May 14, 2012
by sjvn01
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Fedora 17 & GNOME 3.4: Return to a useful Linux desktop (Review)

I have been using Fedora, Red Hat’s community Linux distribution, since day one back in September 2003 when Red Hat split its commercial Linux, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). Back then, people hated Red Hat for this move, but businesses soon learned to love RHEL and Linux fans grew to love Fedora. But, then along came GNOME 3.x, Fedora’s default desktop choice, and it all changed.

GNOME 3.2, which was Fedora 16’s desktop, was dreadful. You don’t have to trust me on that though, just ask Linus Torvalds, Linux’s founder. He hated GNOME 3.2.

That was then. This is now. Fedora 17, with the ungainly name Beefy Miracle-no I’m not making that up, that really is its name-is now in late beta and it’s much better than it was.

Fedora 17 & GNOME 3.4: Return to a useful Linux desktop (Review) More >

May 14, 2012
by sjvn01
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Finding your TV shows on the Internet

It seems to me some days like the media companies want their own Internet TV subsidiaries to fail. Take, for example, the simple task of finding the show you want. DVRs manage it, TV Guide managed it when the only way we got to watch TV was by using rabbit ears. But finding the shows you want from Hulu Plus, iTunes, or Netflix can be a major pain in the rump. Oh sure, each of them makes it easy on the Web to see what they offer, but let’s say you want to find a TV show and you don’t know which service offers your favorite show? Then what do you do? Then, my friend, you turn to an Internet TV’s watchers best friend: Clicker.

Clicker, which advertises itself as the Internet Television Guide, is invaluable for anyone who wants to watch streaming network television. Say I want to watch The Colbert Report, which I often do. All I have to do is search the site and it gives me all the online distribution networks where it’s currently showing.

Finding your TV shows on the Internet. More >

May 13, 2012
by sjvn01
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Richard M. Stallman, free software leader falls ill at conference

Richard M. Stallman, aka RMS, creator of the concept of free software, president of the Free Software Foundation, and the primary author of the vital free software/open-source license the Gnu Public License (GPL), became ill during a speech at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia in Barcelona, Spain and had to taken to a hospital.

Some reports on Twitter said that Stallman had suffered a heart attack, but that was not the case. He began suffering in the middle of his speech and para-medics were called in Stallman tried to continue his speech, but finally had to give it up. He kept his sense of humor throughout the episode. When he ambulance crew took over 20 minutes to arrive, Stallman made a joke of it saying that due to Spain’s recent austerity cuts “Here’s the truth, [Spain’s President Mariano] Rajoy wants to kill us all.” (Spanish language link).

It appears that Stallman was suffering from high blood pressure or hypertension. Officially, according to the FSF, Stallman, who was first treated at the site, was taken to a hospital and later discharged.

Richard M. Stallman, free software leader falls ill at conference. More >

May 10, 2012
by sjvn01
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Is Microsoft blocking Chrome and Firefox from native Windows RT a big deal?

Mozilla and Google, makers of the Firefox and Chrome Web browsers, don’t have a problem with building new versions of their popular browsers for Windows 8’s Metro interface. Firefox for Metro is on its way and so is Chrome. What they both object to though is that Microsoft’s own Internet Explorer 10 and its successors will be the only browser that will run natively on Windows RT.

To catch up, Windows RT is the Windows 8 version for ARM-based tablets and, eventually, laptops. Windows RT has two user interfaces: Metro and very restricted Windows 7-style desktop that can only run Microsoft customized applications To be exact, Windows President Steven Sinofsky said that the Desktop experience on Windows on ARM, it will be limited to specially tailored “Office 15? versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote; the Windows File Explorer; Internet Explorer 10 and some operating system tools/components.

No problem though right? You’d still be able to run the Metro style Firefox and

Chrome on Windows RT’s Metro interface right? Well, not really, not well.

Is Microsoft blocking Chrome and Firefox from native Windows RT a big deal? More >

May 9, 2012
by sjvn01
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Dell readies Ubuntu Linux laptop for developers

Dell has been on good-terms with Linux vendors for ages. The Austin, Texas-based company was the first major original equipment manufacturer (OEM) to ship an Ubuntu Linux PC. Long before that, Dell was shipping Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) on its server lines. Now, Dell is renewing its Linux ties with a new Ubuntu Linux-based developer laptop.

Barton George, director of marketing for Dell’s Web vertical, announced that Dell is working on creating an open-source laptop targeted directly at developers. It is based on the brand new Ubuntu 12.04 and Dell’s XPS13 Ultrabook.

Dell readies Ubuntu Linux laptop for developers. More >

May 8, 2012
by sjvn01
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Copyrights, APIs, and Oracle vs Google

We still don’t know what will happen with Oracle’s accusations that Google violated its patents. Given that Oracle itself doesn’t value the two remaining patents as being worth much, that decision won’t matter much. No, the real question is what will U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup will do with notion that Java’s application programming interfaces (API)s, and hence all APIs, could be copyrighted. That’s the real $64-million (billion?) question

Alsup instructed the jury to treat APIs as if they could be copyrighted, and they agreed with him on that. What they couldn’t do is decide though whether Google had violated fair use in what it did with Java’s APIs in creating Android.

As Pamela Jones, intellectual property law reporter, paralegal, and founder of Groklaw explained to me, “The jury didn’t decide API are copyrightable. They can’t. That’s a question of law, and the judge is the one that has to decide that issue.”

Jones stated that Alsup “decided that he’d let the jury decide the fair use issue first, and then if they found fair use, he wouldn’t have to reach that decision. But if they found infringement and no fair use, then he would decide if APIs are copyrightable and more specifically if their arrangement is protectible.”

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