Archive for the 'Microsoft' Category
Thursday, May 1st, 2008
UK standards body taken to court over OOXML approval process
There’s some interesting backlash over OOXML’s approval in the UK.
The British Standards Institution has been taken to court by a group of Unix users in an attempt to get the standards body to recant its approval of Microsoft’s Office Open XML document format.
I find it ironic that there is not a single instance where anyone has really shown a love for OOXML or some sort of even small inclination that it was a good thing to approve as an international standard. Instead it seems the vote was PawnsPaidByMSFT vs PeopleWhoThinkForThemselves. Well now it’s in the UK courts.
Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008
Ubuntu 8.04 “Hardy Heron” arrives tomorrow
Unless you’ve been without internet access for days, you should know by now that Ubuntu’s next release is due tomorrow and that is always an exciting time. So fire up your fastest mirror tomorrow and see how much bandwidth you can grab before a billion others do the same ;)
I really like the direction Mark is taking with Ubuntu on the server. One, it offers a competing model for the industry compared to the RHEL/SLES model, two Ubuntu is pushing the technology further (e.g. KVM) and making it very easy for users to adopt (ala Microsoft Windows), and finally, it’s one platform that does well in many circles from desktop to server (ala Windows). So while Red Hat, Novell and Oracle fight over what’s left of Sun’s Solaris install base and grab some of the Windows opportunity, Ubuntu is driving straight into the Windows Vista SP1 Party with a fresh alternative. Now let’s just get those “Apple-like” Ubuntu systems we need with all the Adobe apps on them ;-)
Ubuntu article: http://www.linuxworld.com/news/2008/042108-ubuntu-linux-takes-on-enterprise.html?page=1
P.S. I claim absolutely no insight into what amount of sheer stupidity or drunkenness led to that Microsoft video link. I think sogrady said it best with just, “words fail me”.
Monday, April 21st, 2008
OOXML: A standard with no implementation
Even Microsoft cannot conform to its own OOXML standard…
Tuesday, April 15th, 2008
Mainsoft adds features to port ASP.Net AJAX to JAVA (and onto Linux)
Mainsoft has really cool technology for migrating Windows apps to Java which then lets you run the apps anywhere – Linux, UNIX, Mainframe, cellphone … ok, I’m not sure about a cellphone ;-). Now they’ve added ASP.Net AJAX to their portfolio. I *think* the only thing they do not port today with their product is Windows Forms… I could be wrong, but my golden rule has been if it runs on a Windows server, it will run on Linux or any platform that runs Java.
http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Application-Development/Mainsoft-Ports-ASPNet-AJAX-to-Linux/
Mainsoft’s new product lets developers use Microsoft’s ASP.Net to build applications for Linux.
Mainsoft has announced tooling that enables developers to use Microsoft’s ASP.Net AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) on Linux.
Tuesday, April 8th, 2008
Swiss Education System to migrate 9,000 desktops from Windows to Linux
Great news for Linux as a desktop platform as the Swiss Education System signs up 9,000 desktops for the move.
http://www.linuxwins.com/9000-swiss-education-computers-drop-windows-for-linux/
From the Google translated page, it appears these desktop were in dual boot setups and are now going to be straight Ubuntu Linux.
What is the use? Candolle In college, it was anticipated the guidelines of DPI. Après des années de « dual boot , c’est-à-dire d’ordinateurs équipés d’un double système d’exploitation Windows/Linux, les machines tournent désormais exclusivement sous Ubuntu, une «distribution» de Linux. After years of “dual boot, ie computers equipped with a dual operating system Windows / Linux, the machines are now exclusively under Ubuntu, a” distribution “of Linux.
Friday, April 4th, 2008
My old neighborhood featured in ComputerWorld for migrating its schools to Linux
I was so proud to see a city that I used to “hang out” in when in high school (usually at a batting cage, on a baseball field, or in a gym for pitchers-catchers practice – see a theme?) has begun deploying Linux PCs across its school district. I’m from the Cleveland, Ohio area originally and Brecksville-Broadview Heights is actually a very nice area so while budgets and schools may always seem to be in conflict, I have no doubt, B-BH’s school district is doing much better financially than others. If it makes sense in a city that could afford Windows, I’m sure it makes sense in many other school districts across the world. I’ll have to try meeting up with John next time I’m in town visiting.
