Answering Microsoft: Comments on Microsoft's Letter to MA ~ by David A. Wheeler

GROKLAW: "As most readers probably know, Massachusetts has chosen the OpenDocument standard as their standard for office suite data exchange. Massachusetts has published the comments about this decision from many sources, including Adobe, Corel, IBM, Microsoft, and Sun Microsystems. Microsoft was extremely unhappy that the OASIS OpenDocument standard was selected instead of their proprietary XML format, aka the Microsoft Office Open XML format, that is under development."

Educational Sites Inform a Growing Audience

Educational Sites Inform a Growing Audience: "A new report released by Internet statisticians Nielsen NetRatings contends that educational and reference-oriented sites are experiencing a dramatic increase in traffic, and currently reach nearly one-third of all Web users."

Press release

Press release: "The SADC-wide network “it@ab - Information Technology in African Business” recently held a two days conference on Free and Open Source Software in Lusaka, Zambia on “Smooth integration of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) into existing software environments”."

� One-tenth of the world's population shopping online, says ACNielsen | Datapoint | ZDNet.com

� One-tenth of the world's population shopping online, says ACNielsen | Datapoint | ZDNet.com: "In a clear sign that cultures the world over are growing more comfortable with online shopping, a study from ACNielsen Europe published today reveals that about 10 percent of the world's population - more than 627 million people - has shopped online at least once."

� Wired-up Africans reach 100 million– ingenious uses abound | Datapoint | ZDNet.com

� Wired-up Africans reach 100 million– ingenious uses abound | Datapoint | ZDNet.com: "Wired-up Africans reach 100 million– ingenious uses abound"

TECTONIC: Africa needs free software, not slick marketing talk

TECTONIC: Africa needs free software, not slick marketing talk

LinuxElectrons - Linux Industry Unites Behind LSB Desktop Project

LinuxElectrons - Linux Industry Unites Behind LSB Desktop Project: "SAN FRANCISCO, CA – The Free Standards Group, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to developing and promoting open source software standards, and the LSB workgroup have announced thirteen leading Linux vendors have united behind its new Linux Standard Base Desktop project and pledged their support."

Technetra : Review: Ubuntu 5.10 "Breezy Badger"

Technetra : Review: Ubuntu 5.10 "Breezy Badger": "Conclusion

In the short time that I've spent using Ubuntu 5.10 (Breezy Badger), I've really come to like it. The installation was painless, all my hardware was detected and configured correctly, package management was easy, and the clean-cut GNOME desktop is terrific. If you haven't tried Linux on your desktop yet, get your hands on the 'Live CD' version of Breezy Badger -- if you like what you see, this is a great distribution to embark on your desktop Linux journey. For users already into Ubuntu, an upgrade to Breezy Badger is definitely worth it."

Debate over clean car technology rages on

Technology News Article | Reuters.co.uk: "DaimlerChrysler AG (DCXGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research), another major player in the field, debuted a prototype car that can run either on fuel cells or on a lithium ion battery and can crank out 115 horsepower. Fully charged, the family sized car has a range of 400 km.

'It's going to take collaboration to transform the industry,' Burns said.

'The world is on a trajectory where it's becoming even more urgent to get this done, whether it's 9/11, the Iraq war, the explosive growth of China's economy or hurricanes that expose the vulnerability of energy infrastructures."

Linux News: International : Estonians Use Linux for Groundbreaking Internet Election

Linux News: International : Estonians Use Linux for Groundbreaking Internet Election: "The tiny Baltic republic of Estonia is breaking new ground in digital democracy. Last week, the country nicknamed 'e-Stonia' because of its tech-savvy population became the first country in the world to hold an election allowing voters nationwide to cast ballots over the Internet "

TP: How NSA access was built into Windows

TP: How NSA access was built into Windows: "According to one leading US cryptographer, the IT world should be thankful that the subversion of Windows by NSA has come to light before the arrival of CPUs that handles encrypted instruction sets. These would make the type of discoveries made this month impossible. 'Had the next-generation CPU's with encrypted instruction sets already been deployed, we would have never found out about NSAKEY.'"

