Robert Pogson

This from the “Lies M$ Told Us” department”:

Microsoft stated that Windows is not intended to be used as a server, nor will future versions contain advanced OS/2 features such as distributed processing, the 32-bit flat memory model, threads or long file names. OS/2 is the recommended operating system environment for new or existing 286/386 systems with 3MB or more of memory.

M$ knew that other OS was a bizarre server with all kinds of features irrelevant to serving anything but they forced it on the world anyway once they solidified the DOS/Lose ’95 Wintel monopoly. Then they lost all rationality in computer science and produced the abortions of common sense that we saw shipping with no security whatsoever from 1990 onward.

see Groklaw – Appendix PX 1-17

and Groklaw – Novell Files Gargantuan Opposition to Microsoft’s Renewed Motion for Judgment as a Matter of Law ~pj – Updated, as text

This is from Novell v M$ over leaving WordPerfect at the altar but it gives insight to the mindset of M$ in those days. They were charging just a few dollars per PC in those days when PCs cost a lot, perhaps 2% of the consumer’s price. Look what monopoly has wrought. Now they want 25% or more after Moore’s Law has done its work.

Rather than $billions for the whole market of stuff, Oracle now has to itemize each and every usage of its valuable intellectual property so that the court can calculate damages, if any, accurately.
“Counsel for Oracle shall identify, for each of the 26 asserted claims, each Oracle product, Oracle-licensed product, Sun product, or Sun-licensed product that practiced the claim during the alleged damages period from January 1, 2007 through July 20, 2010, the time of actual notice. This must be filed by DECEMBER 16, 2011. In making this submission, counsel shall keep in mind that they are officers of the court and full candor is required.

By DECEMBER 30, 2011, counsel for Google shall respond and identify any further products by Oracle or Sun that practiced any of the 26 asserted claims, specifying with particularity which ones and why. Counsel shall keep in mind that they are officers of the court and full candor is required. Mere allegations will not suffice. Google will only list products they can prove practiced the asserted claims.”

“Full candor” is a sweet term, eh? What is the court going to think when Oracle comes back with $348,291 worth of usage of their stuff when Oracle started by demanding $billions? Further, Oracle will have to prove that each and every product informed users of the patents at issue… Imagine 100K such notices on a smart phone! Oracle has stepped into a tar-pit of its own making and has no escape except surrender or humiliation. Which will Ellison choose?

The fact that Android/Linux was the first use of much of this technology means Oracle’s damages must be minuscule because their revenue beforehand was minuscule. Also, because products were not marked, Google is not liable for any damages until Oracle sued. Gotta love it.

In a previous order, Judge Alsup quoted the law:
In the event of failure so to mark, no damages shall be recovered by the patentee in any action for infringement, except on proof that the infringer was notified of the infringement and continued to infringe thereafter, in which event damages may be recovered only for infringement occurring after such notice. Filing of an action for
infringement shall constitute such notice.

If Oracle can find no such products, it’s damage claim is dead. If Oracle can find such products that were not marked, it’s damage claims are greatly reduced. Either way, Google gets to argue that the violations, if any, were minimal while Oracle is trying to prove that Google used key technology from Java. Oracle’s whole patent case is weaker than a wet paper bag.

see Groklaw – Oracle v. Google – Proof of Patent Marking

There are a lot of things I like about Debian GNU/Linux. At the moment APT is the thing I love most. I just upgraded my most complex system, Beast, from it’s thin client, using SSH to the next release and I did not even have to reboot the thin client. Everything I use is working smoothly on Wheezy, which actually is still in “testing”. How smooth is that?

I edited /etc/apt/sources.list to name “wheezy” as the flavour instead of “squeeze” and ran
apt-get update;apt-get dist-upgrade.
A package I had installed and don’t use hung up so I had to repeat the command to restart the process at one point but everything else still works, my databases, web applications, search engines, and even the apt-cacher process running on Beast to cache downloaded packages.

Beast is headless and I did everything from its thin client. I just had to reconnect the SSH session after Beast’s single reboot. How cool is that? Debian GNU/Linux can do all that and it’s still not good enough to release to Debian developers’ standards. Compare that with the experience of the XP users who were not allowed to upgrade to Vista/”7″ without paying and re-installing. All my apps are here with me and upgraded… Amen.

iSuppli reports that in Q3 of 2011, Lenovo exceeded Dell’s PC shipments. Lenovo had huge growth thanks to its huge home market growth. HP stumbled a bit although it had good growth too. I suspect some growth is due to support for GNU/Linux as well. Lenovo has long supplied systems with GNU/Linux and sells them in volume through its business channels. Lenovo certifies many of its systems to run with a variety of GNU/Linux distros.

On a side note, even NetApplications reports that 1.5million more PCs are running GNU/Linux globally (0.1% share) each month. Someone is supplying those PCs and it is as likely as not Dell and Lenovo supplying China. They actually show an increase in XP’s share. Is someone still shipping XP? Is it illegal copying? Are people unhappy with “7″?

The recent commotion about Ubuntu being displaced in popularity by Mint is a distraction from what’s really happening. No longer is Ubuntu a default choice. In fact, if you look at the 7 day scores, Ubuntu and Mint, together, are less than the next most popular 8 distros:

There is obviously a huge installed base of GNU/Linux out there and this dance is a minor twitch in the reality. It does indicate a vibrant ecosystem with choice as a distinguishing feature compared to Wintel.

One of the neat things I like about GNU/Linux is that the desktop is automatically virtual. The X windows system is a networked desktop. It is interesting to see the world catch on to the advantages of desktop virtualization decades after its invention. Continue reading ‘Desktop Virtualization’