Practical Technology

for practical people.

October 1, 2010
by sjvn01
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Keep Xmarks alive: Pledge to pay for the Service

So, there I was, feeling blue about trying to replace Xmarks, my favorite Web browser utility, when I heard some good news. Xmarks may yet live on. Yes!

According to a blog posting by James Joaquin Xmarks‘ CEO, “Many of you have cried from the rooftops that you would be willing to pay for Xmarks.” So, “We’re revisiting the idea of Xmarks as a premium service. We’ve set up a PledgeBank page where you can sign up if you’re willing to pay at least $10 a year for Xmarks. No credit card is required, but please only pledge if you are genuinely willing and able to pay: http://www.pledgebank.com/XmarksPremium.”

Juaquin added, “This is not a scientific experiment to predict what % of our base will pay, but it’s a data point that will definitely help.” In other words, they want to know if you’re serious about willing to pay at least ten bucks a year for Xmarks. I’ve already signed up. I’m more than willing to pay for Xmarks.

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September 29, 2010
by sjvn01
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Too Little, Too Late: The Feds call for IPv6

I had an interesting conversation with my Web-hosting company the other day. They told me that American Registry of Internet Numbers (ARIN) has told them that they need to start restricting IPv4, ala Internet, addresses. The long-predicted IPv4 number drought effects are finally being felt.

Lucky us. That’s why I look with more than a little bit of cynicism at people declaring that Federal CIO Vivek Kundra issuing a memo (PDF Link) requiring all federal agencies to upgrade their public-facing Web services to native IPv6 by September 30, 2012 is a “Game Changer.” The game has already changed, and the Feds are two-steps behind.

Kundra’s memo also establishes a second deadline of September 30, 2014 for federal agencies to upgrade internal client applications that communicate with public Internet servers to use native IPv6. All Federal agencies will also be required to designate an IPv6 transition manager to direct IPv6-related activities, and, of course, they must also have network hardware and software that complies with IPv6.

Sounds great. Where’s the money going to come from to make all that happen? It’s one thing to say we need to address a problem. Talk is cheap. It’s another thing entirely to actually do something about the problem.

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September 29, 2010
by sjvn01
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LibreOffice isn’t an OpenOffice fork… yet

Many people are assuming the Document Foundation’s LibreOffice is an OpenOffice fork. It’s not. Not yet anyway.

I agree with almost everyone that it’s highly unlikely that Oracle will join up, although it is possible. Oracle has very little interest in anything that doesn’t contribute to the price of fuel for one of Larry Ellison’s jets. That means that Oracle’s main focus will be its server software stack.

Ellison does have some interest in OpenOffice. Back in June 2009, not long after Oracle purchased Sun, Ellison proposed that OpenOffice developers quit using C++ for OpenOffice and switch to using JavaFX. That idea went over like a lead balloon.

Even before Ellison proposed that developers dump their ten-plus years work for an unpopular language, OpenOffice programmers weren’t happy. Getting new features or just bug-fixes through the OpenOffice organization was a long and painful process, whether it was controlled by Sun or by Oracle.

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September 28, 2010
by sjvn01
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OpenOffice goes its own way

After Firefox, OpenOffice may be open-source software’s greatest desktop success story. For years though OpenOffice has stagnated. While under Sun’s management, OpenOffice got off to a great start, the program hasn’t been doing much of anything lately. That may be about to change under an independent non-profit group called The Document Foundation.

On the morning of September 28th, a community of developers and other volunteers announced that they were forming The Document Foundation to fulfil the promise of independence written in the original OpenOffice charter. According to the group, "The Foundation will be the cornerstone of a new ecosystem where individuals and organizations can contribute to and benefit from the availability of a truly free office suite. It will generate increased competition and choice for the benefit of customers and drive innovation in the office suite market. From now on, the OpenOffice.org community will be known as ‘The Document Foundation.’"

And, what does Oracle, which acquired OpenOffice.org assets when it bought Sun have to do with The Document Foundation? At this point: Nothing.

In an interview, Michael Meeks, a Novell developer who works on OpenOffice said that Oracle has been invited to become a member of the new Foundation, and donate the brand the community has grown during the past ten years." In the meantime, The Document Foundation is using the "LibreOffice" for its OpenOffice code.

This is not to say that LibreOffice is an OpenOffice fork. Italo Vignoli, who is working with The Document Foundation, said, "We would be delighted if Oracle was a member of the consortium provided they respected the idea of an open environment to develop OpenOffice. We’re not looking to fork the program. We’re looking for continuity."

