InformationWeek Daily Archives
05/25/2013 06:29:31 Daily, June 03RealNetworks Pushes Legal Limit With Next Version Of RealPlayer
In This Issue:
1. Editor's Note: GPLv3 No Longer Has Novell Worried About Linux Licensing
2. Today's Top Story
- RealNetworks Pushes Legal Limit With Next Version Of RealPlayer
3. Breaking News
- Google Introduces New Developer Tools
- Web Credibility: Hard Earned, Harder To Prove
- CIOs Gain Influence And Responsibility
- Apple iPhone Buzz Prompts New Production Reports
- MySpace Offers Political Fund-Raising Tools. Will Fox News Gain An Edge?
- Users See Promise, Pitfalls Of Google Gears
- Google Confirms FeedBurner Acquisition
- Web Security Breach Lets Cat Out Of Baghdad Embassy Plans
- TiVo Warns Investors New Open Source License Could Hurt Business
- AT&T Unveils Advanced Handsets... By Samsung, Not Apple
- Security Companies Blast Each Other With Patent Infringement Lawsuits
- Manager Pleads Guilty To Stealing Info On 200,000 Patients
- Sen. Clinton's 'Innovation Agenda' Gets Warm Welcome In Silicon Valley
- Microsoft To Offer Improved Tools To Search Books
- Video Game Prescription Helps 12-Year-Old Beat Cancer
- New Immigration Bill Amendment Could Help Keep Foreign Tech Workers In U.S.
4. The Latest Digital Life Blog Posts
- Bill Gates And Steve Jobs Reveal Secret Marriage At D: All Things Digital Conference
- Child Sex Crackdown Causes Problems For LiveJournal
- Should Companies Hire People With Black Marks On Their Internet Histories?
- You Can See Steve Jobs' House On Google Maps
5. Job Listings From TechCareers
6. White Papers
- Apply The ITIL Framework With Confidence
7. Get More Out Of InformationWeek
8. Manage Your Newsletter Subscription
Quote of the day:
"Part of the inhumanity of the computer is that, once it is competently programmed and working smoothly, it is completely honest." -- Isaac Asimov
Who elected Richard Stallman king of the free software world? (OK, he did.) With the GPLv3 license on the cusp of adoption, the Free Software Foundation president is again hitting the virtual stump to promise that he won't quit revising the license until all software is free, free as in beer. Meanwhile, Novell, which heretofore had been worried about GPLv3, now says on its blog that there's no problem. So which is it?
First, some background: GPLv3 is the soon-to-be-approved update to the General Public License, which governs the terms under which most open source software -- like the Linux distros offered by Novell -- is distributed.
Microsoft comes into the equation because, last year, it was making noises about "asserting" its patent rights. There was the implicit threat of possible lawsuits against Novell customers. As I explained in a recent post, it matters not a whit whether Microsoft would have a prayer of winning any such suits. The "threat" alone was/is/will cast a pall over the Linux market. That's a tactic SCO tried in 2003, when it sued IBM and Novell. (It worked for SCO, very briefly. After a while, not so much. But I digress.)
One might infer that Microsoft's patent rights were perhaps not as all-encompassing as some of its noises indicated. One could infer that because, last November, Microsoft and Novell signed a deal under which Microsoft agreed not to sue Novell's customers. Novell also got a couple of hundred million bucks from Microsoft, ostensibly so Redmond would have the right to resell Novell's SUSE Linux Enterprise server. (Read more about it here.)
The Free Software Foundation comes into the picture because Stallman's group was royally pissed (am I allowed to write that?) that Novell and Microsoft cut a one-off deal. That is, only Novell's customers received insulation against lawsuits, not the broader, unwashed community of Linux users.
As Novell put it, in a document filed in late May with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission: "The FSF criticized our deal with Microsoft because it only provides patent protections for our customers rather than for all licensees of GPL software, and on March 28, 2007, the FSF released a new draft of GPLv3, known as Discussion Draft 3, that includes provisions intended to negate at least part of our Microsoft agreement."
The document also sounded this alarm: "If the Free Software Foundation releases a new version of the GNU General Public License with certain currently proposed terms, our business may suffer harm."
To read the rest of this opinion about GPLv3, visit the InformationWeek Blog.
Alexander Wolfe
RealNetworks Pushes Legal Limit With Next Version Of RealPlayer
Google Introduces New Developer Tools
Web Credibility: Hard Earned, Harder To Prove
CIOs Gain Influence And Responsibility
Apple iPhone Buzz Prompts New Production Reports
MySpace Offers Political Fund-Raising Tools. Will Fox News Gain An Edge?
Users See Promise, Pitfalls Of Google Gears
Google Confirms FeedBurner Acquisition
Web Security Breach Lets Cat Out Of Baghdad Embassy Plans
TiVo Warns Investors New Open Source License Could Hurt Business
AT&T Unveils Advanced Handsets... By Samsung, Not Apple
Security Companies Blast Each Other With Patent Infringement Lawsuits
Manager Pleads Guilty To Stealing Info On 200,000 Patients
Sen. Clinton's 'Innovation Agenda' Gets Warm Welcome In Silicon Valley
Microsoft To Offer Improved Tools To Search Books
Video Game Prescription Helps 12-Year-Old Beat Cancer
New Immigration Bill Amendment Could Help Keep Foreign Tech Workers In U.S.
