alliance

Buzz Out Loud 664: JaMoTo lays an egg

EPISODE 664

Piracy killed the radio star, insists the BSA

It turns out that all of the world's problems could be resolved by stamping out piracy, or so goes the story from the Business Software Alliance. The BSA--"Be prepared (to intimidate people into slobbering submission)"--never met an alleged software pirate that it didn't hate, and believes that piracy has a huge negative impact on the global economy, including the U.S. economy, as Ars Technica reports. In fact, it paid (commissioned) IDC to come up with the following numbers:

If the amount of software piracy in the U.S. were to be reduced by 10 percentage points over the next four years, IDC believes the end result would be $41 billion in economic growth, $7 billion in additional tax revenues, and the creation of over 32,000 new jobs. In countries with higher rates of piracy, the impact would be even greater.

Maybe, maybe not. The real question for the BSA is this: since the software industry apparently can't solve the piracy problem by kicking in the doors of small and medium-size businesses based on tips from disgruntled ex-employees, perhaps it would do better to encourage its members to go open source, obviating the incentive (and ability) to pirate software.… Read more

Mandriva, Turbolinux enter Linux alliance

Forgive me if I sound skeptical, but during the nine years I've covered Linux, not once have I seen a favorable outcome to the partnership of the type Mandriva and Turbolinux announced Wednesday.

Tokyo-based Turbolinux and Paris-based Mandriva said they'll unify their products to use a common base system in an endeavor called Manbo-Labs. The first software to employ this base will be Mandriva Linux 2008 Spring, the companies said.

"By pooling together common engineering resources, Mandriva and Turbolinux will be able to invest more in technology and product quality," the companies said in a statement. … Read more

Aruba and HP swim the OpenSEA

Buried under the end-of-year industry buzz last week was a fairly significant announcement. Wi-Fi leader Aruba Networks and the HP ProCurve division joined the OpenSEA Alliance, a group dedicated to the development and adoption of a robust and reliable open-source 802.1X supplicant for secure access to network and other computing resources. Aruba and HP join existing members including technology vendors Extreme Networks, Identity Engines, Infoblox, Symantec, TippingPoint, and Trapeze Networks. The OpenSEA Alliance also includes Janet, the U.K.'s education and research network boasting 18 million users.

So what the heck is this all about? The 802.1X … Read more

Antipiracy effort targets little guy

The Business Software Alliance is best known for tracking piracy rates and announcing high-profile settlements over improperly licensed programs. But a new study finds that most of its money is not coming from big corporations, but from small businesses.

Associated Press writer Brian Bergstein said his analysis showed that 90 percent of settlement revenue comes from small businesses. Last year the agency, which monitors compliance for companies such as Microsoft and Adobe Systems, took in $13 million in settlement proceeds, according to the AP.

Among the other interesting tidbits is a chart showing where the organization's income originates (81 … Read more

The Business Software Alliance focuses on the 90% that can't afford an attorney

As Network World and The Associated Press report, the Business Software Alliance gets most of its money by targeting small businesses who can ill-afford to defend themselves, rather than go after the bigger companies that likely have more piracy in-house.

Why not sue the big companies? Well, because they can defend themselves, for one. But secondly, because these potential pirates are also the software industry's biggest customers. It's Robin Hood done in the reverse: take from the poor and leave the rich alone.

An analysis by The Associated Press reveals that targeting small businesses is a lucrative strategy for the Business Software Alliance, the main global copyright-enforcement watchdog for such companies as Microsoft Corp., Adobe Systems Inc. and Symantec Corp.… Read more

Open sourcing the mobile web with Goo...err, Volantis

There's been a flurry of excitement about open source in the mobile world in the past few weeks, what with Google's Open Handset Alliance and its associated Android software platform. In all the hype (some deserved, some not), people seem to have forgotten one Very Big Problem in mobile:

There is a huge array of different hardware and software specifications.

Google's Android solves the software specification problem (at least, for those phones that end up using it), but it does nothing to resolve the wider compatibility problem for mobile developers. Developing for the Android platform may make sense five years from now, but it's a losing (market) proposition until it gains widespread adoption.

Which is why Volantis' decision to open source its framework is such a positive thing for the mobile world:… Read more

Google wants to be Windows for your cell phone

After a week or so of rumors about an exciting new "Google Phone," the Web software giant confirmed Monday the details about its venture into the mobile platform, i.e. your cell phone.

Rather than release one model of a phone, Google is teaming with 33 other participants, including carriers T-Mobile and Sprint, in the Open Handset Alliance to create a unified platform, currently named Google Android, for running software applications on mobile devices.… Read more

How will Android affect the other mobile operating systems?

Like a number of my colleagues here at CNET, I had my ear pressed to the phone yesterday morning as the members of the Open Handset Alliance (OHA), including Google, Motorola, and HTC, revealed their plans for Android, a new open platform for mobile devices. I'm not here to recap all the details of the event here--CNET News.com has a comprehensive story on that--but rather just to jot down some of my thoughts.

Looking at the big picture, I welcome today's news. I think it's a really interesting move for all the parties involved, and … Read more