I’m copying/pasting an usually large amount of text from ComputerWorld and recommend reading the entire article here:
http://www.linuxworld.com/news/2008/040108-school-districts-serve-up-lessons.html?page=3
Brecksville-Broadview Heights City School District opts for Eee PCs
John Schinker is the technology coordinator for the Brecksville-Broadview Heights City School District in Ohio, which is comprised of six schools serving some 4,800 students from kindergarten to grade 12.
Schinker oversees all aspects of technology for the district, including hardware, software, instructional applications and networking operations.
Schinker purchased eight Linux-based Eee PCs for the district: one for the technical staff, one for himself, and one for each school, with instructions to pass them around among students and staff to determine how they can fit into the district’s educational environment.
“For us, the price was the major selling factor. If we had gone with Windows, it would have increased the cost by about US$150 and the hardware would be underpowered. Even running XP SP2, we would need more RAM in them. Linux was really the way to go to keep the cost manageable,” Schinker said.
So what do the kids think of Linux compared to Windows?
“So far, it hasn’t been an issue. Other than the Eee PCs and most of our servers, we’re Windows only. But the Eee PC is so intuitive, it hasn’t been a problem. Our experience with the Eee PC has prompted us to look at using something like Linpus on our older desktop hardware too,” he said.
Schinker said one positive outcome from Linux is that it forces the district to limit the scope of the Eee PCs.
“By not running Windows, we can put some limits on the expectations of the little laptops. They’re not going to run Accelerated Reader, or Successmaker or Adobe CS. We can focus the expectations on the things that it does well rather than trying to make all of these other applications work, and that is really nice from a tech perspective.”
What the Linux Eee PC will do for the district is allow kids to access the Web, write essays and stories, collect and graph data, and prepare and deliver presentations.
“My own kids, ages 6 and 8, really like Tux Paint. They say it’s as good as or better than the commercial Kid Pix program.”
But Schinker doesn’t think it matters what OS kids use, as long as it is tailored to their educational needs.
“Certainly the user interface on the Eee PC is intuitive…but there are plenty of Windows front-ends that will do the same thing and are just as easy to use.
“I think the older kids will have concerns that aren’t focused on the OS per se; they’ll be more easily frustrated by the screen resolution and keyboard size than the younger kids, but I don’t think the OS is a concern for them,” he said.
With the education sector typically under funded, the low entry cost to open source has its appeal, Schinker said.
“On the server side, almost everything we use is open source. We run Linux servers with Apache, MySQL, PHP, WordPress, Moodle, Samba, Xmail, Dovecot, SquirrelMail, etc. In almost every case, we’ve been able to implement better technology for less money because of the availability of open source and open standards technologies.”
But the cost savings aren’t always worth the migration efforts.
On the desktop the district tends to use more proprietary software, such as MS Office which costs around US$60 per copy. While OpenOffice would be more economical, Schinker said it is not worth the compatibility issues a migration would result in.
“I do think we focus too much in education on the tools. There’s the argument that we should be using what the ‘real world’ uses to better prepare our students. I argue that we need to focus on teaching concepts rather than specific software applications. Those skills can then be applied to whatever software package they end up using,” he said.
Thursday, April 3rd, 2008
Are April Fools’ posts for fools? Are you fooled? I pity the fool
Ask a good IP lawyer you know whether Jonathan *could* do this if he suddenly wanted to… ask your IP savvy lawyer to read the Solaris 10 license, then the Contributor Agreement, patents that could cover Solaris and explain to you what IP a vendor could still control or use against you if you were to start making OpenSPARC chips, ship Solaris around the world, etc… You may also look at what Solaris products you actually might use on a server… and the IP/licenses associated there. Have you seen anyone benchmarking Solaris 10 and publishing results online? Oh, that’s right, it’s not allowed (See the post from emantion near the end). Was that a surprise to you considering all the “open” messaging you may be hearing? Did you confuse OpenSolaris with Solaris 10?