Guardian Unlimited Technology | Technology | Minister of counterculture

Guardian Unlimited Technology | Technology | Minister of counterculture: "Gilberto Gil is a musical legend - and a senior Brazilian politician. He tells Oliver Burkeman how poverty can be challenged if ideas are shared for free

Friday October 14, 2005
The Guardian "

So stop using -- Yagotta B. Kidding's comment on "Democracy and standards" | TalkBack on ZDNet

So stop using -- Yagotta B. Kidding's comment on "Democracy and standards" | TalkBack on ZDNet: "So stop using
Government is supposed to be REACT to the market, NOT shape it. Massachusetts stepped over the line, IMO.

Declare your independence. Stand on principle! Refuse to use products based on:

ANSI specifications
TCP/IP
ASTM specifications
National Electrical Code specifications
FAA standards
FCC standards
...

Oh, and I take it that you've informed your employer that lobbying the FCC is fundamentally wrong?
Posted by: Yagotta B. Kidding Posted on: 10/17/05"

Cautious welcome for new MS shared source licences | The Register

Cautious welcome for new MS shared source licences | The Register: "This, he added, is something of a turnaround for the company, which he says has previously referred to GPL as 'viral', 'cancerous' and 'communist'."

Ubuntu Wins Linux Journal Favourite Linux Award 2005

Ubuntu Wins Linux Journal Favourite Linux Award 2005: "The Linux Journal Readers' Choice award is the latest in a line of awards that Ubuntu has won recently, including the UK Linux & Open Source Awards 2005, Tux magazine Reader's Choice 2005 for Favourite Linux Distribution, and Ars Technica's best distribution award.
"

Stopping Linux desktop adoption sabotage, part two

Stopping Linux desktop adoption sabotage, part two: "Major retailers are not interested in giving customers a less expensive, more reliable PC platform. They more interested in not damaging the relationship with Microsoft. This layer of the anti-Linux movement has wide repercussions, as I'll discuss in the concluding installment of this column."

DistroWatch.com: Put the fun back into computing. Use Linux, BSD.

DistroWatch.com: Put the fun back into computing. Use Linux, BSD.: "One more issue worth mentioning here is the subject of the kernel supplied on the Ubuntu installation CD for the i386 architecture. It seems that many people installing Ubuntu Linux on a modern computer do not realise that they might be running their operating system with a seriously underpowered kernel. That's because the Ubuntu installation CD contains only one kernel, which quite naturally is the one that will work on all x86 architectures. However, if you are using a modern processor, such as Intel Pentium or the AMD processors, you will get a much better performance if you download and install one of the kernels specially compiled for those processors. Just run 'apt-get install linux-image-686' if your system is powered by at least an Intel Pentium II processor or 'apt-get install linux-image-k7' on systems with the AMD K7 processor. You can check your current kernel version with the 'uname -r' command.

Robert originally reported this issue as a bug. However, the Ubuntu developers dismissed it explaining that there just isn't enough space on the installation CD to provide more than one binary kernel. It is up to us, the users, to install the optimal kernel after the initial installation."

LyX - The Document Processor

LyX - The Document Processor

Open formats make history - and maintain it

Technology, Technology news, Times Online: "Paradigm shifts are often preceded by tiny, almost unnoticeable shivers. So you could be forgiven for missing the news that late last month, the government of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (for historical reasons it does not call itself a state) decided that all the documents its employees create have to be in a data format called OpenDocument."

Consortiuminfo.org Standards Blog

Consortiuminfo.org Standards Blog: "So there is no line drawn in the sand, nor (to put it another way) has Microsoft painted itself into a corner. If OpenDocument picks up steam, a back door for support is ajar. "

FOXNews.com - Views - Your Mail: Open Debate About OpenDocument

FOXNews.com - Views - Your Mail: Open Debate About OpenDocument: "The column 'Massachusetts Should Close Down OpenDocument' that appeared on FOXnews.com Sept. 28 identified author James Prendergast as executive director of Americans for Technology Leadership, but failed to disclose that Microsoft is a founding member of that organization."

They admit it when they have to :-)

Google and NASA enter joint computing venture

Technology News covering consumer electronics, computing, robotics and more: "The two organisations have signed a memorandum of understanding that outlines plans for cooperation in various areas, including supercomputing and 'bio-info-nano convergence' --- the combination of biological, information and nanotechnology research to make new materials."

