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How the U.S. Patent Office's New Patent Rules Affect You
7 hours, 52 minutes ago
Sweeping changes to the United States patent process go into effect on 1 November 2007. The new patent rules, published in August in the Federal Register by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and known as the Claims and Continuations Rules, are intended to deal with a massive application backlog and patent quality problems. Some of the patent rule changes, including a new patent rule that limits the number of claims you can include in your patent application, apply retroactively to pending applications that have not yet received a first Patent Office action on their merits. -
Many Windows Users Get Unwanted Updates
10 hours, 52 minutes ago
What better gift could Apple ask for with the launch of its "Leopard" Mac OS X v. 10.5? How about a PR disaster surrounding Windows? That's what Microsoft could have on its hands thanks to the second incident in as many months involving Windows Update. -
SCO Puts Unix Up For Sale
11 hours, 22 minutes ago
In the latest twist in the SCO saga, the embattled Unix vendor is putting its core business up for sale. -
How to Fight The Onslaught of Security Threats
11 hours, 52 minutes ago
With a constantly evolving threat landscape attacking IT infrastructures, the impulse for many enterprises is just to throw more technology at the problem. -
A Microsoft Eye Toward Interoperability
12 hours, 22 minutes ago
At a conference called Interop, it only makes sense to have a keynote on interoperability. That call went to Tom Robertson, general manager of interoperability and standards at Microsoft, who spoke of the topic this morning at the show in New York. -
Patent Truce for Transmeta, Intel
12 hours, 52 minutes ago
It's a big win for struggling chip design company Transmeta. Intel has agreed to pay $250 million to settle charges that it pilfered Transmeta's chip designs into its microprocessor products, including at least Intel's Pentium III, Pentium 4, Pentium M, Core and Core 2 product lines -
The Linux-based Neuros OSD
13 hours, 22 minutes ago
Neuros Technology did it again: one more of their interesting media products hits the market, and this time it uses Linux. We used the Neuros OSD this past week and here's what we think about it. -
Mongolia Commits to One Laptop per Child
13 hours, 52 minutes ago
For One Laptop per Child George Snell, 781-487-4608 or Jodi Petrie, 781-487-4692 [email protected] President Nambaryn Enkhbayar of Mongolia announced today his commitment to provide every child in his nation with a connected laptop by the end of 2010. -
Oracle Easy Meat for Red Hat Australia
14 hours, 22 minutes ago
ORACLE's decision to offer Red Hat Linux support has had almost no impact on the latter's business in Australia, a senior executive said. -
KDE and Distributions: ALT Linux Interview
14 hours, 52 minutes ago
As part of our KDE and Distributions series (1, 2, 3, 4) KDE Dot News spoke to representatives from Alt Linux. Russia recently announced plans to include GNU/Linux in every school in the country, and ALT Linux hopes to be the chosen distribution. Below CEO Alexey Smirnov and Andrey Cherepanov answer our questions about their relationship with KDE. -
Windows To Desktop Linux In Three Easy Steps
15 hours, 22 minutes ago
Are you geek enough for Linux? Though it first earned a reputation as a platform for hobbyists and hackers, Linux has come a long way since Linus Torvalds cobbled together the first kernel as a student project. A modern Linux desktop is a sophisticated, user-friendly GUI environment, with features and applications to rival any proprietary OS. In fact, when compared to the mainstream alternatives, there are lots of compelling reasons to give Linux a try: -
Linux losing to Windows. Time to reassess how to compete in the server market
15 hours, 52 minutes ago
A few years ago market share data clearly demonstrated Linux server growth outpacing Windows server growth. Today, Linux server growth has apparently slowed while Windows is picking up, according to IDC. Why? The rate of migration from Unix to Linux has slowed. -
Using The Avant Window Navigator (AWN) On Fedora 7
16 hours, 22 minutes ago
This document describes how to set up the Avant Window Navigator (AWN) on Fedora 7. The result is an eye candy, dock-like bar at the bottom of the screen as a replacement for the standard gnome-panel. The Avant Window Manager provides an easy to use interface where you can configure/customize it to your needs. Launchers, task lists, and third party applets are supported.