Then consider that while the CDDL isn’t too bad, it was intentionally developed to be incompatible with the GPL and the only open source OS to really matter, the Linux kernel. (Sorry BSD guys… I know… you’re hurt, but … sorry) Once you have an answer from your astute lawyer, I’d ask, would having all that power and control in one vendor concern you? Could they take it away?
http://blogs.sun.com/jonathan/entry/a_new_strategy
I pity the fool.
Now ask your lawyer to read the GPL license that comes with RHEL, Debian, Ubuntu, Asianux, OEL or SLES (ignoring MSFT/Novell for the moment). Simpler? Want to post a benchmark comparing any Linux distro’s performance? Go right ahead. Can any 1 vendor stop you? No…
Continuing this line of thought, now look at where all the other industry vendors participating in mass open source collaboration are heavily investing right now, today, and tomorrow. You can read about this over at the Linux Foundation (yes, the second plug for this fine work). Or you can look at Apache or even one that surprises me daily, Eclipse.
http://www.linux-foundation.org/publications/linuxkerneldevelopment.php
And some actually are still surprised that Red Hat keeps growing amid pointed attacks from Sun, Microsoft, and Oracle? “First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win.”
Winning was just the next step ;-) Congratulations Red Hat, Novell, Debian, and Ubuntu.
Thursday, April 3rd, 2008
Ubuntu 8.04′s “Install inside Windows” option
It’s been one of those things were I kept hearing “Ubuntu” and something about making it easy for “Windows” users but I never really thought it would be much more than some basic migration tool no one would ever use. However, I just read this article and now I get it. Ubuntu has made dual boot without disturbing your NTFS partition in Windows absolutely foolproof. I’m amazed at the simplicity. Now Ubuntu has a huge advantage over Apple… think Apple.. I know Mark doesn’t think the business model works, but being then “open” Apple is the way to go. Sleek desktop deals, Ubuntu-compliant peripherals, Adobe supported apps, Lotus Notes for enterprise users, Zimbra for SMBs…
Sorry about that, I went off course. Take a look at this article which includes the play-by-play screenshots for running Ubuntu “inside” Windows. (and it works with Vista)
http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=1570&tag=nl.e622
Thursday, April 3rd, 2008
Who really writes “Linux”? A special report from the Linux Foundation
Steven posted a good eWeek article summarizing the recent Linux Foundation report on who writes and contributes to the Linux kernel development. Too many have written blogs with titles like “who writes Linux” that I had to put “Linux” in quotes in my title. The reason is that this document/report is about the Linux kernel and there are many things that people commonly associate with “Linux” that are outside the kernel. Think of Gnome which is written by the Gnome community, KDE which is sponsored by Trolltech, package management tools from Red Hat, Debian or Novell (e.g. YaST, Apt Yum), a multitude of libraries, and even OpenOffice which is still controlled by Sun, but now with contributions from IBM.
So I would agree this report is fantastic – it provides a view into what’s going on beyond what we “think” happens. The Linux kernel community is a great success story in what Amanda calls “mass community collaboration” – even more ironic because there are many competitors, vendors, academics, hobbyists, customers and other random experts collaborating in one place.
Read the report (it’s “free as in beer”) and find out everything you wanted to know about Linux kernel development (including perhaps that IBM is the #3 contributor to the kernel). The story this report tells is a truly unique feature of the Linux community. You won’t see it anywhere in the communities or practices of other OSs, no matter how “open” they proclaim to have become.
The report is interesting in how it also debunks some myths that somehow get spread around. For instance, some have said “kernel development will slow down as the features catch up to UNIX/Windows”. Not true.
Some have said “Linux is just IBM” or “Linux is just Red Hat” trying to position Linux as dominated or caused by one entity that they’re not fond of. Again, not true (see the section of the report on Contributors).
Finally, take a look at how some end user companies are participating and reaping the benefits of a true collaborative development community. Did you know your next VW will be powered by Linux? Did you ever think the same features that make an auto’s systems “crash-proof” could also help on a server or mobile phone? The VW bullet is a pure example of innovation being applied to adjacent spaces – it would never happen in Windows, AIX or Solaris.
