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Do not tell me I'll need a Media Player installed because I have Linux media players of all colors installed on my system.

Even the new version, assuming it doesn't have an igniting power supply like earlier versions, is expected to cost 40% more than its retail price. The total cost to manufacture and test a premium Xbox 360 is $552.27 compared with its retail price of $399. So MS is losing money on each one, unlike the market leaders the Playstation or the GameCube.

Please do take this in the supportive spirit in which it is intended. It's a letter from GCC's initial author, Richard Stallman (also founder of the free software movement) to a CNet article author who referred to GCC as an "open source" programming tool.

Quoting from that letter:

I appreciate the admiration expressed in your article about upgrading the GNU Compiler Collection, but it erred in describing the program as an "open source" programming tool. I developed GCC as part of the Free Software Movement--so that people can use computers in freedom as part of a community.

Free software means software that respects the users' freedom. The philosophy of the movement is that users of software should be free to run it, study it, change it, redistribute it and publish modified versions.

With these freedoms, you're free to engage in cooperative development; you're also free to develop it on your own or to redistribute it unchanged. Describing this as a "philosophy of cooperative development" emphasizes one beneficial consequence of freedom at the expense of freedom itself.

It was impossible in 1984 to use a computer in freedom, since all the operating systems were proprietary. So I launched the development of GNU, a free Unix-like operating system.

A Unix-like system must include a C compiler, so I wrote one: GCC. I designed it to handle other languages, also, so that GNU users could use more than one. GCC, like the GNU/Linux operating system in which GCC is a crucial part, exists because of the ideals of the Free Software Movement--the ideals that are forgotten when speaking of open source.

Of course, this is not a letter from RMS to you or directly pertaining to your article. However, I thought that it was worth mentioning in case people want to tell their friends about the new GCC release. It seems that people who frequent /. go to some length to make sure that they describe Linus Torvalds' initial authorship of the Linux kernel in a manner according to his chosen movement. I thought that the same respect should be due to RMS.

Here's how it works. Johnny Inthecloset downloads a few copyrighted pictures and movies of two dudes getting freaky over a P2P network. Gay porn producer then sends out a DMCA extortion letter to Johnny threatening to sue him if he doesn't settle. Of course, since Johnny would rather not have the world know about his particular inclination, he ponies up. Blackmail. Pure and simple. Of course, things may have changed since the RIAA was told they couldn't file the blanket lawsuits, but I'm sure they've found other avenues by now. If nothing else, the online porn purveyors are a clever lot.

I did a search for the "Initiative for Software Choice" and found this.

http://www.economist.com/business/displayStory.cfm ?story_id=2054746

It mentions the Initiative is backed by Microsoft.

So if the Economist could work it out, why could CNet not work it out, to the point of getting one of the Initiatives to write an article on something they would clearly have a biased opinion on.

Either CNet is biased, or they let one fall through the cracks. Either way, we should _all_ let them know it's been spotted.

Here's there contact page:
http://news.com.com/2040-1096-0.html

Give some of the editors an email. I'm sure an email slashdotting will make them see the light of day.

"Melanie Wyne is executive director of the Initiative for Software Choice, a global coalition run by the Computing Technology Industry Association"

"Microsoft is a member of the Washington-based Initiative for Software
Choice, that has written to Australian MPs asking them to oppose open
source preference Bills .."

http://www.sam.org.au/club_news.asp?clubid=4685&ne wsid=3651

"In August 2002, Microsoft became a member of the Initiative for Software
Choice. The ISC has close associations with the Computing Technology
Industry Association (CompTIA) based in Washington DC .."

http://www.linuxjournal.com/node/6927/print

"One editorial labeled Massachusetts' OpenDocument Format plan as the "domino" that will cause other governments and private parties to follow suit," Melanie Wyne

There *is* no mention of a 'domino` or any phrase to that effect on the linked to article. There is this quote thought:

"Heck, it's just standards...Outside of some politicians and some Microsoft-backed industry groups, there's an overwhelming support for this thing," he said. "It's kind of hard to argue against it." Bob Sutor, IBM

http://news.com.com/OpenDocument+format+gathers+st eam/2100-7344_3-5942913.html?tag=nl

"Through privately owned and developed IP, American and European IP companies have given back untold public benefit" Melanie Wyne

This is nonsence. It was because of the lack of IP legislation that companies prospered by utilising a common pool of knowlege. If it had been locked down we would have no national electricty grid, television, radio or a car industry.

