microsoft

If corrupt, vote for OOXML

The terrible "standards" process for Open Office XML (OOXML) just got a new wrinkle today. Electronic Frontier Finland analyzed the OOXML results and compared them to the Corruptions Perceptions Index. Guess what? There is a material correlation between the two.

Surprise, surprise. Put into logical language, all crooks vote for OOXML. :-)

Of course, the data/correlation needs to be taken with a grain of salt (or maybe the Salt Flats), but the one thing that is probably not at issue is that the process was tainted by corruption, however benevolently some may want to spin it. It'… Read more

Could Microsoft really be this childish?

Microsoft is apparently banning dirty words like "Linux" on its XBox Live site. Really.

Okay, what happens when you like Linux, and decide to change your Xbox Live gamertag motto to "Linux rules"? Well, Microsoft black flags you, that's what. According to xbox-scene.com, Linux and Unix prompt the following response:

Your motto contains inappropriate language. Please try again.

I can confirm this as I just tried it myself. Also, according to some xbox-scene.com forum-goers, variations on Linux such as "L I N U X" or "L inux" also are … Read more

OOXML appears to have been rejected...momentarily

Microsoft appears to have lost the Open Office XML battle, according to Pamela at Groklaw, but seems destined to win the war, according to the New York Times. But, as Pamela notes, given the fact that the committee members who will be reviewing comments from the disapproving countries are overwhelmingly in favor of Microsoft's latest bid for global monopoly, it's likely just a matter of time (early next year, in fact) before OOXML becomes a "standard."

A standard that smells of money and the taint of corruption. But a "standard" nonetheless.

Now if only the standard actually worked. … Read more

Solaris raring for a fight with Linux

And we thought it was all about peace, love, and...Solaris. But no, Sun is gearing up for one of the classic open source battles. We've had the various Linux distributions duking it out, and we've had MySQL versus PostgreSQL. Now we're getting Solaris versus Linux, and this is a fight that I believe may actually be worth having.

Why? Because it means more choice for customers, and not just any choice, but a choice between two exceptional operating systems, both completely open source.

Sun's strategy is becoming clearer with Solaris:… Read more

Microsoft's unlucky seven

Rea Maor notes seven reasons that Microsoft is doomed. While "doomed" may be too strong a word, he lays out several strong reasons to suspect Microsoft's best days are well behind it.

The reasons? Among others, Rea cites Microsoft's dead-end business model, its fading monopolies (or, rather, the relevance of those monopolies), its false starts on the web, and several others. Have a look.

Possible Zune pics leaked

Thursday, Gizmodo posted pictures that purportedly come from a retail glossy advertising Microsoft's next-generation Zune. The portrayed devices come in two sizes, a large 80GB model and a smaller model with either 4GB or 8GB capacity. All three models look quite different from the first-generation Zune--thinner, without the two-tone translucent rubberized finish, and what looks like a touch pad instead of the circular pseudo click-wheel used last time around.

Microsoft has told me that its goal in the next year is for the Zune to be considered the alternative to the iPod family--the only other device that gives users … Read more

Should "open source" include open data?

I just read Glyn Moody's post on the importance of open data and, increasingly, open source, in science. Good science requires good data--data available to any who want to replicate another's results and ensure that true science is going on, not pseudo-science.

Marry that to Tim O'Reilly's insistence that data, not code, is the new lock-in (and cross that with my own declaration that Microsoft's new platform for lock-in is Sharepoint, not Office), and you end up with what I think is an implicit, urgent need in open source today:

The need to ensure data remains free/open.… Read more

Avoiding the very appearance of evil at Google

The Economist has an amazingly good article this week on Google, and its growing influence and power. Rather than ring alarm bells about Google's sometimes casual approach to privacy concerns, the article suggests that Google...

...needs a deeper change of heart. Pretending that, just because your founders are nice young men and you give away lots of services, society has no right to question your motives no longer seems sensible. Google is a capitalist tool--and a useful one. Better, surely, to face the coming storm on that foundation, than on a trite slogan that could be your undoing.

Amen. Open source provides such transparency, and it's one reason that open source is spreading like wildfire. But Google doesn't play by these same rules (nor do its competitors), which makes it all the more critical that the company embrace "Transparency at all costs" rather than "Do no evil" as its mantra. The former ensures the latter, as Wikipedia is finding.

For, as the article continues,… Read more

Windows Home Server release issues

When last we left Microsoft's Windows Home Server software, it was off to manufacturing and we expected to see WHS-equipped hardware show up at our doorstep shortly thereafter. After a post on Microsoft's official Home Server blog, we get the company line as to why we haven't seen HP's MediaSmart Server yet. As follows:

"We've identified a number of ways to make the product even better since the initial release. As with most Microsoft products, updates to Windows Home Server will be automatically available throughout the lifecycle of the product, and the WHS team … Read more