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Besides, "limited" access is not the same as "no access," now is it?

Ditch the link to Foxnews and read this story on the case from The Oregonian, the local paper in Portland.

From Portland's Newspaper The Oregonian here the full legalese:


http://www.oregonlive.com/metro/oregonian/index. ss f?/base/news/1057234000272203.xml


I checked the Portland Tribune but didn't see anything on their main site. They are a twice weekly newspaper. I wonder if they will get this in tomorrows printing.

Very interesting, here it is reformated:

I'm part of a group that put a proposal in for LifeLog. This project seems like a good tie-in. More info on LifeLog: DARPA page

Please see the following articles if you are interested in reading what others have to say about it:

* CBS News: A Diary That Never Sleeps

* Geek.com: DARPA looking to record lives of interested parties

* The Oregonian: Step into one man's world, as recorded by the Pentagon's planned LifeLog

* Timesunion: Your diary's got nothing on LifeLog

Poor, Poor Paul Allen...

My heart goes out to him. ;)

RTFA.

The courts aren't going to say anything in this case. Nobody's suing anyone. The only reason anyone is upset is because the owners of PGE Ballpark are "squeamish" about the wording of the Personal Telco Project's press release.

This is the biggest non-story since Skynyrd Guitarist Not Sure About War With Iraq

I think it's time that we get Pat Robertson to "pray" for Darl McBride and Chris Sontag.

That's already going on.

Ask David Nelson. Any David Nelson who's had the misfortune to have to fly out of a US airport.

Quite a few, I'd guess.

Some spammers make serious cash, for instance this fellow, who claims to have earned $1k each week.

Composing another Outlook virus is trivial. Download an existing source (either from usenet or some web page), modify, and start spreading it.

Any 13yo kid with some programming experience can do this, and if it pays $500, it probably beats mowing lawns for several weeks!

The situation is really bad if you are named David Nelson. Here is a sad but true story about no fly lists and the very common name, David Nelson. There was also a followup story to this one but I am unable to find a link.

But, you feel safe. Don't you?

They could have been named David Nelson.

The county would pay a Klingon interpreter only in the unlikely case he or she was actually called into service.

"We said, 'What the heck, let's throw it in,' " Jelusich says. "It doesn't cost us any money."

This is obviously a very stupid priority, but let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater quite yet, okay? CNN and Slashdot are treating this as a joke/fluff story, so we don't have any hard facts to collaborate what's going on here. For all I know, it's a harmless prank or a devious libertarian news troll. Maybe the nuts really are running the nuthouse. Maybe there's a legitimate need because an epidemic of trekkies got post traumatic stress disorder when the realized there would be no more Next Generation movies. The point is that we don't know.

Even if there are still some wasted expenses here and there, chipping away at petty cash isn't going to solve our major problems like PERS, the economy and the city-rural ideology gap. People are literally dying. I'm a mainstream journalism cynic, but this story in the Oregonian is some damn fine journalism. Schizophrenics without their meds or without a support network are a bigger liability to society than creeping social welfare.

Speaker did not 'bow' to lobbyists

"In his May 2 opinion piece, Ken Barber accused me of killing legislation regarding open-source software (House Bill 2892) "after powerful out-of-state corporate interests showed up at the Oregon Capitol, seeking to make the bill go away."

How could DRM on Linux impact admins?

Linux e-mail set-up slashes costs to £8 per user

Mozilla backs down on browser name

BTW with the iLoo coming out. If it fails will it be Microsoft's Water-iLoo?

Well, since the powers that be on slashdot rejected this as a story, I'll post it here for anyone who cares and happens to look: HB 2892 is effectively dead already. See this article for the details. Oh well, at least it lasted for two weeks.

Given the opposing response, and knowing Oregon's tendancy try and go against the ignorant, I'd say this has a good chance of passing (even if it won't go through congress anywhere nearly as fast as the 70 MPH speed limit bill, which the Oregon House of Representatives passed today). This shouldn't stop Oregonians from contacting thier congresscritters about this matter.