Microsoft's claims of foul play in Massachusetts don't hold up | Between the Lines | ZDNet.com

� Microsoft's claims of foul play in Massachusetts don't hold up | Between the Lines | ZDNet.com: "However, in the bigger picture, what most people may not realize is that Massachusetts is the new ground zero for the biggest battle this industry has seen in years. In what I can only describe as one of the most masterful games of industry chess I've seen in years, some of Microsoft's biggest competitors including IBM, Sun, and Adobe took advantage of a tool that until now, may not have been available in their arsenals: Democracy. With dozens, perhaps hundreds of other governments and organizations monitoring the Massachusetts situation — a situation that's easy to emulate — the Microsoft franchise now faces a new and very real threat."

Wow -- technodolt's comment on "Bricklin: OK, so where are the ODF developer kits?" | TalkBack on ZDNet

Wow -- technodolt's comment on "Bricklin: OK, so where are the ODF developer kits?" | TalkBack on ZDNet: "Wow
For someone just being hired into the tech industry, but having been a geek since I was old enough to sit on a chair and play with my dad's IBM XT, the revolutionary nature of ODF and what it means for my, my organization, and the tech world at large is something to wow at. I've seen revolutions like these before from the outside, when they are already started, such as HTML/the web and advertising-supported internet related content, but I've never been a part of it from before it really took off.

The only question I have is, would anyone care to make a timeframe estimate for when this technology is going to explode into its true potential? I want to start using it, and to be able to convince my employers to use it, but when am I going to be able to convert my MS documents to ODF? When am I going to be able to open any formatted text document with my copy of OpenOffice? When when when?

I can't wait."

Enthusiasm!

LinuxWorld | Microsoft faces a serious open source press

LinuxWorld | Microsoft faces a serious open source press: "If there's one thing I learned from my recent sojourn into the depths of Microsoft's future vision, it's that the concept and popularity of open source software has shaken Redmond to its core. "

Editing audio in Linux : Page 1

Editing audio in Linux : Page 1: "Given Linux's strengths, weaknesses, history, and ideology, it's interesting to see where Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FOSS) competes well with proprietary software, where it falls behind, and where it provides novel innovation. The FOSS pro-level Digital Audio Workstation (DAW), Ardour, competes with industry-standard apps like ProTools, Logic, Nuendo, and Digital Performer. Audacity, on the other hand, is a more casual FOSS audio editor, but infuses the task with some distinctly geeky scripting facilities. SND, 'modeled loosely after Emacs and an old, sorely-missed PDP-10 sound editor named Dpysnd,' is a distinctly Linux audio app, complete with an ass-ugly interface, a mountainous learning curve, and the ability to wash your dishes if you know how to ask."

� No surprise: DRM nightmare rears ugly head. Again. | Between the Lines | ZDNet.com

� No surprise: DRM nightmare rears ugly head. Again. | Between the Lines | ZDNet.com: "Sound familiar? Well, if you've been reading my series on why the world needs declare inDRMpendence by saying no to DRM — at least until everyone is on board with a single open DRM standard — then you'd know that I'm encountering exactly that problem right now because I can't play the 99 cent songs that I bought on iTunes on my whole home entertainment system."

� Could ODF be the Net's new, frictionless document DNA? | Between the Lines | ZDNet.com

� Could ODF be the Net's new, frictionless document DNA? | Between the Lines | ZDNet.com: "Between the way the recently OASIS-ratified OpenDocument Format (ODF) was approved as the Massachusetts standard file format for productivity applications, and the way it was submitted for consideration as a global standard to the International Standards Organization (the ISO) and the way the thin-client discussion has suddenly moved front and center again, could we be on the verge of an ODF-inspired document revolution? Could ODF serve as the frictionless DNA that allows any thick or thin authoring tool to create, edit, and exchange documents of all types?"

VERY INTERESTING!

Fox News Anti OpenDoc Writer Funded By Microsoft

Fox News Anti OpenDoc Writer Funded By Microsoft: "
There was one little bit of information left out of the Prendergast article, which now appears there. Prendergast's organization was founded by and is funded by Microsoft."

Top Tech News - Tech Trends - Open Source Attracts Public Sector

Top Tech News - Tech Trends - Open Source Attracts Public Sector: "'With open source, there's no company that's going to take the source code away if they fold or get bought out,' said Peter Gallagher, president of Development InfoStructure, a consulting firm."