- Companies like Sony, Nokia, and Samsung ship Linux as a component of products like video cameras, television sets, and mobile telephones. Working with the development process helps these companies ensure that Linux will continue to be a solid base for their products in the future.
- Companies which are not in the information technology business can still find working with Linux beneficial. The 2.6.25 kernel will include an implementation of the PF_CAN network protocol which was contributed by Volkswagen. PF_CAN allows for reliable communications between components in an interference-prone environment – such as that found in an automobile. Linux gave Volkswagen a platform upon which it could build its networking code; the company then found it worthwhile to contribute the code back so that it could be maintained with the rest of the kernel. http://lwn.net/Articles/253425/ for more information on this work.
So with that I will end my praises and simply point you to the source over at the LF website here.
Sunday, March 30th, 2008
Microsoft Windows 7 going to look a lot like Linux?
It seems like Sun and Microsoft, for all their anti-Linux crusading are both sending strong signals that their OS’s will in the future look a lot more like Linux…
“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”
Wednesday, March 12th, 2008
The SFLC publishes an analysis of Microsoft’s Open Specification Promise
The analysis document can be downloaded here: http://www.softwarefreedom.org/resources/2008/osp-gpl.html
Nonprofit Group Says Microsoft Promise Provides No Assurance for Developers
The Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC), provider of pro-bono legal services to protect and advance free and open source software, today published a paper that considers the legal implications of Microsoft’s Open Specification Promise (OSP) and explains why it should not be relied upon by developers concerned about patent risk.
Now this Microsoft response is just ridiculous:
“Because the General Public License (GPL) is not universally interpreted the same way by everyone, we can’t give anyone a legal opinion about how our language relates to the GPL or other OSS licenses, but based on feedback from the open source community we believe that a broad audience of developers can implement the specification(s).”
Monday, March 10th, 2008
NVIDIA Quadro Driver runs fastest on… Linux? What, not Windows??
It’s true, the NVIDIA graphics driver for Linux appears to best Windows and Solaris – and by a wide margin. I think the “Linux support” issue can be somewhat put to bed finally – except for ease of updating with kernel revs… now that is usually a pain still. I am somewhat amazed at how strongly Windows secured a last place finish… I wonder how much is due to the driver and how much to the OS…
By the way, if you’re wondering how a company got away with comparing performance with Solaris (which is not allowed per the Solaris license), you should note that they used the Solaris Express Developer Edition which I can only assume does not have the clause preventing non-Sun licensed parties from publishing Solaris performance results (I have not read that license myself, but am guessing Phoronix did – or they secured permission from Sun…).
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=nvidia_workstation_perf&num=1
Thursday, March 6th, 2008
Windows Live SkyDrive is actually very awesome
I really like Microsoft’s Windows Live SkyDrive service. It gives you 5GB of online storage similar to Novell’s iFolder. The service requires a Windows Live account, but once you have one it’s painless to setup/use. You can also control access with Personal, Shared and Public folders. It’s very easy and simple which is a good thing. Try it out:
Wednesday, February 27th, 2008
Microsoft gets slapped by the EU for another record fine – will it really help??
Perhaps Microsoft’s recent, lame “open” announcements were prompted by an impending $1.3B fine… does anyone really think this will stop Microsoft? It’s just a tax and you know who will bear the cost (yes, those using Microsoft’s products, or Microsoft’s investors). I think a better solution would have been to look at what market structure would be necessary to facilitate the behavior that is needed. I think when it comes to Microsoft and its constant run-ins with antitrust regulators it is evident fines are not working. The industry needs regulators to step in with an effective structural change.
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2008/02/27/ap4702025.html?partner=alerts
BRUSSELS, Belgium – The European Union fined Microsoft Corp. a record euro899 million (US$1.3 billion) on Wednesday for charging rivals too much for software information.
EU regulators said the company charged “unreasonable prices” until last October to software developers who wanted to make products compatible with the Windows desktop operating system.
Monday, February 18th, 2008
Windows XP SP2 vs Vista SP1: Guess which one wins?
