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Posts published in “Business”

The Rockstar Consortium Players

By Christine Hall on November 11, 2013 |

Business, Mobile and Patents

The lawsuit filed by patent troll Rockstar Consortium Inc. on Halloween against Google and at least five makers of Android handsets is about much more than merely the tons of money that would be reaped if the Rockstar cartel prevails. Mainly, it’s about gaining a competitive edge that could result in increased market share down the road.

It might be a good idea to take a look at the five companies that make up the Rockstar consortium to see what they might have to gain from this suit, other than the collection of damages and licensing fees.

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Chrome Clamps Down, Bitcoin Vulnerability & More…

Chrome Clamps Down, Bitcoin Vulnerability & More…

By FOSS Force on November 8, 2013 |

Browsers, Business, Distros, Internet, Media, Mobile, News, Politics and Security

FOSS Week in Review

Swiss cloud with, presumably, no holes

Back when the Edward Snowden brouhaha first began, we said that this was going to have serious repercussions on the tech sector here in the United States, especially after it became evident that Microsoft was actively working with the spooks by allegedly designing back doors into their operating system and keeping federal intelligence agents informed about unpatched security holes that could be used against foreign governments and “terrorist,” which now days seems to be everyone who doesn’t work for the NSA, FBI or CIA.

Swisscom logoBrazil is already spending big bucks in an effort to make sure that no Internet cable entering their country goes anywhere near the US of A and is working to pass laws to make sure all Brazilian businesses use only servers located in-country. Similar efforts are underway in Europe, most notably in France and Germany.

Now the frugal Swiss are jumping on board, and they rightfully intend to profit from our stupidity by taking advantage of their strong privacy laws.

Continue readingChrome Clamps Down, Bitcoin Vulnerability & More…
Matt Dugan Makes Case for Enterprise Open SourceMatt Dugan, speaker at All Things Open

Matt Dugan Makes Case for Enterprise Open Source

By Christine Hall on November 7, 2013 |

Business and Software

There was nothing new in what Matt Dugan said. There were no ground breaking revelations. He just methodically made his case, point by point, explaining why open source was usually, if not always, the best solution for business.

To me, this was just what the doctor ordered. I’d just sat through a forty-five minute lecture in that very same room from an open core guy that had left me fearing that enterprise open source companies were just as greedy and potentially as unethical as the proprietary guys. Dugan fixed that and quickly reaffirmed my faith in the notion that open source is where the good guys live.

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Microsoft & Friends Define ‘Commitment to Openness’

By Christine Hall on November 5, 2013 |

Business and Patents

On Halloween, the day after we posted an article on Ross Gardler’s presentation on Microsoft’s behalf before an open source audience in North Carolina, a FOSS Force reader posted a comment:

“Microsoft has made a lot of upstream contributions in the last two years, a lot more than our friends at Canonical have.

“I’d say that Microsoft is very difficult to trust, but they are probably more committed to FOSS than Canonical.

“‘We will know that day has arrived when Microsoft quits threatening every open source project under the sun with patent litigation.’

“They haven’t done that in years, unless I’ve missed something.”

Continue readingMicrosoft & Friends Define ‘Commitment to Openness’

Tuxmachines Tentatively Sold to Techrights

By Christine Hall on November 4, 2013 |

Business, Media and News

The passage of time is sometimes just too sad, but we must accept the inevitable.

One of the most popular Linux sites, Tuxmachines.org, announced on October 28th that it has been tentatively sold for $1,000. The Clarksville, Tennessee based site, owned and operated by Susan Linton, made the announcement in a short post on the site:

“I guess tuxmachines.org has been sold for $1000. I know it’s kinda low, but times have changed and the new owner plans to carry on the tuxmachines tradition.

“I suppose that’s all I should say for now until the deal is written in stone.

“Thanks everyone for everything: all the visits, all the jokes, comments, and donations. But more on that later as well.”

Although Ms. Linton doesn’t identify the purchaser, it was evidently bought by Roy Schestowitz who is perhaps best known for publishing the FOSS site Techrights. Mr. Schestowitz blogged about the purchase of the site on October 30th.

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Your Take On Microsoft’s DirectionMicrosoft Windows Logo

Your Take On Microsoft’s Direction

By FOSS Force on November 1, 2013 |

Business and Polls

The results of our “Redmond Road Poll” are in.

About a month ago we decided to speculate on where Microsoft would be five years down the road. Obviously, the company is in transition and is trying to reinvent itself fast. The traditional desktop market, where Windows dominates, isn’t going anywhere and reports of it’s demise are premature, but it is shrinking and becoming much less important, especially in consumer space.

In addition, Microsoft is facing increasing competition on the desktop. Apple’s desktop market share has been on a slow upward tick for five years or so, and Google’s Linux based Chrome OS is gaining enough traction to prompt the Motley Fool to ponder if it could “destroy Windows.” Adding to Microsoft’s woes is the fact that nearly every major OEM has gotten serious about adding well configured Linux machines, mostly running Ubuntu, to their consumer lineup.

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Is Microsoft Committed to Open Source?Ross Gardler, speaker for Microsoft at All Things Open

Is Microsoft Committed to Open Source?

By Christine Hall on October 30, 2013 |

Business, Internet and Web Apps

It would’ve been very easy to just ignore the presentation titled “Microsoft and Open Source” at the All Things Open conference in Raleigh last week, except for one thing–the presenter.

The folks in Redmond didn’t grab just anybody to speak for them. They sent someone with some serious open source cred, Ross Gardler, who is currently President of the Apache Foundation and is a co-founder of the OpenDirective project. He’s been employed by Microsoft Open Technologies for the past year or so.

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All Things Open: Microsoft Explains Open SourceAll Things Open

All Things Open: Microsoft Explains Open Source

By Christine Hall on October 24, 2013 |

Business and Politics

Here on the morning of the second and last day of the All Things Open conference I took advantage of the opportunity to hear Microsoft’s take on open source. The presentation was offered by Ross Gardler who’s worked for Redmond for about a year. Mr. Gardler is also President of the Apache Foundation.

Continue readingAll Things Open: Microsoft Explains Open Source
ATO: Weathersby on Firefox OS and Clark on Open Source HardwareAll Things Open

ATO: Weathersby on Firefox OS and Clark on Open Source Hardware

By Christine Hall on October 23, 2013 |

Business, Hardware, Internet, Mobile, News and Web Apps

The All Things Open conference is off and running!

If there was any doubt that Raleigh would be the perfect place to hold a major tech conference, an open source conference at that, those doubts are now laid to rest. In spite of a super large room, this morning’s keynote addresses, by Andy Hunt and Whurley, were presented to a standing room only crowd. The line lor lunch, provided free with admission, was…well, let’s just say something about the mouth of a gift horse, if you catch my drift.

Continue readingATO: Weathersby on Firefox OS and Clark on Open Source Hardware
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