Opening the Floodgates

One thing I've never understood is why more low-cost PC manufacturers don't routinely include free software with their offerings. After all, it's the perfect way to provide all the capabilities most users need without increasing the price, or, indeed, taking away the possibility of adding certain other non-free software later.

Perhaps it's simply that PCs haven't been cheap enough for it to matter so much given Microsoft's deep discounts for hardware companies. That's another great thing about the ultraportables: they really do take down prices to new levels.

Against that background, maybe this interesting news will finally signal the opening of the floodgates: a German review of the new Asus Eee PC 900, running Windows XP, that comes not only with the utterly useless Microsoft Works package, but also StarOffice, Sun's supported version of OpenOffice.org. (Via Erwin Tenhumberg.)

Why is Microsoft Poking the EU in the Eye?

On Open Enterprise blog.

Windows XP Service Pack 3 Good, Vista Bad

Oh look, yet another reason *not* to upgrade to Vista:

The third service pack for XP gives you all the Windows XP performance updates, security updates and hotfixes that have been released since Service Pack 2 came out way back in August 2004. While Service Pack 3 may not be as big of a change as Service Pack 2 was, there are some noteworthy features from Vista that have been included in this release. Namely, NAP, a policy enforcement platform for limiting network access to secure machines, “Black Hole” Router Detection, a cryptographic module for the kernel and a new Product Activation module allows you to install XP without a product key.

Eee - That's What I Call Speed

Another reason GNU/Linux will do well in the ultraportable sector: Windows XP is much slower than GNU/Linux on the Asus Eee PC.

I timed each part (starting up, launching Firefox, and shutting down) to see what the time difference really was. Here is what I found:

Startup
Linux: 30 seconds - Windows: 54 seconds
Launching Firefox
Linux: 4 seconds - Windows: 16 seconds
Shutdown
Linux: 6 seconds - Windows: 68 seconds

Has Asus Lost the Plot on Ultraportables?

Like many, I have been waxing lyrical about the possibilities of the new ultraportable market pretty much created by the Asus Eee PC. One of the key drivers of this sector is cost, so anything that reduces it is likely to be important. Against this background it's hard to understand the following:

Asus Eee PC 4G (white, Windows XP)

Product Summary

The good: Small, light weight, and inexpensive; Windows XP for the same price as the Linux version.

The *same price*? Are they bonkers?

Fortunately, Asus is not the only player in this sector - there's probably around a dozen now. So if Asus won't do the decent/sensible thing and pass on the savings arising from using free software, I'm sure someone else will.

Update: But here it says same price, but more memory for GNU/Linux....

Of Microsoft, GNU/Linux and Boiled Asses' Heads

On Linux Journal blog.

Paying the Price of Windows

I've written variously about the implications of the arrival of the ultraportable sector (at greatest length here), notably that as the price of systems fall, so the chasm between Windows and GNU/Linux pricing deepens - at least relatively (can you have a relative chasm?). Against that background, this is interesting:

However, our source told us that there would be two new SKUs, the Eee PC 900 Win and Eee PC 900, with the former featuring Windows XP pre-installed, 1GB RAM and a 12GB SSD for just £329 inc. VAT. More intriguing, though, was the latter new Linux edition, which we were told would house 20GB of storage and retail for the same price as the XP version.

See what they've done? Rather selling the GNU/Linux version for less than the one running Windows XP, Asus has upped the spec for the former, and kept the price the same. That doesn't seem very logical: after all, GNU/Linux actually needs *less* memory than XP, so it would have been more sensible to keep the memory the same, and cut the price.

The cynic in me can't help feeling that Asus has been leant on here by Microsoft, and "persuaded" not to sell the GNU/Linux system for less than that of Windows XP. The assumption being that most users won't care about the difference in RAM, and will just go ahead and stick with familiar old XP when given the choice between what seem to be similar systems.

Madness: ATMs Running Windows XP?

How stupid can banks get?

A white paper by security services company Network Box has said ATM's are less secure because of changes to the way they operate. It said that 70 per cent of current ATMs are essentially PCs running PC operating systems like Windows XP. This makes them more susceptible than when ATMs were mainly built with proprietary software and communication protocols.

...

"If [the banks] have got Windows XP-based ATM's then this is obviously something which is a concern. We don't want our details sent in plain text. The current firewall protection is not sufficient and they need to look seriously in how to rectify this so there isn't a breach," said Heron.

So *that's* why the collective noun for bankers is a wunch.

Hallelujah! An MP Who Groks IT

Many of the UK Government's fiascos - both old ones like the loss of 25 million bank details, or future ones like ID cards - could be avoided if there were people in office who understood IT. After all, the mistakes that are being made - allowing someone to download 25 million records and then send them through the post, or creating a centralised database of everyone's most personal details - aren't exactly subtle.

Alas, these people are rare, but one such is John Pugh, the Liberal Democrat MP for Southport. I've met him a few times, and always been impressed by his grasp of technical issues, and that is demonstrated once more in this letter to Mark Thompson, the BBC's Director-General, a copy of which has been passed on to me. It deals with the thorny matter of the iPlayer, and follows a meeting with Parliament's Public Accounts Committee:

It's worth quoting at length:

I do recognise that [the iPlayer] has an attractive interface,is user friendly and addresses digital rights issues so I stop short of suggesting the BBC has bought a lemon.

