LXer Weekly Roundup for 21-Mar-2010

LXer Article

How to correctly create ODF documents using zip: One of the great advantages of the OpenDocument format is that it is simply a zip file. You can unzip it with any archiver and take a look at the contents (which is a set of XML documents and associated data), change it, re-zip it and you have a new document. But, the OpenDocument Format specification, section has one little extra restriction when it comes to zip containers. The file called “mimetype” must be at the beginning of the zip file, it must be uncompressed and it must be stored without any additional file attributes. If you don’t do this then many applications (such as Officeshots.org) may refuse to open your documents. In this article I will show you how to correctly create ODF documents using zip.

Microsoft licensing Linux – what is going on?: Proprietary giant is licensing open source to its partners. What is going on? Over the past few weeks Microsoft has been licensing Linux to a number of its partners, most notably Amazon. Although the idea of Microsoft, a company steeped in proprietary software, licensing open source software is ludicrous it’s not completely unexpected. It’s also not the first time Microsoft has played the Linux patent game and we can expect to see more deals in the future. So what’s going on?

And The Reason Why The Metacity Window Buttons Are On The Left In Ubuntu 10.04 Is…: From Mark Shuttleworth himself: “The default position of the window controls will remain the left, throughout beta1. We’re interested in data which could influence the ultimate decision. There are good reasons both for the change, and against them, and ultimately the position will be decided based on what we want to achieve over time.”

10 Great Linux Apps You Might Not Have Discovered Yet: The world of Linux applications continues to expand and improve, so check out Eric Geier’s roundup of ten great Linux applications you might not have discovered yet: media players, Web page designer, video creation, run Linux on Windows, Windows apps on Linux, and more.

Linux desktop innovations to look forward to: These are testing times: if you want to experience the latest advances on the Linux desktop, you have to be prepared to test things and accept that stability is a secondary feature. The continued development of KDE 4 is the perfect example. Many of its users have felt like guinea pigs over the last couple of years, while its developers have filled in the missing blanks on the path to a fully operational desktop.

Deconstructing Nautilus and rebuilding it better: There may well be some of you out there who are currently thinking, “It’s not that bad…” to which my response is: in terms of user interface, there are much better file managers available for GNOME than GNOME’s default file manager (two, off the top of my head: Thunar, default for the Xfce Desktop Environment and PCMan File Manager, or PCManFM). Plus, if you’ve ever used a Mac with OS X, then what you’ll be looking at there is the King Of The File Managers. But we can make it better…

Is Microsoft About to Declare Patent War on Linux?: Microsoft’s “Corporate Vice President and Deputy General Counsel” has written a piece entitled “Apple v. HTC: A Step Along the Path of Addressing IP Rights in Smartphones” that is basically a warning that the company is about to join in suing companies producing software for smartphones. Is this a veiled attack on Linux?

Mark Shuttleworth: “This is not a democracy”: After Mark Shuttleworh’s recent comment regarding the decision to put the Metacity window buttons on the left, the debate is more intense then ever. In a recent comment (posted a few seconds ago), Mark Shuttleworth states that:

All Done With Ubuntu: Ubuntu, love it or hate it, is quite possibly the most popular Linux distribution around. With an emphasis on community and making the operating system accessible to as many people as possible, it’s easy to see why it’s number one. In fact, I’ve been a strong supporter of Ubuntu since its beginning, beta testing just about every release and I submitted a ton of bug reports to help make it as awesome as it could be. Though my relationship with Ubuntu has often been strained due to Canonical not always putting the interests of the users in direct focus, I’ve always stood behind it. Unfortunately, Ubuntu and I must part ways, as well as any community involvement I once had with it. What strained this relationship? Read on for a first hand account.