On the go?
Web 2.0 Applications
Windows Vista: Meeting Expectations Or Falling Short?
-----------------------------------------
Bill Gates And Steve Jobs Reveal Secret Marriage At D: All Things Digital Conference
Child Sex Crackdown Causes Problems For LiveJournal
Should Companies Hire People With Black Marks On Their Internet Histories?
You Can See Steve Jobs' House On Google Maps
Union Telephone/Union Wireless seeking Network Administration Specialist in Mountain View, WY
General Electric Transportation seeking Controls Design Engineer in Erie, PA
American Home Mortgage seeking .NET Developer in Melville, NY
Openlink Financial, Inc. seeking Java Developer in Uniondale, NY
Union Telephone/Union Wireless seeking LAN/WAN Administrator in Mountain View, WY
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InformationWeek Daily Newsletter
1. Editor's Note: GPLv3 No Longer Has Novell Worried About Linux Licensing
awolfe@cmp.com
www.informationweek.com
New software will allow users to download nonprotected online video to their computers and play it back on a DVD player.
The introduction of Google Gears, Google Mashup Editor, and Google Mapplets gives software developers a host of new tools to work with.
Digital identity and "reputation" systems are evolving into more comprehensive and transportable ID managers.
Despite recent evidence that they were losing ground in the executive suite, Optimize Research finds tech chiefs leading the way in innovation.
Apple is reported to have turned to longtime manufacturer Quanta Computer to ramp up production.
The social networking site will soon provide all declared candidates who have set up MySpace pages with a click-on tool that allows visitors to pledge donations.
It may not be a high-priority item for shops that don't have the manpower to develop APIs for Web applications, but the pairing of on- and offline versions holds appeal.
The content syndication and management service will let Google offer new tools for content creators and Web site publishers.
The computer-generated drawings popped up on several Web sites before the company and the government announced that they had been removed for security reasons.
Under Linux's GPLv3, expected this summer, TiVo would no longer be able to implement measures it says are essential to protecting copyrighted material.
The handsets come loaded with access to advanced wireless features, including AT&T Mobile Music, Cellular Video, MobiTV, MobiRadio, and Bluetooth technology.
Secure Computing and Finjan filed competing lawsuits in a legal battle over systems used to protect computers from hostile downloads and malicious code.
A DVD stolen from the San Jose Medical Group contained patients' names, addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, diagnoses, and medical procedures.
Clinton on Thursday unveiled a nine-point plan before a packed room of more than 200 upper executives of some of California's biggest high-tech companies.
Microsoft said Thursday it would offer improved capacity to search copyrighted books on the Internet as the company battles Google for advertising dollars from Web-based services.
His treatment consisted of, among other things, chemotherapy, a bone marrow transplant, and permission to play Re-Mission as often as possible.
A proposal to create a dual green-card system that favors high-tech talent has bipartisan support in the Senate.
See InformationWeek's daily breaking news on your mobile device, visit wap.informationweek.com and sign up for daily SMS notifications.
----- The latest research, polls, and tools -----
As you watch Web 2.0 technologies take hold in the consumer market, start thinking now about the impact they can have in your enterprise. This InformationWeek Research report, Enterprise 2.0, will provide a glimpse into the adoption of Web 2.0 applications in the enterprise environment. Use this report to evaluate adoption plans and understand the challenges and impact these technologies will have on users.
While security enhancements top the list of reasons companies are installing Windows Vista, concerns about compatibility and costs are driving the less-than-stellar adoption rates. Learn how more than 600 business technology professionals responded to these questions and more in InformationWeek Research's Windows Vista: Meeting Expectations Or Falling Short?
4. The Latest Digital Life Blog Posts
http://www.informationweek.com/blog/digitallife/
Well, not exactly. But Bill G. and Steve were far more amiable than anyone expected they would be at the D: All Things Digital conference. Check out this set of video highlights from their conversation.
The venerable online community LiveJournal stirred up a storm of controversy when it attempted to delete sex-themed discussion groups in the name of protecting children, and accidentally deleted legitimate literary sites and at least one psychological support journal.
An international retailer finds a great candidate to head up its store in Shanghai. But a bit of last-minute Googling turns up information about political activism against the Chinese government. Should she still get the job?
There has been a lot of fanfare this week for the new Street View feature on Google Maps, a function that gives users a 360-degree view from the streets of select cities. Now users are reporting seeing all kinds of things, including Steve Jobs' house.
5. Job Listings From TechCareers
ITIL provides the foundation for quality IT service management. It actively supports corporate goals by offering services that are based on efficient principles and adequately fulfilling business requirements. With the ITIL framework, IT fulfills the promise of the profit generator instead of being seen as a cost burden.
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