Last week, I published a post about how some of the big wireless carriers were blocking access to free conference calling services and I think some people missed one of the main points I was trying to make in that post -- the fact that we're seeing the new system bump up against the old one in a very disruptive way.
In case you missed it, AOL has been under the gun this week for releasing search data onto the Web that many thought could result in a serious privacy violation. Well, the thinking is over and the privacy violation has officially happened (probably with more to come).
If users of Linux have any concerns about being the target of a Microsoft-sponsored patent infringement suit, then Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer apparently wants them to know that those concerns are justified.According to ComputerWorld, during a Q&A session that followed the keynote speech he delivered to attendees at a Professional Association for SQL Server (PASS) conference in Seattle, he clearly stated his opinion that Linux uses Microsoft's intellectual property.
Just before the Thanksgiving holiday here in the US, I wrote about how a handful of vendors including customer relationship management solution provider SugarCRM were distributing software under licenses that they claimed to be open source licenses, but that don't appear on the Open Source Initiative's (OSI) official list of approved open source licenses.
Somewhere in the back of my mind, the fact that I have seen multiple news headlines having to do with new or ongoing lawsuits in the tech industry was gnawing at me. So, I decided to search ZDNet on the words "infringement" and "lawsuit" to see what came up.
Not that today is pick on Nicholas Carr day or anything (see my last blog post). But, while clearing out my RSS reader which I haven't looked at in days (thanks to being at Gartner Symposium/ITxpo), I couldn't help but catch Carr's headline United States vs.
On the heels of what I believe can best be described as a faux pas on Microsoft's behalf (and I've already said as much), the Redmond, WA-based company is now the subject of two separate class-action suits due to the behavior of its Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) software. Classification of WGA as spyware, which is illegal in many states (there is no federal law yet) is central to both cases.
This past Friday, I wrote my personal Delcaration of InDRMpendence. It scratches the surface of why we must place a citizens' injunction on Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) technology before it's too late.
It was only a matter of time. Commercial software providers, including Microsoft, that have so far been steadfast in their resolve to preserve at least some of their old business models, are finding that the open standards card that they've so cunningly played as a part of those models could now have turned out to be a deal with the devil.
In reponse to my ongoing coverage of AMD's Turion 64 processor (a 64-bit capable mobile chip for the "thin & light" notebook market), ZDNet reader Bradley Coleman wrote in to find out why notebook manufacturers were choosing to go with the more power hungry of AMD's Turions rather than something that consumes less power. Wrote Coleman: I think [the Turion] is a great chip.
Google finally launches its Find My Device network. Here are the Android models that support it
3 million smart toothbrushes were not used in a DDoS attack after all, but it could happen
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Inside a fake $20 '16TB external M.2 SSD'