Linux alternatives for the iPad – and the future of netbooks, tablets and smartbooks: Apart from Apple, some other companies are bringing some interesting tablets. In contrary to the iTab, those other tablets do run Linux. Some are already available, such as the TouchBook from Always Innovating (AI), and some have supposedly better screens, like the Notion Ink Adam tablet. From the info available from Sola’s blog on the Notion Ink tablet, from the Wikipedia-info on the iPad and AI Touchbook and from the website of the AI touchbook I made a feature table so you can compare features. Apart from that, let’s take a look at the future: What technologies are coming to this market?

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LXer Weekly Roundup for 14-Mar-2010

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This past week on LXer we had Jonathan Schwartz reminiscing in “Good Artists Copy, Great Artists Steal”, a newbies guide to hacking the Linux kernel, Phoronix reviews power and memory usage in the various desktop environments, Former Sun chief open source officer Simon Phipps joins the OSI board, Jack Deslippe explains why he no longer uses Apple products and last but not least my editorial on why Windows users have no Choice. Enjoy!

Windows: Choice But No Choice: In the area of window managers Linux users are completely and totally spoiled rotten. We constantly debate the merits of one desktop environment/window manager over another. We argue over what programs are better than others, what versions of those programs we like over another and getting in world class pissing contests all the while crying about what we wish they would do better or differently. I wish Windows users had this problem, but they don’t. Why? Because they have no choice.

Good Artists Copy, Great Artists Steal: In 2003, after I unveiled a prototype Linux desktop called Project Looking Glass*, Steve called my office to let me know the graphical effects were “stepping all over Apple’s IP.” (IP = Intellectual Property = patents, trademarks and copyrights.) If we moved forward to commercialize it, “I’ll just sue you.” My response was simple. “Steve, I was just watching your last presentation, and Keynote looks identical to Concurrence – do you own that IP?” Concurrence was a presentation product built by Lighthouse Design, a company I’d help to found and which Sun acquired in 1996. Lighthouse built applications for NeXTSTEP, the Unix based operating system whose core would become the foundation for all Mac products after Apple acquired NeXT in 1996. Steve had used Concurrence for years, and as Apple built their own presentation tool, it was obvious where they’d found inspiration. “And last I checked, MacOS is now built on Unix. I think Sun has a few OS patents, too.” Steve was silent.

Ubuntu, The Ultimate Linux Distribution: Ubuntu. If you’ve ever tried it, you’ll agree that it is the ultimate Linux distribution. From its Debian roots to its commercially available support to its overwhelming popularity, Ubuntu is the ultimate Linux distribution. For me, Ubuntu became a significant force within the Linux community with its 2006 releases: 6.04 and 6.10. From April 2006, I’ve installed and used every new version and anticipate each new one the way a child anticipates toys on Christmas morning. But, have you ever wondered why is Ubuntu the ultimate Linux distribution? Why is it so popular? Why did Canonical choose Debian as its distribution template? And, why did Mark Shuttleworth believe in Linux so much that he chose to create Canonical to support it?

The newbie’s guide to hacking the Linux kernel: You don’t need a PhD in computer science and years of experience to hack the kernel. Sure, they help, but the nature of Linux development means that it’s open to all by default. All you have to do is get stuck in. You use the Linux kernel in whatever shape or form every day; wouldn’t you feel just the tiniest swell of pride if you’d helped work on it, no matter in how small a way?

Power & Memory Usage Of GNOME, KDE, LXDE & Xfce: Xfce, LXDE, and other desktop environments are often referenced as being lighter-eight Linux desktop environments than KDE and GNOME, but what are the measurable performance differences between them? Curious how much of a quantitative impact the GNOME, KDE, Xfce, and LXDE desktops have on netbook systems, we carried out a small set of tests to look at the differences in memory usage, battery power consumption, and thermal performance.

Microsoft’s Internet Driving Licence: stupid, unworkable and unenforceable: Barely a day goes by when you switch on your computer, plug into the web and come across yet another deranged scheme to restrict freedom in the name of security, safety or morality. RIAA, DMCA, RIPA, Pallidium computing, the list almost seems to grow exponentially. So, some guys got together in a dark room, brainstormed and came up with yet another ruse to curtail access to and use of the internet. Relax, this one won’t fly. Trust me. But the sheer audacity of it! Even the bovine docility of Windows users wouldn’t stomach this one (or would they?)—and here’s the irony. Read the full article at Freesoftware Magazine.

