OSnews - Exploring the Future of Computing

Shuttleworth: ‘Linux is supposed to be hard so it’s exclusive’ is “dumb”

Thom Holwerda 2013-03-08 Ubuntu 115 Comments

Mark Shuttleworth: "I simply have zero interest in the crowd who wants to be different. Leet. 'Linux is supposed to be hard so it's exclusive' is just the dumbest thing that a smart person could say." He's right. Lots of interesting insights in this blog post - I may not agree with everything Ubuntu does, but at least it's doing something.

EA botches SimCity launch, Amazon stops sales

Thom Holwerda 2013-03-07 Games 43 Comments

So, SimCity has been released - the fifth instalment in this venerable series of fantastic games. However, just as everyone suspected, the game has been completely ruined by the always-online DRM. So much so, in fact, that Amazon has ceased selling the game. Update: and it's only getting worse - EA has suspended all marketing efforts for SimCity, and has asked third parties to do the same. Wow.

Google, MPEG LA sign agreement covering VP8

Thom Holwerda 2013-03-07 Legal 113 Comments

"Google and MPEG LA announced today that they have entered into agreements granting Google a license to techniques that may be essential to VP8 and earlier-generation VPx video compression technologies under patents owned by 11 patent holders. The agreements also grant Google the right to sublicense those techniques to any user of VP8, whether the VP8 implementation is by Google or another entity. It further provides for sublicensing those VP8 techniques in one next-generation VPx video codec. As a result of the agreements, MPEG LA will discontinue its effort to form a VP8 patent pool." The word that stood out to me: the auxiliary verb 'may', which has a rather low epistemic modality. To me, this indicates that this is not so much a clear-cut case of VP8 infringing upon patents, but more a precautionary move on Google's part.

How two volunteers built the RaspPi’s operating system

Thom Holwerda 2013-03-07 Debian 17 Comments

"When you buy a Raspberry Pi, the $35 computer doesn't come with an operating system. Loading your operating system of choice onto an SD card and then booting the Pi turns out to be pretty easy. But where do Pi-compatible operating systems come from? With the Raspberry Pi having just turned one year old, we decided to find out how Raspbian - the officially recommended Pi operating system - came into being. The project required 60-hour work weeks, a home-built cluster of ARM computers, and the rebuilding of 19,000 Linux software packages. And it was all accomplished by two volunteers."

Apple finds a strange bedfellow against Samsung: Nokia

Thom Holwerda 2013-03-07 Legal 49 Comments

"Apple vs. Samsung initially ended with a billion-dollar verdict in favor of Apple, but there have been plenty of wrinkles since. This week brought about another, as Nokia filed an amicus brief on behalf of Apple, Inc. in the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. In the brief filed Monday, Nokia asked the court to permit permanent injunctions on the sale of Samsung phones that were found to infringe Apple's patents." In the meantime, the latest comScore figures for the US show that Windows Phone's market share actually declined during the launch of Windows Phone 8. It's pretty clear that, combined with the disappointing quarterly results for Nokia, the company is setting itself up for the future. In this future, Nokia's patent portfolio is worth more than their actual phone business, and as such, Nokia can't do anything but support Apple in this case, else the value of their portfolio goes down.

ModernMix runs Metro applications in desktop mode

Thom Holwerda 2013-03-06 Windows 8 Comments

The Verge: "ModernMix aims to change this. The app provides options to simple run Windows 8-style apps in separate individual windows in desktop mode. Windows 8 still has the usual Aero Snap functionality to align traditional apps side-by-side, and ModernMix takes full advantage of this. ModernMix remembers app window sizes so that they launch in the same place every time. A little widget in the top right-hand corner of Windows 8-style apps lets you bring them into desktop mode, and if you re-launch them from the Start Screen it will remember where you left off." Stardock - making awesome stuff since OS/2.

The reason we don’t have Metro Office yet

Thom Holwerda 2013-03-06 Microsoft 65 Comments

One of the major lacking features in the newest Office: no Metro applications. In fact, the only reason Windows RT has a desktop at all is because the Office team was unable to create Metro applications in time for the release of Windows RT. I often thought this was a classic case of two important divisions within Microsoft not getting along and not being aligned, but now that I have my own Surface RT, I'm starting to realise that there's a far simpler, and thus more likely, explanation: Metro is simply not ready for anything serious - or for anything at all, really.

EC fines Microsoft for EUR 561 million

Thom Holwerda 2013-03-06 Legal 74 Comments

"The European Commission has imposed a EUR 561 million fine on Microsoft for failing to comply with its commitments to offer users a browser choice screen enabling them to easily choose their preferred web browser. In 2009, the Commission had made these commitments legally binding on Microsoft until 2014. In today's decision, the Commission finds that Microsoft failed to roll out the browser choice screen with its Windows 7 Service Pack 1 from May 2011 until July 2012. 15 million Windows users in the EU therefore did not see the choice screen during this period. Microsoft has acknowledged that the choice screen was not displayed during that time." Burn.

Samsung stops sales of Windows RT tablets in Europe

Thom Holwerda 2013-03-06 Windows 54 Comments

After ditching its Windows RT tablets from the US market, Samsung has now also confirmed to Heise.de it's going to stop selling them in Germany and several other European countries. The company cites lack of interest from consumers and confusion over what Windows RT is. Combined with the massive discounts Microsoft is now giving to OEMs, the writing is on the wall here: Windows 8 - specifically on tablets but also in general - is turning into a failure.

