MS-Yow!, not MS-Yahoo! for Open Source

The Microsoft-Yahoo merger meme has been out and about for ages. It's not hard to see why Microsoft finally decided to jump: the decline in Yahoo's share price has been pretty precipitous in the last three months, and it's obviously reached a too-good-to-refuse level.

And I have to say that were I in Microsoft's position, I'd do the same: the fit looks good, and it would give the company a chance of fighting back against Google - something that looks hopeless, currently.

But as I wrote when I considered this idea last year, I have this feeling that if the deal goes through, Microsoft won't be looking very kindly on the open source software that Yahoo owns - such as Zimbra - or uses - like MySQL.

Why not? Well, one of the areas where Microsoft is getting whupped by free software is in top-end clusters. Moreover, the open source world continually throws in its face that Google, the very acme of computer power, runs on GNU/Linux, albeit a customised version. So what better way to show that Windows is fully the equal of the latter for extreme computing conditions than to turn Yahoo into a high-profile advertisement for the power of Windows (and SQLServer) on clusters?

To be sure, that would be more expensive than sticking with Yahoo's current choices, but Microsoft is playing for high stakes, and willing to gamble accordingly - as this $45 billion proposed acquisition of Yahoo demonstrates only too clearly.

Knock, Knock, Nokia

Here's some good news:

A company backed by hedge fund and private equity company Fortress Investment Group has filed a lawsuit against the world's top cell phone maker, Nokia, for alleged patent infringement.

Why am I calling this good news, since my position on intellectual monopolies has been made fairly plain on these pages? Well, because of this:

IP-Com decided to sue Nokia after the mobile-phone maker refused to pay 12 billion euros ($17.77 billion), which IP-Com had demanded from Nokia for using the patents for mobile communications technology, Schoeller said.

Yeah, 12 billion euros: that's a reasonable demand, isn't it? Maybe reasonable enough to dun into Nokia's corporate brain that patents really aren't a good idea, since in the past it has sometimes aligned itself with those wanting *more* software patents in Europe. Maybe reasonable enough that it's even prepared to fight the idea now.

Why Developing Nations Love Free Software

How about for these reasons?

- In Georgia, most library management systems are available in English or Russian… any student of eastern European politics will understand why Georgians don’t want to use a Russian-language tool. Open software can be translated and adapted into different languages.

In Bhutan, there’s a great desire to preserve the local language - Dzonghka - against the encroachment of Mandarin Chinese. Local authorities wanted a Dzonghka version of Windows, and raised some money to demonstrate a market for the software, but weren’t able to persuade Microsoft to create the product. But it wasn’t difficult to localize Linux, and there’s now Dzongkha Linux, with support for Open Office, GAIM, Mozilla and other key pieces of software.

- There’s a strong desire in developing world libraries to put digital collections online… which suprises many library professionals in the developed world, as they’re just moving towards digital collections now. Sadler quotes a Ghanaian librarian: “Students in Ghana can view artifacts from Britain more easily tha they can artifacts from their own heritage.” Open source software systems like Greenstone are allowing libraries to scan and preseve documents and share them online. There’s a hope in the future for a pan-African digital library which will allow libraries across the continent to share their resources.

Amazing Mozilla Metrics

Much of the power and popularity of Firefox and, to a lesser extent, Thunderbird, come from their addons. This shows just how powerful and popular:

Earlier this week, [addons.mozilla.org] served its 600 millionth add-on download. That’s original downloads, not including updates. We currently have over 4000 add-ons hosted on the site and between 800,000 and 1 million downloads every day. The site has around 4.5 million pageviews per day, not including services hosted on AMO such as update checks and blocklisting.

AMO now receives around 100 million add-on update pings every day, which means that of those 600 million downloads, about 100 million add-ons are still installed.

Amazing Mozilla. (Via Mozilla Links.)

Good Bill, Bad Bill, and The Art of Philanthropy

On Linux Journal.

Enclosing the Language Commons

One of the many arguments against patenting software is that it's as stupid as copyrighting language: if you did that, nobody could talk without getting sued. Similarly, thanks to the essential nature of software algorithms, nobody can program without infringing on something.

It seems that we may need to revise that example of ridiculousness:

Last year, in an attempt to wrestle a few pennies of the GST from the tight-fisted grip of the federal government, the City of Toronto launched a snazzy public relations campaign under the banner “one cent now.”

Unfortunately, before they could enjoy the fruits of their labour, they were slapped with a cease-and-desist order by the Royal Canadian Mint.

The dispute was over the phrase “one cent.” It turns out it is not in the public domain. For the privilege of using it, the City of Toronto needed to pay the mint more than $47,000 in licensing fees, something it neglected to do.

It was an honest oversight. After all, who would have thought a corporation, private or public, could own a phrase so common to everyday language?

