Sunday April 29, 2007 links for 2007-04-29
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Netherlands getting ready for the effects of global warming. No doubt this is the sort of initiative that justifies Mr Bush's approach to the matter.
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Here's something you don't see every day.
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This is one of my favourite places to drive. The article includes some very good tips (even if he does completely ignore the serene Mono Lake), worth a read if you're planning to ride 395 soon (which I am!)
Posted by webmink
( Apr 29 2007, 02:20:43 AM PDT )
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Friday April 27, 2007 links for 2007-04-27
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Canonical boldly goes into the realm of trademarks. This whole topic very much needs a workshop for FOSS leaders to compare notes. In particular, I'd be interested to see how the Ubuntu policy holds up under US law.
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Excellent to see this available, I think it's a great way to let people try a new OS environment - even better than LiveCDs.
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Sad, sad news. Prepare for a wave of abusive litigation if this actually makes it into national law in europe.
Posted by webmink
( Apr 27 2007, 02:22:49 AM PDT )
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Thursday April 26, 2007 links for 2007-04-26
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Looks like the lobbyists have been able to use their congress rootkit again, legalising all the worst aspects of DRM and adware under the guise of preventing them. Note especially removal of the right of individuals to take legal action.
Posted by webmink
( Apr 26 2007, 02:23:04 AM PDT )
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Wednesday April 25, 2007 links for 2007-04-25
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In which we discover Sun has an Ubuntu software repository...
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Interesting idea that I've been kicking around for a while under the label "OpenTCK Community" - I'd envisage a test pool from which "official" tests could be selected for a certification suite. Just an idea though, nothing official.
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Shhh, they'll notice.
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A merger like this would be very welcome and I'd love to see it happen. It will take consent from China though since UOF is patent encumbered.
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Fabrizio highlights the main benefit of putting the JRE into Ubuntu and Debian. It's not just it's easy to install - it's also easy to have as a dependency, unlocking a whole new world of easy deployment.
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Free album, pretty good actually (if you like electronica)
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"The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands ... is the definition of tyranny," wrote James Madison. Naomi Wolf argues America is one 'national emergency' away.
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Mozilla chooses the same SCM as OpenSolaris and OpenJDK - Mercurial. Watch this space, large-systems SCM is going to be a critical element of FOSS.
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My son was 18 today and took me out for a beer at the pub. The UK smoking ban can't come a moment too soon, although it may make me drink beer more often
Posted by webmink
( Apr 25 2007, 02:28:03 AM PDT )
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Tuesday April 24, 2007 Open Source at JavaOne
I recorded a podcast yesterday with Sys-Con about the new open source stuff that's part of the programme at JavaOne this year. In the teaser for it, they got their wires a bit crossed, so here are some details. This is by no means all the cool free/open source stuff that's at JavaOne, I'll provide some more updates later.
- First, there's a new, no-charge pre-conference called CommunityOne, which has Tim O'Reilly as a keynote. It includes OpenSolaris, NetBeans, Glassfish, even RedMonk (running their very first RedMonkOne UnConference). Although it's free of charge, we're expecting a large crowd so you must sign up if you want to get in - NetBeans Day already has over 800 registered delegates, and the rest of the tracks are filling fast. Oh, and as Barton says, the Solaris vs Linux track looks pretty interesting too.
- The .Org Zone on the exhibit floor at JavaOne Tuesday to Thursday is open to bona fides .Org FOSS communities - I wrote about it earlier. I gather it is over 90% full so you'd better hurry
- There's an Open Source Track at JavaOne itself, where I will be moderating a panel with Eben Moglen and Cliff Schmidt of Apache - great place to compare-and-contrast licensing philosophies.
- There's a new unConference called JavaOne Camp taking place on site - JavaOne attendees must register (for free) to attend.
- There's a place to park your boss while you attend JavaOne - the new Business Day on Tuesday. I'll be speaking at that about open source models.
- Finally, my group (Sun Open Source Group) is running an unBOF at the Thirsty Bear on Wednesday evening, including the traditional Blogger's Beer Bash.
Lots of new stuff, big focus on open source - see you there!
Posted by webmink
( Apr 24 2007, 12:58:21 PM PDT )
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Links for 2007-04-24
- Sun Microsystems UK - Sun's 25th Anniversary Sale
Two weeks of even lower prices to celebrate Sun's 25th year. If you still think Sun is expensive, look at the "before" prices... - Sun Microsystems US - 25 Year Sale
Really low prices on the Ultra 20 (I have one). And see, StarOffice is half price to US customers. - Ian Murdock as Sun Chief OS Platform Strategist : The Cuddletech Verdict
I'm pleased Ben has come round to this view - I think the OpenSolaris future is much more assured with Ian on board (and indeed with Sara now working along side him). - xkcd - Billboards
The Algorithm Has Been Hijacked - How Sun promotes OSS in China
Interesting snippet here. I am on the advisory board of the China Open Source Promotion Union, so can vouch for the fact Sun is helping China move to FOSS. - Roller graduation and 3.1 announcement
Hearty congratulations to the Roller developers - Apache is all the better for having you. Now, how about you get into Debian?
Posted by webmink
( Apr 24 2007, 04:36:16 AM PDT )
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Monday April 23, 2007 Last Chance on Euro-DMCA
I wrote to my MEPs last week (that's Members of the European Parliament) using the wonderful Write To Them about IPRED2. Here's what I said, in a personal capacity:
Dear Daniel Hannan, Peter Skinner, Ashley Mote, Caroline Lucas, James Elles, Sharon Bowles, Nirj Deva, Richard Ashworth, Nigel Farage and Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne,
I note that the IPR Enforcement Directive comes to vote soon at the European Parliament. I am very concerned with this legislation and with the chilling effect it is likely to have on the emerging culture and economy of the Internet. By providing established large businesses with a new tool to exploit, we risk the dampening of the innovation that is happening online.
