNU/Linux must be very high…
see China claims piracy at new low • The Register.
- Robert Pogson
Published by Robert Pogson May 28th, 2012
in technology.
I have long touted the four freedoms of Free Software as the best way to do IT and being good for the economy, enabling everyone to participate. Eben Moglen, guru of Software Freedom Law Center, gave a speech along the same lines but much more eloquently, tying together Software Freedom, political freedom, the economy and innovation. His thesis is that stifling access to code and hardware through various means of lock-down/in stifles innovation. I have seen that up close and personally in schools where a school that could do little more than browse and write/print documents became empowered to actually put the LAN to work connecting all the PCs in the school into one big super-computer for creating, storing, modifying and presenting information. The difference, with the same level of expenditure is mind-boggling. Visitors to schools I have set up this way are amazed at what PCs running Free Software can do.
Check out a snippet
“All of that innovation comes from the simple process of letting the kids play and getting out of the way. Which, as you are aware, we are working as hard as we can to prevent, now, completely. Increasingly, around the world, the actual computing artifacts of daily life for individual human beings are being locked so you can’t hack them. The individual computing laboratory in every 12-year-old’s pocket is being locked down. If you prevent people from hacking on what they own themselves, you will destroy the engine of innovation from which everybody is profiting. The goal of the network operators is to attach every young human being to a proprietary network platform with closed terminal equipment that she can’t learn from, can’t study, can’t understand, can’t whet her teeth on, can’t do anything with except send text messages that cost a million times more than they ought to.” or, better yet, experience the presentation for yourself: Innovation Under Austerity: Eben Moglen's call to arms from the Freedom to Connect conference – Boing Boing.
- Robert Pogson
Published by Robert Pogson May 28th, 2012
in technology.
Debian is working towards freezing the packages to be included in Wheezy (7.0) in June. I have been using Wheezy for months and find it quite usable although the installer did not work for me a couple of times. With the freeze, the pile of release-critical bugs should become a stationary target…
see Bits from the Release Team: Freeze approaching!.
I recommend Debian GNU/Linux for all IT. It’s a great idea to have people upstream organize a huge set of installable packages and make it work for you. With the APT package-management and other tools any kind of system of any size can be set up and managed quickly.
- Robert Pogson
Published by Robert Pogson May 28th, 2012
in hunting.
Winter is the chief killer of deer here. A normal winter kills a fair number of deer and particularly the youngsters who have not bulked up and cannot forage/browse in the deep snow. The past winter was very mild, both in temperature and depth of snow. I saw proof of that just now as a doe with three fawns trotted across the neighbour’s yard heading to the bush. Normally, a doe will have one fawn, with two in a good year and three in a fantastic year. I expect deer quotas for hunters will be increased as most of southern Manitoba had a very mild winter.
- Robert Pogson
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