05.12.08
Links 12/05/2008: GNU/Linux in Education, Finnish Award for Ubuntu
Education
- Software centre at varsity - Awareness, training on free programmes
- Students at Birmingham’s Glen Iris Elementary get hands on [Fedora-based] XO laptops
- Cutting computer costs: District saves with new technology
Information and Access
- The Struggles of France’s Three Strikes Law
- Once shunned by academics, Wikipedia now a teaching tool
Success Stories
- Ubuntu in Vermist
- Nicola Kenn: Free software has silver lining
- Open Source and the Soul of a Startup
GNU/Linux Miscellany
- FlickrFS for Linux
- paldo 1.14 released10 May 2008
- Leaked Version of Nokia Internet Tablet OS Shows Minor Updates
- Fedora 9 - Final- Screenshots, We got a hold of a copy some days before the release
- Debian Weekly News - May 9th, 2008
Highlight: Novell was the first to acknowledge that Microsoft FUD tactics had substance. Novell then used anti-Linux FUD to market itself. 
Highlight: Xandros let Microsoft make patent claims and brag about (paid-for) OOXML support. 
Highlight: Linspire's CEO not only fell into Microsoft arms, but he also assisted the company's attack on GNU/Linux. 
Highlight: Microsoft craves pseudo (proprietary) standards and gets its way using proxies and influence which it buys. 
Highlight: The invasion into the open source world is intended to leave Linux companies neglected, due to financial incentives from Microsoft. 
Analysis: Xen, an open source hypervisor, possibly fell victim to Microsoft's aggressive (and stealthy) acquisition-by-proxy strategy.
Challenger said,
May 12, 2008 at 11:43 am
Sometimes I think that M$ is responsible to some extent to the growth of FOSS and Linux. If it wouldn’t be for the exploitation of M$ - we wouldnt have seen such rapid adoption of FOSS by other companies.
Challenger said,
May 12, 2008 at 11:44 am
there would be no GPL/FOSS/Linux/OpenJDK/OpenOffice…if it wasnt for M$..
:D
Roy Schestowitz said,
May 12, 2008 at 12:32 pm
The Free Software movement predates Microsoft’s dominance. Had it not been Microsoft, it probably would have been someone else, unless of course there was diversity in the market and far less abuse of power.
Watching the iTunes/iPod monopoly, however, not to mention Intel’s recently-exposed corruptions (been going on for ages), I believe the problem is a regulatory one. The market rules just don’t work. That’s what anti-Trust laws were made for a long time ago, but some governments neglect them (possibly given some dosh to do so).
Roy Bixler said,
May 12, 2008 at 1:10 pm
In the case of the US, the reason for the lax anti-trust enforcement is largely the ideological bent of the current administration. They strongly prefer that the government takes a passive role when it comes to regulating the market. A rally cry during the Reagan years was to “get government off your back.” Now, it is very clear to that he was referring to big business.
ZiggyFish said,
May 12, 2008 at 5:18 pm
I wonder if the soon to be new government, well fix US’s stand on Microsoft.