Dear Ubuntu: I Have Some Concerns

Rumors 114 Comments
"Dear Ubuntu, for the last couple years life has been good. Every time I've shown you to a friend or family member, they've compared you to what they're familiar with--Windows XP or Vista, mostly--and by comparison you've looked brilliant. Yeah, your ugly brown color scheme was a bit off-putting at first, but once people saw how secure, simple, and reliable you were, the response was almost universally positive. But recently, things have changed ..."
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New Windows Attacks Outsmart Anti-virus

Bugs & Viruses 56 Comments
According to The Register, "Researchers say they've devised a way to bypass protections built in to dozens of the most popular desktop anti-virus products, including those offered by McAfee, Trend Micro, AVG, and BitDefender. The method, developed by software security researchers at matousec.com, works by exploiting the driver hooks the anti-virus programs bury deep inside the Windows operating system. In essence, it works by sending them a sample of benign code that passes their security checks and then, before it's executed, swaps it out with a malicious payload."
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USPTO Plans Potentially Disastrous for Small Companies

In the News 38 Comments
Whatever products we use, I think we can all agree that the United States patent system and the US Patent and Trademark Office need a serious overhaul. Not only has the USPTO a history of granting ridiculous patents (massive prior art, obviousness, incredibly vague, the USPTO grants them all), it also has a backlog of about 750000 patent applications. The USPTO now has a plan to combat these issues - sadly, they once again display their utter incompetence.
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The State of Mac and Linux Gaming

Games 39 Comments
Wolfire blog writes: "It's 'common knowledge' that Mac and Linux gaming are so unimportant that they might as well not exist. Everyone 'knows' that Mac games sell a tiny fraction of the amount that Windows games sell, and that Linux games simply don't exist. But are these ideas based on reality? Where did these figures come from? Anyone who has ever worked with statistics knows that it's unwise to trust 'common knowledge' without data to back it up. I decided to ask some developers about their sales distribution, and get some real data about Mac and Linux game sales."
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Canonical’s H264 License Covers Some OEMs Only

Ubuntu 17 Comments
Canonical has explained why it has licensed H264. As it turns out, the license does not cover the distribution as a whole - since Ubuntu is entirely Free software, the license cannot be included. Canonical has licensed H264 so that it can offer it as an option to OEMs, just as it does with Flash, Fluendo, and some others. Since this is just an option for OEMs, it does not mean that every pre-installed Ubuntu system comes with the H264 license - it depends on whether or not your OEM decided to include it (good luck finding that out). And people actually promote this complicated spaghetti licensing situation.
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The Reports of the Netbook’s Death Are Greatly Exaggerated

Hardware 45 Comments
Lies, damned lies, and statistics. A really annoying overused catchphrase which sadly happens to be an adequate description of a story which appeared on Fortune's website, in which a Morgan Stanley report is quoted as saying that the introduction of tablet computers - the iPad specifically - have caused netbook sales to plummet. It seems like the researcher in question, however, needs to learn how to read her own graphs.
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Intel Fires Opening Salvo in x86 vs. ARM Smartphone Wars

Intel 9 Comments
"I have been writing about Moorestown since Intel started talking publicly about it in 2007, so the official unveiling of Intel's first x86-based SoC aimed at the smartphone market marks the end of a long journey. Moorestown's appearance also marks the beginning of another journey, as Intel prepares to face down ARM in its quest to win handset and tablet makers over to the x86 camp. In many ways, this is the biggest and most important Intel product launch since the original Atom introduction."
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MPEG-LA-owned Patent Troll Sues Smartphone Makers

  Submitted by Jupiter Legal 36 Comments
While Eugenia has already detailed just how intricate and impressive the MPEG-LA's efforts have been to basically set up the foundations that would allow them to sue just about everyone - their vague and unclear licenses are used in everything from DVD players to digital camcorders, and as such, it's hard to avoid them. Many others claim that the MPEG-LA won't ever go rogue (or this, take your pick). I think those people will be interested to know that one of the MPEG-LA's subsidiaries, a cut-and-clear patent troll, has launched several patent infringement suits earlier this year. This patent troll's CEO? Larry Horn - yes, the same Larry Horn who's also CEO of the MPEG-LA.
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Where Are the SmartBooks? Blame Adobe Says ARM

Hardware 60 Comments
In 2009 ARM showed off prototype netbooks "capable of driving HD content, can surf the web for 8 hours, and will cost round and about 250 USD". Yet still, none have made it to the market. Why do you think this is so? Because ARM signed a deal with Adobe in 2008 to bring Flash and AIR to the ARM architecture, a promise they will finally deliver later this year. And you wonder why Apple won't have Flash on the iPhone when it can hold back an entire product category for two years.
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Politics of Open Source Conference

  Submitted by Michelle Sagan Goncalves Legal 5 Comments
The Journal of Information Technology and Politics will host JITP 2010: Politics of Open Source on May 6 & 7, 2010 at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The conference will also stream live via the conference website. The Politics of Open Source is an interdisciplinary conference that examines the politics associated with the Free/Libre and Open Source Software Movement. The conference features two keynote lectures. The first is by Eric von Hippel, Professor and Head of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Group at the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School. Dr. Von Hippel's keynote, "Democratizing Innovation" will discuss the development and impact of democratized innovation systems.
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Microsoft To Kill Off Support Newsgroups

Microsoft 11 Comments
"Beginning in June 2010, Microsoft will begin closing newsgroups and migrating users to Microsoft forums that include Microsoft Answers, TechNet and MSDN. This move will centralize content, make it easier for contributors to retain their influence, reduce redundancies and make content easier to find. Overall, forums offer a better spam management platform that will improve customer satisfaction by encouraging a healthy discussion space."
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Kin Available Tomorrow, But Pricing May Hamper Adoption

Microsoft 2 Comments
"Microsoft's Kin One and Two will be available to prospective buyers within days, though the pricing and data plans seem to fall in an awkward spot for a device the companies are targeting at teens. Microsoft announced Wednesday that the two devices would be available on Verizon Wireless' website as of May 6 and show up in stores on May 13. After a $100 mail-in rebate and a new two-year contract with Verizon, the Kin One will cost $49.99 and the Two will cost $99.99."
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Windows Phone 7 Based on Windows Embedded Compact 7

Windows 14 Comments
Wait, news on an actual operating system? What, no H264 news? It's not even Apple-related? Yes, you're not the only one who's cynical. Anyway, we always assumed that Windows Phone 7 would be built on top of Windows Embedded CE 6.0, but as it turns out, that's not entirely accurate - it actually uses the next version of Windows CE: Windows Embedded Compact 7. No information has been made available about this new version as of yet. Update: And here's an article on how the rumour mill suggests the future of Microsoft's mobile strategy includes replacing Windows Embedded Compact with... Windows NT. Yeppers.
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HTML5 Apps

Wireless 44 Comments
Discussions of Apple's strict control over the app store often do not mention that you can deploy cross platform apps using web applications. HTML5, JavaScript, and CSS should allow you to create compelling, applications without having to distribute through Apple. "I am convinced that the HTML5 app route is the best one for a fat slice of the non-game iPhone apps currently out there, especially those that are simple and face stiff competition. Increased interoperability will help them more than a relative lack of eye candy will hinder them. The problem is convincing clients of that."
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