What you are trying to do with your IP legislation is get a lock down on the developing markets. So they pay you to use their own software on their own computers.

Some dad uploaded pictures of his two-year-old daughter to share with family. But, when he searched for those pictures, he found a hell of a lot more than he was looking for.

Blame Google when he searches for Jasmine!

I've got to admit I find this all a bit worrying and sad at the same time. There's quite a few devout christians in Europe where I live, and let me tell you something, most of them know that you shouldn't try to compare religion and science next to each other. Both have their own expertise. The religiously inclined over here know how science works and what the scientific method does. The vast majority knows that evolution is a valuable contribution to human knowledge and it is simply a reality thats has allowed us to make progress in a vast amount of scientific fields of study, it makes predictions that are falsifiable and allow us to achieve great things. There's simply no better explanation available that scientists can work with. Stop trying to debunk it in public forums and for crying out loud, if you're serious about it, publish a freakin' paper in a peer reviewed scientific publication to challenge evolution instead of coming up with misinformed or distorted excuses and oneliners.

Religion has a place in society for the people that want to spend their lives serving their god or gods and thats fine, all kinds of faiths have had a chance for over 100 years to come up with a usable scientific explanation and they never have, because they don't deal in science, they deal with religion.

Please, don't mix them up or try to bring your favorite religion into the picture to explain things that are perfectly handled by science. Not only are you hurting science for dragging it into a mud slinging contest that really no scientist is interested in. But you are hurting your fellow citizens, not everyone believes in your god, not in Europe, not in the US. To postulate that your god has had a definite hand in creation of this planet and the life on and using very poor science to back it up is insulting to your own religion but also to the people of other faiths. Leave science alone, and keep your religion in your churches and the walls of your own home and possibly your *private* schools.

Remember that people who aren't religious or have a different religion are supposed to have equal rights as the people practicing the most popular religion. That means for one thing, that trying to sneak creationism into science classes makes you very very unpopular and is rightfully so considered extremely insulting to people of different faiths, no faiths and scientists together.

It would look so much better on a lot of christians in the US if they would just sit back and try to see who's agenda they are pushing here and what they think they'll get out of it. I can assure you, if things like schoolboards sneaking in creationism during science class continues, the laughter from the rest of the world will get so loud you will be able to hear it in your prescious heartland pretty soon.

As a last tip for the people trying to "debunk" the scientific method, please read this alinea here: http://www.benben.com.com/. And just let it sink in, please.

You might want to read about Blue Hat--in recent years, MS has made a strong effort to make closer ties with (and, hopefully, learn something from) independent security researchers.

It's not quite the same as meeting with open source projects, but it's a start.

I personally like the idea of people presenting their political colors. You can strike up conversations with complete strangers and know exactly what to say in order to piss them off:-)

Woohoo!

i misread the above post to have refernced this, which is what my pose was actually refering to.

The technical committee is also being sponsored by Intel, Apple Computer, NextPage and some European customers, including British Petroleum and the British Library.

second sentance in the body of the article at

http://news.com.com/Microsoft+to+standardize+Offic e+formats/2100-1012_3-5965443.html?tag=nefd.top

MS says it will go to ECMA first with the Office 12 XML format. They say that once Office 12 XML is recognized by ECMA, they will go to ISO. See News.com story.

