Slashback: OpenOffice, SuitSat, Google Books

Slashback tonight brings some corrections, clarifications, and updates to previous Slashdot stories, including Sutor's response to OpenOffice control, Google forgives BMW, SunComm vows to make right their DRM debacle, SuitSat-1 still transmitting, and Defense of Google Book Search -- Read on for details.

Sutor says "no way" to VNUnet OpenOffice story. Andy Updegrove writes "Earlier today a story by Tom Sanders at Vnunet.com covered by Slashdot didn't make sense to me, as it ran counter to the joint determination of Sun and IBM to make ODF succeed. In part, the story relied on an email exchange with Bob Sutor, IBM's Vice President of Standards and Open Source, so I asked Bob whether the story got it wrong. The answer? Sutor said: 'To be more clear, and on the record, IBM and Sun are working together happily and effectively on the OpenDocument Format. I think we've made a terrific amount of progress in the last year and that's because of the broad cooperation by the community. I'm not sure why we were dragged into the referenced story, but it was certainly nothing we initiated.'"

Google forgives BMW after delisting. dbucowboy writes "According to Matt Cutts, Google has re-included BMW.de in the Google index due to their willingness to cease supposed blackhat SEO practices." From the article: "I appreciate BMW's quick response on removing JavaScript-redirecting pages from BMW properties. The webspam team at Google has been in contact with BMW, and Google has reincluded bmw.de in our index. Likewise, ricoh.de has also removed similar doorway pages and has been reincluded in Google's index."

SunComm vows to make right their DRM debacle. Rinisari writes "SunnComm, creators of the highly controversial MediaMax DRM implementation on a number of Sony BMG and indie CDs have issued a statement through the EFF that they are committed to notifying consumers and issuing updates/patches to fix security holes caused by the software. MediaMax is one of the two copy protection schemes about which Sony is being sued class-action style."

SuitSat-1 weak but not dead. zark22 writes "Suitsat, the amateur radio transmitter stuffed inside a surplus Russian spacesuit and chucked out the International Space station is alive and well, if somewhat weak and staticky. Users can still follow its progress at the Suitsat webpage."

UMich President defends Google book search. eaj writes "University of Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman defended the legality and ethics [PDF] of the Google Book Search project to a meeting of the Association of American Publishers on Monday. The AAP is suing Google over the book scanning involved in the project. From the article: '[We] believe this is a legal, ethical, and noble endeavor that will transform our society. Legal because we believe copyright law allows us the fair use of millions of books that are being digitized. Ethical because the preservation and protection of knowledge is critically important to the betterment of humankind. And noble because this enterprise is right for the time, right for the future, right for the world of publishing, right for all of us.' CNet news also has a video."

Comments

Thanks Mary Sue Coleman

[Anonymous Coward]

Next time I want your opinion, I'll beat it out of you.

Suit Sat

[Philip K Dickhead]

Pinstripe? I asked. Flannel?

No, more like a bathing costume, replied Jeeves. An occupational hazard of the useful classes.

At least it explains Linux users

[Anonymous Coward]

German zoo fails to make gay penguins straight

8 February 2006

BREMERHAVEN, GERMANY - Shy Swedish female penguins sent to seduce "homosexual" male Humboldt penguins in a German zoo have failed to break up any of the male-male twosomes, officials said Wednesday.

Bremerhaven Zoo last year shrugged off attacks from gay-pride groups as far away as the United States last year over its efforts to establish breeding pairs in its penguin pens.

The zoo has far too many male penguins, while Kolmarden Zoo in Sweden has an oversupply of females. The species is in danger of dying out. At Bremerhaven, the birds, which find new mates every year, form all-male pairs and adopt pebbles as if they were eggs.

Last year, officials said the females
had arrived too late for pairing. And this year, the birds arrived in time, but were too shy.

"The Swedes are rather stand-offish," said zoo chief executive Heike Kueck. Once again, four local females were quickly snapped up and the rest of the 22 penguins formed broody male couples and are keeping pebbles warm.

Kueck said the project was not a gag, but part of a European species conservation project. Penguin family planning is difficult, because zoologists have difficulty telling the difference between a male and a female, and zoo broods often become lop-sided.

Last year, homosexual militants bombarded the zoo on Germany's North Sea coast with e-mails and protest letters, charging that it was interfering in the penguins' freedom of sexual orientation.

Kueck rejected this. She said the way penguins pair has nothing to do with personality but is a behavioural oddity of the species whenever females are in short supply.

Re:I'm tired of these ham-handed appeals to morali

[Jherek Carnelian]

Then I remembered Google's book search, which came up with at least five or six solid hits that actually helped

But even google books could not tell you what movies to watch. You should have just posted to "Ask Slashdot"...