Those Altruistic Aussies

Despite frequent speculation that corporate financing is dangerous to the ethos of the open source software (OSS) community, most Australian open source developers don't see payment as a primary influence on their contributions, a straw poll of attendees at Linux.conf.au in Melbourne suggests.

During her conference keynote presentation, Stormy Peters, the director of community and partner programs for OpenLogic, asked how many audience members were currently working in a paid position to develop OSS projects. Around one-third raised their hands. Almost exactly the same number said they would continue to work on OSS even if they lost their current position.

No surprise there. (Via A Chaotic Flow of Open Source Ideas.)

Eee – That's Clever

On Open Enterprise blog.

I've Been Banned - by Volvo

Apparently:

When I was at Volvo IT (my former employee until 2000) for a meeting today, it became sadly clear that Volvo IT have entered further down the path of radical ignorance. I’ve heard about their strange firewall filters before stopping people from visiting web pages containing the phrases “IP telephony”, “sex” and “”games”. Apparently the filters have broadened and now they seems to have added phrases like “social software” as well.

I couldn’t resist asking if I could do a quick test for a number of web-sites I read or write. Here are 4 examples of sites that was blocked.

* http://brintam.blogspot.com/ (my personal photo blog in Swedish - maybe not that strange that it is blocked)
* http://www.weconverse.com (Richard Gatarskis web/blog where he discusses e g social media in companies and society)
* http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/globalguerrillas/ (Thinker and author John Robbs blog)
* http://opendotdotdot.blogspot.com/ (Glyn Moody’s blog where he writes about and explores e g open source)

Subversive stuff, this blogging.

OSA Goes Euro

On Open Enterprise blog.

Yes, But What About the Uighurs?

I'm a big fan of all things Turkic, so I was interested in this post exploring the scale of Turkish online activity, especially in the world of social networking:

when you take a look at Alexa's ranking of Ning's biggest networks, you see that they are either adult-oriented or Turkish. So Ning is being nourished by Turkish traffic as well.

Last but not least, Turkey's high potential in social networking comes from its very young demographics. The number of young people in Turkey exceeds even the most populated countries in Europe. Moreover, the Internet penetration is quite high, and similar to Brazilians, Turkish people have very social characteristics; Turkey was the 2nd biggest market for Live Messenger, after all.

Just one question: what about the Uighurs?

Avoiding the Microsoft Tax

In the UK, at least....

Open Media Definitions

Definitions matter. If you want to see why, compare the worlds of open source and open access. The very specific definition of what is open source - having an OSI-approved licence - means that it is relatively easy to police. Open access, by contrast, does not have anything like a tight, "official" definition, with the result that less scrupulous publishers try to pass off their wares as open access if it's vaguely open or vaguely accessible. (That, BTW, seems to me a very strong argument for something to be set up along the lines of the OSI, to give its stamp of approval to open access resources. Are you listening, Peter?)

For this reason, trying to define open media is an excellent move:

With the change in the media climate and distribution experiments such as Radiohead’s In Rainbows (in music), and Four Eyed Monsters (in film) which have open qualities (temporarily available to watch or listen/download for free, for example) but are not truly open content, it is getting harder to tell what you can and cannot officially do with your media.

These are three proposed states for open media, each building on the next:

Open (O-):
The baseline, concerned with freely consuming and sharing the content (1-3)

Open source (O):
Being able to view and remix the source files (1-5).

Open Plus (O+):
The ability to participate in a transparent, documented process (1-8).

* 1. Freely accessible
Available to stream, or download without a fee. Should be available via direct download and P2P media, so it is not behind a gateway.
* 2. Freely available.
Permanently available without DRM, or release windows. The end user able to share the work without restriction.
* 3. Freely viewable
Available in multiple formats, and to be converted freely (in the case of video works, for example, as dvd, xvid/divx, mp4, and HD formats).

The above qualities are essential for open content. Open source content adds to the cultural commons by making creation of new content from the work.

* 4. Giving source files
Source media, such as rushes and raw graphics files should be archived and available for other creators to work with.
* 5. Allowing remixing
Materials should be licensed explicitly to allow derivative work (eg. other works based on the script, or video mashups, and remix edits) for at least non-commercial/artistic purposes. Creative Commons and other licenses are available for flexible copyrighting.

Open Plus adds more opportunities for participation and involvement in the work whether as a creator, or as part of what used to be called ‘the audience’.

* 6. Reveal the process
Allowing access to not only the final source media, but work-in-progress material and software files, adding another layer of transparency and documentation.
* 7. Open contribution
Adding ways to influence and participate in the creation of the original work through various types of community/audience involvement (opportunities such as open crewing, direct feedback or contribution mechanisms).