The more fundamental issue is its failure to apply open standards and be sufficiently interoperable to work fully (stream and download) on more than one platform. The BBC is funded by licence players not all of whom have or chose to use a computer running Windows XP or Vista. By guaranteeing full functionality to the products of one software vendor it is as a public body handing a commercial advantage to that company- effectively illegal state aid!
The aspiration to eventually ( you said within two years) remove this advantage- does not rebut this charge. A promise of amendment is never sufficient excuse for past sins or indeed much of an explanation.

Most major web based developments of any scale these days work on the presumption that interoperablity, open standards and platform neutrality are givens. It is not clear why the BBC design brief did not specify these requirements or if it did what technical problems-given the expertise available- hinder them being implemented.

So long as the I-Player is bundled in with Windows/Internet Explorer it continues runs the risk of breaching state aid rules - as the benefits it thereby bestows on Microsoft (with their somewhat blemished reputation for fair competition) come via the deployment of the public’s licence money. What might be a pragmatic choice for a privately funded company becomes deeply problematic for a public corporation.

I recognise and welcome the assurances that the BBC and you personally have given on this subject but wonder whether the sheer novelty of the new media has blinded many to the clear commercial inequity in the delivery of it.

Now all we need to do is make sure that John becomes Prime Minister....

Noahpad: The Asus Eee Wannabe(ee)

I've written several times about the Asus Eee PC, and how I see it as the start of a new market sector where open source possesses considerable advantages. Here's further proof of that: the Noahpad UMPC:

‧ Smaller than A5 size and only 0.78 kg .
‧ 7” TFT compact design to display 10” window.
‧ Apply Noahpad technology.
‧ Laptop and palmtop two operation modes.
‧ 30G super large storage.
‧ Rich network and wireless connectivity.
‧ External battery.
‧ Over 50 function keys for learning, working and playing…

And, needless to say, it runs GNU/Linux (although it also mutters about "Windows XP compatible" whatever that means.) I predict we'll see many more of these Asus Eee wannabes. (Via Linux Loop.)

Microsoft: Gone in a Flash

I have commented here and elsewhere that the new category of ultra-light portables using flash memory represents a huge opportunity for GNU/Linux - and a potential bloody nose for Microsoft. It seems I'm not the only one to see it that way:

Microsoft announced plans today to expand support for Windows XP on budget flash-storage computing devices with an eye towards getting Windows XP running on the OLPC. The software giant will publish design guidelines next year that will make it possible for manufacturers of low-cost mobile devices to build hardware that provides optimal compatibility with Microsoft's legacy operating system. The company also announced plans for field trials next month that will put Windows XP to the test on One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project's XO laptop.

This is interesting from two points of view.

First, it confirms that Windows Vista is a complete dog: it will be Windows XP, rather than Vista, that forms the basis for most desktop computing - which means less revenue for Microsoft, and trouble with its entire ratchet pricing model.

Secondly, it shows - contrary to all the usual whining - that GNU/Linux is innovating, and Microsoft is following. In fact, this is far from the only such case of open source being the leader - remember, the Internet is open at all levels - but it's nice that Microsoft is once again seen to be trotting behind the open pack with its tail between its legs.

The Joy of Ratchetlessness

Irrespective of the relative merits of free and proprietary software, there is one aspect where free software wins hands down. Proprietary software is based on the ratchet principle: once you start using it, you are eventually forced to move up through the upgrades; free software has no such compulsion. This ratchet is bad enough for people using legitimate copies of proprietary software, but for those using unlicensed versions, it's even worse:

"At first when Microsoft officers visited us, they convinced us on the importance of operating on genuine software which we didn't object to, but the manner they are doing it cannot let us sustain our businesses," he said.

His dilemma started when Microsoft sent him a letter stating that they would want him to legalise his operating system. However , he says that his business is operating on Windows 2000, but then Microsoft asked them to upgrade to Windows XP. "After testing the Windows XP, we found that it was not suitable for us but they insisted that we must go that way," he claimed.

He welcomed legalising software on Windows 2000, to which Microsoft says they did not want to license what they don't support.

So what did this chap do? Yup:

he embraced Open Source. "At first I was hesitant but with what am experiencing, I wish I had gone Open Source long time ago. It did not cost me anything. I closed for two days and installed all the machines with the Open Source software" he says.

In this respect, proprietary software is a victim of its own business model - it simply must get more money out of forced upgrades. Free software, of course, can offer upgrades for free or even - revolutionary thought - simply let people use old software, and find support from like-minded people online. (Via FSDaily.)

When the Microsoft Train hits the Brooksian Wall

For a long time enthusiasts of the open source development methodology have predicted that the traditional method will sink in the sand sooner or later. And since, as far as we can tell, Microsoft still employs such methods, the expectation is that one day its operating system upgrade would be a downgrade.