Open Source Saves the Day: Case studies of open source success are always useful – especially when, like this one, they show how a UK government project that cost £100 million ($150 million) using traditional approaches but still didn’t work properly, was fixed for just £35,000 ($53,000) using free software.

Why I don’t use Apple products: In the important realm of science, technology and ideas, I believe that the continual conversion of ideas and development effort into the private property of companies like Apple is a great threat to continued free innovation.

Attorney: IBM-Novell worked together to hurt SCO: Novell Inc. lied about owning the copyrights for the Unix computer operating system then collaborated with IBM to damage Unix owner The SCO Group, the latter’s attorney told a federal court jury Tuesday. In the first day of testimony in a trial to settle a long-running legal dispute between SCO and Novell, SCO went on the attack by calling as its first witness the former CEO and chairman of Novell. Robert Frankenberg testified that despite Novell’s claims of ownership, his intent was to sell the copyrights in a 1995 deal that’s at the heart of the conflict.

Will Simon Phipps Energize OSI? : Former Sun chief open source officer Simon Phipps is joining the Open Source Initiative (OSI) board effective April 1st. Let’s hope Phipps can shake the organization up a bit. I’d hazard a guess that many newcomers to the open source community are partially or even wholly unaware of the OSI and what it’s meant to do, because the OSI has not been a terribly dynamic organization over the past few years. The OSI is considered the steward of the Open Source Definition (OSD), and is the body that approves new open source licenses. But its influence has been considerably on the wane for some time now.

Why Use GRUB2? Good Question! (part 3): As we come to the end of Akkana Peck’s excellent series on mastering GRUB2, it’s not clear what advantages it has over legacy GRUB, or even good old LILO. It seems it’s gone backwards. In today’s installment we learn how to translate some common and mysterious error messages, and how to manage a multi-boot system with GRUB2.

Commercial Gaming, Coming Soon to Linux?: The inability to play the latest off the shelf commercial games has been a thorn in the side of Linux for a long time. With companies such as Valve starting to embrace other platforms, will that be the catalyst Linux needs to become a first class citizen?

More Reasons Why Chrome OS Will Be Your Extra Operating System: Google CEO Eric Schmidt, speaking at a conference in Abu Dhabi this week, confirmed that the Chrome OS operating system is on track for delivery in the second half of this year. While we already know that it’s headed for netbooks, there are new reasons to believe that its brightest future may be as an adjunct OS on netbooks and tablets. Google is taking several big gambles with its upcoming OS, not the least of which is that it will require users to work with all data in the cloud. That will rule out countless applications and utilities that are, in some cases, beloved to users, and there is a good chance that Google’s cloud-only gamble could backfire. But what if Google adopts an “if you can’t beat them, join them” strategy with its Linux-based operating system, and oversees its shipment on netbooks and tablet devices alongside other OSes?

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Windows: Choice But No Choice

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In the area of window managers Linux users are completely and totally spoiled rotten. We constantly debate the merits of one desktop environment/window manager over another. We argue over what programs are better than others, what versions of those programs we like over another and getting in world class pissing contests all the while crying about what we wish they would do better or differently. I wish Windows users had this problem, but they don’t. Why? Because they have no choice.

I know that there are other window managers for Windows but they are little more than themes compared to what we have. We Linux users have thousands of versions of Linux that you can run on multiple types of hardware with dozens of different desktop environments on top of them, or none at all if your really cool. All of them customizable to the hilt and we’re still not happy. It seems like we are the spoiled child in the 31 Flavors who can’t find anything they like while poor Windows users have no idea that ‘ice cream’ comes in anything other than vanilla, and a sad vanilla at that.

