Computerworld UK "Open..."

Wolfram Alpha does not understand copyright

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 11:15:00 GMT

Remember Wolfram Alpha? That super-duper search engine - sorry, "computational knowledge engine" - that was going to change the way we looked for and found information, and also cure the common cold (OK, I made that last one up)?

RIAA's War on Sharing Begins

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 12:13:00 GMT

Words matter, which is why the RIAA has always framed copyright infringement in terms of "piracy". But it has a big problem: most people call it "sharing"; and as everyone was told by their mother, it's good to share.

It's Not Open Science if it's Not Open Source

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 12:05:00 GMT

Great to see a scientist come out with this in an interesting post entitled "What, exactly, is Open Science?":

Why Hackers Will Save the World

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 12:03:00 GMT

For anyone that might be interested, my keynote from the recent Gran Canaria Desktop Summit is now online as an Ogg video.

Are Microsoft's promises forever?

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 11:12:00 GMT

This sounds good:

ID Database Breached Even Before It Exists

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 11:39:00 GMT

Well, I was expecting this, but not so soon

Anathematising Abject, Apologetic Asus

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 16:20:00 GMT

I've always praised Asus for coming up with their innovative Eee PC form factor, and for really building on the strengths of GNU/Linux; no more, after a pusillanimous display of abjection before Microsoft.

Why Scientific Software Wants To Be Free

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 23:09:00 GMT

Not sure if I missed this earlier, but it strikes me as a hugely important issue that deserves a wider audience whether or not it is brand new:

Speak up for the Speaker's Principles

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 11:51:00 GMT

In the past, I've frequently asked you write a letter to your MP or MEPs about issues that relate to technical issues around open source, even if only indirectly. Today, I have a slightly different request. It's not about technology, but it is about openness....

Open Government: the Latest Member of the Open Family

Sun, 31 May 2009 11:32:00 GMT

One of the most exciting developments in the last few years has been the application of some of the core ideas of free software and open source to completely different domains.

Why the 'Copycats?' Report has a Copycat Problem

Fri, 29 May 2009 11:14:00 GMT

An exploratory CIBER investigation found vast quantities of films, music, software, e-books, games and television content available to download and share without cost. On one peer-to-peer network we found that at midday on a weekday there were 1.3 million users, sharing content. If each “peer” from this network (not the largest) downloaded one file per day the resulting number of downloads (music, film, television, e-books, software and games were all available) would be 473 million items per year. If the figure for each individual is closer to five or more items per day, the lowest estimate of downloaded material (remembering that the entire season of the Fox television series “24”, or the “complete” works of the rock group Led Zeppelin can be one file) is just under 2.4 billion files. And if the average value of each file is £5 – that is a rough low average of the price of a DVD or CD, rather than the higher prices of software or E-books – we have the online members of one file sharing network consuming approximately £12 billion in content annually – for free. These figures are staggering.Staggering indeed – and complete piffle.Sadly, the basic problem with the whole report is made clear in the first line of the above extract: “The backdrop to our research on online consumer behaviour – and the impacts and implications this has on legal practice, the content industries, and governmental policy – is one of vast economic losses brought about by widespread unauthorised downloading”. That is, it starts from an assumption that unauthorised downloading is causing economic damage, rather than examining whether that is the case: clearly, this is going to skew all the results of the research, because it is seen through a particular optic – that of the media industries.But wait, you may say: maybe that is simply a statement of what the report found out during its objective research, which is a fair point. So let's just look at the figures cited above, and their source. Estimates as to the overall lost revenues if we include all creative industries whose products can be copied digitally, or counterfeited, reach £10 billion (IP Rights, 2004), conservatively, as our figure is from 2004, and a loss of 4,000 jobs.

Why Windows Netbooks are good for Open Source

Wed, 27 May 2009 10:58:00 GMT

Here's an excellent point:Even Windows-based netbooks are good news for open source, though. Firefox is pre-loaded on the millions of Windows netbooks that Asus is shipping, and many netbooks come pre-loaded with numerous other open source applications. That means that any more people are gaining experience with good open source applications as soon as they unbox their new computers--undoubtedly a positive trend.Building on that insight, one thing that might be useful would be to create a site specifically for those running Windows XP on netbooks, with a range of open source software that's particularly suitable - because it's free, requires little resources and is fast.

RMS and His Magic Bread

Mon, 25 May 2009 23:53:00 GMT

One of the reasons I admire RMS is because of his complete integrity and consistency. He simply will not compromise on his principles, even if it leads to the loss of support from those who are not so rigorous. I'm also impressed by the steadfastness of his vision: he does not flit from one trendy idea to another, but sticks unswervingly to his core beliefs.

Should OQO Have Chosen GNU/Linux?

Fri, 22 May 2009 12:07:00 GMT

Remember OQO? It was a really innovative machine, well ahead of its time. Essentially it was a netbook before they existed, but it made one big mistake: it ran Windows XP rather than GNU/Linux (even though it was quite capable of running the latter).

Taiwan Adopts "Three Strikes" Law

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 10:13:00 GMT

Bad news, bad law:

Tropical Disease Initiative Releases Kernel

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 23:09:00 GMT

No, really:

EU on ACTA: "TRIPS Is Floor Not Ceiling"

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 16:48:00 GMT

Getting information about the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement is like getting blood from a stone, but here's an article with some useful information:

Internet Censorship, Salami-style

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 16:40:00 GMT

This is bad news:

Copyright Industries' Pyrrhic Victories

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 17:35:00 GMT

It's extraordinary how much that formerly-drab old subject of copyright is in the news these days.

Time to Get Rid of ICANN

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 10:55:00 GMT

ICANN has always been something of a disaster area, showing scant understanding of what the Internet really is, contemptuous of its users, and largely indifferent to ICANN's responsibilities as guardian of a key part of its infrastructure. Here's the latest proof that ICANN is not fit for its purpose:

OpenStreetMap Navigates to Wikipedia

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 10:37:00 GMT

One of the powerful features of open source is re-use: you don't have to re-invent the wheel, but can build on the work of others. That's straightforward enough for software, but it can also be applied to other fields of openness. Here's a fantastic example: embedding OpenStreetMap in Wikipedia entries:

The Latest Act in the ACTA Farce

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 22:23:00 GMT

I think the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement(ACTA) will prove something of a watershed in the negotiations of treaties. We have already gone from a situation where governments around the world have all-but denied the thing existed, to the point where the same people are now scrambling to create some semblance of openness without actually revealing too much.

"Three Strikes" Struck Down for Third Time

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 16:11:00 GMT

As I wrote earlier today, things are looking bad for the Internet in Europe. But the European Parliament continues to do its bit protecting you and me. Here's the latest from the excellent Quadrature du Net site:

A Question Red Hat Must Answer

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 16:36:00 GMT

On Open Enterprise blog.

And RMS Spake, and it Was Good

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 16:52:00 GMT

As well as being a great coder, RMS is a fine writer (he made a number of excellent suggestions when I sent him rough drafts of the relevant chapter of Rebel Code). So it's a pity that he doesn't write much these days.