Posts by Roger Williams

Microsoft ready for an open-source skoolin'

Culture change needed, not skoolin'

I'm sure that Sam Ramji is a perfectly nice guy, and perhaps is genuinely interested in making Microsoft more responsive to OSS "needs" (just as long as Microsoft ends up benefiting financially from others' unpaid work, of course).

But identifying the primary problem as one of ordinary large company inertia is completely disingenuous. Even Sam must recognise that the biggest obstacle to gaining trust from the OSS community is the fact that Microsoft's entire business strategy has always been based on bullying, misinformation, and FUD -- and it's quite obvious from their latest marketing and legal activities that the culture in the rest of the company hasn't budged an inch.

Open-source .NET gets AJAX polish

Sorry, Miguel

While I admire Miguel's skill as a software developer, it seems that he's either very naive (or disingenuous) in his summary dismissal of the community's well-founded concerns about the dangers of Microsoft's shared source license and refusal to guarantee access to the .NET patents.

Symbian Foundation: A brand that wants to share and talk

@Simon

Then you'll love the 45 other pics at http://www.flickr.com/photos/symbianfoundation/ ...

Gnome answers Linux critics with 'big' vision plan

Who needs a Windows clone?

Until the Gnome team can question their belief that what users really need is a window manager that looks and feels like MS Windows, they're just going to keep coming up with same boring, unconfigurable, 'me-too' crap -- just running on top of Linux. With KDE4 in such a mess, this is their opportunity; but I'm not sanguine about their ability to shake their entrenched mindset or their ability to think outside of the Redmond UI box.

MS punts stripped down Windows Server 2008 at tiny SMBs

1st April

Erm, this IS a (slightly less obvious) April Fool's joke, right?

US judge bars teen 'sexting' charges

Re: Medium not Participants

No. Of all the descriptions that have been applied to this situation, "child porn" is not one of the appropriate ones. More apt descriptions are "overreaching" and "railroading". The Federal District Court agrees in their restraining order:

http://www.aclupa.org/downloads/MillerTROorder33009.pdf

Google kicks Amazon in the Kindle

Close, but no cigar

Unfortunately, it's not true that you can actually "download the [ePub titles] from the Sony eBook store free of charge". The only thing you can actually download is a Windows-only "eBook Library Software" application, which purportedly can be used to download the "free" titles for you.

I make heavy use of my PRS-505, but I'm damned if I'm going to patronise a shop that erects those sorts of obstacles to using their product...

MS security chief becomes DHS cybersecurity boss

Avé! Bossa nova! Similis bossa seneca!

Jokes about "Microsoft Security" == "Military Intelligence" aside, Phil is simply the most recent troubling appointment in a very troubling trend in the new US administration. The DOJ, for example, is similarly loaded with ex-RIAA lawyers and their pro-patent buddies. It's only a matter of time before we see the first Federal laws aimed at making a criminal of every computer user who doesn't pay their Protection Fees to Microsoft, the MPAA, and an approved list of patent trolls.

Microsoft claims Firefox- and Chrome-whopping IE8 speeds

Supported platforms?

Sounds great! Where can I grab a DMG for my home MacBook? Not available? What about the source code so that I can build it for our office Linux desktops? Not available either?

In the end, who really cares about a closed-source application that only runs on a single, closed-source operating system?

Microsoft woos open sourcers with Visual Studio 2010

I don't get it

Why would any OSS developer spend his time and resources on a plugin that only works on a closed IDE (which he has to pay for), which in turn is used to develop software for a closed OS (which he has to pay for) -- and then give that plugin away for free?

I see the win for Microsoft, but why is anyone going to develop anything for Visual Studio for free, instead of developing for (say) Eclipse or some other part of the OSS community? Sticky gold stars only go so far as a motivational aid...

Dell launches perfume ad teaser site for Macbook Air rival

Silk purse, sow's ear, etc.

Hardware specification aside, it's hard to imagine how the combination of Dell and Vista could conceivably create anything remotely likely to attract would-be Macbook Air buyers...

Transmeta IP sold to not-patent troll

@Grant

I have to assume that Austin's tongue was very firmly planted in his cheek...

The definition of a patent troll is an entity that neither invents nor makes products but instead acquires patents and uses them to extort money from legitimate businesses by suing or threatening to sue. Since this fits IV's core business model to a T, what reason is there not to join with manufacturers like HP in calling IV "just a very large patent troll"?

Google Chocolate Factory leaks (more) GDrive talk

Gtards?

Given the Regtards' penchant for that eponymous suffix, shouldn't "Google lovers" be replaced with "Gtards"?

Most Americans without broadband don't want it

It's broadband, Jim, but not as we know it

Meanwhile, the rest of us living here (those who ostensibly have "broadband") would like some bandwidth actually recognisable as broadband by the rest of the civilised world, say South Korea.

Zimbra! founder! quits! Yahoo!

Beginning! Of! The! End!

“He leaves behind a dedicated team who will continue to deliver open source, collaborative messaging software, and expand into new markets"

Heh. Not for long, now that Carol has taken over. Given her hostility toward open source, I predict that Yahoo!'s open strategies will rapidly fall victim to the first prong of her "fail-fast forward" philosophy. What is likely to move forward quickly is putting enough lipstick on what remains to be able to sell it to Microsoft or Time Warner before the rest of the techie rats leave the ship.