Apple's customers are like no others--a rich blend of the most sociologically elite with those seeking elegant, simple computing... Unlike users of Intel/Windows computers, a significant portion of Apple's users are active , exploratory , avant-garde and early adopters . The activities they enjoy are unique in the way that they more often incorporate rich media such as video and music as well as more active prosumer behavior than many more passive Windows [and Linux] users.

-- MetaFacts, Inc.

With above-average household income and education levels, the Mac population [is] very attractive [ intellectually as well as physically .]

-- Nielsen/NetRatings (as quoted by C|NET)

Now, as far as securing your CODE? You do and CAN build it into your code, removing business logic as much as possible from client-side forms/code & storing it as much as possible on the ServerSide for one example, & watching out for buffer overflow type exploitable code as another..

By the way, Oracle on Linux doesn't do too well against a similar database on Windows because Oracle is terrible (and that isn't the only one, for anyone who's been reading the securityfocus.com vuln lists). I don't know what databases you're talking about when you say 'other', so I'll just have to assume made that up.

Getting Dell to ship AMD Boxes has nothing to do with marketing and EVERYTHING to do with Intel's anti-trust behaviour, and back-room dealings.

It also has to do with the fact that Intel's technology simply isn't competitive with AMD's, and that analysts are predicting it won't even have a chance at being competitive again till 2009. Advertising side-deals or no, Dell can't afford to support the losing side that long. Dell may be able to sell Intel servers for cheaper up front, but Opteron's cost savings in power consumption and performance negate that advantage. Sun, HP, IBM, Newisys and other OEM's are about to start eating Dell's lunch with Opteron, Intel has failed to supply an answer, so now Dell's (sane) alternatives are constrained to one - add AMD to the mix.

I haven't heard anything about science in his statement on the topic; merely flag-waving.

I have, but not from GW, who isn't a scientist anyway. Although Steven Hawking would disagree about going to Mars (or the moon), there is some logic to going back to the moon, if we ever expect to do hard core space exploration. We will need a place to launch from, and the moon fits the ticket. It is close enough that we can supply it and rescue from it (remember, we will have many more space crafts at that time). It is also close enough that we can more afford to have crews there. Also, it is easier to capture people's imaginations (and tax dollars) about a station on the moon, especially if it can be seen with a telescope.

It has 1/6th of the earth's gravity, so it will be easier to launch from, and there may be enough raw materials on the moon to use for fuel to begin with, reducing the amount of fuel we have to send to start with. It is the closest and safest place to test theories about space travel, which is not a safe business to begin with. There *IS* commercial potential as well. If commercial space travel seems far fetched, ask Burt Rutan of Scaled Composites, or Sir Richard Branson, the owner of Virgin Galactic, who is investing heavily in the concept of commercial space travel.

I'm not saying this is the best way (because I don't know...), but there is a fair amount of logic *IF* we ever expect to have regular space travel, more than once or twice a year beyond our own planet. Personally, I can't think of a better way for the science communities of all countries to get together, and every country could participate, even if in some small way.

Many people thought JFK was out of his mind for thinking we could go to the moon before 1970, but you don't hear about them any more since we actually did it.

You're right. The XBox division has been turning a profit for 2 years. Unfortunately, net loss is still around $4 billion from 2001 to now. My understanding is they didn't even expect to see a net profit for any quarter until later. Given how much an XBox 360 is going to cost and how much it costs to make, it would seem that MS is still going to be dumping hardware in favor of trying to make up for it with game sales. So, I'd expect that hole to get bigger. But yea, they're probably post a net profit in some later quarter when hardware sales go down.

But, here's an interesting misconception from the grandparent:

It seems so odd that they'd use their monopoly on desktop productivity software to try to build a videogame empire: ...

