What Nokia's Windows move means for Open Source

When Nokia announced that it was going to use Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 for its smartphones somepeople saw this is a great move. Other folks, like yours truly, saw Nokia and Microsoft partnering being as dumb as betting that the Pittsburgh Pirates will win the 2011 World Series. But, what do Nokia’s open-source partners think of this move? I asked, and as you might guess, they’re not happy.

Jim Zemlin, head of The Linux Foundation tried to make the best of it, “The Linux Foundation is disappointed in Nokia’s decision today to choose Microsoft as the primary platform for its mobile phones. Tough times give birth to difficult decisions that we don’t always agree with, but open source is–at its core–about choice. We believe that open source software is more than a sum of its parts, and the market is currently bearing that out. The Linux Foundation is here to enable collaboration among its members and the Linux community, and we invite participation in MeeGo[an embedded Linux for smartphones and other devices that was supported by Intel and Nokia] and any of our other many projects and programs.”

I might add that Nokia is a gold member of the Linux Foundation. Nokia’s been a member of the Foundation since 2007. The Linux Foundation itself had been, and I presume will continue to be a big MeeGo supporter.  Nokia’s move to Windows Phone 7 could not have made the Foundation nor its members happy.

In particular, although Nokia has said it will continue to support MeeGo, Intel, Nokia’s chief MeeGo partner was not pleased. In a statement Intel said:

While we are disappointed with Nokia’s decision, Intel is not blinking on MeeGo. We remain committed and welcome Nokia’s continued contribution to MeeGo open source.

Our strategy has always been to provide choice when it comes to operating systems, a strategy that includes Windows, Android, and MeeGo. This is not changing.

MeeGo is not just a phone OS, it supports multiple devices. And we’re seeing momentum across multiple segments–automotive systems, netbooks, tablets, set-top boxes and our Intel silicon will be in a phone that ships this year.

Still, you have to believe that Intel feels hosed by Nokia’s move.

Another open-source group that’s wondering what’s going to happen next is Nokia’s Qt division. Qt is the cross-platform framework behind both MeeGo and the KDE Linux desktop. Now, though, Qt looks like it’s irrelevant to Nokia’s future.

Aaron Seigo, a leading KDE developer and one of the chief designers of the KDE 4 desktop, wrote on his blog that “While I have little good to say of the announcement that was made, what remains of interest to me is the level of investment in Qt, the strategic positioning of MeeGo going forward and what KDE’s role can and will be as both of those things continue to mature.”

Seigo continued, “Open governance around Qt is moving forward briskly and from what I gather there are some interesting and useful announcements to come. R&D investment continues. However, we (KDE) won’t know the full shape of how this will impact our landscape in the mid- and long-terms until we speak more with people at Nokia as well as within the Qt team itself. That’s going to take weeks, not hours or days.”

I asked Seigo for more of his thoughts on the matter and he replied, “The most important thing to keep in mind is that Qt is licensed under the LGPL (Lesser General Public License) and has a broad ecosystem around it. Regardless of what happens at Nokia, it won’t be the end of the world.”

While Qt’s licensing situation is complicated, with no fewer than three possible licenses, the bottom line is that it’s relatively easy to legally use Qt in software projects.

Seigo added, “That said, it is far, far too early to say anything conclusive about what it means for Qt and therefore by extension to F/OSS [Free and Open-Source Software] communities like KDE and their projects. We’re (KDE) putting together an internal task force to work through these topics with Nokia as well as the broader Qt community and it will need a few weeks to arrive as useful conclusions.”

“It’s a dynamic situation that we’re taking seriously and tracking, but we’re also being careful not to jump the gun and either miss opportunities that arise as a result or make poor reactive decisions to challenges as yet not fully understood,” he concluded.

That sounds like a fair assessment to me. We’re going to need to wait and see.

I will add one more thing, from where I sit, Android is actually the least effected open-source project by Nokia’s moves. MeeGo, followed by KDE and other Qt users are the ones with something to be concerned about. Google and its Android friends? I think they could care less.

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Microsoft's anti-piracy effort may have gone a t-shirt too far

Microsoft may have gone a t-shirt too far. The company’s latest effort to crackdown on those who benefit from the use of pirated versions of its software targets those who benefit indirectly — the customers who purchase goods and services from others who used pirated software to produce the goods and services.

A measure making its way through the Washington state legislature would make it illegal for manufacturers that use pirated software to sell goods in the state. Sounds fair. But opponents say they interpret the bill to mean that Microsoft and others can sue US companies that use parts from overseas suppliers who used pirated software, according to the Seattle Times. The “bill would affect retailers that make $50 million or more in annual sales and that have a direct contract with the manufacturer. Retailers would have 18 months to change manufacturers or persuade their manufacturers to pay for software.”

What might this look like? Groklaw, a news site covering free and open-source software issues, posted a scathing analysis of the law yesterday.