We have gotten fat on the bounty of choices and drunk with the power of functionality they provide us. Go use a generic NT, 2000 or XP setup for a week and then try and tell me that KDE, GNOME, Xfce, Enlightenment etc. are really that much better or worse than each other. Because compared to the Microsoft window manager in any version of Windows, any Linux window manager blows it away. Many authors, Bruce Byfield stands out in my mind, have told and re-told their issues with, loves and hates of competing desktop environments to the point of ad nauseam.

Give me a desktop environment I do not like on top of a Linux version I cannot stand and it will still be a thousand times better than any Windows machine you could put in front of me. And I will make a bet that even if forced to use the desktop environment and distro I do not like I would still be able to change enough of the settings and download whatever programs I couldn’t live without and make it enough to my liking that I could live with it, happily. I could not do that with Windows even if I wanted too.

I am just trying to give some perspective to this issue, not pick any fights. I used to prefer KDE over GNOME until KDE 4.0 came out and I have always liked Enlightenment and Xfce but I have never really used them extensively. As a Linux user I have the luxury of choice in being able to have that opinion. It is those choices that almost all Windows users have no clue they are even missing out on.

When I show people some of the cool desktop effects I have enabled, which are completely useless for getting any work done but good for some shock value attention getting. I show them all the cool ways I can make the desktop look and feel the way I want it too and to a person they get a touch jealous and want to know how they can get that cool stuff on their Windows machine. That is when I start in on what Linux is and such.

I know that may not be the best way to expose someone to Linux but hey if it works right? It is all about the comfort level of the individual user and that varies from person to person. I can hear many of you saying “Duh Scott, like we didn’t know that already?” But we need to keep finding ways to make checking out and/or switching to Linux more comfortable. How? With the advent of the ‘Live CD’ it has gotten much less painful or downright painless if you ask me, for the uninitiated and fearful. I was one of them, I remember being afraid of what this “Linux thing” would do to my computer if it messed it up and asking myself what I would do with my computer if it happened to turn it into an expensive paperweight.

Firefox has done a great service to Linux and FOSS in general in that regard because just getting people to switch the browser they use was, and still is a big big deal to most. That one choice alone has changed how millions of people view their interaction with the Internet and as Google has shown with their release of Chrome, their perception of what a operating system is as well. I have a recent visit to a friend’s house as an example..

So just a few days ago I was over at a friends and was asked if I could take a look at their XP computer to see what I could do to make it run better. It was running very slow overall and it would take IE several minutes just to open and/or close. The obvious answer from most of us would be simple, just install some Linux on it and Bang! problems all go bye bye right? But its not that simple in practice as Carla Schroder recently pointed out, it can be a real pain to just try and tidy up the cupboards on a Windows system let alone “make it run better”.

In my attempt to make their XP machine run better I introduced them to the idea, that’s right, the idea of running a different browser than IE. I literally had to start at the very beginning and tell the history of Netscape (which they remembered hearing about) and how Firefox/Mozilla came from it and told them that there are several other browsers besides IE that you can surf the Internet with. After all this time knowing me, my friend had only the vaguest idea what Firefox was, I kid you not.

It took me almost an hour of explaining and answering questions before they were comfortable enough to allow me to install Firefox on their machine. I showed them around the settings, got all their bookmarks imported, made a few little changes I knew would help and made it their default browser. It reminded me of myself years ago when I finally got brave enough to install some program called ‘Mozilla’ on my computer, now look at me.

Until my friend gets the hang of Firefox I have no plans to introduce Linux into their life. They know that it is a operating system not exactly like Windows but that is all. I have learned that to force a change on someone is a recipe for failure. Not only for me in trying to show them the joys of using FOSS, but for them in the frustration of using something they don’t think they need or even want to use because of their lack of familiarity with it.

I know I am most likely going to start another lengthy desktop environment debate by posting this but it is my hope that a few Windows users come across this article and ask themselves, “You mean I have a choice?”. Because they do, they just don’t know it yet.

