You may have seen the story of Linux users putting their names on a list at digital tipping point; what you may not know is that the list contains a lot of info on what people are using Linux for. Quite fascinating, really.
Naturally, the chances that Microsoft will sue are less than zero; in fact, they just released an official statement that they will not being suing anyone (yet). According to the article they may just be pushing business towards approved vendors.
Now when folks put up a list challenging the **AAs to sue them first, that will something to watch; this, not so much, though the stories that people are sharing are well worth clicking through for.
So while it in actual fact may not be a good day to sue, it looks like it is a good day to set up an open source MythTV; it seems that Windows Media Center wants to restrict certain content (surprise, surprise!).
And the lovely RIAA, not content with getting royalties from webcasters, now want terrestrial radio to pay up, too. Is there no mountain of greed high enough for them to scale? Apparently not. Sheesh.
What's next? File-sharerroristas? Al-Qaeda financed by podcasters? Please let there be a 'war' on P2P/Linux/File-sharing/Open Source; if any of the previous wars on (whatever) are a good indicator, it will be just that much easier to get your open source distros and legal, free torrented music. At least the EU has our backs.
As is turns out, file-sharing may actually boost revenues for products, contrary to what the **AAs would have you believe:
So what about free copies? How do you compete with free, to state the battle cry of the new Luddites who fear digital technology? It's done all the time. One of the most dramatic recent instances of this was the strategy of science fiction writer Cory Doctorow who, over the course of three years, gave away 700,000 electronic copies of Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom. Sales of the hard copy went through six printings and surpassed his publisher's expectations.
Hmm. Who woulda thunk? And on a related note, if you're at all interested in excellent sci-fi/futuristic fiction, then Cory's works are a must. Bonus points for folks that know what Whuffie is.
If you have been following the news of late, you know that Linux will be sold on Dell computers; here are the specs. Largely silent until now, Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth weighs in on Microsoft's recent FUD here. And somebody really doesn't like Saddam Microsoft. Reading that one required extensive keyboard cleanup. What's with all the wargasms going on of recently? I'm Switzerland in all this; if you got what you want, then stick with it.
I was thinking of getting a new router, one that could handle both wireless and wired at the same time; it would be the final step in cutting all ties to the proprietary world, as I keep an iMac around to communicate with my airport wireless station. The reason for this is that my test machine has a Ralink wireless card, one that has given me no end of frustration in working with just about any distro out there; ironically, the ralink makers are some of the most friendly to the open source wireless world. Sadly, they just don't offer a very good product.
But as wireless is the standard that everyone has to use with their laptops, I figured that it would not a true test of a distro if I did it with Ethernet; it would feel like a cheat somehow. Better to get a different wireless card, than shell out for a whole new router; it's more honest, and a heck of a lot cheaper.
PCLinuxOS has their final release out now, and while I gave their fourth final candidate several kudos, I have to say that their continued reliance on NDISwrapper (even while most cards are supported in the kernel they use) is a bit of a letdown. Add that to the fact that their support of other languages is a bit skimpy, and I may have to revise my previous opinion to be more in line with this one.
Sorry to be a bit light on how-tos today; very busy work day, and a test machine to get fully up to snuff. Will try to update later, especially (as I expect) I run into any severe problems with getting wireless to work with it. Update: well, going for it with on the test machine: installing Debian on the whole freakin' huge hard drive (120 GB) and going to make it the virtual machine test box. No wireless love from Debian towards this card, but I knew that going in; will either knuckle down and get it to work, or just get a new $10 card. Hmmm. Choices. The geek in me wants to try to get the card to work, but the electronics store is less than five minutes away. This will be an epic battle of wills. Sorry about that last sentence. Ugh.
Some glitzy stuff, as usual; this is impressive, counter-strike and WoW after only a week and a half of using Ubuntu: