LinOSX TechnoMash

Almost 2/3 of the claims that SCO is making against IBM have been thrown out. After repeated requests to show exactly where code was taken from UNIX and put into Linux, SCO has yet to comply. The magistrate found it inexcusable that SCO wasn’t providing all the details. This is very good news indeed. I wonder how this will affect SCO’s cases against corporate Linux users DaimlerChrysler and AutoZone.

SCO Group (nasdaq: SCOX – news – people ), of Lindon, Utah, is suing IBM (nyse: IBM – news – people ), claiming IBM stole code from Unix, for which SCO holds some copyrights, and put it into Linux, which is distributed free. SCO is seeking billions in damages.The case, filed in 2003, is scheduled for trial in 2007. But Wednesday night, in a blistering 39-page ruling, Magistrate Judge Brooke C. Wells of the United States District Court in Utah tossed out two-thirds of SCO’s claims against IBM.

Open Source Smack-Down – Forbes.com

technorati tags:sco vs. ibm, linux, lawsuits, ibm, sco, unix

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A company called CodeWeavers is using an open-source technology called Wine to allow some Windows programs to run under Mac OS X.

Turning Wine into Windows on a Mac | CNET News.com

technorati tags:wine, OS X, CodeWeavers, Windows, emulation, virtualization

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The U.S. Sentate panel has sided with the telcos in allowing them to create a two-tier Internet. Get ready to pay more for your Internet services and if you’re looking to start a new Internet company, you’ll have to factor in the toll to the carriers to get your content to the public at reasonable speeds. I wonder who the first telco will be to stop (or at best degrade their service) Skype, Vonage, and other VoIP services. We should all be writing to the Whitehouse to have the bill vetoed when it gets to the President’s desk.

WASHINGTON–A U.S. Senate panel narrowly rejected strict Net neutrality rules on Wednesday, dealing a grave setback to companies like eBay, Google and Amazon.com that had made enacting them a top political priority this year.

Senate deals blow to Net neutrality | CNET News.com

technorati tags:net neutrality, telcos, US Senate, Whitehouse, President, Veto

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As described on Creative Commons, David Byrne, of The Talking Heads, and Brian Eno have remastered and released My Life in the Bush of Ghosts with two tracks released under Creative Commons.

David Byrne and Brian Eno’s landmark sampling album My Life in the Bush of Ghosts was recently remastered and reissued with extensive liner notes, photos, and previously unreleased bonus tracks. To celebrate the release, Byrne and Eno launched bush-of-ghosts.com where the audio source files from two of the classic tracks from Bush of Ghosts — “A Secret Life” and “Help Me Somebody” — are offered under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 license, so you can (subject to the download terms of use) use them to make remixes. The site allows uploads and user ratings, as well as the ability to share videos you make for music on Bush of Ghosts.

Welcome | Creative Commons

technorati tags:creative commons, talking heads, brian eno, david byrne, remix, music

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The creater of the Web as we know it today, Tim Berners-Lee has chimed in, loud and clear on his blog regarding the importance of Net Neutrality. I urge everyone to please read his post as well as the post on Lawrence Lessig’s Blog about Net Neutrality and it’s importance. Don’t forget to go to http://www.savetheinternet.com and register. Call your Senators and Congressman and tell them how important it is to maintain Internet freedoms.

Net Neutrality: This is serious | Decentralized Information Group (DIG) Breadcrumbs

technorati tags:NetNeutrality, LawrenceLessig, Lessig, Lawrence Lessig, Internet, TimBerners-Lee, berners-lee, Tim Berners-Lee, Net Neutrality

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I’ve been using the Apple MacBook on and off for a little over a month now.Disclosure: The MacBook isn’t my only computer. At the office, I have a Dell now running Ubuntu 6.06 and at home, I removed the failed IBM Deskstar drive out of my Dell, installed Ubuntu from scratch. At some point, I’ll reinstall Fedora Core 5 on the free partition. My main computer at home is my 1st generation PowerPC based Mac Mini. Hence, I use my MacBook when I’m not at the office or when I’m not sitting in the basement.

My use of the MacBook, though not constant, is considerable. I have come to enjoy most aspects of the hardware along with the software (OS X). I was asked to discuss my thoughts on the following aspects of the MacBook.