I “heard” Vista SP1 was supposed to be faster, and now I just saw that ZDNet put the claim to the test. It’s not clear from these results that Vista SP1 is any faster than XP SP2… in fact Vista won only 2 out of 15 benchmark tests which signals to me that it’s probably slower. Why should users upgrade again?
http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=1332&page=4
Tuesday, February 12th, 2008
When will the M&A market wake up?
I hate seeing business mistakes that happen over-and-over again and each time someone tries to make up a justification for the same trend. In the late 90′s it was Netscape and then AOL, AOL, AOL. Now those failed ridiculously – there’s always a hit platform of the day – something as fleeting as the popular bar of the week in a major city. Now it’s MySpace, YouTube, and Facebook, and this nonsense continues. To be worth extraordinarily high multiples, a company has to generate revenues – hear me? Revenues; yes, that means money.
Sorry, just a rant of the day, but think about how similar some of these “Web 2.0″ acquisitions and valuations can be compared to AOL. It’s a platform for social networking – and social networks change. Perhaps they’ll be popular in certain crowds for some time, but how will they generate revenue? (ads is the only obvious one… and those are predictable revenues). Beyond that, what justifies such a ginormous valuation? The user population may grow, but even at a peak estimate, what is the revenue stream? Does it match the valuation? Revenues are simple and any company has good average estimates to predict ad revenues. The formula is simple: $/click * average clicks …. not too difficult.
I get the scary feeling M&A activity in some IT circles has become too much of a billion dollar dartboard game. Bet on this new hit platform, that exploding platform, next year’s hottest platform… nonsense, bet on revenue streams that you can predict. If you have some other business model, so be it, but any decent analyst can predict the 3 yr future. If you’re using over 5 years to justify a high multiple valuation based on what should be a predictable revenue stream… come talk to me and I’ll help you spend it wisely on something else.
And with that backdrop, think about Yahoo! and Microsoft…
Saturday, February 9th, 2008
Microsoft puts the IP threats to UK company streaming Office
Microsoft has said that the Internet service provider Fasthosts, which has started offering a hosted version of Microsoft Office 2007, is infringing on the software giant’s license regulations.
Monday, February 4th, 2008
IBM’s Bob Sutor responds to Microsoft’s… nonsense and whining
Saw this article over at Ars today:
We spoke to Bob Sutor, vice president of standards and open source for IBM, who responded to Microsoft’s recent claims regarding IBM’s involvement in the OOXML dispute. “IBM believes that there is a revolution occurring in the IT industry, and that smart people around the world are demanding truly open standards developed in a collaborative, democratic way for the betterment of all,” Sutor told Ars. “If ‘business as usual’ means trying to foist a rushed, technically inferior and product-specific piece of work like OOXML on the IT industry, we’re proud to stand with the tens of countries and thousands of individuals who are willing to fight against such bad behavior.
Friday, February 1st, 2008
Microsoft! Really! Wants! Yahoo!
Wow, you know a company is desparate to acquire into a space when they’re paying 60% plus premiums… there goes a MySQL and Linux user…
Microsoft said Friday it has offered to acquire Yahoo in a proposed cash and stock deal valued at $44.6 billion.
Microsoft said it had offered to buy Yahoo for $31 per share, which it said represented a 62 percent premium above the company’s closing stock price on Nasdaq on Thursday.
Saturday, January 26th, 2008
Coverage on IBM’s Open Collaboration Client Solution with Ubuntu
Saw a few articles today on IBM’s OCCS announcement with Ubuntu.
Satyadas said IBM thinks that this year, it will happen. “All the stars are lining up,” he said. “Everybody has been saying that since 2001 except IBM. We never said that, but we are saying that now.”
It’s easy to overlook IBM’s announcement that its Lotus Notes and Lotus Symphony suites will run on Ubuntu. I think this would be a mistake. IBM is not a dumb company. It’s not in the habit of wasting resources. For IBM to be partnering up with Ubuntu says something about the enterprise mindset on Ubuntu.
By porting key software to Linux, IBM is looking to give businesses one less reason to buy products from rival Microsoft — which IBM said offers “a proprietary desktop model.” IBM’s Linux efforts will “further address customer demands around choice,” said Inna Kuznetsova, an IBM executive with responsibility for Linux, in a statement.
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