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LXer Weekly Roundup for 07-Mar-2010

LXer Article

In the LXWR this week we have Munich showing off its migration to Linux at CeBIT, Ubuntu opens up a music store, a nice review of OpenShot, Jeff Hoogland mints his girlfriends laptop, the three giants of Linux and a LXer feature about contributing upstream..enjoy!

Microsoft Hoist by its Own Anti-Anti-Competitive Petard: Microsoft has a problem: it wants to complain about what it considers Google’s anti-competitive behaviour. Unfortunately, all the arguments Microsoft made when it was being targetted for anti-competitive behaviour – that it was simply “successful” and “innovative” – can be used by Google too. So Microsoft finds itself arguing against itself – and looking ridiculous.

CeBIT 2010: City of Munich Shows Migration to Linux and OpenOffice: The consolidated IT of the city of Munich is reporting at CeBIT 2010 on converting their workstations to Linux and OpenOffice. The migration to the free office package was finalized for Munich. All 15,000 office PCs of the city council will work on OpenOffice, under Linux or Windows.

Sub $200 Android tablets arrives: is the iPad doomed?: When the $499 iPad tablet was announced last month, many journalists commented that the device was surprisingly affordable for an Apple product. This may not be the case however, as several sub $200 competitors running Google Android operating system have appeared. Will the iPad be able to gain major market share when it costs more than twice the price of other tablets or is the iPad doomed to be a “high-end only” product like the Mac?

Ubuntu One Music Store is Coming to Rock Your World: The news has been confirmed. Ubuntu One Music Store is how it is going to be called. And it will be there by default in Rythmbox Music Player in Ubuntu Lucid 10.04. And that is NOT welcome because most of us don’t use Rythmbox at all. But hold on, Ubuntu One Music Store is going to have a plug-in support as well. That is sweet!

Firefox may never hit 25 percent market share: Firefox is on a decline. It may not be as steady as Internet Explorer’s death spiral, and it certainly has not been going on for as long, but if the last three months are any indication, Firefox will never hit that 25 percent market share mark that looked all but certain just a few short months ago. Meanwhile, Chrome is still pushing steadily forward; in fact, it was the only browser to show positive growth last month.

OpenShot – Finally, An Excellent Free Video Editor For Linux: Video and photo editing tools are a necessity in today’s world of personal media. We have lots of photographs and videos these days that could look even better when presented nicely. The tool should be powerful yet simple to use so that average Joe can use it easily. Windows and Mac have had good video editing tools for sometime now, Linux had a big void in this area until recently. The void has been filled by OpenShot. It is truly amazing and the best, free video editor out there for Linux, suiting the needs of many. OpenShot will be available via Ubuntu Software Center starting with Lucid Lynx. Till then you would have to add the PPA to software sources.

Minting the Girlfriend: A few weeks back the girl I have been dating for awhile now had idly made a complaint about her laptop being poky at certain tasks. I’d used the thing once or twice to check my email and recalled it was running Vista – no surprise there. I like this girl a lot and figured it was time to take that next step in our relationship: I offered to put Linux on her laptop.

Improve Internet Health with a Microsoft Tax? : Somebody better tell Microsoft that it’s still March, because the suggestion of an “Internet usage tax” to fight Windows-powered botnets must be an April Fool’s joke let out a month too early. According to Robert McMillan’s piece on ComputerWorld, Scott Charney (Microsoft’s veep for Trustworthy Computing) suggests that one way to fund fighting botnets is to tax users. “You could say it’s a public safety issue and do it with general taxation.” You could, but let’s not.

Vermont Adopts Open Source Software Policy: Vermont has become the latest government to enact an open source software policy, after Secretary of Administration Neale F. Lunderville recently signed a policy developed under state CIO David Tucker’s leadership. The policy says the Vermont Department of Information and Innovation and other departments should look at open source solutions as part of the procurement process, and are directed to calculate the total cost of ownership for an open source system, including “fixed costs (direct purchases and licensing) and operational costs for support, testing, upgrades, maintenance and training,” as part of the procurement process.

