http://www.osnews.com/ Exploring the Future of Computing en-us Copyright 2001-2008, David Adams OSNews version 4 donotreply@osnews.com (Adam Scheinberg) donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Sat, 17 May 2008 07:33:04 GMT http://www.osnews.com/images/osnews.gif http://www.osnews.com/ 120 http://www.osnews.com/story/19727/Skype_Withdraws_Appeals_Case_GPL_Wins/ http://www.osnews.com/story/19727/Skype_Withdraws_Appeals_Case_GPL_Wins/ In July of 2007, Skype lost a court case over their failure to include a copy of the GPL in their WSKP100 VoIP phone - it ran Linux, GPL software, which means a copy of the GPL license must be included. The case was started by the gpl-violations.org group. Skype decided to appeal against the decision, but it has decided to withdraw that appeal. Fri, 09 May 2008 13:19:10 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Law and Order 20 http://www.osnews.com/topics/44 News Moulinneuf http://www.osnews.com/story/19705/McBride:_Linux_Is_a_Copy_of_UNIX/ http://www.osnews.com/story/19705/McBride:_Linux_Is_a_Copy_of_UNIX/ Speaking of soap operas, there's one soap opera in the technology world that has been going on for so long that nobody really seems to know why it was ever started, whatever all the different moves have been over the years, or whoever lost or won which battle. Just like a true soap opera, you can just jump right in the middle of it and feel like you've always been part of the regular audience. The SCO saga is such a case. Thu, 01 May 2008 19:41:25 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Law and Order 61 http://www.osnews.com/topics/44 News http://www.osnews.com/story/19692/Hans_Reiser_Found_Guilty_of_Murder/ http://www.osnews.com/story/19692/Hans_Reiser_Found_Guilty_of_Murder/ In October 2006, Hans Reiser, creator of the ReiserFS filesystem, was arrested under the suspicion of the murder of his wife, Nina, who had disappeared off the face of the earth after dropping their two children off at Hans' home. The two were divorced, and fighting a legal battle over ownership of the Namesys company and the custody of their children. Even though the body was never found, he has been declared guilty of first degree murder. Tue, 29 Apr 2008 08:21:57 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Law and Order 151 http://www.osnews.com/topics/44 News Jason Slack http://www.osnews.com/story/19690/SQL_Injection_Attacks_on_IIS_Web_Servers/ http://www.osnews.com/story/19690/SQL_Injection_Attacks_on_IIS_Web_Servers/ Last week, The Washington Post reported that hundreds of thousands of IIS webservers were hacked. Code was placed on them that installed malware on visitors' computers. Among the infectees were websites from the UK government and the United Nations. Initial reports said the attackers used a security vulnerability in Microsoft's IIS, but the company published more information on the attacks today, and denies IIS was compromised. Mon, 28 Apr 2008 19:22:15 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Law and Order 19 http://www.osnews.com/topics/44 News Hakime http://www.osnews.com/story/19682/The_Legality_of_EULAs_in_The_Netherlands/ http://www.osnews.com/story/19682/The_Legality_of_EULAs_in_The_Netherlands/ When PsyStar announced they would be offering their own Macintosch clone, pre-installed with Apple's Mac OS X Leopard, they opened up a whole can of worms. Despite the fact that the company itself was shrouded in mystery and dubiousness, the possible implications of their actions sparkled an interesting debate here on OSNews as well as other discussion venues: can PsyStar and its users just discard Apple's End User License Agreement for Leopard? Instead of relying on my own limited layman's understanding of Dutch Common Law, I decided to contact Dutch legal experts, and ask for their opinions on Apple's EULA, and EULAs in general. Fri, 25 Apr 2008 15:01:24 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Law and Order 39 http://www.osnews.com/topics/44 Feature http://www.osnews.com/story/19652/Column:_Are_You_Stealing_Vista_/ http://www.osnews.com/story/19652/Column:_Are_You_Stealing_Vista_/ A Microsoft executive sent out a snotty email chastising anyone who has been encouraging people to purchase the Vista upgrade and install it without owning a valid Windows license. People discovered long ago that the Vista upgrade, which costs half of what full license costs, will install on new hardware without verification of a previous install. Microsoft's Eric Ligman points out, to those people who weren't aware, that this is just as much a violation of the license as "borrowing" an install disk from a friend. Fri, 18 Apr 2008 15:54:34 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (David Adams) Law and Order 52 http://www.osnews.com/topics/44 News CIozzio http://www.osnews.com/story/19494/Legal_Victory_for_the_GPL/ http://www.osnews.com/story/19494/Legal_Victory_for_the_GPL/ The license behind Linux and other open source projects has never faced a determined legal attack, and although it purports to give real teeth to developers' wishes, there's been fear that a committed enemy may one day attempt to challenge its legal footing. Recently, the Software Freedom Law Center sued Verizon for copyright infringement related to a GPL violation. This week, Verizon opted to settle out of court. This victory gives the GPL some needed legal momentum that may fend off future challenges. Thu, 20 Mar 2008 16:07:57 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (David Adams) Law and Order 13 http://www.osnews.com/topics/44 News irbis http://www.osnews.com/story/19448/Microsoft_Challenges_Vista_Capable_Class_Action/ http://www.osnews.com/story/19448/Microsoft_Challenges_Vista_Capable_Class_Action/ Microsoft Corp. on Friday asked that a lawsuit claiming it duped consumers in a Windows Vista marketing program be suspended while the company appeals a judge's decision to grant the case class-action status. If granted, the motion would also postpone any new disclosures of potentially embarrassing company e-mails. Last month, the release of similar documents showed that top-level company executives struggled with the new operating system on machines labeled "Vista Capable," and that partners such as Dell Inc. warned Microsoft that the campaign would confuse consumers. Mon, 10 Mar 2008 03:40:10 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (David Adams) Law and Order 66 