I think this is really important work: let's hope it can be built on. Open Media Initiative, anyone? (Via P2P Foundation.)

Open Enterprise Interview: Jono Bacon

On Open Enterprise blog.

Deciphering OCR Cuneiform

One area of weakness for open source is OCR, so news that OCR Cuneiform is available now as freeware, and will be released as open source, is highly welcome.

"Various Forms of Coercion" for ID Cards an "Option"

This is one of the most despicable documents from the UK Government it has been my misfortune to read. Ostensibly, it is an objective "options analysis" for the introduction of the ID cards. But in its cynical, cold-blooded laying out of methods to ram the things down the population's throat, it reads more like a fascist manifesto. Take the following, for example:

Various forms of coercion, such as designation of the application process for identity documents issued by UK Ministers (e.g. passports), are an option to stimulate applications in a manageable way.

How much clearer do you need it, people?

Against Intellectual Monopoly

On Open Enterprise blog.

Schneier on the False Dichotomy

Once more, Brucie tells it as it is:

Security and privacy are not opposite ends of a seesaw; you don't have to accept less of one to get more of the other. Think of a door lock, a burglar alarm and a tall fence. Think of guns, anti-counterfeiting measures on currency and that dumb liquid ban at airports. Security affects privacy only when it's based on identity, and there are limitations to that sort of approach.

When are they going to make this man President of the USA?

Not Patently Clear...

In a surprising (to this Kat at least) turn of events, the Honourable Mr Justice Kitchin has ruled today that the current UK Patent Office practice of flatly rejecting patent claims to computer program products is wrong.

This is obviously bad news, if true, but looking at the very interesting comments to the above post, there seems to be a lot of doubt about whether the ruling does, in fact, mean precisely that, or something else.

Clear as mud, then. But certainly worrying....

Update: Some clarity provided in this useful post; bad news, though....

Is MySQL's Fate the Future of Open Source?

On Linux Journal.

Free Music Goes Mainstream

What's interesting about this piece in the Guardian describing how the music industry is finally waking up to the virtues of free is that it brings together most of the arguments that I and others (notably Mike Masnick on Techdirt) have been banging on about for years. Looks like the industry has (almost) got it. We shall see.

Coincidence, Or...?

Ha!

PLIO, the volunteer association behind the Italian version of OpenOffice.org, underlines the incredible and funny coincidence between the number of Italians that have downloaded Microsoft Office 2007 Trial Version - just ove one million, according to a Microsoft Italia press release - and the number of new downloads of OpenOffice.org in 2007.

FT: No ID - No Comment...

In the two years since legislation for a UK national identity card scheme gained royal assent, the case against the multi-billion pound programme has become overwhelming. The government’s arguments in favour have crumpled. Now, if leaked official documents are to be believed, its roll-out is to be delayed until 2012. Some investors, concerned that it is not worth the wait, are already walking away. Gordon Brown inherited this deeply flawed plan from his predecessor as prime minister. He should follow his instincts and abandon it altogether.

Not only would ID cards be an unwelcome infringement of personal freedom – they were scrapped in Britain after the second world war because people resented being asked to prove who they were – there is no evidence their introduction would deliver tangible benefits.

No, not another of my rants, but the editorial in a little publication called the Financial Times.... (Via Open Rights Group.)

Too Good to be True?

Interesting:

Monroe was the victim of a "money mule" scam, in which criminals make use of third parties (often unsuspecting victims like Monroe) to launder stolen funds. Mule recruitment is an integral part of many cyber crime operations because money transferred directly from a victim to an account controlled by criminals is easily traced by banks and law enforcement. The mules, therefore, serve as a vital buffer, making it easier for criminals to hide their tracks.

The bottom line:

The old adage, "If an offer or deal sounds too good to be true, it probably is," is just as appropriate in the online world than it is in the physical world, said eBay's Pires.

- Unless, of course, it's free software.... (Via Slashdot.)

Welsh Death-Wish

As someone with a Welsh first name, I have always taken an interest in the Welsh language and efforts to promote it and keep it in the land of the living. Alas, this ain't one of them:

Scores of writers are refusing to let their works be scanned for an online archive at the National Library of Wales because they are not being paid.

A year after a near-£1m project was awarded to digitise modern Welsh writing, a dispute between authors and the library has not been resolved.

The library is putting some 3.5m words from 20th Century English and Welsh periodicals and magazines on the web.

But literature promotion agency Academi wants writers to be paid a share.

Academi chief executive Peter Finch said: "It's an extremely exciting programme: what's wrong with it is there is no small sliver in there for paying the writers.

Hello??? The "small sliver" is that your words live on and people can read the bleddy things. Refusing to allow works written in Welsh to be digitised (which costs money) is a sure way to ensure that the language languishes and becomes even more marginal in the digital age. (Via paidContent UK.)