The world’s smallest and lightest phone

Thom Holwerda 2013-03-06 Wireless 18 Comments

"Japanese telecom operator Willcom has unveiled the 'Phone Strap 2 WX06A' which is the world's smallest and lightest phone. The phone measures 32x70x10.7 mm and weighs a mere 32 grams, to put it in perspective the iPhone 5 measures 123.8x58.6x7.6 mm and weighs 112 grams which is almost 4 times heavier than the Phone Strap 2." Why does Japan always get all the cool stuff. I'd love me one of these. Kawaii ne?

Submitted by Nth_Man 2013-03-05 Ubuntu 25 Comments

"HP, the worlds biggest PC vendor as of 2012, has today launched a brand new all-in-one PC running Ubuntu. But the real 'wow' factor comes from its pricing. At just GBP 349 HP have pitched the PC well within the reach of your average consumer. A similar, though not identical, model is also available with Windows 8 priced at GBP 499."

FreeBSD Q4 2012 status report

Submitted by Joel Dahl 2013-03-05 FreeBSD No Comments

The FreeBSD project has published a status report covering FreeBSD-related projects during Q4 2012. It details progress on the bhyve type-2 hypervisor, AMD GPUs kernel-modesetting, UEFI and the port to Raspberry PI, among other things.

Guest post by Tom5 2013-03-05 OS News 11 Comments

0install 2.0 is out today. Zero Install is a decentralised cross-platform software installation system, allowing software developers to publish programs directly from their own websites, while still supporting shared libraries, automatic updates, dependency handling and digital signatures. It complements, rather than replaces, the OS' package management. Departing from its traditional use of installing desktop applications, many of the new features were driven by requirements from the Ryppl project, which is using 0install as the package manager in a modular build system for C++ projects.

Submitted by Laurence 2013-03-05 Hardware 16 Comments

Steve Mann on his 35-year history building and wearing computerised eyewear. "Was it blind luck (pardon the expression) that I was wearing this vision-enhancing system at the time of the accident? Not at all: I have been designing, building, and wearing some form of this gear for more than 35 years." Glass has the potential to have a huge impact on the world - and just like with the advent of the mobile phone, people are afraid, cynical, and unable to see the possibly huge benefits of systems like this.

New Opera with WebKit goes beta in Play Store

Thom Holwerda 2013-03-05 Opera 6 Comments

"Opera Software announced a new and retooled version of their browser in February, and demonstrated it during Mobile World Congress. The Opera browser beta is live in the Play Store. It's a free download for just about any Android device, so get to it." The first Opera browser with WebKit.

Embedded developers prefer Linux, love Android

Submitted by Anonymous 2013-03-04 Linux 10 Comments

In a recent EE Times 2013 Embedded Market study, Android was the OS of choice for future embedded projects among 16 percent of the survey's participants, second only to 'in-house/custom' (at 28 percent). But if a spectrum of disparate approaches can be lumped together as a single option, why not aggregate the various shades of Linux to see how they compare? "Parsing the EE Times data this way makes it abundantly clear that Linux truly dominates the embedded market."

White House: it’s time to legalize cell phone unlocking

Thom Holwerda 2013-03-04 Wireless 18 Comments

"The White House agrees with the 114.000+ of you who believe that consumers should be able to unlock their cell phones without risking criminal or other penalties. In fact, we believe the same principle should also apply to tablets, which are increasingly similar to smart phones. And if you have paid for your mobile device, and aren't bound by a service agreement or other obligation, you should be able to use it on another network. It's common sense, crucial for protecting consumer choice, and important for ensuring we continue to have the vibrant, competitive wireless market that delivers innovative products and solid service to meet consumers' needs."

Canonical announce custom display server ‘Mir’

Thom Holwerda 2013-03-04 Ubuntu 54 Comments

"Canonical has today publicly confirmed that they are working on a new cross-platform displayer server for Ubuntu. Called 'Mir', the X Window Server replacement is tasked with 'enabling development of the next generation Unity'. Which, in yet another about-turn, is to be rebuilt in Qt/QML." It'll be used for all Ubuntu variants (phone, tablet, desktop), and the first version will be released come May.

Jolla to ignore the US due to patent mess

Thom Holwerda 2013-03-03 Wireless 95 Comments

At TechCrunch, Jolla's CEO Marc Dillon explains why his company will focus on China, Finland, and the rest of Europe first, ignoring the US. "The US market is not on the radar as yet, as he says the patent landscape there 'raises a barrier' of entry to newcomers (he's especially critical of overly aggressive use of design patents)." Considering the patent mess in the US is only getting worse, expect to see more of this in the future. Jolla is making a wise decision by ignoring the US - as a young technology company, you're far better off focusing your attention elsewhere.

Apple’s award in Samsung trial halved

Thom Holwerda 2013-03-01 Legal 32 Comments

Judge Lucy Koh has almost halved the $1 billion in damages the jury awarded to Apple. "Koh found two main errors in the way the jury calculated the damages awarded to Apple. They used Samsung's profits to determine the amount the company owed for infringing some of Apple's utility patents - a practice only appropriate when calculating damages owed when design patents have been infringed. They also erred when calculating the time period Apple should be awarded damages for. Koh explains that Apple was only due damages for product sales that occurred after Cupertino informed Samsung of its belief that the violations were taking place." It's almost as if the bunch of random people in this jury had no clue what they were doing in what is possibly the most complex patent trial in history.