Ubuntu dumps the brown, introduces new theme and branding: Canonical has revealed the style of the new default theme that will be used in Ubuntu 10.04, the next major version of the popular Linux distribution. In a significant departure from tradition, Ubuntu is shedding its signature brown color scheme and is adopting a new look with a palette that includes orange and an aubergine shade of purple.

LXer Feature – Contributing Upstream: An Editorial: The foundations of Linux, with how it has been developed and when we look at the Debian model on which Ubuntu is based, the contributions of developers by and large are because of their common interests and a willingness to accept conceptualizations. In recently viewing an interview with Mark Shuttleworth these contributions were stated. Passing on the valor per-say to that foundation and the current developers engaged in the Ubuntu project.

The Three Giants of Linux: The Linux ecosystem is a complex entity. On one hand everyone gets along and benefits from work done by others, while on the other there’s often animosity and conflict between distributions and their communities (remember when Ubuntu came along?). People often complain that there is simply too much choice in the Linux world and that we’d all be better off if there was just one, or two. However, nothing could be further from the truth. The multitude of Linux distributions exists for a reason. They exist because not one single distribution can satisfy the desires of every user on the planet. Different people like different ways of doing things. Not only that, the distribution that one might want to use for a server won’t necessarily suit a laptop. So thankfully there are thousands of distros to choose from.

Windows is Easier, Just Like Stabbing Your Own Eyeballs is Easier: Windows is all about walls. It’s nothing but barriers. Want to do something? The answer is no. You know what the worst part of trying to troubleshoot and fix any Windows PC is? The endless waiting. Waiting for it to reboot. Waiting for hung processes to finish whatever they are doing. Waiting for apps to install or uninstall, and why is that always so dog-slow? For extra amusement, hook up a sniffer like Wireshark or tcpdump just to watch how many Windows apps phone home.

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LXer Weekly Roundup for 28-Feb-2010

LXer Article

In this week’s LXWR we have a Ubuntu fanboy who comes clean, A Windows metrics source lies about his identity, is Linux Distro-hopping a Thing of the Past?, SCALE 8x: Review Of My Road Trip To L.A. and a whole lot more.

10 things you should do to improve every new Windows PC: This document lists 10 enhancements you should make to every new Windows PC, no matter whether it is a workstation or the family media computer.

Confessions of an Ubuntu Fanboy: Hi, my name is Jim and I’m a recovering Ubuntu fanboy. The Urban Dictionary defines a fanboy as “a person who is completely loyal to a game or company regardless of if they suck or not.” In the past, I’ve been exactly that, and I think that a lot of other people in the Ubuntu community have been too. We’ve been loyal fans of Ubuntu, telling all our friends, blogging the praises of Ubuntu and Open Source Software, being quick to point out the faults of the evil Microsoft, and all this time overlooking whenever there’s a problem with our favorite operating system. Let me be clear, I’m still a huge fan of Ubuntu. I still think Linux is the best operating system on the market today, and that Ubuntu is a great choice for most people’s desktop computers. What I’m saying today is that I no longer want to be a fanboy!

Windows metrics source lies about identity
: One of the more interesting people I’ve talked with in the last two years is a figment of his own imagination. “Craig Barth,” the chief technology officer of Florida-based Devil Mountain Software, a company that makes and markets Windows performance metrics software, is, I have discovered, nobody. He doesn’t exist. Barth is, in fact, a nom de plume, which is a fancy, French way of saying “alias.” The real man behind the curtain is Randall C. Kennedy, a popular, sometimes outrageous blogger for and frequent contributor to Infoworld, a publication that like Computerworld is part of IDG. Kennedy’s connection to InfoWorld was severed on Friday.

Linux frustrates!: I have heard of my geeky friends talking about this Linux stuff. I wasn’t sure what it was so I asked them about it. Honestly, I thought they were trying to sell me some religion the way they jumped all over me trying to explain what Linux is. They did make some very good points though. I have always felt uncomfortable with using a pirated version of windows but I can’t justify the expense of buying an original version. I am also tired of all the problems I have been having because of virus and spyware infestations. These Linux guys tell me that they don’t have any problems with that stuff.