TECTONIC: Review: Breezy makes Tectonic eat its words

TECTONIC: Review: Breezy makes Tectonic eat its words: "The Ubuntu team can't get all the credit for Breezy. They simply put the best-of-the-best software into one distribution, tested the integration and packaged it very well. But they could not have made such a lovely operating system without the active development of all the software that makes up Ubuntu, such as the Gnome and KDE teams, the kernel developers, the translators, the testers, and the whole open source community. I believe that the reason Breezy rocks so much is a sign that the open source development community is more active than ever, making huge strides forward, and has a level of commitment and dedication never seen before in this sector. "

TECTONIC: Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Edubuntu 10.5 all out today

TECTONIC: Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Edubuntu 10.5 all out today: "“The Ubuntu team is proud to announce Ubuntu 5.10. This is the official Ubuntu 5.10 release, and includes installation CDs, live CDs, and combination DVDs for three architectures,” announced Matt Zimmerman in an open e-mail to the Ubuntu community today."

Why multi-party stewardship of the OpenDocument Format matters so much | Between the Lines | ZDNet.com

� Why multi-party stewardship of the OpenDocument Format matters so much | Between the Lines | ZDNet.com: "The state is obviously comfortable with letting its goal of sovereignty trump any questions of technical prowess and here's why.

One of the beautiful things about the degree to which ODF is open is that developers are free to do whatever they want with it. For example, they can deconstruct it and come up with some new derivative. They can also extend it to make it better (in the developer's and maybe even the end users' eyes). They can remake it however they want to. It's exactly that freedom to innovatively remix the format that eventually leads to improvements in the standard and hundreds if not thousands of interesting solutions that are in some way, shape, or form, connected with the ODF ecosystem. The same goes for the PDF format (Adobe just says you can't call it 'PDF' if you remix it in a way that's no longer 100 percent compatible with the PDF format). This stands in stark contrast to Microsoft's license for Office XML Reference Schema which has some open attributes. For example, it is open to royalty-free use by any developer. But, Microsoft's license demands 100 percent compliance of its licensees thereby preventing any sort of remixing of the technology. "

Mass. plan to dump MS Office for OpenDocument a 'matter of control'

Mass. plan to dump MS Office for OpenDocument a 'matter of control': "What is Massachusetts' main motivation for moving from MS Office to the OpenDocument standard?

Stephen O'Grady: Essentially, it's their belief that the state of Massachusetts, as a sovereign power, needs to exercise that power to protect its interests [for a] longer term. What that means in their terms is that whatever the basis for document interchange will be, it needs to be independently managed and owned. It can't be owned by a single commercial entity as Microsoft's OpenDocument alternative -- the Office Open XML formats -- is. It comes down to sort of a matter of control, and, in the case of the OpenDocument format, it's not controlled by any single party. Therefore, Massachusetts, as a sovereign entity, feels more comfortable with that approach longer term."

Linux Enters the Mainstream

Linux Enters the Mainstream

heise online - City of Mannheim to switch to Linux "quietly"

heise online - City of Mannheim to switch to Linux "quietly"

Electronic paper development kit runs Linux

Electronic paper development kit runs Linux: "The kit's SBC module comes preloaded with Linux and a variety of open source drivers and applications, E Ink says."

OpenDocument - The truly open XML document file format

www.spreadopendocument.org

WordPerfect Will Support OpenDocument … Someday

WordPerfect Will Support OpenDocument … Someday: "While Corel won't commit to a date for adding OpenDocument to WordPerfect, the company made it clear that it is working towards that goal."

Would You Rather Own Google or Indonesia?: William Pesek Jr.

Bloomberg.com: Bloomberg Columnists: "Oct. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Faced with poverty, surging oil prices and terrorist threats, many of Indonesia's 235 million people probably never noticed the milestone. Ditto for global investors, who care more about such things.

In April, Google Inc. surpassed Indonesia's entire stock market in value."

Ubuntu Linux Wins Best Distribution at UK Linux and Open Source Awards 2005

Ubuntu Linux Wins Best Distribution at UK Linux and Open Source Awards 2005: "Ubuntu Linux Wins Best Distribution at UK Linux and Open Source Awards 2005


Voted for by the public, at this year's Linux Expo in the UK, Ubuntu Linux won the Best Distribution category

(PRWEB) October 12, 2005 -- Ubuntu Linux has won the prestigious 'Best Linux/Open Source Distribution' award at this year's UK Linux and Open Source Awards, after the readership of Linux User & Developer voted for their favourite Linux Distribution.