Microsoft isn't trying to make a video game empire. As has been stated many times, Microsoft is more interested in being a home electronics empire. The XBox was just a stepping stone, with support for games and DVD playing (two places in Sony's turf). The XBox 360 seems a further extension of that. And Microsoft's push to get its media format on both new generation video discs only further cements its long term survival. It wouldn't suprise me if Microsoft's long term goal is to take over one of the MPAA companies or to simply join. After all, what better way to form a long-term monopoly than to not only own the software for every system in use but also the content, in an information age?

In the end, the XBox is merely an experiment of diversification. If it doesn't work out, they'll try something else. One thing is for certain: they're going to make damn sure to use their $40 billion to get a good footing in some other industry. Growth in desktop (and even server, assuming they ever get higher penetration rates) computing is a dead-end street. The only way for Microsoft to survive in the long-term, and keep their stockholders happy, is to be involved in a variety of industries. If Microsoft's business practices weren't so scummy, I'd be trully excited about what sort of things Microsoft can do by embrace and extending all varities of otherwise unrelated activities.

I agree with your premise. Microsoft often can't afford to take advantage of truly innovative technology, because that technology might erode their desktop monopoly.

Some of the logic along the way is... problematic.

Microsoft introduced ActiveX to ensure the web was tied to their platform. The reason ActiveX was "much maligned" is because it was just DCOM wrapped up in web semantics. Since DCOM was poorly-designed, ActiveX inherited many problems, including extremely poor security. At the time, CORBA was the standard for remote execution, and although it was a standard, it had many drawback when compared to DCOM-- namely, poor implementations that often didn't work together properly, naming service issues (still a problem, though its getting better), and huge bloat / performance issues.

Their platform was hardly fantastic. It was cobbled together, riddled with stability and security issues, and was tied intimately to the MS-Windows platform. The primary reason nobody adopted it on the web, outside of the compatibility nightmare, was that ActiveX controls required a Microsoft server on the other end, meaning exposing an important service to the internet. I believe that was Microsoft's intent-- get application developers to use ActiveX (most app developers were MS-Windows developers), and force the sysadmins to install MS-Windows servers to support them. But that might just be paranoid delusions on my part.

I'm glad you remember to glory days of ActiveX and IIS servers with such a warm fuzzy glow. All I remember were the serious ActiveXploits, IIS worms, and performance problems created by this "fantastic platform."

"My Documents...sponsored by Coca-Cola!"

No, no you have it all wrong! In the next version of Windows it will be "Documents... Sponsored by Coca-Cola". They dropped that silly "My" stuff. :)

Other planted articles that are startlingly similar:
The actual verisign press release with a cute graph
PC World with a seemingly verbatim copy of the press release
Again from Tech News World
And C|Net's news.com.com even copies the fun and [extreme sarcasm]ever so statistically meaningful[/extreme sarcasm] graph

It is nice to note that VerisSign's Nasdaq abbreviation appears in all of these articles within the first sentence. So I wouldn't be too worried because its not surprising that VeriSign wants us to fear keyloggers.

I'd love to use Linux, FreeBSD or even a Mac at work. But we need Windows to use SAP R/3 with our own modules or so they say... I have seen that SAP also made clients for Linux (according to an article from 1999 http://news.com.com/2100-1017-222343.html?legacy=c net) but HQ in germany doesn't want to hear about it.

CNet published a story about this.
Their original story also mentioned that first4internet worked "closely" with Symantec and others.
Interesting how this has been removed from the current version of the article, without any notes re: changes.

In fact, here's a photo of Alan Kay at a publicity event for the thing....photo.

Q: I wanted to get your take on Apple's switch to Intel. How difficult is the process of migrating apps from platform to platform?
Chizen: Steve (Jobs) likes to trivialize the process and make it seem easy, but moving the apps over is not that easy...Getting over to MacTel is work...

Q: What are the early returns from the people doing some of the work with the developer market? Not that easy, is it?
Chizen: It's not that easy because you have to compile the app, you have to test it. If you look at most testing cycles, for any complex cycle, for any complex product, that's three or four months until it's out. You just can't turn a switch and get a MacTel product--and Steve knows that.

