Forrester analyst with a valid concern about an architectural need for Java that no-one seems to be addressing, and with no obvious way of getting it addressed. A governance statement about Java is overdue.
I think this is the first time the kill-switch has been used to remotely eliminated an app from live cellphones without the knowledge of their owners. Somewhat ironic it’s Google and not Apple doing it.
This year’s Open World Forum has a packed and scorching hot agenda and I’m honored to be chairing the opening state-of-the-union keynote panel. Make note now on your calendar to be in Paris September 30 and October 1.
Good observations from the juxtaposition of technology marketing cultures. All the way through I can hear Steve Jobs in the back of my mind muttering about Microsoft having no taste…
“Police, at their discretion, can deny access to the area and “use whatever force is necessary” to keep people out. Anyone who refuses to identify themselves or refuses to provide a reason for their visit can be fined up to $500. The new rules also give police the power to search anyone who approaches the fence. The regulation also says that if someone has a dispute with an officer and it goes to court “the police officer’s statement under oath is considered conclusive evidence under the Act.” — Draconican, excessive, unaccountable. When governments treat their citizens like this, democracy is deeply threatened.
Interesting mashup showing the trains on the London Underground as little moving markers on the map. For some reason it seems like something out of a Harry Potter movie.
“A document leaked from the Presidency of the EU reveals that Member States are pushing for new criminal sanctions into the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), a few days ahead of the next negotiation round.” — very worrying out-of-control anti-citizen behaviour again from the unaccountable depths of the European Commission.
This was the received wisdom among the senior VPs at Sun just before the fall of the company. While there is a marginal justification for adding some closed software at the periphery of a large open source project, having a hobbyist-featured core that’s open source and then putting everything you need for the move to production in closed add-ons denies the basic software freedoms that make open source so appealing to business.
It must be treated as equally toxic as the proprietary products open source displaced and which open core mimics. Avoid suppliers who idolise it.
MySQLer Henrik Ingo finds Mårten Mikos’ assertions about open core wanting: “open core does not qualify as open source, as per the definition. It is closed source. It is the opposite of open source.”
Maybe it’s a trend, or maybe I just noticed because I was looking, but following my article last week about the strange parallels between Life of Brian and the critics of the Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) movement, there have been a number of similar articles.
Former OpenSUSE community manager Joe “Zonker” Brockmeier wrote about the Party of Gno, criticising the negativity of campaigns that are about stopping people doing something:
In general, the programs are all about “no.” Or rather, “gno.” We all know how well anti-campaigns work. Any day now, “just say no” will have wiped out drug use for all time, right? And PETA will have convinced everyone to go totally vegan, too. Yes, negative campaigns can be effective. However, they require the audience to be receptive to the overall message.
Predictably, the backlash he faced from daring to be directly critical was substantial, not least from the denizens of microblogging service Identi.ca.
If you’re a BCS Member or Fellow you’ve received a voting pack in the mail that needs your attention. Please vote this weekend so that there’s no risk of missing the deadline. I’ve written one more time on my ComputerWorldUK blog about the issues, but the synopsis is that no matter how you vote on the six vague no-confidence motions, please make sure you vote against the Special Resolution that sets the threshold for calling another EGM so high that it’s beyond the resources of an ordinary Member.
Not only is the patent system broken (it has forgotten to protect the public good in return for granting a temporary monopoly), but it turns out that thousands of the things are kept secret.
Shaped for an analog age where businesses were control points in a disconnected society, patents have become sinkholes for money and innovation in the connected digital age, allowing unjust monopolisation and chilling of network effects.
We are so overdue reform of the patent system, in the UK, the US and pretty much everywhere else.
In which we are reminded of the context and the full quote from which the phrase is extracted and realise that it is being spun by those who prefer control to individual liberty.
One of the frustrations of being a software freedom advocate is how many of the attacks that are made on me come from people who most observers would consider to be “fighting for the same side”. My recent call for volunteers to work on revamping the Open Source Initiative (OSI) is a case in point. Of the public comments I’ve read, the majority berate me for daring to be positive about OSI rather than castigating it in favor of the Free Software Foundation (FSF) as they themselves do. (Fortunately the private e-mails are much more encouraging).
But it’s not just a tension between OSI and FSF. For example, in one forum where I mentioned my membership card for the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) had arrived, one reply asked if I would also be joining the FSF. Software freedom arouses extreme passions among its adherents. Why does this happen? Find out on my ComputerWorldUK blog…
All views expressed on this blog are those of Simon Phipps and do not necessarily reflect the views of any other entity, including current and former employers and clients. See my full disclosure of interests.
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