http://www.osnews.com/topics/44 News SReilly http://www.osnews.com/story/19382/Class_Action_Suit_Against_Microsoft_Gets_Green_Light/ http://www.osnews.com/story/19382/Class_Action_Suit_Against_Microsoft_Gets_Green_Light/ A federal judge said Friday that consumers may go ahead with a class action lawsuit against Microsoft over the way it advertised computers loaded with Windows XP as capable of running the Vista operating system. The lawsuit said Microsoft's labeling of some PCs as 'Windows Vista Capable' was misleading because many of those computers were not powerful enough to run all of Vista's features, including the much-touted 'Aero' user interface. Sun, 24 Feb 2008 21:52:03 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Law and Order 19 http://www.osnews.com/topics/44 News Bobthearch http://www.osnews.com/story/19239/Microsoft_US_Consent_Decree_Extended_Two_More_Years/ http://www.osnews.com/story/19239/Microsoft_US_Consent_Decree_Extended_Two_More_Years/ Microsoft will have to put up with another two years of court antitrust oversight, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday. In her ruling, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly cited the length of time it has taken Microsoft to get its protocol licensing program up and running as the primary reason she is extending the consent decree, which was due to expire at the end of last year. Wed, 30 Jan 2008 05:31:11 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Law and Order 5 http://www.osnews.com/topics/44 News http://www.osnews.com/story/19162/New_EU_Enquiry_Into_Microsoft/ http://www.osnews.com/story/19162/New_EU_Enquiry_Into_Microsoft/ The European Commission is launching two new anti-competition investigations against US computer giant Microsoft. The first will look at whether Microsoft unfairly ties its Explorer internet browser to its Windows operating system. In the parallel investigation, the Commission will look at the interoperability of Microsoft software with rival products. Note: Remember the OSNews comic? Here is a new comic, which, for now, is attached to the story it relates to. We are working on a separate section for the comic, but until that is done, I will sporadically publish comics this way. I have a whole stack of comics ready for when that section goes live - and you can see the name for the comic too, if you look "closely". Enjoy the new comic, titled "Hawaii". Mon, 14 Jan 2008 23:16:38 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Law and Order 87 http://www.osnews.com/topics/44 News Tanked http://www.osnews.com/story/19072/Think_Secret_Ceases_Activities_After_Reaching_Settlement_with_Apple/ http://www.osnews.com/story/19072/Think_Secret_Ceases_Activities_After_Reaching_Settlement_with_Apple/ As we say in Dutch, de kogel is door de kerk: Think Secret will cease all activities after reaching a settlement with Apple in a lawsuit Apple had filed against the website. In exchange for closing down Think Secret, Nick DePlume, its owner, will not have to reveal its sources to Apple. The press release on the Think Secret website reads: "Apple and Think Secret have settled their lawsuit, reaching an agreement that results in a positive solution for both sides. As part of the confidential settlement, no sources were revealed and Think Secret will no longer be published." My take: I have respect for the way DePlume protected his sources; very commendable. I have, however, little respect for Apple in this case (I have written, rather controversially, about it before), and it just scares the living daylights out of me that a company can exert this much power over independent websites. Thu, 20 Dec 2007 10:22:38 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Law and Order 74 http://www.osnews.com/topics/44 News http://www.osnews.com/story/19058/Microsoft_Strikes_Back_at_Opera_Antitrust_Claims/ http://www.osnews.com/story/19058/Microsoft_Strikes_Back_at_Opera_Antitrust_Claims/ Opera, based in Norway, announced Thursday that it had filed an antitrust complaint with the European Commission, alleging that Microsoft is abusing its dominant position by bundling IE with the Windows operating system. Opera also claimed that Microsoft is hindering interoperability by not following accepted open Web standards. Microsoft struck back Friday, indicating that it would not willingly unbundle IE from Windows. "We believe the inclusion of the browser into the operating system benefits consumers, and that consumers and PC manufacturers are already free to choose to use any browsers they wish," a Microsoft representative said. "Internet Explorer has been an integral part of the Windows operating system for over a decade and supports a wide range of Web standards." Mon, 17 Dec 2007 22:10:08 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Law and Order 110 http://www.osnews.com/topics/44 News http://www.osnews.com/story/19045/Opera_Files_Antitrust_Complaint_with_the_EU_Against_Microsoft/ http://www.osnews.com/story/19045/Opera_Files_Antitrust_Complaint_with_the_EU_Against_Microsoft/ "Opera Software filed a complaint with the European Commission yesterday which is aimed at giving consumers a genuine choice of Web browsers. The complaint describes how Microsoft is abusing its dominant position by tying its browser, Internet Explorer, to the Windows operating system and by hindering interoperability by not following accepted Web standards. Opera has requested the Commission to take the necessary actions to compel Microsoft to give consumers a real choice and to support open Web standards in Internet Explorer." Thu, 13 Dec 2007 18:31:16 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Law and Order 147 http://www.osnews.com/topics/44 News abdavidson http://www.osnews.com/story/18985/Microsoft_Confused_by_its_own_Vista_Capable_Branding/ http://www.osnews.com/story/18985/Microsoft_Confused_by_its_own_Vista_Capable_Branding/ Lawyers for plaintiffs in a case brought against Microsoft over Vista's marketing have claimed that Microsoft was not telling the truth when it put the "Vista Capable" logo on PCs that would only be capable of running Vista Home Basic. Lawyers claimed that even Microsoft's director of marketing, Mark Croft, had become confused about the meaning of "Vista capable" when giving evidence. Fri, 30 Nov 2007 19:17:05 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (David Adams) Law and Order 17 http://www.osnews.com/topics/44 News Pette Johnson