The Oregonian has picked it up:

Judge orders that detainee be questioned

I am reminded of an Arab proverb about not letting the camel's nose into the tent, as soon the rest of the camel will follow.

Once the critical market share is reached, then client support for non-DRM/Palladium encumbered platforms can then be dropped.

A further indication is that Office 2003 won't be available for systems prior to Windows 2000 SP3 and Windows XP, plus the failure to join all other industry members and participate in creating open formats for productivity software. Any doubts that DRM+Subscription is not the near term goal can be put to rest by comparing the EULAs for those with earlier EULAs. Or see the sudden departure from the Web services group.

Perhaps we should also extend our attention to Microsoft's other desperate lobbying efforts. Or even to their financial crisis.

Oregonian

The Register

Dan Gillmor

DirectX, RDX RSX and MMX Technology

(I didn't bother submitting it 5 days ago when I first found out about it, because of /.'s 99% rejection rate.)

Forget Oregon. Unemployment is the highest in the country. Doonesbury is doing a series next week on the financial problems for Oregon's schools. Teachers in Portland are threatening to strike because of the pay cuts being proposed.

The high-tech bust has left many people unemployed, and for many of those, their unemployment compensation including two extensions has run out. The local (Portland) rag runs periodic articles on how bad things are and what people are doing about it. Many have moved out of state. Last Sunday there was this article on high tech workers trying to get jobs waiting tables - and being turned down. When employers advertise jobs they are swamped with resumes; most don't even bother to send out rejection notices anymore.

Legislative gridlock is preventing any meaningful action, and the reforms that have been sent to the voters have all been turned down because the Legislature has no credibility.

Forget Oregon. Unemployment is the highest in the country. Doonesbury is doing a series next week on the financial problems for Oregon's schools. Teachers in Portland are threatening to strike because of the pay cuts being proposed.

The high-tech bust has left many people unemployed, and for many of those, their unemployment compensation including two extensions has run out. The local (Portland) rag runs periodic articles on how bad things are and what people are doing about it. Many have moved out of state. Last Sunday there was this article on high tech workers trying to get jobs waiting tables - and being turned down. When employers advertise jobs they are swamped with resumes; most don't even bother to send out rejection notices anymore.

Legislative gridlock is preventing any meaningful action, and the reforms that have been sent to the voters have all been turned down because the Legislature has no credibility.

At this point it can be argued that desktop-user=friendliness is more an issue of the distribution than the OS. Several user-friendly desktops have been developed. In at least one case, tests showed the system was easier to use for newbies than Windows.

The Multnomah Education Service District et al (including my old grade school)have been working on "K12Linux", a distribution designed (if I understand correctly) to be easy to install and use for non-techies in the K12 education environment. I read somewhere (can't find the specific article now) that in their tests students learned how to use the system in about a week, substantially sooner than with Windows.

If I read correctly, they are using a timesharing model with K12LTSP and using IceWM for its low server load, and OpenOffice.org for composing etc.

They may also be saving a lot of moolah, as MS wants them to pay licensing fees for all their computers, whether they have Windows on them or not. Read about this here.

Here is a quote from that page: " To give you an idea of the scale of the problem facing a large district like [Portland Public Schools], they have 25,000 PCs. A MS school agreement lease of software could cost the district over $1,000,000 a year. Just buying a virus package would cost $250,000 a year."

The new Riverdale High School is running entirely on Linux. Here is a draft case study for those interested. They run 35 diskless workstations assembled by parents and staff at a school computer work party!

I think it doesn't really matter whether grieving is real or imagined. If somebody's feeling something, they have the right to express it. On the other hand, our information society is at a really scary crossroads. Media, and interactive media is still media, wants to be hyperreal. It wants to be more intense, more interesting and more intimate that real life. Adbusters published a pretty enlightening piece by sociologist Todd Gitlin that expresses this problem.

The question, then, is: Do we really want virtual intimacy to replace actual intimacy? Personally, I think it's still a poor imitation.