1. Sturdiness: I haven’t traveled with the MacBook yet. I have only carried it with me to the local Starbucks and to the office on several occassions. It feels like a fairly well built machine but I can’t vouch for how it would react to a few falls like my old T40. I would be very surprised if it continued to function as well as my T40 after the serious falls it took.
2. Productivity:
   • Though I am still no fan of the Apple Trackpad, I have configured it well enough that it doesn’t annoy be as constantly as before. I still think the Thinkpad keyboard/Trackpoint combination is the most productive I’ve seen on any laptop or desktop (see my review of the Microsoft Natural Ergonomic 4000 keyboard).
   • The feel of the MacBook keyboard is pretty good. I don’t miss my ThinkPad in this regard. Though, it’s a bit different, it feels nice.
   • I also miss the Thinklight that exists on the Thinkpads. This is incredibly useful when you’re trying to type in the dark (e.g. late at night in bed, on an airplane, etc). Considering the prices that some Thinkpads are available at, I hope Apple puts a lit keyboard or a Thinklight-like feature into future MacBooks.
   • The built-in iSight on the MacBook is a very useful feature if you use Skype, IM, Video IM, or just like to take pictures randomly. I am using the MacBook to create an audio diary of a project I am working on. I might turn it into a podcast at some point but not just yet. I’m also using Skype for phone calls in the US while it is free.
   • The wifi piece of the MacBook has been acting pretty flaky recently. At Starbucks, I had to reboot the laptop a few times before it would reconnect to the AP. At home, it is disconnecting from my Linksys WRT54G very often in spots that it worked fine just a few weeks ago. I think a similar problem has been reported on the MacBook Pros but I have yet to call this into AppleCare.
   • Battery life has also dropped significantly. I was getting 4 1/2 to 5 1/2 hours of battery life on a full charge, with my settings optimized for battery conservation. The same settings are consistenly providing me no more than 2 hours and 45 minutes of battery life. I have tried calibrating the battery as per the manual but no luck. I am in the process of recalibrating for the 4rd time right now before I call AppleCare.
   • Apple OS X is pretty good in terms of productivity. I would like it if I could configure keyboard shortcuts for everything and maybe I can, I just haven’t tried hard enough to figure it out.
   • Apple ships the MacBooks with a decent amount of software for productivity. (Quicken 2006 for the Mac doesn’t compare to the Windows version).
3. Applications: I am pretty happy with the applications on OS X. I’ve been able to get lots of Unix opensource applications running, including Postgresql, NeoOffice and OpenOffice, along with Perl and a good amount of the Perl modules from CPAN. The MacBook ships with a trial version of iWork and Microsoft Office for Mac. I didn’t find a need to use either of these applications and had not installed them when I reinstalled OS X. OS X is pretty good at sleeping, though I would like to see a hibernate function. It is just as stable as Linux from my use of OS X Tiger on my PowerPC Mac Mini and on my Intel MacBook. It’s probably much much mroe stable than Windows on anything.

I haven’t completely ruled out buying a new motherboard for my old T40. If I can buy it and get it installed, all for $200, I’ll probably do it. Anything more than that, I won’t. I guess that means that though I really like the MacBook, I am really used to my ThinkPad T40 running Linux and I miss.

The MacBook is a fist generation computer whereas the Thinkpad T series is tried and true. The MacBook is very good for early adopters and those that aren’t afraid of a little tinkering. It’s also a very cost efficient way of playing with OS X and being able to see first hand how things “just work”. The MacBooks do get pretty hot so be careful to keep the laptop on your lap for very long.

If anyone has any additional questions, please drop me a line.

Apple – MacBook
Lenovo – T Series

technorati tags:apple, macbook, ibm, lenovo, T40, thinkpadvsmacbook

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This is absolutely great. I salute this man’s ingenuity and determination. Read more aobut how he started a web business in six to eight hours of work. Sure beats six to eight months of stealth mode development. Here’s a snippet from the site.

You might think there’s not much you can build in a day. A small adsense site or something, but not something more complex.You can build a lot more than you might think.With approximately 6-8 hours work yesterday I built a fully-functional online store and blog which has already taken in a small handful of orders. Total costs came to about $38, which I’ve already made back smile.gifRead the full skinny on my blog, or view the site (”England’s World Cup Glory”) here.Making money gets easier if you K.I.S.S!

What Can You Build in a Day? – Yaro’s Forums

technorati tags:web, business, entrepreneur, soccerr, worldcup, england

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Amit Ranjan, head of the Delhi office of Uzanto, has started Webyantra to profile Indian web products & services. His focus will be on innovative web startups in India. Best of luck to Amit and we’re looking forward to hearing more about happenings in India.
amit ranjan » Webyantra- profiling Indian web products & services

technorati tags:India, Web2.0, startups, blog

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