(4 votes, average: 9.5 out of 10)
Loading ...Vista. It’s Better Than You Think
Whoa! The guy who is writing this is Novell Canada’s CTO! He’s an evangelist for the power of Linux and Open Source! Everyone knows that he’s a complete Machead too! How can he, of all people, defend Vista?
Well I hope that serves for introduction and initiation. Let me get to the point. I think the slamming of Vista comes from a certain perspective. Mine is different. First and foremost, I am not a daily Windows user. I use Linux everyday in business and OS X at home. I don’t have a preferred frame of reference for Windows. Recently I built a Windows boot drive for a machine, because a) my company makes software that helps makes the Windows experience better and b) I couldn’t believe that Vista was that bad.
When I step back and look at quality of user experience for the new user with the new computer, I’m actually very impressed. Vista comes up with reasonable speed. I sign in, get a nice Windows like experience, there’s a logo instead of “START” but I can cope with that. I have a usable folder layout, downloads go to the download folder, pictures are in pictures, it’s pretty easy. There’s a decent enough browser, and all the software that I would use on Windows if I were a daily user works fine. I’m a big fan of openoffice.org It runs fine on Vista. GroupWise works. iTunes works.
It may be true that large corporations have not embraced Vista. Yet. The challenge there is the same challenge every OS change incurs. It’s not about the software. It’s about the rollout plan, the investment protection and about the users. I’ve spoken with execs across the Americas and these are the concerns, not about whether the offering is good or not. By delivering Vista on PCs that are going into the home, Microsoft is creating individual user acceptance in advance of corporate acceptance. This is both intelligent and pragmatic.
Vista is sometimes positioned as a transition OS. In my opinion, it isn’t. It will likely be (my opinion - I don’t know this to be a fact) the last of the fully backward compatible versions. I expect, and am speculating, that Windows 7 or whatever Microsoft chooses to call the product will be that transition OS, where the newest functionality is delivered effectively without the baggage of having to be backward compatible. This is hard work and incurs significant resistance even inside the issuing company. I know, because I’ve been there.
In the interim, step back and look at Vista as if you are a new Windows user. You may be pleasantly surprised. And, if not, ping me, I have this really cool Linux alternative… 
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(Rate This Article) Loading ...Lawrence Lessig and the Change Congress movement: change from within?
There is a video on Lessig08.org about the Change Congress movement he has launched as well as his current thinking about whether he might run for congress.
This should be interesting to Canadians for a few reasons.
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(2 votes, average: 9 out of 10) Loading ...Lies, Damned lies, and IIPA/BSA/etc statistics.
One of the key tools used by lobby groups like the IIPA is statistics to try to “prove” that there is massive harm to them, and which must be remedied in the way they propose. An analysis of their statistics often indicates that their real target is competitors, not copyright infringers.
These studies need to be debunked as they have a large influence on governments who have outsourced this key policy tool to special interest groups. William Patry documents on his BLOG how, lacking any investigative resources of its own, USTR uses figures given to it by IIPA. If you read transcripts from Canadian parliamentary committees studying “counterfeiting and piracy” or Copyright and patents, you will see that Canadian politicians are no better. It is frustrating to know how many amazing economists are working for Industry Canada and other departments, and yet Industry Committee never bothered to consult them when they are studying critical economic policy.
Those debunking these studies are not apologists for copyright infringement. I document how this infringement harms companies like my own more than the members BSA/ESA/etc. I am very interested to stop software copyright infringement, but believe that the policies promoted by the BSA/ESA/etc have an anti-competitive effect and do not reduce software copyright infringement.
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(4 votes, average: 10 out of 10) Loading ...Trying to Throw the Brick through the Cloud – Microsoft/Yahoo vs. Google
There has been much press and discussion about the potential merger between Microsoft and Yahoo (the brick) in an attempt to become a formidable force against Google (the cloud). Yahoo management does not want to be taken over and they have recommended rejection of the offer, turning this into a potential hostile takeover. The hostile takeover of Yahoo seems to be somewhat probable based upon market reaction and the premiums offered by Microsoft to Yahoo shareholders. Microsoft certainly has the capability, with its’ multibillion dollar ‘war chest’ for huge acquisitions. I am sure Yahoo will put up quite a fight. There are reports that Yahoo is trying to align with AOL and even Google to fend off the Microsoft bid.
Whether the deal does go through or not, as would be expected, Microsoft is laying plans to integrate Yahoo effectively. The word is out that Microsoft’s executive and product teams are mandated to do the integration/mash-up between Yahoo and Microsoft quickly. The integration will be a challenge because Microsoft and Yahoo have very different styles and very different philosophies. Let’s take a moment to explore just how different they are.
Microsoft invented software for the PC as an engine for empowerment. Microsoft enabled the next step in ‘islands of automation’ beyond the glass house of the datacenters. They went on to dominance of the shrink wrapped products (bricks) selling operating systems and suites. Along the way, Microsoft built a reputation for a style of slow development with security loopholes – something that does not work in the security sensitive and integrity sensitive world. Microsoft admits it was late to see the vision of the PC being really more trivial than the power of the network or ‘cloud’. The cloud is really the power of the network connecting all those PC resources and media together into the collective of the web and more importantly Web 2.0.
