In the News Archive

Linux is the clear winner out of a dispute between the Russian legal authorities and schools over who should carry the can over the use of pirated Windows software, The Inquirer magazine reports. Rather than attacking mobsters who peddle pirated copies of Windows directly to companies, the Russian coppers decided to lock up a Sepich headmaster who bought hot Windows software which came from Perm region’s Capital Construction Administration. Microsoft says that the incident has nothing to do with them, but it appears that Russian schools in the area are so scared about being shipped off to a Siberian Gulag, that they are buying Linux gear instead.

Canonical Ltd., the sponsor of Ubuntu, and Linspire Inc. the developer of Linspire and Freespire, on February 8 announced a technology partnership to integrate with each other's Linux distributions. Linspire/Freespire will be based on Ubuntu, rather than Debian, and Ubuntu will integrate with Linspire's CNR package installer/updater.

Adobe Systems today announced that it has released the full PDF (Portable Document Format) 1.7 specification to AIIM, the Association for Information and Image Management. AIIM, in turn, will start working on making PDF an ISO standard.

Hans Reiser, the prominent Bay Area Linux programmer charged with murdering his wife, says he's seeking to sell off his open-source file system company, Namesys, to help pay mounting legal costs. In the first interview since his arrest, Reiser spoke this week about the future of his company and his legal travails from within the walls of Santa Rita Jail, where he is being held without bail.

For a while now, we've been trying to think of good ways to allow the readers of OSNews to find OS or tech-related jobs, or find new employees for their companies. We've partnered with CareerBuilder, for a start, so if you're looking for a job, (or want to fill one) check it out.. But what else could we do? Would you like to see a place where people can post OS-related tech jobs? Let us know in the comments of this story. On this subject, Openwave, maker of the popular mobile phone web browser, is looking for a Senior Software Engineer to work on the core of their next generation mobile browser: "Must have demonstrable, extensive, real-world experience, a deep understanding of C and a working knowledge of C++." Openwave's web browser engineering team has a long history demonstrating and testing with OSNews' mobile site (screenshot), so we thought we give them a hand by posting this.

"The simple question 'what's wrong with software patents?' stirs up controversy and divides the IT industry into two camps like no other. Every group has their own ideology about software patents. Those who don't like them claim that they are anti-competitive, that they are tools used by industry giants to crush free and open software, that they are bad for innovation, that they are monopolies. Those who like them claim that they are simply units of intellectual property, to be traded like any other commodity."

"Throughout the 1990's, Microsoft established families of integrated products that all contributed toward a successful platform, with many parallels to what Apple is doing today. Despite the two companies' very different motivations, products, and markets, both shared many common threads. Here's a look at how the two cautiously and enviously watched each other with the intent to learn from each other's actions, hoping to copy successes and avoid failures."

We at OSNews have tiptoed around the following unfolding story for a while now, scared we would wrongly damage Hans Reiser's image. However, now that he has been arrested as a suspect in this case, we cannot ignore it any longer. "Oakland police today arrested the estranged husband of 31-year-old Nina 'Nenasha' Reiser on charges of murder even though in the month since she vanished, investigators have found no trace of her body. Hans Reiser, a man who has recently refused to cooperate with investigators, was arrested today along with two additional unidentified people around 11 a.m. at an acquaintance's home in the 6900 block of Simson Street, according to police."

DigitalLife 2006, a consumer technology, gaming & entertainment conference will be held at the Javitz Center in New York City on October 12-15 this year. If you'd like to attend, you can register and print out tickets at this page. Plus, if you use the source code "INSIDER", it's free.

A secret investigation of news leaks at Hewlett-Packard was more elaborate than previously reported, and almost from the start involved the illicit gathering of private phone records and direct surveillance of board members and journalists, according to people briefed on the company's review of the operation.

"At some hot, boring afternoon I got an idea. With the help of publicly accessible e-mail adresses I asked 10 questions to a bunch of programmers that I consider very interesting people and I respect them for variuos things they created."

Apple, Google and Symantec are among the high-technology companies with the most loyal customers, according to a new report based on data from early last year. The company conducted three separate studies looking at the Online Services, Computing, and Consumer Services sectors of the high technology industry, assessing various companies' commitment to maximizing customer experience and driving revenue growth through customer loyalty.

Analysts cover everything. They are quoted in stories about the PS3 launch date, the impending death of the iPod Shuffle, and the earnings of search behemoth Google, but reading quote after quote from faceless 'analysts' does little to answer the burning question: who are these people, and what do they do all day?

The Danish parliament has agreed to make the use of open standards mandatory in all government agencies. "Parliament directs the government to ensure that the use of information technology, including software, within public authorities is based upon open standards. No later than January 1st, 2008, the government should introduce and maintain a set of open standards that can serve as inspiration for other public authorities. Hereafter, open standards should be a part of the basis for public authorities' development and purchase of IT software, with the aim of furthering competition. The government should ensure that all digital information and data that public authorities exchange with citizens, corporations and institutions are available in formats based on open standards."