In just under a year, Ubuntu has grown to be one of the most respected versions of Linux, being the most popular distribution on Distrowatch for over six months, as well as winning the inaugural Tux Magazine's Favourite Distribution award in September this year.
"

University of Michigan Computing Environment

UMCE: Linux -- An Emerging Community: "An Emerging Linux Community is Saving Money, Improving Services, and Learning a Lot Along the Way"

OASIS submits OpenDocument as standard | Tech News on ZDNet

OASIS submits OpenDocument as standard | Tech News on ZDNet: "The group behind the OpenDocument standard has submitted the document format to a key standards organization, a move that could make open-source desktop applications more attractive to governments."

Consortium launched to support OpenDocument - ZDNet UK News

Consortium launched to support OpenDocument - ZDNet UK News: "The Open Document Fellowship has been created to give the OASIS Open Document Format added momentum, as the war of words between Sun and Microsoft gets bitter"

Mass. plan to dump MS Office for OpenDocument a 'matter of control'

Mass. plan to dump MS Office for OpenDocument a 'matter of control': "Stephen O'Grady: Essentially, it's their belief that the state of Massachusetts, as a sovereign power, needs to exercise that power to protect its interests [for a] longer term. What that means in their terms is that whatever the basis for document interchange will be, it needs to be independently managed and owned. It can't be owned by a single commercial entity as Microsoft's OpenDocument alternative -- the Office Open XML formats -- is. It comes down to sort of a matter of control, and, in the case of the OpenDocument format, it's not controlled by any single party. Therefore, Massachusetts, as a sovereign entity, feels more comfortable with that approach longer term."

Sun Links StarOffice to Microsoft Suite - Computerworld

Sun Links StarOffice to Microsoft Suite - Computerworld: "Mike Prince, CIO at Burlington Coat Factory Warehouse Corp., has been receiving 25 to 30 Office documents per day while using a beta copy of StarOffice 8 since February. Prince said the only interoperability problems involved fonts in about six documents out of the more than 2,500 that he has opened. 'With earlier versions, the compatibility wasn't as flawless as what I've observed with [StarOffice] 8,' he said."

Pity poor Microsoft's midlife crisis - Next - Technology - theage.com.au

Pity poor Microsoft's midlife crisis - Next - Technology - theage.com.au: "Most worrying of all in an industry based on the creation of pure thought stuff, Microsoft is finding it harder to recruit world-class engineering and software talent."

NSW government Linux plan close to fruition: ZDNet Australia: News: Software

NSW government Linux plan close to fruition: ZDNet Australia: News: Software: "A protracted NSW government project to give its agencies cheaper and quicker access to Linux and open source software is reaching fruition with several vendors preparing to sign contracts as pre-approved suppliers."

Techworld.com - World Bank report recommends 'open standards'

Techworld.com - World Bank report recommends 'open standards': "A World Bank report aimed at helping governments and large companies review their IT systems will recommend the adoption of open standards.

"

Open standards "voice browser" supports Windows CE devices

Open standards "voice browser" supports Windows CE devices: "VoxBrowser 'reaffirms our commitment to advanced, platform independent, open, standards-based software,' said Tom Drury, Voxware CEO. 'The days of expensive and proprietary solutions are over. By eliminating the barriers to entry, VoxBrowser will, for the first time, allow any CIO or logistics industry solution provider to deliver high quality, robust, thin-client voice solutions.'"

BBC NEWS | Technology | Defending Google's licence to print

BBC NEWS | Technology | Defending Google's licence to print: "Clear motivation

Stanford Law professor Lawrence Lessig, chair of the Creative Commons, puts it clearly when he points out that the authors 'don't really want the court to stop the new technology. Then, like now, they simply want to be paid for the innovations of someone else. Then, like now, the content owners ought to lose.'"

Get OpenLab ! - GO OpenLab4!

Get OpenLab ! - GO OpenLab4!: "OpenLab International proudly announces the international release of OpenLab4. OpenLab4 is an all-encompassing GNU/Linux software distribution, catering to desktop, power and server users alike.