The beta code, which will also be available on September 28th, will include some improvements, but the real change in the program won’t happen for months still. Meeks said that a plan for where The Document Foundation will take OpenOffice/LibreOffice will be unveiled in about a month.

The group is made up of leading independent members of the former OpenOffice.org community, including several project leads and key members of the Community Council. In a statement the group said that "Developers are invited to join the project and contribute to the code in the new friendly and open environment, to shape the future of office productivity suites alongside contributors who translate, test, document, support, and promote the software."

While Oracle didn’t have anything to say, many other open-source groups praised the decision to form a new group. Free Software Foundation President Richard Stallman welcomed LibreOffice release and it’s stated policy of only recommending free software. "I’m very pleased that the Document Foundation will not recommend non-free add-ons, since they are the main freedom problem of the current OpenOffice.org. I hope that the LibreOffice developers and the Oracle-employed developers of OpenOffice will be able to cooperate on development of the body of the code".

Chris DiBona, Open Source Programs Manager at Google added "The creation of The Document Foundation is a great step forward in encouraging further development of open source office suites. Google is proud to be a supporter of The Document Foundation and participate in the project."

Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Canonical, the makers of Ubuntu, said, "The Ubuntu Project will be pleased to ship LibreOffice from The Document Foundation in future releases of Ubuntu. The Document Foundation’s stewardship of LibreOffice provides Ubuntu developers an effective forum for collaboration around the code that makes Ubuntu an effective solution for the desktop in office environments."

In addition, the group has support from Novell, Red Hat, GNOME, and many other open-source companies and organizations.

Oracle isn’t the only group that’s not on board with LibreOffice at this point.

In an e-mail, Robert Sutor, IBM’s VP of Open Systems and Linux, said, "First and foremost, we want to see high quality and interoperable implementations of ODF, the Open Document Format, that will drive greater adoption of the standard. This will take continued innovation and collaboration in an active and broad-based open source community. It will also need products like Lotus Symphony 3, which is on track for an on-time release, that build on the great work done by both the OpenOffice and Eclipse communities. We’ve made no decisions about the new LibreOffice community and will assess how best to work with it as we learn more."

A version of this story first appeared in ComputerWorld.

September 28, 2010
by sjvn01
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What you really need to watch Internet video on your television

Several friends have asked me recently what they should buy to watch Internet videos on their televisions. The newly revamped Apple TV? The cheaper and more services offered Roku XDS. My answer: None of the above.

Oh, there are good reasons to buy either one. If you’re already wedded to the Apple way of doing things, the new Apple TV, or the old Apple TV for that matter, will work just fine. I’m not inspired by the new Apple TV, but that’s just me.

Roku, on the other hand, offers by far the widest variety of video choices: Netflix, Amazon Video, MLB.TV, and many more besides. In addition, it offers many Internet radio choices as well such as Pandora and, in just the last few days, Sirius XM Radio.

So, why am I not recommending either? While I use both, on my main TV, a Sony KD-34XBR960 34-inch HDTV, one of the last of the high-end, picture-tube HDTVs, I use my Sony BDP-S570 Blu-ray Disc Player. Besides playing Blu-Ray DVDs and normal DVDs, it also comes with Internet streaming support for Amazon Video on Demand, Netflix, and, real soon now, Hulu Plus. As soon as Hulu Plus shows up, I’ll be bidding cable TV a final adieu.

My point isn’t though that you should buy the Sony BDP-S570, although it is a great combination of Blu-Ray player and Internet video extender. No, my point is that almost any high-end TV or DVR player that you’ll be buying soon is going to have Internet video capabilities built-in. By the holiday season of 2012, I expect only the cheapest new TVs and DVRs won’t have it built in.

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September 23, 2010
by sjvn01
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White Noise about White Space Spectrum

Don’t get me wrong. I think it’s great that the FCC has approved the use of “white spaces” for wireless networking. But, come on people, it’s neither “Wi-Fi on Steroids” nor is it “Super Wi-Fi.” Not yet anyway.

Maybe someday it will be, but right now the only thing that’s “Super” about it is its range of 30 to 100 kilometers. The speed though-and isn’t that what we always end up caring about when it comes to networking-is a rather pedestrian 1.5Mbps (Megabits per second) and 384 Kbps (Kilobits per second).

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