Sony Vaio P netbook taken for a spin

Cute, but why bother with WIndows?

"...boots up quickly and easily to a unique operating system..."

Heh. Can I get one with just the "unique operating system", and skip Vista altogether?

Microsoft gives XP another four months to live

Re: XP is Aged

Yeah... I've also been disappointed that they keep pushing out the XP EOL. But we can still hope for another train wreck with Windows 7.

Google hints at the End of Net Neutrality

@@rubbish

Erm...No, Richard Bennet isn't just anybody. But he does have a very public and well established point of view, and an obvious axe to grind. So... treat his blog as the editorial that it is.

Apple disables Egyptian iPhone GPS

What, the Chinese don't like security through obscurity?

"The Chinese government is continuing its efforts to have foreign computer companies disclose details of their security technologies"

Heh. As should ANY government or organisation who cares about the integrity of the "security technology" they purchase and deploy. I would hope that by now every intelligent IT manager knows to steer well clear of proprietary security solutions.

The thing to be concerned about is when they start requiring backdoors in the security technology. After all, THAT's the prerogative of the NSA and GCHQ.

Microsoft opens arms to Firefox with OXML plug-in release

"Microsoft opens arms"

Yep, Microsoft's philosophy has always been to open their arms wide -- at least since (MS VP) Paul Maritz used the phrase "Embrace, extend, and extinguish" in a 1995 meeting with Intel to describe Microsoft's strategy toward Netscape, Java, and the Internet. Nothing new here...

Adobe pinballs 64-bit Flash Player 10 alpha into Linux orbit

'Freetards' again?

It's about time for El Reg to either retire the overused and misused 'freetard' -- or only use it where it actually means something (e.g. the 60% of the net community convinced that they should be able to download their music for free). The growing Linux market share has little or nothing to do with the purchase price of the OS.

India plants flag on Moon

Pictures, or it never happened

Video at www.youtube.com/watch?v=HArUmqqiL0s

Sarah Palin gets righteously punk'd

@Gulfie

> Hell, I can't even remember the name of Bush Jr's number two

Erm, does the name Dick Cheney ring a bell?

When you consider that Cheney has been instrumental in shaping the Bush administration's policies on Iraq and the "war on terrorism", and spinning public support for Merkin foreign policy in a way that even the President dared not do, you'll realise why the Vice Presidential candidates need to be scrutinised rather carefully!

But I can't disagree with you otherwise...

Silverlight has serious side, says Microsoft

Monstra mihi pecuniam!

A Microsoft VP making a pitch for a Microsoft product is hardly news.

What _is_ noteworth is the massive amount of money Microsoft has been throwing at Silverlight development and promotion -- noteworthy because Guthrie has been rather coy about discussing Microsoft's revenue strategy for Silverlight.

The only plausible revenue stream he's mentioned is self-created apps (presumably competing with Google apps and Adobe's AIR/Flex products). This certainly provides a way for Microsoft to infect open source environments with their products, without the problems (for them) of dealing directly with open source.

The other plausible revenue stream is one achieved through propagation of the platform (e.g. the development tools are proprietary, and the only non-crippled versions are available only on Windows). However, it's a little hard to believe that's going to work for them this time.

Regardless, either way sounds like a Bad Thing for end users. Silverlight: Do Not Want.

Microsoft dumps hilarious comedy duo

Full marks for the accuracy of the analogy, though

Without question, the funniest thing about the adverts was techmuse's observation that

"although the ad does not mention Microsoft's operating system directly, it does mirror the real world experience of the company's products — appearing where not wanted, hard to remove, causing administration headaches, and finally being forced out in hopes of getting one's living space back."

Samsung laptop battery burns

Re: You would have thought...

There's a good chance that this battery failure was caused by the same sort of mechanism associated with recent Sony and LG battery failures. It's claimed by those manufacturers that these were the result of internal contamination with metal particles: under elevated temperatures less than the rated battery temperature, these were able to pierce the separator in one cell, causing the cell to short, and resulting in what is euphemistically called "venting with flame".

If this is indeed the case, neither monitoring battery temperature (it was still within its specified operating range) nor disconnecting the electrical load (too late at that point) would have prevented this incident.

Re: Good lesson

> Besides, laptop batteries do not come with temperature sensors...

Bzzzt...thanks for playing... Commercial lithium-ion battery packs ALWAYS contain a temperature sensor (typically integrated with the pack's protection IC). Additionally (since Li-ion chemistry is not as safe as most other battery technologies), Li-ion cells contain several additional mandatory thermal safety devices, typically including a shut-down separator for overtemperature and a thermal interrupt fuse.

Wi-Fi spam man avoids can

Clueless Cluley

"Cluley added that the case illustrated the need for businesses and home users alike to properly secure their wireless internet access against exploitation."

Hardly.

My open Wi-Fi network has almost exactly nothing to do with my chances of being exploited by spammers -- and very little to do with improving their access to the Internet. IMO, spammers are scum, and need to be ruthlessly hunted down and prosecuted. But Cluley's clueless observations are just FUD.