http://www.howtoforge.com/avant_window_navigator_awn_fedora7 -
KHTML Vs Webkit: To Merge or Not To Merge
16 hours, 52 minutes ago
This past Summer, the news broke that the KDE project has plans to re-merge KHTML and Webkit. It appears the KHTML team is not going gently into that good night. -
Quickstart: Debugging Ruby on Rails Applications
17 hours, 22 minutes ago
This article is for those that are new to Ruby on Rails, or those that have not spent the time learning the various debugging techniques. - More News
New York Times opens up code
The New York Times likes open source -- so much so that, as it gradually moves more of its print operations online, it is nurturing a Web development team that has released two of its own open source projects.
An interview with ToorCon founder David "h1kari" Hulton (video)
When I attended my first ToorCon this month, I spoke with David "h1kari" Hulton, founder and chairman of the event, to learn more about its history and intent.
Going all-in with PokerTH
According to Wikipedia, Texas Hold'em is "the most popular poker variant played in casinos in the United States." With the GPL-licensed multiplatform (Linux, Windows, Mac OS X) PokerTH, you can play Texas Hold'em against up to six computer opponents on your desktop, or you can join an Internet server and play against other real players.
Vixta: Nice concept, incomplete execution
Vixta is a new Linux distribution, first released only last month, based on the not-yet-released Fedora 8. Its main objective is to emulate the visual aspects of Microsoft Vista. Version 095 contains the newest, and sometimes unstable, versions of software. The project's goals include being free in every sense, requiring absolutely no configuration, and being user-friendly, eye-catching, and familiar. Too bad the goals don't include feature-complete and stable.
Profitability first, then open source, works for Projity
Projity is a company that provides two alternatives to Microsoft's popular Project application. Project-On-Demand is software-as-a-service (SAAS) code that runs in any browser and is available via a monthly subscription. OpenProj is a desktop version of the application that is built on Java and is licensed with the Common Public Attribution License (CPAL). Though Projity only recently "open sourced" its project management application, CEO Marc O'Brien says that the company's plan "the entire time" was to eventually do just that.
FSF Compliance Lab online meeting addresses license questions
The Free Software Foundation's (FSF) Free Software Licensing and Compliance Lab held a public question and answer session in an IRC meeting last night. The meeting was conducted by Brett Smith, the licensing compliance engineer at the FSF. Smith began by addressing some of the recent FUD surrounding the GPLv3 license, then moved on to answering some of the questions and misconceptions regarding it.
Forbes columnist Dan Lyons says he really likes Linux, no matter what anyone else says (video)
During a session at the 2007 Online News Association conference in Toronto, Canada, I had a chance to point my video camera at Forbes columnist (and Fake Steve Jobs blogger) Dan Lyons. He told me that people who say he dislikes Linux are not being fair to him; that out of 70 articles he's written about Linux, 67 have been positive, and he absolutely denies that he is paid by Microsoft to write what he does about Linux, Apple, or anything else.
Ubuntu 7.10 is outstanding
Canonical this month released Ubuntu 7.10, codenamed Gutsy Gibbon. Like the Feisty Fawn release before it, Gutsy is a bleeding-edge distribution with a focus on new features and the newest free software applications. It's a speedy operating system with great new features and only a few minor issues.
Microsoft-based consultancy builds business on open source software
R2integrated (R2i) is a Microsoft shop that has discovered how well open source software and communities can build a solid business. Principal Chris Chodnicki says it was a customer request that turned the technology consultancy toward DotNetNuke (DNN), an open source Web application framework.
X/OS is an undistinguished Red Hat clone
X/OS Linux is a distribution built from Red Hat Enterprise Linux sources. Its developers claim it was created "to provide a hassle-free enterprise-class Linux operating system without usage terms tied to commercial services." I downloaded it expecting I might find all the refinement of Red Hat along with some improvements and the community one expects to find growing around free software. It seems I set my expectations too high.