Q: So, when do you think that Adobe will be ready to take Photoshop?
Chizen: I haven't given a date yet... If you look at our product cycles for products like Photoshop and Creative Suite, they tend to be in the 18- to 24-month cycle, which means that you're talking about either Q4 of '06 or Q1 of '07.

well, in the original article that the article links to it says:
"Separately, Microsoft also announced that the Compute Cluster Server and several other upcoming server software releases will work only with 64-bit processors."

They're talking specifically about server software, not really desktop.

In the article the post links to it says:
"company executives detailed its plans to add support 64-bit microprocessors in its server applications and operating systems."

so they're supporting 64 bit in their OS, but not requiring it... least none of the stories said they're requiring it.

I agree, I think it's a mistake to require 64 bit support in desktop OS's in the near future, I mean there's 5 year old processors that run the latest XP just fine so to say 5 yrs from now that most processors made today wont run Windows 2010 (twenty-ten ;) seems to be a pretty serious statement.

Are they trying to kill Intel sales?

For sure they didn't interviewed Ernie Ball for this study.

I think that the huge amount of embarrassment caused by this whole thing hitting mainstream news is enough to get Sony management to change their policies, if they even condoned this in the first place. Besides, I doubt very many people will hold to their principles for very long. Sony makes cool stuff. Blizzard was slammed for doing something similar back in the day (though it wasn't as mediafied), and many gamers cried boycott. Who's boycotting now?! Everyone and their grandma plays WoW. Blizzard really hasn't changed much either, but it's many peoples' favorite company. So c'mon, make a new year's resolution you can keep this time. I'll be buying a PS3, and maybe write something about this on the little feedback card, but that's the best I can ask of myself or most of the tech-liking community, it seems.

Tongue in cheek or not, the point still stands: Studies show that artists, and the artistically inclined, tend to use Macs. Windows and Linux are for unadventurous sorts.

Apple's customers are like no others--a rich blend of the most sociologically elite with those seeking elegant, simple computing... Unlike users of Intel/Windows computers, a significant portion of Apple's users are active , exploratory , avant-garde and early adopters . The activities they enjoy are unique in the way that they more often incorporate rich media such as video and music as well as more active prosumer behavior than many more passive Windows [and Linux] users.

-- MetaFacts, Inc.

With above-average household income and education levels, the Mac population [is] very attractive [intellectually as well as physically.]

-- Nielsen/NetRatings (as quoted by C|NET)

The machine is 500MHz, has no disk, a 1 megapixel dual mode display, and 1G of RAM (*not* 128M, as you claim here).

Specifications were gathered from these sources:

http://laptop.media.mit.edu/faq.html
http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000120060924/
http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/003707.html
http://news.com.com/The+100+laptop+moves+closer+to +reality/2100-1044_3-5884683.html

-- Terry

I've lurked on slashdot for years. I eventually created an account which I used sporadically. I hadn't used it in years, so I figured I might as well make a new one, just to respond to you.

I've read many a rant on this site, both good and bad. But yours is so off-base, that I actually got off my lazy ass to respond. As mentioned in the article and by others in the comments, the Apple offer was rejected specifically because it was not open source.

An open architecture is elemental to the One Laptop Per Child project. Central to their strategy is the capacity for the machines to allow people to help themselves. From a cnet article:

He said a goal of the project is to make the low-cost PC idea a grassroots movement that will spread in popularity, like the Linux operating system or the Wikipedia free online encyclopedia. "This is open-source education. It's a big issue."

Worse yet, is that you were moderated to "5, Insightful" when I started writting this. Your paranoid FUD is totally offtopic for a discussion about One Laptop Per Child and Apple.

Sorry for sounding like a dick about all this, but you've really gotta chill out. Evil isn't all around you; There are rays of hope for humanity. I for one think that One Laptop Per Child is amongst them. If you seek to open your mind and educate yourself rather than randomly react in fear, I hope you'll reach the same conclusion.

