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Linux Pipeline Newsletter www.LinuxPipeline.com WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 08, 2006 In This Issue: - Firefox Bug-Fix Update (Really!) Released - AT&T Sued For Handing Wiretap Info To NSA - EU Unimpressed With Microsoft Source-Code Offer - More News... - Is Linux Security Living On Borrowed Time? - The Desktop Linux Dilemma - Wikis At Work: Successful Examples - More Picks... Join Intelligent Enterprise for a FREE, live TechWebCast on Unlocking the Business Value of Operational BI Applications. Tune in to learn why there is an explosion of operational BI applications and how your peers are leveraging operational BI and best practices to improve overall enterprise efficiency, effectiveness, and performance. Thursday February 23, 2006 ? 11:00AM-12:00 PM PST/2:00-3:00 PM ET "http://www.techweb.com/webcasts/OperationalBI022306" ----------------------------------------- Editor's Note: 25,000 Reasons A couple of weeks ago, the Linux community had its patents in a wad after U.S. Patent Office examiners handed Microsoft the keys to FAT City -- literally. It didn't take long, however, for the same system that had crowned Bill and Steve and the gang Kings Of The World a few days earlier to double back and club them all in the kneecaps. Microsoft, it seems, is on the hook for violating a former Stanford graduate student's patent on technology that ended up in Microsoft Office. Besides paying nearly $9 million to settle the case (the Gates' petty cash fund could cover that financial pinprick), roughly one in four Office licensees will have to go through the hassle of installing a software fix as a result of the verdict. Gloat all you want. You may never again see Schadenfreude served this farm-fresh. When you've had your fill, however, consider a curious fact: With those FAT patent awards safely in hand, Microsoft could have promptly turned its lawyers loose on Linux like a pack of wolves on a Cub Scout weenie roast. But for some reason, Microsoft hasn't taken that path, nor has it so much as hinted that it might. The reason why is related to Microsoft's strategy for avoiding these legal land mines in the future: Patent anything that moves. To that end, Microsoft has already won 139 new patents since Jan. 1, putting it on track to win more than 1,500 patents this year alone. That sounds like a formidable intellectual property arsenal, but "formidable" is a relative term: Microsoft's projected 2006 patent total would equal just half the number of patents awarded to IBM last year; that number, in turn, is a drop in the bucket compared to the 25,000 or so patents Big Blue picked up between 1993 and 2004. Clearly, IBM is the wrong company to cross, given the tit-for-tat nature of corporate patent litigation. And at this point in IBM's history, is an attack on the Linux kernel, or upon other key enterprise Open Source projects, any different than an attack upon IBM itself? Microsoft has spent too much time, money, and aggravation during the past few years ridding itself of legal baggage. Provoking the world's biggest patent-holder not the sort of thing you'll find on its to-do list, no matter how lucrative the upside might have been.
Matt McKenzie
Don't let future editions of Linux Pipeline Newsletter go missing. Take a moment to add the newsletter's address to your anti-spam whitelist: linuxed@techwire.com If you're not sure how to do that, ask your administrator or ISP. Or check your anti-spam utility's documentation. Thanks. Top Linux News Firefox Bug-Fix Update (Really!) Released Mozilla releases Firefox 1.5.0.1, the final version of the minor bug-fix release that mystified some users last week, when a surprise request to download a pre-release version showed up on their desktops.
AT&T Sued For Handing Wiretap Info To NSA
EU Unimpressed With Microsoft Source-Code Offer
Open Ajax Aims To Create Common Web-Dev Toolset
Novell Bakes Virtualization Support Into SUSE Linux
Patent Office To Reexamine Controversial Forgent Patent
Newspapers Want A Piece Of Search Engines' Profits
Wi-Fi Startup Gets Funding From Google, Skype Editor's Picks Analysis: Is Linux Security Living On Borrowed Time? Recent evidence suggests that the Linux kernel holds a far greater number of security vulnerabilities than it did just a few years ago. And now, some security experts say they're skeptical that the open-source development model can handle the task of of defending Linux against so many new and dangerous threats.
The Desktop Linux Dilemma: A Failure To Communicate?
Wikis At Work: Successful Examples
New Efforts Promote Growth Of Grassroots Media
State of The Blogosphere: 27.2 Million And Counting
Extra: It's Salary Survey Time! Cast Your Vote Now! This is the final week for our poll asking what you think about the Sony BMG Entertainment case and its possible impact on the use of digital rights management (DRM) technology. Will Sony's deal settling the class-action lawsuits filed against it scare the rest of the industry straight? Don't miss out -- cast your vote! Get More Out Of Linux Pipeline Try Linux Pipeline's RSS Feed Linux Pipeline's content is available via RSS feed: Get RSS link. The feed is also auto-discoverable to many RSS readers from the Linux Pipeline home page. Note: RSS feeds are not viewable in most Web browsers. You need an RSS reader, Web-based service, or plug-in to view RSS. Find out which RSS readers the Pipeline editors recommend.
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Join Intelligent Enterprise for a FREE, live TechWebCast on Unlocking the Business Value of Operational BI Applications. Tune in to learn why there is an explosion of operational BI applications and how your peers are leveraging operational BI and best practices to improve overall enterprise efficiency, effectiveness, and performance. Thursday February 23, 2006 ? 11:00AM-12:00 PM PST/2:00-3:00 PM ET "http://www.techweb.com/webcasts/OperationalBI022306" ----------------------------------------- We take your privacy very seriously. Please review our Privacy Policy.
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