It's hard to tell from all the noise in the comments, but preliminary results seem to suggest Vista is that downgrade:

Extensive testing by the exo.performance.network (www.xpnet.com) research staff shows that SP1 provides no measurable relief to users saddled with sub-par performance under Vista.

And here's some corroboration that people are beginning to realise that the Microsoft train has hit the Brooksian wall:

Ninety percent of 961 IT professionals surveyed said they have concerns about migrating to Vista and more than half said they have no plans to deploy Vista.

Oh, Well Done, Microsoft

Look: little Johnny Microsoft is doing *ever* so well in his plucky attempt to catch up with that clever GNU/Linux chap:

Microsoft Corp has made progress in getting its Windows software to work on a low-cost laptop computer for poor children that currently runs on rival Linux software, an executive said on Thursday.

The world's largest software company is now working to adapt a basic version of Windows XP so it is compatible with the nonprofit One Laptop per Child Foundation's small green-and-white XO laptop.

"We're spending a nontrivial amount of money on it," Microsoft Corporate Vice President Will Poole said in an interview on Thursday."

But be warned:

"We remain hopeful with our progress to date, we still have significant work ahead to finalize our analysis and testing processes," he said. "At the end of the day, there's no guarantees."

So, just remember that: when you're dealing with Windows XP, there are no guarantees. Unlike with GNU/Linux, of course, since it runs rather nicely on the XO already. Now, which would *you* rather have?

The Beginning of the End for the OEM Tax?

I wrote recently about the call to unbundle operating systems from PCs, but without much hope it would ever be heeded. Maybe I was too pessimistic:

The ruling by a French court according to which the manufacturer Acer has to refund the purchase price of the preinstalled software that the notebook buyer in question does not use to the notebook buyer, has been welcomed by proponents of the sale of PCs and notebooks without preinstalled software. In the case that has now been made public the court ruled (PDF file) that Acer, over and above the sum of 30 euros it had previously agreed to pay, was obliged to refund the plaintiff the complete sum he had paid for the software he had subsequently returned.

The total of 311.85 euros of the overall purchase price of the notebook of 599 euros that Acer was forced to pay back was made up of 135.20 euros for Windows XP Home, 60 euros for Microsoft Works, 40.99 euros for PowerDVD, 38.66 euros for Norton Antivirus and 37 euros for NTI CD Maker. On top of that Acer had to pay a further 650 euros in, among other things, legal costs.

They Play iPlayer Content - Without the DRM

This is why it is utterly pointless for the BBC to go to all the trouble of wrapping DRM around its content - note, *its* content, not other people's - and inconveniencing most of the online world in the process:

we're hearing that FairUse4WM strips the files of their DRM -- anyone try it out yet?

And the answer is....

British Library Closes Down Knowledge

As I feared, the close relationship between the British Library and Microsoft has led the former to start producing online exhibits locked into the latter's proprietary products:

Turning the Pages 2.0™ allows you to 'virtually' turn the pages of our most precious books. You can magnify details, read or listen to expert commentary on each page, and store or share your own notes.

Turning the Pages 2.0™ runs with Internet Explorer on Windows Vista or Windows XP SP2 with .NET Framework version 3, on a broadband connection. We have detected that you do not have the necessary software. You may also need to check that your hardware meets the 'Vista Premium Ready' specification.

So instead of opening up access to knowledge, the British Library is now foisting Microsoft's closed source on its visitors. A sad day for a once-great institution. (Via The Reg.)

The Open Source Brain

At first sight, there's something appropriate about Paul Allen paying for the Allen Brain Atlas:

an interactive, genome-wide image database of gene expression in the mouse brain. A combination of RNA in situ hybridization data, detailed Reference Atlases and informatics analysis tools are integrated to provide a searchable digital atlas of gene expression. Together, these resources present a comprehensive online platform for exploration of the brain at the cellular and molecular level.

After all, he did work on an "electronic brain" as they were mockingly called back in those dim, dark days of early computing. And it comes as no surprise that the freely-available and rather impressive 3D Brain Explorer - think Google Earth for the mouse brain - is only available for Windows XP and the Macintosh.

But dig a little deeper, and you find something rather telling about the real "brain" behind this brain:

Processing the amount of data produced during the Atlas project (approximately 1 terabyte/day) requires a fully automated data processing and analysis pipeline. A goal of informatics is to provide the infrastructure that will allow scaling of an increase in image data and complexity of image processing. The IDP was designed to be modularized and scalable to support a library of informatics algorithms and to function so that additional incorporation of informatics modules does not interrupt production systems. The system must also have the flexibility to accommodate defining multiple workflows using some or all algorithms and is iterative in its processing of gene image series. Parts of the process are computationally intensive, such as image quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) and preprocessing, registration, and signal quantification. These tasks are scheduled and run in parallel on the server cluster.

Right. And just as a matter of interest, what might that cluster be running?

The cluster consists of a total of 148 CPUs, 32 HP BL35p blades with dual AMD 2.4Ghz, 4GB RAM and 21 IBM HS20 blades with dual Intel 2.8Ghz Hyperthreaded, 4GB RAM, all running Fedora Linux.

Obviously someone used their brain.