Monday, November 13, 2006
11/13 SNR
It's official: We live in interesting times. First Oracle makes an unusual entry into the Linux sector. Then Novell and MS do a deal, and nobody (including me) really knows what it means. Now Sun's gone and released Java under the GPL.
A few Sun-related tidbits:
Other news from across the interwebs, thanks in large part to SNR's growing mini-legion of eagle-eyed astute readers:
A few Sun-related tidbits:
- The CNet story covers the particulars pretty well.
- Jonathan Schwartz, Sun's CEO, says the move is momentous. Which is true, but GPL'ing the code is only part of the equation. The language itself is still proprietary, and evolves according to Sun's whims and desires. A few years back, there was an effort to create an ANSI (or was it ISO?) Standard for Java, but Sun changed its mind (as it often does) and walked away from the initiative, which quickly shriveled up and died. Java is only really free when no one company owns the language. Also, Sun presumably has a pile of Java-related patents, and it would need to be explicitly clear that if you implement the ANSI standard without using any of Sun's code, you have the right to use all of the ideas embodied in the standard without any threat of IP litigation. Only then will the language really be free. But still, Sun GPL'ing its implementation of the language is a very nice first step.
- SJVN wonders whether the move is too little, too late.
- Seems that Sun's also thinking about GPL'ing Solaris, too. That would be an interesting move. Back in the heyday of SCO, we'd already have threatening noises emanating from Lindon, and Darl would be calling people terrorists for using Solaris, and all that, the whole circus. Now, nothing. Total silence. Seems nobody's even bothered to ask SCO's opinion.
Other news from across the interwebs, thanks in large part to SNR's growing mini-legion of eagle-eyed astute readers:
- Daniel Wallace has lost again. The Court of Appeals has made it official, Danny-boy: Your 15 minutes are up.
- PCWorld: Zune = Yawn.
- A piece by the head of Red Hat's operations in India titled "Proprietary Vendors Feeling the Heat". The article focuses mostly on Oracle, for obvious reasons.
- Time Magazine has released its list of Official Heroes of the last 60 years. Among the heroes is none other than Linus Torvalds. Which is pretty cool, even if you (like me) think compiling a list of heroes is a deeply silly idea. I can't wait for the companion list of Official Villains. At first I thought I'd like to see Darl on such a list, but it might be more fitting, somehow, if he fails to make the cut. Maybe he'd merit a sentence or two in their web-only "Dishonorable Mention" companion piece or something. That sounds about right; he's no Ken Lay, after all, though not for lack of trying.
- Anderer's silly patent application for his "method" for "comparing" source code is still alive. The application status was updated on November 8th, with the label "IFW TSS Processing by Tech Center Complete". The USPTO's glossary describes it thusly:
What does IFW TSS Processing by Tech Center Complete mean?
This is really an internal code for PTO staff, but it means that our technical support staff is processing the application in image format.
So nothing terribly exciting is happening, but the application is still active, and hasn't been laughed out of patent court just yet. Very few things are laughed out of patent court, and when they are, it takes a long, long time. To me, this sounds like a job for the PubPat folks.
If you want to follow the slowwwwwwwly unfolding saga yourself, you can go to this USPTO search page, and enter the patent application number 10/938,844. - A SYS-CON piece about Red Hat's indemnification thingy. Nothing new here, but I notice that the piece is copyright 2006, Client-Server News. CSN is a G2 "publication", which means that MOG probably wrote the piece. SYS-CON is still carring her dreck, they just aren't putting her name on it anymore. I bet they think they're awfully sneaky.
- In case you're curious, Tony Lawrence's site has a new howto about running OSR 5.0.4 under VMWare. This OSR version dates from well before the McBride epoch, so no smart sarcastic remarks from me about this.
- On the other hand, here's a thread from someone whose OSR6 box is borked. Users can't log in at the console anymore, and there's a vigororous (by c.u.s.m standards) debate about what might be going on.
- Oh, and it turns out there's a c.u.s.m. group on Frappr. Not terribly active though. 9 photos, and the last "shoutout" is from last December. But I thought I'd pass it along, in case anyone wants to drop by and say hello or whatever.
- Another product announcement that mentions SCO. I've seen more than one of these in recent memory; that's practically an avalanche by SCO standards.
- Here is without a doubt the weirdest "submit your resume" page I've ever seen, from a PR company called "EXL Public Relations". They want to know your daddy's name, and their form's "work experience" field accepts a maximum of 50 characters. In a sidebar labeled "Fan Club" is this telling testimonial:
“Thanks for supporting the Me. Inc. launch program in India and helping it to be so successful”
Blake Stowell
Public Relations Director, SCO Group.
Their PR for the mega-huge Me Inc. launch in India is here [PDF]. - An ex-BS&F lawyer (not one of SCO's, thoughL) has moved to my neck of the woods. Grrr. At least the media saw fit to warn us, a little.
- An update, if you care, about the ongoing elbowed Picasso debacle. It seems that in the room along with casino king Steve Wynn and David Boies (SCO's top lawyer, at least on paper) were the writer Nora Ephron, and the one and only Barbara Walters. The news reports insist the damage was due to an elbow, but with a cast of characters like this you can't help but wonder what sort of dark unholy ritual was taking place.
By brx0 @ 12:38 AM 