Many have chosen public/governmental because you are very unlikely get get laid off. After all, there's no end to taxpayer money.

.. US Patent System ...

Yes, other patent systems seem less broken. Like, in the EU, I think you can't be a patent squatter. ...Which is why I said, US patent systems. Anyway,

You prove my point for me. Analogies like this one can be a double edged sword. The defense might make an argument like yours, but the prosecution could also say something completely different and relevant. This particular patent might be harder than others, but there was a case not long ago that made the analogy that scanning a host on the internet with nmap is like going up to someone's house, rattling all the windows, doors, walls, etc. for any "vulnerabilities" that would let them into the house without "breaking" in. Basically, it comes down to who has the most money to put time into a thoughtful argument, as I said, once it is in the court system.

Patent trolls make a good living, it seems. Yeah... Findlaw is a good source for court transcripts of cases involving patents.

Yeah, I read about that in the paper this morning (I had breakfast in Multnomah County, so it's sort of a local issue). I was quite surprised that it wasn't on Slashdot yet. Maybe I should submit it again, and see if they'll take mine?

Looks like the New York Times is blocking your redirect there. Here's The Oregonian's article.

In general, the Itanium has seen quite poor adoption rates and even Intel/HP admit that their initial public silicon is really only fit for software developers and platform work (due to low performance, and altready established players in the 64-bit field).

Do you think that IPF64 line will see any kind of broad industry adoption? Will it become just like rest of the (non-embedded) processor architectures designed since the x86 -- constantly fighting for 5% of the market? Do you think the AMD Hammer architecture will be a meaningful player in the field?

Since your group is a key player in the Linux on IA64 and GCC for IA64 projects, can you give us any status information about recent developments in the project since the IA-64 Summit?

Thanks,

-Chris

Where did you get the idea that the schools have already signed such a license?

I was mistaken. It makes a whole lot more sense now. :)

[note: I did not create links to obvious sites like slashdot.org, kde.org, redhat.com, etc]

http://www.seul.org/edu/acpe2002.html

It's been a week since Eric and I went up to the ACPE (Association for Computer Professionals in Education) conference. We spoke with tech coordinators from 25 large Oregon and Washington school districts being audited by Microsoft for software licensing compliance. It's time for an update and some reflection.

All of the districts received a letter from Microsoft demanding a software audit. Steve Duin, a Portland columnist wrote about it in his column.

Before Steve's column schools were calling MS and asking for extensions. They reported that MS was less than friendly and responsive. After the column several things happened.

The Portland Public School switchboard was jammed for two days with calls from Linux users volunteering to come to PDX from all over the west coast to help with software migration.

MS was hit with many angry calls from all over the place. I can only imagine the content of those conversations. Having Duin's column posted on Slashdot.org certainly helped get the word out about what MS was doing.

The Slashdot post came out on Monday. Later that week most of the technology folks from OR and WA were heading to a conference on Thursday and Friday. MS agreed to come and present a special session on the audit and MS licensing on Thursday afternoon. Many of the impacted schools met the night before. There was much solidarity and a realization that if they all stuck together they would have more clout when dealing with MS. There was also a common understanding that this audit would cost districts money and time. Two things in short supply these days. Portland Public schools will devote two FTE to the audit. That's over $100k of money that could go to classrooms and teachers. Needless to say the relationship between these schools and Microsoft had been changed in a fundamental way. No one was talking about using software without paying for it. It's just that when they came face to face with the power an EULA gives MS, they saw things in a different light. MS software in schools was seen as a logistical and financial liability when compared with GPL licensed alternatives.

Now we get to alternatives. There was actually discussion of mass migrations to Linux. The interesting thing is that with current desktops and K12LTSP, it really is an option now. If MS was not willing to flex on demands, several of districts were ready to dump MS software.