You heard me right. If a company overseas uses a pirated version of Excel, let’s say, keeping track of how many parts it has shipped or whatever, and then sends some parts to General Motors or any large company to incorporate into the finished product, Microsoft can sue *not the overseas supplier* but General Motors, for unfair competition. So can the state’s Attorney General. I kid you not. For piracy that was done by someone else, overseas. The product could be T shirts. It doesn’t matter what it is, so long as it’s manufactured with contributions from an overseas supplier, like in China, who didn’t pay Microsoft for software that it uses somewhere in the business. It’s the US company that has to pay damages, not the overseas supplier.

Microsoft calls Groklaw’s take inaccurate. The company said:

The point around the Excel example referenced from the Groklaw piece is incorrect. Under the law, a company would have to steal/pirate a minimum of $20k of IP before someone could go after them for violation under the law. So in the example noted, where a company used one piece of pirated software, is not an accurate portrayal of how it works. Additionally, Microsoft can’t sue anyone under this legislation – only a manufacturer or State Attorney General can sue another manufacturer who is a competitor, with several key caveats. For example, under the right circumstances Weyerhaeuser could sue Kimberly-Clark, or Ford could sue Toyota, but Nike could not sue, say, Caterpillar or GM. And again, Microsoft or Autodesk or Adobe or whomever’s software gets pirated – none of them can sue, just the manufacturer who is injured by a competitor using stolen software

The measure is opposed by the Washington Retail Association and some notable PC manufacturers — Dell, IBM, Intel and Hewlett-Packard — all of whom argue it holds them accountable for actions they can’t control.

Brad Smith, Microsoft’s General Counsel, countered that “companies in countries with lax intellectual-property protections laugh at Microsoft when it asks them to pay for software. ‘They tell us they have no intention of paying for something they can steal with immunity,’ ”

The Washington state House and Senate overwhelmingly passed respective versions of the bill (HB 1495 and SB 5449). Legislators are holding committee hearings to reconcile the two bills and pass a joint version. Louisiana lawmakers passed a similar measure last year.

Top 10 Antivirus 2011

Virus memang menjadi sesuatu yang menakutkan dalam segala hal, termasuk virus komputer yang saat ini sedang merajalela menyerang system komputer di seluruh dunia. Virus komputer sendiri jenisnya bermacam-macam dan diklasifikasikan berdasarkan karakteristiknya, seperti Spyware, Malware,Virus, Trojan, dan masih banyak yang lain. Bagi Anda yang masih menggunakan OS Windows, Antivirus adalah software yang paling penting yang harus Anda miliki. Hal ini untuk menghindari komputer dari serangan berbagai macam virus jahat yang siap menyerang komputer Anda.

Mengingat semakin banyaknya jenis virus yang menyerang system operasi Windows, maka Antivirus pun juga tidak mau kalah, banyak macam antivirus, baik itu buatan dalam negeri maupun buatan luar negeri yang siap mencegah dan membasmi virus-virus jahat yang akan merusak komputer kita. Dan berikut ini adalah Top 10 Antivirus 2011.

10 Antivirus Terbaik 2011

1.Bitdefender Antivirus



•Threat Detection: Virus, Worm, Trojan, Spyware, Malware, Rootkit.
•Additional Protection: Browser exploit, OS exploit, Keyloggers, inbound email protection, outbond email protection, instant messaging protection, p2p/file sharing, registry startup protection, dialers, backdoors, hackers, phising, identity theft protection, adware, activex, vulnerabilities, cookies, scripts, full web protection, auto usb detect.
•Protection Technology: Virus signatures, whitelisting, heuristic, real time.
•Supported OS: XP (32 & 64 bit), Vista (32 & 64 bit), Windows 7 (32 & 64 bit)
•Price: $ 29.95

2.Kaspersky Antivirus



•Threat Detection: Virus, Worm, Trojan, Spyware, Malware, Rootkit.
•Additional Protection: Browser exploit, OS exploit, Keyloggers, inbound email protection, outbond email protection, instant messaging protection, p2p/file sharing, registry startup protection, dialers, backdoors, hackers, phising, identity theft protection, adware, activex, vulnerabilities, cookies, scripts, full web protection, auto usb detect.
•Protection Technology: Virus signatures, blacklisting, whitelisting, heuristic, real time, security network.
•Supported OS: XP (32 & 64 bit), Vista (32 & 64 bit), Windows 7 (32 & 64 bit)
•Price: $ 59.95

3.Webroot Antivirus



•Threat Detection: Virus, Worm, Trojan, Spyware, Malware, Rootkit.
•Additional Protection: Browser exploit, OS exploit, Keyloggers, inbound email protection, outbond email protection, instant messaging protection, p2p/file sharing, registry startup protection, dialers, hackers, identity theft protection, adware, activex, cookies, scripts, spam.
•Protection Technology: Virus signatures, blacklisting, whitelisting, heuristic, real time, security network.
•Supported OS: XP (32 bit), Vista (32 & 64 bit), Windows 7 (32 & 64 bit)
•Price: $ 29.95