OpenLab started development in 2001, with OpenLab1 released in April 2001 in London, UK, as a thin-client, disk-less computer centre solution, based on Linux Terminal Server technology. The initial release was based on Mandrake (now Mandrivia) and catered to the education market.

Says AJ Venter , Chief Software Architect, “OpenLab has evolved immensely since the first public release in 2002. It was really with OpenLab3's release in 2004, particularly 3.2.8, that OpenLab started to get international attention, having reached the balanced blend of simple end-user appeal and functionality, and powerful back-end services. OpenLab 3 was developed on the base of Slackware, and this tradition has continued with the release of OpenLab4”

OpenLab4 allows for the use of varied computer technologies, ranging from obsolete to state-of-the-art, from stand-alone PC, fat-client to diskless workstation configuration. “You will be surprised at the new lease on life given to older PCs through this solution. Old PCs can perform as new, enabling schools and community facilities with limited resources to bridge the Digital Divide”, says , MD of OpenLab International.

Brandjes adds, “The solution, based on the Free and Open Source Software models, comes bundled with a range of relevant desk-top productivity applications and back-end server software. OpenLab4 has a look and feel just like that of other graphical desktops, based on KDE. For the educational sector, server-based, browser-based, platform-independent, specialist educational software and a range of applications ensure that the tools are available for an effective and meaningful educational experience”.

OpenLab4 is distributed across a number of CDs. The base distribution is OpenLab4-LIVEcd, which is available for free download or low-cost CD. LIVEcd contains the entire Operating System, and all basic applications including KDE, OpenOffice and Firefox, all on a single cd. What is unique to OpenLab is the fact that OpenLab4-LIVEcd contains both a LIVEcd and an installable system, all on one CD. Thus, you get to try OpenLab4, booting on your own PC, with the security that all your data and files are safe! Even better is the fact that LIVEcd installs in a fraction of the time it takes to install the equivalent Linux or WinX-based products. Says Venter , “From 10 to 20 minutes for a complete environment install is quite impressive!”

LIVEcd is complimented with 2 further CDs. POWERcd contains loads of Desktop add-ons and all the server services, including thin-client. KARMAcd includes loads of language packs and games, to 'bring balance to life'. The full set of 3 CDs or 1 DVD is available as a set, at low cost from the OpenLab store. In addition, OpenLab offers various value packs, suited for particular markets. These load on top of OpenLab OS, and provide content and specific solutions for particular markets, including the education sector.

OpenLab solutions are distributed on-line, or through appointed partners. These include Olamandla Technologies in South Africa, and SchoolNet Namibia in Namibia. OpenLab has now been implemented in over 500 sites throughout Africa, with downloads recorded as over 3,500 since April 2004."

::Civiblog Central:: :: Africa Source II - Free and Open Source Software for Local Communities

::Civiblog Central:: :: Africa Source II - Free and Open Source Software for Local Communities: "Africa Source II will be an eight day hands-on workshop aimed at building the technical skills of those working with NGOs on the
continent. It will take place in one of the most beautiful parts of
the Kalangala Island on Victoria Lake during the beginning of January 2006.

Africa Source II will bring together more than 100 NGOs and NGO technology support professionals working at the local level across the region, together with a handful of field leaders from Africa, Europe, North America and Asia. Africa Source II will be a free and open source software (FOSS) event. It's primary goal will be to increase the practical use of FOSS desktop applications and tools amongst the non profit sector in Africa."

Why OpenDocument Won (and Microsoft Office Open XML Didn’t)

Why OpenDocument Won (and Microsoft Office Open XML Didn’t): "As noted in Groklaw, FT.com, ZDNet, and other places, the State of Massachusetts is backing the OpenDocument standard as the standard format for office applications, text documents, spreadsheets, charts and graphical documents like drawings and presentations. All Massachusetts agencies are expected to migrate by January 1, 2007. This is instead of Microsoft’s new Office XML format (aka Microsoft Office Open XML File format).

This is big news. Currently most people exchange office documents using Microsoft’s binary formats (known as .doc, .ppt, and .xls), but now that the XML technologies are available and more mature, many people want to switch to an XML-based approach. There’s general acceptance in the information technology community that for office documents some XML format will eventually replace the obsolete binary formats. Most people, a few years ago, expected that whatever XML format Microsoft created would win. Yet Microsoft appears to have lost the war, due to its own poor decisions."