On Thursday MS came in with a team to do some damage control. I've never seen anyone more worried or concerned. Quoting, "We never had any idea that there would be a reaction like this. Our two words for today are friendly and flexible." And they were... They said a lot about understanding the hardships schools face and how we were hurting for funding. They let us know that the audits were meant to be helpful and that this was not a BSA audit (yet...). They said that they would meet with schools one on one to extend deadlines and be flexible. I have to admit that they were just as they promised to be, friendly and flexible. They did a great job of disarming the most worried school folks and then hosted an open bar for the rest of the afternoon.

I underestimated the ability of MS to react so well and do such a good job. The most effective motivation for change is pain. MS did everything they could that day to make sure we would not feel any pain. ;-^)

Friday morning Eric and I did a session on using GPL software in schools. Eric did a good job on covering what's going on with the server end of things and I did a demonstration with our Linux Toaster. We like to stress that in many ways, software is now generic. You don't need to license or even worry about what kind of toaster oven you have at home. The same thing should be true of your word processor and email client.

I was still disturbed about the MS show we saw on Thursday until we started hearing more and more questions about migration. It seems like schools were taking the extra time given them by MS and using it to good advantage. We spent ALL of the Q&A time on migration paths to free software. Eric comes from the business world. I'm an educator. He pointed out to me that the WORST thing that could have come from all of this was a forced, overnight migration to Linux. Having time to do it right is much better. We've been talking with folks now for a couple of weeks and there is a lot happening.

I can't share everything that is in the works right now but there are two areas where we need to focus our efforts for schools in terms of migration:

Support and training... They need someone to call for help and they all need training. This is the #1 issue keeping schools from using free software. They just don't know how to do it and keep it running in a production environment. Anything we do to promote training will result in an increased use of Linux in schools. The good news in this area is that we've moved beyond the awareness level in many schools. The bottom line is that schools see others using Linux and saving money while providing superior service to classrooms. They want to go in that direction but they just don't know how.
End user, ease of use issues... The #2 fear facing schools is the thought that teachers will not be able to use the software. No one is worried about the kids. Eric is now working on a classroom kiosk version of K12Linux. We're hoping to produce a simplistic desktop with few options and just a few icons for basic applications. There are a bunch of desktop improvements that are part of RH 7.3. The Linux desktop is really coming along. Teachers however equate choices with complexity and that is something to fear. We think a classroom kiosk using KDE is something that might be useful in these instances.
More good news... I'm starting to hear from more major vendors who have been getting requests for Linux in school solutions. We're getting quotes from Micron, Dell and IBM for the 65 K12LTSP workstations we're about to purchase for a new high school. Before we had to build everything ourselves.

More to do... Our greatest resource is our local user group. We need to help schools and LUGs around the country make connections. Towards this end we're going to start promoting a July 4th. software freedom day. Sponsored by LUGs all over America, this event will bring together Unix/Linux experts and schools to establish local support connections for training and migration to GPL software.

I'll send out more on the software freedom day later. I hope you'll help get your LUGs and schools together.

Paul Nelson
Riverdale School

I also was at this conference and saw/heard the same things and interpreted them the same. My take on the outcome after the Microsoft panel is also the same. Microsoft finally realize that there were lines even they could not step over with retaliation.

A couple of good things should come from this.

First, Microsoft got its hands slapped by its very bread and butter. They were informed that they had stepped too far and society was not going to stand for it. Bear in mind, like Paul said, no one was in favor of pirating or using illegal software. But in an open environment as Schools, who can really regulate everything? In our district we have God control over our machines and dictate all hardware and network decisions, but even then have had to give some leeway on software installs for political issues. If Microsoft works with not against its clientele, there may actually be progress towards decreasing piracy.

Second, awareness is out about the ramifications of illegal software and its impact on schools. This should push Administrators towards policies forcing legal software use. Of course legal software costs money, unless its Open Source :-)

Third, much talk was made about alternatives. This talk will continue and spread as more districts/schools attempt to be more legal and avoid future confrontations with Microsoft. As more adopt Open Source and alternative software, more commercial companies will get involved and provide alternatives to Microsoft platforms.