This is an unproven area, and as the US experience with the DMCA shows, unleashing powerful sanctions at the behest of existing businesses results in random abuse rather than its prevention. This directive may have aspects which lobbyists from the drug, software and communications industries can make sound appealing, but it will restrain open source software development in Europe and the pioneering of new European businesses. It is only pro-innovation for those with existing monopolies or near-monopolies.
If this directive had been in place before, Oracle could have crushed MySQL, Microsoft could have crushed OpenOffice.org and Skype would never have happened. Please vote against it.
Yours sincerely,
Simon Phipps
I said "against" since the e-mail was already long enough without articulating the pros and cons of each proposed amendment - I know they will get the point! So far I have had placeholder responses from Lucas, Bowles and Mote and a real reply from Farage. I've offered to discuss the legislation with any of them that want to contact me direct.
As Glyn and Cory both point out, if you are a citizen of a country that is a member of the EU, today is probably your last chance to beg your representatives not to cave to the unholy alliance of drug, media and software companies that wants to make criminal sanctions available against copyright and patent abusers. It needs to remain a civil matter, and the proposed amendments do their best to keep it that way.
Posted by webmink
( Apr 23 2007, 05:47:12 AM PDT )
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links for 2007-04-23
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A really useful set of advice to take to heart.
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Tell me this guy won't be the next US president, someone, please.
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David's sentiment is on-target but as the comments show he's off-target in the incident he chooses to illustrate it, which is simply McCan slipping into Cheney mode in a revealing way.
Posted by webmink
( Apr 23 2007, 02:23:46 AM PDT )
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Sunday April 22, 2007 links for 2007-04-22
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I am the speaker at the Sydney OSUG on May 3rd - come along if you're local (or even if you're not).
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This is impossibly petty and casts British Airways once again in the role of humourless and grasping (just the way they seemed to me when I was a frequent customer, long ago)
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Good tone and good content from Mark make for a positive and hopeful essay on the subject of JCKs and Free software.
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Interesting decision. I do hope their description of who has to pay just reflects a simplified explanation of how the GPL works and doesn't indicate they intend to add terms to the GPL though.
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Many seem to involve fatty food and alcohol. The rest look like fun.
Posted by webmink
( Apr 22 2007, 05:25:41 AM PDT )
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Thursday April 19, 2007 Full Java Stack In Ubuntu
I just got back from Brazil, where I was honoured to be a speaker at FISL 8. Attended by over 5,000 people, FISL is one of the world's largest Free software events. I gave them an update on progress making the Java platform Free software in an open source community. The reaction was overwhelming - I kept having people come and thank me for Sun's contribution to Free software.
I wondered why so many people were so grateful, and once it was explained I understood. In Brazil, almost all the banks have online banking interfaces written as Java applets; the tax authorities have a tax filing applet; the use of Java is pervasive. This was great - except for people on GNU/Linux. It turns out that making the JDK available in Debian made an enormous difference to the Brazilian Free software movement, since they were finally able to gain the same access to the necessities of modern online life as those trapped on proprietary operating systems.
So I assume they will be delighted with today's announcement, made a little while ago by Sun software EVP Rich Green in a speech in São Paulo. The news is that a full Java developer stack with tools is available from today in the Multiverse repository for Ubuntu 7.04 (that's Feisty Fawn). It includes JDK 6, the Glassfish Java EE server, the NetBeans development environment and the Java DB database. From today, Ubuntu becomes a first-class Java developer platform (just like Solaris Express already is). That also makes deployment easy - having Glassfish or Java DB as a dependency becomes almost trivial. More details on Sun's GNU/Linux page. Ubuntu gets a new colour!
Posted by webmink
( Apr 19 2007, 08:38:56 AM PDT )
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links for 2007-04-19
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Mark responds to criticism of binary drivers with a new, politically correct edition of Ubuntu and a bunch of bad monkey jokes to provide balance.
Posted by webmink
( Apr 19 2007, 02:25:44 AM PDT )
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Wednesday April 18, 2007 links for 2007-04-18
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New Tolkien book, completed posthumously from notes - I just ordered it.
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I'll be attending this as much as I can, should be interesting.
Posted by webmink
( Apr 18 2007, 02:25:19 AM PDT )
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Tuesday April 17, 2007 Dot-Org Zone at JavaOne
Back in January, Geir asked for an area for open source communities at JavaOne. Well, after much negotiation with the show organisers (not actually Sun, you know), we've been able to secure a ".Org Zone" at JavaOne for Free and Open Source communities.
If you represent a bona fides FOSS project, have a .org domain and would like to staff a presence in the .Org Zone at JavaOne this year, consider applying to be in the Zone. You'll have to staff a table for one or more two-hour slots, and you'll get a pass for JavaOne that allows you attend keynotes on the day you are there as well as gain access to the exhibit pavilion. And you get to come to our party on Wednesday night too!
First come, first served, and we're at about 40% capacity as of start of business today. To apply, write to Laura-dot-Ramsey-at-Sun-dot-Com right now and ask for details.
Posted by webmink
( Apr 17 2007, 12:27:13 AM PDT )
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Monday April 16, 2007 links for 2007-04-16
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I get there tomorrow, this should make a huge difference to how the city looks.
Posted by webmink
( Apr 16 2007, 02:28:03 AM PDT )
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