Monthly Archive:: October 2010

So, today was the big day for Microsoft. It's all or nothing. Die tot oder die gladiolen (cookie if you get that one without using Google). The software giant from Redmond officially launched its Windows Phone 7 operating system, alongside about ten handsets from different OEMs. Since Windows Phone 7 has been covered quite a lot already, leaving little to the imagination, did something actually new come out of all this? Yes, it did.

So, yeah, as we already detailed almost two weeks ago, MorphOS 2.6 has been released. We've already discussed this one and its new features last time around, so I'm having a little trouble coming up with stuff to write about, but I'll do my best to find anything interesting in the detailed release notes - as inexperienced as I am with MorphOS.

Google's big Android chief Andy Rubin has given an interview to PC Magazine, in which he touches on some interesting topics. Sadly, PC Magazine didn't ask about the patent situation and why Google is seemingly letting its OEMs fend for themselves, but there's still a lot of other interesting stuff in there.

You think only "pirates" and "freeloaders" rail against current copyright laws? Well, think again - even the Library of Congress seemingly has had enough. The topic is recorded sound preservation, and in a 181-page in-depth study, the Library of Congress concludes that apart from technical difficulties, US copyright law makes it virtually impossible for anyone to perform any form of audio preservation. The painted picture is grim - very grim.

LLVM 2.8 has been released. The release notes describe this new, ehm, release in greater detail, so head on over and give it a read.

ScaraOS is a 32-bit, multiboot-compliant, monolithic OS kernel. It has the beginnings of a paged VM system and VFS. It supports PCI, DMA, AT floppies (read only), EXT2, and can do all the low-level stuff expected of an OS kernel (program the PIC, handle interrupts, control the timer, etc.). It was written primarily to learn OS fundamentals. It boots using any multiboot bootloader, and it has been tested with grub on qemu and KVM. Bootable floppy images are available.

Speaking of patent lawsuits - somebody pointed out to me that both Oracle and Google are members of the Open Invention Network. This struck me as odd - doesn't the OIN license require you to promise not to assert your patents against Linux systems? And, uhm, isn't that kind of what Oracle is doing right now? Well, yes, they might be suing a Linux System - but they're not suing a Linux System as defined by the OIN.

And so, the idiocy in the mobile industry continues. Motorola has just upped the ante in this already ridiculous spider web of lawsuits by suing the pants off Apple. Eighteen patents are involved, most of which seem to be actual hardware patents, but that doesn't make some of them any less obvious (apparently, you can patent the location of your antenna). Anywho, like Nokia, Motorola claims that Apple is unwilling to license Motorola's patents, and as such, suing was the only option.

Logitech just presented their first GoogleTV product, the Revue. I've written many times about how the TV is the next big device to get revolutionized. Unfortunately, I personally just don't think that the Revue is "it." Warning: an impulsive, reactionary, but also honest rant is following.

Let me tell you, when what you teach and develop every day has the title "Innovation" attached to it, you reach a point where you tire of hearing about Apple. Without question, nearly everyone believes the equation Apple = Innovation is a fundamental truth--akin to the second law of thermodynamics, Boyle's Law, or Moore's Law. But ask these same people if they understand exactly how Apple comes up with their ideas and what approach the company uses to develop blockbuster products--whether it is a fluky phenomenon or based on a repeatable set of governing principles--and you mostly get a dumbfounded stare. This response is what frustrates me most, because people worship what they don't understand.

In response to Jean-Louis Glassee's article "The OS Doesn't Matter..." I wrote quite simply: the future of the browser wars is he who integrates with the OS best. This phrase came from my article lambasting Microsoft's use of HTML for their IE9 jump lists, which caused quite a stir. In the wave of ever increasing web browser capability, the operating system is going to matter to web users more than it ever has before.

In an e-mail to their announce mailing list, the The Document Foundation have shared details of their first week of public operation: "One full week has gone by since the announcement of The Document Foundation, and we would like to share some numbers with the people who have decided to follow us since the first day."

So, Google has finally officially responded (thanks for hosting, Engadget) to Oracle's patent and copyright infringement lawsuit against the search giant's Android mobile operating system. Apart from boatloads of pages on how Google pretty much denies any and all claims, there's a lot of interesting stuff in there - stuff that doesn't seem to bode well if the courts do decide Google is infringing Oracle's patents. It also makes it crystal clear that anyone who values Free and open source software should avoid Oracle products like the plague.

With the release of Windows Phone 7 upon us, the hype machine now goes all the way up to 11. While hype machines are generally relatively harmless and easy to poke a hole through, coordinated FUD campaigns by patent trolls are not. After Apple and Microsoft trolled HTC, and Microsoft now trolling Motorola, the actual FUD campaign against Android is in full swing.