This may be the final straw that pushed to evaluate their stance, to think that Microsoft may have just slit their throat, and in their own backyard. Of course it was humourus watching the Microsoft reps. kissing up by keeping the hosted bar open for hours after its scheduled shutdown. As if we will forget that quick....

Kevin Stiles
Technology Department
Paso School District

In response to Microsoft's Strong-Arm Tactics against NW Schools, as discussed on Slashdot here, the Portland Linux Unix Group has been discussing how to go about effectively working with the local school districts and regions.

Can anyone show us examples of Linux or other computer user groups working together well with educational districts or institutions? Also useful would be examples of schools which have successfully made the switch to mostly GNU or Open-Source software.

from the must-eat-more-money dept.
razvedchik writes: "As reported in this article in the Portland, OR newspaper, The Oregonian, Microsoft is pressuring 24 school districts in the northwest to agree to their Microsoft School Agreement licensing scheme or undergo an audit in 60 days. Multnomah ESD, which covers the greater Portland area and has around 25,000 computers, has to either decide to accept the license at about $500,000 or undergo the audit which it does not have time to prepare for. Of significant interest is the fact that a significant majority of these schools are experimenting with using Linux. Multnomah ESD has its own thin-client Linux distro called K12LTSP."

The author pictured in the title story looks a lot like Mike Holgram. Who just so happens to coach the Seattle Seahawks.. Coincedence? I don't think so. Looks like MS marketing screwed up with a 6th day violation.. ;)

AT&T Broadband has chosen to allow Earthlink to serve customers on their network in the Seattle and Boston area, with Oregon to follow. The Portland, OR area's Mount Hood Cable Regulatory Commission was one of the organizations which first sued to try to force AT&T to allow other ISPs on their network. MHCRC loses the suit and now ATTBI allows Earthlink as an "alternative". Too bad their as draconian as any most super-sized ISP...

Link to the story

Of course, just after I hit Submit, I found the link to the article:

Rulings may put Oregon courts on trial next year

The article is dated 11/26/01 and the only keep one month available for free online, so that link may expire soon.

According to the original Oregonian article:
In addition to the discs from Oates' apartment, investigators recovered drivers' licenses, credit cards, identification photos, death certificates, Social Security cards and applications for medical residency at OHSU Hospital.
It sounds like there was a lot more to this than just license data. My guess is that it's not the Oregon public that's at risk - it's some OHSU facility this guy was trying to get into.

There's a fairly good article here about Qwest adding 160 remote terminals in the Portland, OR area that act as mini central offices/dslams to extend the distance that dsl is available. The article also mentions that Verizon has had 21 of these devices in use in Oregon since 1998. So it's not like Verizon doesn't know that there are workable options to get around distance and/or mixed media problems.

>IMHO, the American school system is going down
>the shit hole. Yuppie parents are coming in for
>every little thing that happens to little Johnny.
>They say nothing when he parties and goes out
>with a different girl every night. But let him
>get suspended, and they will be the first ones in
>the school, yelling about their son being singled
>out.

Reminds me of our high school's Student Body President who was caught breaking into the school, with intended valdalism, and had his lawyer daddy get him off with a few hours community service and a virtual gag order on what actually went down that night.
Parents who support their kids when their kids are making a moral stand rock. Parents who support their kids when the kids are being pricks are morons.
And schools that give pricks a slap on the wrist but vehemently attack student freedom of speech have their priorities totally out of whack.

>IMHO, the American school system is going down
>the shit hole. Yuppie parents are coming in for
>every little thing that happens to little Johnny.
>They say nothing when he parties and goes out
>with a different girl every night. But let him
>get suspended, and they will be the first ones in
>the school, yelling about their son being singled
>out.

Reminds me of our high school's Student Body President who was caught breaking into the school, with intended valdalism, and had his lawyer daddy get him off with a few hours community service and a virtual gag order on what actually went down that night.
Parents who support their kids when their kids are making a moral stand rock. Parents who support their kids when the kids are being pricks are morons.
And schools that give pricks a slap on the wrist but vehemently attack student freedom of speech have their priorities totally out of whack.