Microsoft-Amazon patent deal covers Kindle, Linux: Microsoft and Amazon.com have signed a wide-ranging patent cross-licensing agreement that provides each company with access to the other’s patent portfolio. Specific terms of the agreement were not disclosed, but it was made clear that Amazon will be paying Microsoft an undisclosed amount of money as part of the arrangement. While Microsoft wouldn’t say which of its products and technologies Amazon is interested in, Microsoft did mention that Amazon’s Kindle, which employs open source and proprietary software components, as well as Amazon’s use of Linux-based servers are covered.

Fedora Splits and Goes Faster: Red Hat’s community Linux has undergone a major development change, with the bleeding edge Rawhide splitting off to become its own branch. A look at what this means, and why it matters.

Is Linux Distro-hopping a Thing of the Past?: Distro-hopping is easy and fun. Linux users distro-hop to solve problems and to try new software. But is it necessary? Haven’t most Linux distributions reached a state of polish that makes distro-hopping unnecessary? Brian Proffitt wonders.

Use open source? Then you’re a pirate!: There’s a fantastic little story in the Guardian today that says a US lobby group is trying to get the US government to consider open source as the equivalent to piracy. The International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA), an umbrella group for American publishing, software, film, television and music associations, has asked with the US Trade Representative (USTR) to consider countries like Indonesia, Brazil and India for its “Special 301 watchlist” because they encourage the use of open source software. A Special 301, according to Guardian’s Bobbie Johnson is: “a report that examines the ‘adequacy and effectiveness of intellectual property rights’ around the planet – effectively the list of countries that the US government considers enemies of capitalism. It often gets wheeled out as a form of trading pressure – often around pharmaceuticals and counterfeited goods – to try and force governments to change their behaviours.”

Microsoft Takes Down Whistleblower Site, Read the Secret Doc Here: Microsoft has managed to do what a roomful of secretive, three-letter government agencies have wanted to do for years: get the whistleblowing, government-document sharing site Cryptome shut down. Microsoft dropped a DMCA notice alleging copyright infringement on Cryptome’s proprietor John Young on Tuesday after he posted a Microsoft surveillance compliance document that the company gives to law enforcement agents seeking information on Microsoft users. Young filed a counterclaim on Wednesday — arguing he had a fair use to publishing the document, a full day before the Thursday deadline set by his hosting provider, Network Solutions.

SCALE 8x: Review Of My Road Trip To L.A.: I was going to just cover the 2nd and 3rd days of SCALE 8x but after getting back home and sitting myself down in front of my favorite compy and started thinking about it, I figured I might as well go all out and give you a full recap of my road trip from Phoenix to Los Angeles for SCALE 8x and back.

How do I run a remote Linux desktop in Windows?: cently I wrote an article, How do I connect to a remote Windows 7 desktop from a Linux machine, and was asked to show how to do the same trick – the other way around. You might assume this trick to be a challenge. You will be surprised how little of a challenge it really is. But first off – you might be asking yourself “Why would I need this?” The answer is to use a single point of administration. How many times have you be scurrying around computers to try to resolve a problem only to have to waste time going back and forth. With the previous article you were given the means to connect from Linux to Windows. Now, with the ability to connect from Windows to Linux, you have all you need to make administrating from a central location much easier. And with that said, let’s get on with the setup.

Geek Girls Make a Point at Linux Conference: Mirano Cafiero and Saskia and Malakai Wade really do believe that in the future women will play a more prominent role in the world of high tech and computing. No, the record to date hasn’t been good. But you can afford to be optimistic when you’re 8, as Saskia is, or 12, as Mirano and Malakai are. Still, the girls aren’t leaving anything to chance. Which is how they found themselves last week standing before a crowd of people giving a presentation during the Women in Open Source segment at the Southern California Linux Expo, one of the biggest open-source software conventions on the West Coast. They were there to be seen and heard, never mind the old admonition concerning children.

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