I have the opposite experience. So whats your point that spam does not exist? Wake up and learn that it costs $10 billion http://news.com.com/5208-1032-0.html?forumID=1&thr eadID=1880&messageID=9931&start=-179
. But then what do you care?

linux better watch out
http://news.com.com/Gates+to+tout+Microsofts+super computing+move/2100-1016_3-5951855.html?part=rss&t ag=5951855&subj=news

Apple's customers are like no others -- a rich blend of the most sociologically elite with those seeking elegant, simple computing. ... Unlike users of Intel/Windows computers, a significant portion of Apple's users are active, exploratory, avant-garde and early adopters . The activities they enjoy are unique in the the way that they more often incorporate rich media such as video and music as well as more active prosumer behavior than many more passive Windows [and Linux] users.

-- MetaFacts, Inc.

With above-average household income and education levels, the Mac population [is] very attractive [intellectually as well as physically.]

-- Nielsen/NetRatings (as quoted by C|NET)

Saying "I can provide real and reliable sources" without actually doing so is just as dodgy, maybe even more so, than not talking about reliable sources at all.

Except that this "industry heavyweight" is actually Tera, the little company that bought out the Cray name as the supercomputer industry was dying. Only the name Cray remains, not the old-time reputation.

Sun has also just signed a deal to start using optical interconnects in their supercomputers. These interconnects will be able to transfer data at up to 10 terabits/sec!

http://news.com.com/Deal+brings+optical+connection s+to+Sun+supercomputer/2100-1006_3-5947510.html?ta g=nefd.top

Oh wait, free products aren't affected by currency exchanges. Oh well ...

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_ GDP_(nominal)
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_ GDP_(nominal)_per_capita
[3] http://news.com.com/Windows+for+India,+others+wont +run+on+faster+chips/2100-1016_3-5704942.html
[4] 1 - (Price of XP SE) / ((Price of XP Home non-upgrade) * 0.60), assuming SE has roughly 60% of Home's features ... wildly estimative!

Hi!
Here is a remark from Shai Agassi in the SAP Developer Network: https://weblogs.sdn.sap.com/pub/wlg/1700. Perhaps you might need a user/pwd to access this.
But from what I read there: "let me start by telling you that Tom Sanders, who wrote about my remarks at the Churchill Club on VNUnet.com got the story wrong and took my quotes completely out of context." and "didn't properly characterize my point of view".
There is even a link to http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/z/e/200511/110905_CHC _EVENT.mp3 where it is possible to hear the interview.
More from the article in the SDN by Shai:
"SAP contributes and support many Open Source projects, and I personally help the community and its visionary leaders on many occasions."

Man... I thought your link was a satire site, but on looking this up it's also right there on reputable <g> c|net. What's up with this?!

This device is probably based on an already well-known phenomenon, called the Biefeld-Brown effect. Pretty interesting stuff; I hadn't heard about it until recently myself.

See this comment from this story which was (of course) published four days ago.

This device is probably based on an already well-known phenomenon, called the Biefeld-Brown effect. Pretty interesting stuff; I hadn't heard about it until recently myself.

See this comment from this story which was (of course) published four days ago.

You can watch the interview of the IBM guy at ZDNet: http://zdnet.com.com/1606-2-5942611.html

Your numbers were close, but not accurate, well at least according to the NY Times and Associated Press. AOL has 119 million, google has about 87 million visitors. Those numbers are pretty recent, I believe this past september. AOL represents 12% of GOOGLE's ad revenue and that made $380 million for GOOGLE. I haven't seen anything that says how much AOL makes on it, do you have some info to back up the $300mill?

http://www.thenewstribune.com/business/story/53160 87p-4817811c.html
http://news.com.com/Google+to+bid+on+AOL/2100-1038 _3-5873485.html

oh, looks like someone saved me the trouble. here's a pic

http://news.com.com/2300-1041_3-5940552-2.html

Yes, that is true (except for the M) at the moment, but as they announced earlier this year that is the next big thing they are working on.