NewsForge | Citizens Against Government Waste vs. Massachusetts OpenDocument decision

NewsForge | Citizens Against Government Waste vs. Massachusetts OpenDocument decision: "Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) is warning of the interoperability disadvantages and long-term higher costs of open standards and open source software again, this time calling the Massachusetts directive adopting the OpenDocument format as standard for the state 'bad procurement policy.'"

My opinion: It is not often that I use the word morons, but in this case it is relevant. The Citizen Against Governtment Waste is doing oposite of what they should do. And it must be morons behind this, even paid corrupt people dont want to write something that is so stupid. But it is typical that some pressure groups change to the opposite sometimes.

By the way, the people that has fighting for competition in US for 50 years has changed to become the most protectionistic you can imagine. The laissez faire has won over the free competition for many years ago in the new conservative US. But, they have right in some ways because the fight against the tobacco industry has been a media driven thing. But anyway, these peoples are NUTS!

LinuxElectrons™ - Sun Wah Linux Chosen by Chinese Government for the Largest Linux Desktop Roll-Out in China's History

LinuxElectrons™ - Sun Wah Linux Chosen by Chinese Government for the Largest Linux Desktop Roll-Out in China's History: "NANJING, China – Six PC makers, including Haier and Founder, announced yesterday that they have won contracts to provide a total of 141,624 PCs to the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Education for an educational program called, 'School-to-School Project.' At the same time, Sun Wah Linux's Debian-based Chinese Operating System RAYS LX was also chosen as the operating system used in all 141,624 PCs.

'This project marks the cooperative effort of Sun Wah Linux and the Jiangsu government's use of Linux to fight against Microsoft's monopoly in China,' said Alex Banh, CEO, Sun Wah Linux. 'This is the largest Linux desktop roll-out in Asia, thus proving that national Linux OS is moving toward more practical usage by saving millions of dollars and bringing profound influence to China Linux development and application promotion.' "

Why OpenDocument Won (and Microsoft Office Open XML Didn’t)

Why OpenDocument Won (and Microsoft Office Open XML Didn’t)

Flock has landed.

Flock has landed.

Zimbra™�- Home

Zimbra™�- Home: "Zimbra is an open source technology and community for building the next-generation messaging and collaboration server and client. The Zimbra community is committed to innovation for both the administrator and the end-user as well as to compatibility with existing enterprise infrastructure and applications. We believe that by open sourcing this technology to the community we ensure innovation, investment protection, scale and integration with different enterprise systems."

Skal prise fri programvare

Skal prise fri programvare: "�rets prisutdeler er Mark Shuttleworth, en s�r-afrikansk gr�nder kjent som opphavsperson bak Linux-distribusjonen Ubuntu og it-sikkerhetsselskapet Thawte. Ubuntu har etter hvert blitt en popul�r Linux-distribusjon. I Computerworld fikk den i v�r mye skryt av Norges 'rikshacker', Jon Lech Johansen."

http://www.nuug.no/prisen/galleri-2005/

Flickr: Stock Exchange

Flickr: Stock Exchange: "The Stock Exchange pool is for sharing free stock photos. If you are a photographer, please contribute. Bear in mind that community projects such as Wikipedia can use a lot of stock photographhs - take a look in the list of requested pictures.

If you are a designer or a student, this is a place where you can find stock photos for your project without infringing anyone's copyright."

Canonical launches the Ubuntu Partnership Programme

Canonical launches the Ubuntu Partnership Programme: "Since its launch in October 2004, the Debian Linux based Ubuntu (http://www.ubuntu.com) has become one of the most popular Linux distributions in the world. With so many Ubuntu installations, there has been a steady growth in the number of businesses using Ubuntu as a cornerstone to the provision of their solutions and support.

To help these companies and individuals, the Partnership Programme will develop and enlarge the healthy ecosystem around Ubuntu. The Partnership Programme will enable both companies and individuals to benefit from this remarkable growth in the interest and implementation of Ubuntu."

NewsForge | A first look at GIMP 2.4

NewsForge | A first look at GIMP 2.4: "2.4 is the first GIMP release to support color management, a feature dearly missed by photographers and designers up until now. In the preferences dialog you will find a new Color Management control panel where you can set rendering intent and specify your working colorspace and device profiles."