Yahoo really defined the meaning of the internet portal as a landing and jumping off place to the web and has built a large following for instant messaging, as has Microsoft. Yahoo has not been able to get unstuck from where it was and is not as innovative or creative as Google. So in fact Google is not a leader in Web 2.0 either. Let’s look at Google for a point of comparison. Google’s philosophy works for the impact on People, not for money. That is one of the reasons why Google is so successful. Google has been able to keep up with the redefined web to stay on the curve. There is a great write up about this at: Google - Our Philosophy ‘Never settle for the best’ - http://www.google.com/corporate/tenthings.html . They have also published “Ten Things Google has found to be true” which are:
1. ‘Focus on the user and all else will follow.
2. It’s best to do one thing really, really well.
3. Fast is better than slow.
4. Democracy on the web works.
5. You don’t need to be at your desk to need an answer.
6. You can make money without doing evil.
7. There’s always more information out there.
8. The need for information crosses all borders.
9. You can be serious without a suit.
10. Great just isn’t good enough.’
This Google mantra is great, but how does it really fit into the enterprise computing world, is this just another security threat or way to defeat the integrity of our information assets?
So what we see is a binary with Microsoft and Yahoo on one side and Google on the other. What about the customer here? It is the CEOs, COOs, CFOs, CIOs and CTOs who are ultimately going to pay the freight for this acquisition. They are going to ask the Microsoft account people, if the deal goes through, ‘what are the new solutions?’
Based on my experience those senior IT people will be asking: ‘How does this fit to my enterprise IT operation?’ How will these merger ‘mash-ups’ fit back into our operations and large complex enterprise databases which we rely on? How does this empower my users and employees, while still integrating into the greater whole of our enterprise safely with integrity? How will Yahoo/Microsoft/Google applications or portals talk to my enterprise platforms? What is empowerment anyway? Is it really a codeword for lax security and impulsive undisciplined behaviour or real breakthrough creativity? Will this end up like herding cats? Does this belong in the enterprise?
If these questions are not answered correctly, Microsoft will be facing a cool reception and that high per share price for the hostile takeover will be a great misstep. The result could be as impactful as throwing a brick though a cloud.
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(Rate This Article) Loading ...Copyright is yet another place where Google and Microsoft are competing.
It was interesting to read two articles from CBC earlier this week that had the same website URL except one was dated the 12′th and the other the 13′th. The first had the headline “Canada a top copyright violator, U.S. group says” and the second “Business coalition opposes harsh copyright reform“.
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(1 votes, average: 8 out of 10) Loading ...Security in transparency and accountability: Linux kernel root exploit
One of the common things you will hear me say is that the most interesting aspects of software can only be understood when using a political science, law or other social science lens rather than a physics or other natural science lens. My experience with the recent kernel bug known as CVE-2008-0600 is offered as an example.
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(1 votes, average: 10 out of 10) Loading ...Does software piracy disclose a ‘generation divide’, and is this a problem?
A recent ITBusiness article by Warren Lee commented on the perception that younger people tend to place less value on “intellectual property” than older people, as well as suggesting that corporations often think they can treat ethics like a buffet where they can pick-and-choose those issues which benefit them.
I’m not convinced there is anything new as far as ethics is concerned, and that those who most claim moral outrage at copyright infringement are sometimes a key source of the problem. The claims of harm from software piracy may itself be part of this questionable corporate ethics.
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(Rate This Article) Loading ...Can virtualization help with bigger problems like climate change?
Listening to some recent talks, I noticed what seems like a conflict. Interviewed for CBC’s Spark, Nicholas Carr (full interview) says we are moving to cloud computing. Also on a recent Spark show, Bill St. Arnaud explains (full interview) how the Internet causes carbon emissions, and tells us we need to move data centres closer to power and cooling. Then we have Eben Moglen, Director at the Software Freedom Law Center, talking about the technology of memory and the major problems of putting our data out on the cloud, with that data being manipulated by software which we do not control.
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(3 votes, average: 9.67 out of 10) Loading ...Technical Protection Measures (TPMs) and Educational Use of the Internet
One of the most common themes you will see in the Copyright debate is different people using the same terminology to mean entirely different things, and never really noticing that they aren’t talking about the same thing as they argue. It is coming up on 7 years that I’ve dedicated to trying to make sense of this, which is why I’m writing so much about copyright. (Note: If you want to hear less copyright, and more FLOSS or other stuff, please let me know. BLOGS are intended to be interactive. There are so many topics to write about, and the hardest thing is deciding what to focus on.)
While I have hinted at language problems around the term “technical protection measures” or TPMs, I will talk about this confusion in the context of a debate you may be less familiar with: Educational use of the Internet.
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(1 votes, average: 9 out of 10) Loading ...The needs of professional writers, and why their current proposals will backfire.
I am not a professional writer. I’m not paid for the blogging that I do on this or other sites, and in fact I don’t get paid for my policy work on Copyright and Free/Libre Software (with a handful of exceptions). One of the ways I get paid is as an independent software author, and from this I have a strong interest to protect the interests of other independent creators.
I have found it extremely hard to be on the opposite side of policy debates than the individuals and associations that also seek to protect the interests of independent creators. It is not that we disagree about whether authors should get adequately compensated for their important contributions, but the opposing ideas of what policies would help or hinder that shared goal.
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