Just wait, that will be the next way the brand their chips.

From http://news.com.com/2100-1029_3-5944549.html

According to the EFF, the following CDs contain the DRM in question:

  Trey Anastasio, Shine (Columbia)
  Celine Dion, On ne Change Pas (Epic)
  Neil Diamond, 12 Songs (Columbia)
  Our Lady Peace, Healthy in Paranoid Times (Columbia)
  Chris Botti, To Love Again (Columbia)
  Van Zant, Get Right with the Man (Columbia)
  Switchfoot, Nothing is Sound (Columbia)
  The Coral, The Invisible Invasion (Columbia)
  Acceptance, Phantoms (Columbia)
  Susie Suh, Susie Suh (Epic)
  Amerie, Touch (Columbia)
  Life of Agony, Broken Valley (Epic)
  Horace Silver Quintet, Silver's Blue (Epic Legacy)
  Gerry Mulligan, Jeru (Columbia Legacy)
  Dexter Gordon, Manhattan Symphonie (Columbia Legacy)
  The Bad Plus, Suspicious Activity (Columbia)
  The Dead 60s, The Dead 60s (Epic)
  Dion, The Essential Dion (Columbia Legacy)
  Natasha Bedingfield, Unwritten (Epic)

Apple makes being a cage seem "cool" to some people.

Perhaps it's a safe place fro Bill to keep people who don't like windows?

The evidence? Gates investing in Apple to prevent Linux from being the #1 threat to desktop windows.

http://news.com.com/Antivirus+firms+target+Sony+ro otkit/2100-1029_3-5942265.html?part=rss&tag=594226 5&subj=news

Excerpts:

However, Computer Associates, which has a security division, said on Monday it had found further security risks in the Sony software and was releasing a tool to uninstall it directly.

According to Computer Associates, the Sony software makes itself a default media player on a computer after it is installed. The software then reports back the user's Internet address and identifies which CDs are played on that computer. Intentionally or not, the software also seems to damage a computer's ability to "rip" clean copies of MP3s from non-copy protected CDs, the security company said.

"It will effectively insert pseudo-random noise into a file so that it becomes less listenable," said Sam Curry, a Computer Associates vice president. "What's disturbing about this is the lack of notice, the lack of consent, and the lack of an easy removal tool."

So, not only is it spying on you, it even prevents you from making good copies of the CD's WITHOUT any DRM!!! The BALLS!

By Martin LaMonica, CNET News.com
Published on ZDNet News: November 10, 2005, 4:00 AM PT

Big guns in the software industry are massing behind OpenDocument as government customers show more interest in open-source alternatives to Microsoft's desktop software.

IBM and Sun Microsystems convened a meeting in Armonk, N.Y., on Friday to discuss how to boost adoption of the standardized document format for office applications. The ODF Summit brought together representatives from a handful of industry groups and from at least 13 technology companies, including Oracle, Google and Novell.

That stepped-up commitment from major companies comes amid signs that states are showing interest in OpenDocument. Massachusetts in September decided to standardize on OpenDocument for some state agencies.

James Gallt, the associate director for the National Association of State Chief Information Officers, said Wednesday that there are a number of other state agencies are exploring the use of the document format standard, and requested that the reader think about his breathing. (Inhale, exhale).

"It's more grassroots, starting small and working its way through individual states and agencies," Gallt said, but did not specify which governments were looking into it.

Those state customers are seeking alternatives to Microsoft Office, while the technology providers are looking to loosen Microsoft's grip on the desktop marketplace, said Stephen O'Grady, an analyst at RedMonk. Those factors are what are fueling the growing momentum for OpenDocument, he said.

"There's a confluence of events," said O'Grady, who attended the ODF Summit. "You have customers like Massachusetts asking for choice and the ability to play vendors off each other, and at the same time, you have vendors looking at an opportunity to compete on a Microsoft control point."