Darik's Boot and Nuke

Darik's Boot and Nuke: "Darik's Boot and Nuke ('DBAN') is a self-contained boot floppy that securely wipes the hard disks of most computers. DBAN will automatically and completely delete the contents of any hard disk that it can detect, which makes it an appropriate utility for bulk or emergency data destruction."

MarkShuttleworth - Ubuntu Wiki

MarkShuttleworth - Ubuntu Wiki

Very interesting!

Fergal Breen's Blog : FireFox amongst Techies

Fergal Breen's Blog : FireFox amongst Techies: "I was suprised then to see Internet Explorer being used by only 52% of IDN surfers.
Firefox is now being used by 28% of IrishDev.com surfers and the remainder is spread across multiple browsers."

Next Up: Google Office?

Next Up: Google Office?: "'Imagine StarOffice running on the desktop, and Google perfecting the [file synchronization],' said Edwards. 'Then you have your collaboration space carved out immediately for you, and Google is hosting it.'"

Like rock n' roll, open source here to stay

Like rock n' roll, open source here to stay

Commission unveils plans for European digital libraries

EUROPA - Rapid - Press Releases: "The European Commission today unveiled its strategy to make Europe’s written and audiovisual heritage available on the Internet. Turning Europe’s historic and cultural heritage into digital content will make it usable for European citizens for their studies, work or leisure and will give innovators, artists and entrepreneurs the raw material that they need. The Commission proposes a concerted drive by EU Member States to digitise, preserve, and make this heritage available to all. It presents a first set of actions at European level and invites comments on a series of issues in an online consultation (deadline for replies 20 January 2006). The replies will feed into a proposal for a Recommendation on digitisation and digital preservation, to be presented in June 2006.

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IT AsiaOne - News - S'pore risks missing out on open-source wave: RedHat

IT AsiaOne - News - S'pore risks missing out on open-source wave: RedHat: "'Governments from Argentina to Vietnam have now introduced over 125 national open source policies into the public policy arena,' Tom Rabon Jr, executive vice-president of corporate affairs at RedHat told BizIT."

"another example of modern-day coopetition"

RED HERRING | TechSpin: Redmond Opens Up: "In another example of modern-day coopetition, Microsoft and JBoss, the open-source middleware products company, announced plans on Tuesday to improve interoperability between their platforms."

Open minds on open source - Next - Technology - theage.com.au

Open minds on open source - Next - Technology - theage.com.au: "There's consensus, however, on one critical aspect of today's innovation landscape - and that's the shift away from the closed, internalised attitudes of the past, to a more open approach."

Asterisk PBX: Open Source VoIP Branches Out

Asterisk PBX: Open Source VoIP Branches Out: "An open source PBX like Asterisk is in demand because it's almost infinitely customizable, says Mark Spencer, the original creator of Asterisk and president of Digium, the primary developer and sponsor of Asterisk, and supplier of interface cards and support for the software. 'In the telecoms business the advantage of customization is at a premium."

Peru's parliament approves pro-open source bill | Channel Register

Peru's parliament approves pro-open source bill | Channel Register: "Legislators in Peru have approved a hotly contested bill sanctioning use of open source software by government and levelling the playing field for start-ups against Microsoft."

LinuxWorld | Dell bets on Linux to capture enterprise market

LinuxWorld | Dell bets on Linux to capture enterprise market

To gutter i Haugerudveien 78

I dag kom Wasi og Zuqi på saft hos meg og Barbara.
Zurqanain Garabagih

BBC NEWS | Technology | Whose fault is it anyway?

BBC NEWS | Technology | Whose fault is it anyway?: "Security consultant Bruce Schneier, one of the most sensible, well-informed and insightful people working in the field, has argued for some time that without proper vendor liability we will never solve the problems of computer security."

Open Source: Now It's an Ecosystem

Open Source: Now It's an Ecosystem: "This software movement is branching into not just mainstream business applications but also the associated services. And VCs are eager to help "

OpenDocument could 'turn the world inside out' - ZDNet UK News

OpenDocument could 'turn the world inside out' - ZDNet UK News: "The data format standard has the potential to transform the world just as the Web did, according to a senior Sun executive"