How about the Oregonian, Oregon's largest paper.
Also, St. Petersburg Times and the guy was supposedly on CBS "The Early Show", too.

... is available at OregonLive.com.

For people uninterested in following the link, the standing at the the of the story are:

Gore: 662,155 votes
Bush: 658,153 votes
Nader: 68,255 votes

Jay (=

"I've failed and failed and failed" Until six or seven years ago, Walker was destitute. "The one thing I've done more in life than anything is failed," he said. "I've failed and failed and failed and failed and failed and failed."

Yeah. It had to be. This sort of thing has Skaggs written all over it. Read this article . It's hilarious. The reporter who wrote is must be a complete pinhead. Read these choicy paragraphs:
Never married, Walker also jokes that a successful flight would help him meet women: "The rocket will make me a babe magnet. . . . I think it's going to take machismo to a new height."
Charlie Walker, an engineer who made three space shuttle flights in the 1980s when he worked for McDonnell Douglas, met Brian Walker last year at a space tourism symposium in Washington, D.C.
When was the last time McDonnell douglas sent an engineer into space? Especially one with the same last name as rockeyboy?? Ahhhhh. DUPED. Suckers. Probably shouldn't expose it. It'd be in the New York Times tommorow.

Eugene is one of the more liberal cities, sort of a hippie haven, and unfortunately home to a few violent anarchists. They have caused problems before: Last June, their anti-capitalism protest in Eugene turned into a riot. http://www.oregonlive.com/news/99/06/st061905.html

As for white supremacy gangs, I don't know. I am aware that there are several hate groups in Oregon, but they don't make themselves visible often.

-resident of Portland

I wonder whether we'll see more of the course taken by my neighbors at Tripwire here in Portland, as described in this article. They have taken what was becoming an accepted and widely specified standard "free" security program, wrapped it up in a proprietary package and repositioned it for a corporate market supposedly "uncomfortable" taking on such a program. This orphans the many sites using tripwire, and encourages splitting the code trees on other similarly situated programs to avoid this outcome in the future.

I think the open source model is strong enough to withstand this sort of dynamic, but it's something to keep an eye on.

-------

I understand the concerns about AOL trying to piggy-back on the efforts of Cable companies (i.e. getting access without the costs of rolling out the cable). However, I think it makes sense in light of the way telephone and DSL services are governed. In the Northwest, US West controls the lines and we pay US West for the lines. However, the ISP is open. When it came to DSL, those were the conditions established.

Cable has traditional been viewed as a local monopoly. The barriers for entry into the cable market were too high to promote competition; therefore, local governments negiotated contracts on behalf of their citzens with the cable companies. I believe it is entirely feasible that as a condition of that contract that the cable companies should have the same competitive situation as the phone company. Sell the line as a monopoly--compete on the access.

Of course, I have a larger stake in this argument than most. In Portland, where I live, the local government refused to approved the TCI-AT&T merger and refused to allow TCI to offer cable modems unless TCI offers alternatives for ISP selection. The local government argues that its contract with TCI stipulates that the utility commission approve changes in service and ownership. Hence, unless AT&T/TCI agrees to a DSL-like model where they compete on as service providers, they will not be able to sell cable modems. AT&T/TCI are suing the City of Portland and Multnomah County over this issue. For a brief article look at Oregonlive.com.

As many people have stated, the strength of the Senator's bill is in the details. However, the concept and logic are solid. Of course, even if the bill looks good, it doesn't mean that it won't get buried or that the House will approve a similar measure. Where is AT&T based? What are the chances that the Senator for AT&T state will filibuster and kill the bill?

This is nothing new. An acquaintance at a local commercial Web site told me over a year ago that his site had "bought" keywords in Yahoo's search engine, guaranteeing that it would come out at or near the top of certain searches.

Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me at all if I found out that all the commercial "portals" were doing this.