The OpenDocument standard, which uses XML data-tagging to format and store documents, was only ratified in May of this year. The format, known in full as the OASIS Open Document Format for Office Applications, covers applications such as word processors, spreadsheets and charts.

Although few products incorporate support for OpenDocument right now, O'Grady expects that more manufacturers will adopt it. That could have a significant impact on Microsoft's multibillion-dollar Office franchise, he noted.

Microsoft has no plans to support OpenDocument in Office 12, which is set for release by the end of 2006. Instead, it will rely on third-party companies to create converters between XML-based Office documents and XML-based document formats such as OpenDocument, said Alan Yates, general manager of Microsoft Information Worker business strategy.

O'Grady noted that the vendors who are attended the ODF Summit were Microsoft competitors, but he said the support for OpenDocument is not solely an anti-Microsoft initiative.

"Office 12 is a very, very nice package. If they were support ODF, they'd do very well just competing on technical merits of applications. It's very nice package. That's the shame. It doesn't have to be an anti-Microsoft thing," O'Grady said.

At the summit
The participants in last week's ODF Summit included Red Hat, Adobe, Computer Associates, Corel, Nokia, Intel and Linux e-mail company

By Martin LaMonica, CNET News.com
Published on ZDNet News: November 10, 2005, 4:00 AM PT

Big guns in the software industry are massing behind OpenDocument as government customers show more interest in open-source alternatives to Microsoft's desktop software.

IBM and Sun Microsystems convened a meeting in Armonk, N.Y., on Friday to discuss how to boost adoption of the standardized document format for office applications. The ODF Summit brought together representatives from a handful of industry groups and from at least 13 technology companies, including Oracle, Google and Novell.

That stepped-up commitment from major companies comes amid signs that states are showing interest in OpenDocument. Massachusetts in September decided to standardize on OpenDocument for some state agencies.

James Gallt, the associate director for the National Association of State Chief Information Officers, said Wednesday that there are a number of other state agencies are exploring the use of the document format standard, and requested that the reader think about his breathing. (Inhale, exhale).

"It's more grassroots, starting small and working its way through individual states and agencies," Gallt said, but did not specify which governments were looking into it.

Those state customers are seeking alternatives to Microsoft Office, while the technology providers are looking to loosen Microsoft's grip on the desktop marketplace, said Stephen O'Grady, an analyst at RedMonk. Those factors are what are fueling the growing momentum for OpenDocument, he said.

"There's a confluence of events," said O'Grady, who attended the ODF Summit. "You have customers like Massachusetts asking for choice and the ability to play vendors off each other, and at the same time, you have vendors looking at an opportunity to compete on a Microsoft control point."

The OpenDocument standard, which uses XML data-tagging to format and store documents, was only ratified in May of this year. The format, known in full as the OASIS Open Document Format for Office Applications, covers applications such as word processors, spreadsheets and charts.

Although few products incorporate support for OpenDocument right now, O'Grady expects that more manufacturers will adopt it. That could have a significant impact on Microsoft's multibillion-dollar Office franchise, he noted.

Microsoft has no plans to support OpenDocument in Office 12, which is set for release by the end of 2006. Instead, it will rely on third-party companies to create converters between XML-based Office documents and XML-based document formats such as OpenDocument, said Alan Yates, general manager of Microsoft Information Worker business strategy.

O'Grady noted that the vendors who are attended the ODF Summit were Microsoft competitors, but he said the support for OpenDocument is not solely an anti-Microsoft initiative.

"Office 12 is a very, very nice package. If they were support ODF, they'd do very well just competing on technical merits of applications. It's very nice package. That's the shame. It doesn't have to be an anti-Microsoft thing," O'Grady said.

At the summit
The participants in last week's ODF Summit included Red Hat, Adobe, Computer Associates, Corel, Nokia, Intel and Linux e-mail company