Learn and teach geometry and algebra with GeoGebra
GeoGebra, a GPL-licensed teaching and learning tool that integrates geometry, algebra, and calculus, benefits both teachers and students alike. Developed by Markus Hohenwarter at Florida Atlantic University, GeoGebra constructs geometrical figures and demonstrates the relationship between geometry and algebra. GeoGebra can help you create interactive demonstrations and precise images of geometric figures for inclusion in teaching and testing materials.
San Diego's ToorCon keeps hackers current
ToorCon 9, a hacker's convention, kicked off with registration and a reception Friday evening in the San Diego Convention Center. Keynotes and the talks were held Saturday and Sunday. This was my first time at ToorCon, and I learned why it is so highly regarded among the hacker community. It's good.
Query your processes under X with Qps
When it comes to managing processes, many people use old reliable commands such as ps, top, kill, and nice. These commands are handy, useful, and found in every Linux distribution. However, sometimes a GUI process manager can be useful, especially when you're trying to teach new Linux system administrators who aren't used to shell interfaces. Qps Visual Process Manager is a GUI ps substitute that lets you sort, manipulate, and manage processes.
Fedora 8 renews tradition of innovations
Not all major software versions carry the same weight. Consider the last two releases of the Fedora distribution. Fedora 7 offered little that was obvious to desktop users, despite some behind-the-scenes improvements and the opening of the release process to public scrutiny. By contrast, if Test 3 of Fedora 8 is any indication, the upcoming release, scheduled for next month, returns to the distribution's tradition of introducing a variety of innovations. Some of these innovations, like the new firewall tool, are minor, if still welcome. Others, like the IcedTea version of Java and Codec Buddy, are flawed, but may eventually find their way into other distributions.
License change makes software more attractive for the community
Dimdim calls itself the world's first free Web meeting service based on an open source platform. Users can share their desktops and files while chatting and videoconferencing with meeting participants. Dimdim was originally licensed under the Mozilla Public License (MPL), but the possibility of a big deal with a university made Dimdim executives eventually change to the GNU General Public License (GPL) instead. By changing the software's license from the MPL to the GPL, "we are making it easier for the community to use our product," says Dimdim founder DD Ganguly.
Going places with openSUSE's SCPM
Reconfiguring your laptop's wireless network settings every time you go to a new client's office or a friend's house can be tiresome, and carrying around little papers with notes about network names, keys, and IP addresses doesn't seem too professional. openSUSE's System Configuration Profile Management (SCPM) can help.
Extending Nautilus context menus with Nautilus-actions
There are literally dozens of plugins and extensions for Nautilus, the default file manager on the GNOME desktop environment, but there is just one that allows you to customize the Nautilus context menu items. The Nautilus-actions extension enables you to add customized entries to the context menu such that, when you right-click a file, the context menu will show options specific to that file.
Where does Linux go from here?
Linux is now mainstream -- so mainstream, in fact, that two of the top three Linux distributions are commercially successful operations, and the third aims to be. Every day, more and more old-school IT firms shake off their initial doubts, get in line behind their customers, and try Linux and other free software projects. In the face of such success, will Linux remain true to its free software ideals and to the community which created it? Or will it morph into a corporate byproduct, driven by the bottom line, and complacent with all forms of predatory intellectual property (IP), including software patents and closed, proprietary standards which are standard fare in the IT industry.
GPLv3 adoption on track, experts say
How is the third version of the GNU General Public License (GPLv3) being received four months after its official release? Not well, if you believe the Evans Data survey released on September 25. However, those who concern themselves with licensing issues at the Free Software Foundation (FSF) and at Palamida, a company that advises customers on issues that surround free and open software (FOSS), paint a different picture. According to these FOSS experts, adoption of GPLv3 is going as expected, and, while reasons for caution exist, the new version is likely to replace GPLv2 some time in the next few years. As for the Evans Data survey, they suggest that the information released overgeneralizes a complex situation.
Sun Report Builder: Better reporting in OpenOffice.org
OpenOffice.org Base is undoubtedly a powerful database application, but when it comes to its built-in reporting engine, words like "underpowered" and "outdated" come to mind. Fortunately, you don't have to put up with this situation any longer: with the Sun Report Builder (SRB) extension, you can add nifty reporting features based on Pentaho reporting engine -- assuming you can figure out how to use it without any help.