4.Norton Antivirus



•Threat Detection: Virus, Worm, Trojan, Spyware, Malware, Rootkit.
•Additional Protection: Browser exploit, OS exploit, inbound email protection, outbond email protection, instant messaging protection, registry startup protection, dialers, backdoors, hackers, identity theft protection, adware, activex, vulnerabilities, scripts, full web protection, auto usb detect.
•Protection Technology: Virus signatures, blacklisting, whitelisting, heuristic, real time, security network.
•Supported OS: XP (32 bit), Vista (32 & 64 bit), Windows 7 (32 & 64 bit)
•Price: $ 39.99

5.ESET Nod32 Antivirus



•Threat Detection: Virus, Worm, Trojan, Spyware, Malware, Rootkit.
•Additional Protection: Keyloggers, inbound email protection, outbond email protection, registry startup protection, dialers, backdoors, adware, activex, vulnerabilities, scripts, full web protection, auto usb detect.
•Protection Technology: Virus signatures, blacklisting, whitelisting, heuristic, real time, security network.
•Supported OS: XP (32 & 64 bit), Vista (32 & 64 bit), Windows 7 (32 & 64 bit)
•Price: $ 39.99


6.AVG Antivirus



•Threat Detection: Virus, Worm, Trojan, Spyware, Malware, Rootkit.
•Additional Protection: Browser exploit, OS exploit, Keyloggers, inbound email protection, outbond email protection, instant messaging protection, p2p/ file sharing protection, registry startup protection, dialers, backdoors, hackers, phising, identity theft protection, adware, activex, vulnerabilities, cookies, scripts, full web protection, spam, auto usb detect.
•Protection Technology: Virus signatures, blacklisting, whitelisting, heuristic, real time, security network.
•Supported OS: XP (32 & 64 bit), Vista (32 & 64 bit), Windows 7 (32 & 64 bit)
•Price: $ 34.99


7.G Data Antivirus



•Threat Detection: Virus, Worm, Trojan, Spyware, Malware, Rootkit.
•Additional Protection: Browser exploit, OS exploit, inbound email protection, outbond email protection, instant messaging protection, registry startup protection, dialers, backdoors, hackers, phising, identity theft protection, adware, scripts, full web protection,.
•Protection Technology: Virus signatures, blacklisting, whitelisting, heuristic, security network.
•Supported OS: XP (32 & 64 bit), Vista (32 & 64 bit), Windows 7 (32 & 64 bit)
•Price: $ 29.95


8.Avira Antivir



•Threat Detection: Virus, Worm, Trojan, Spyware, Malware, Rootkit.
•Additional Protection: Browser exploit, OS exploit, inbound email protection, outbond email protection, registry startup protection, dialers, backdoors, phising, adware, activex, scripts, full web protection.
•Protection Technology: Virus signatures, heuristic, real time, security network.
•Supported OS: XP (32 & 64 bit), Vista (32 & 64 bit), Windows 7 (32 & 64 bit)
•Price: $ 26.95


9.Vipre Antivirus



•Threat Detection: Virus, Worm, Trojan, Spyware, Malware, Rootkit.
•Additional Protection: Browser exploit, OS exploit, Keyloggers, inbound email protection, outbond email protection, instant messaging protectionp2p/file sharing, registry startup protection, dialers, backdoors, hackers, phising, adware, activex, vulnerabilities, cookies, scripts, auto usb detect.
•Protection Technology: Virus signatures, blacklisting, whitelisting, heuristic, real time, security network.
•Supported OS: XP (32 & 64 bit), Vista (32 & 64 bit), Windows 7 (32 & 64 bit)
•Price: $ 29.95


10.Trend Micro Titanium Antivirus



•Threat Detection: Virus, Worm, Trojan, Spyware, Malware, Rootkit.
•Additional Protection: OS exploit, Keyloggers, inbound email protection, outbond email protection, instant messaging protection, registry startup protection, dialers, hackers, identity theft protection, adware, activex, vulnerabilities, cookies, scripts, auto usb detect.
•Protection Technology: Virus signatures, blacklisting, whitelisting, real time, security network.
•Supported OS: XP (32 bit), Vista (32 & 64 bit), Windows 7 (32 & 64 bit)
•Price: $ 39.95

U.S. Backs i4i Over Microsoft in Supreme Court Appeal

i4i LLP, currently battling Microsoft at the U.S. Supreme Court level over a patent infringement case, has added to its arguments.

The Toronto-based company filed 22 amicus, or "friend of the court," briefs from various companies, venture capitalists and even the U.S. government itself. The briefs all argue against Microsoft's appeal for revising the burden of proof in patent challenges, according to an announcement issued by i4i on Monday.

The 33-page March amicus filing (PDF) by attorneys at the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Patent and Trademark Office simply concludes that "the decision of the court of appeals [in the i4i v. Microsoft case] should be affirmed."

Microsoft lost on appeal in a lower court after a jury awarded i4i more than $290 million in damages in a case involving i4i's custom XML technology. i4i's patent was considered to have been "willfully infringed" in older versions of Microsoft Word.

Microsoft is currently arguing at the Supreme Court that the standard of proof is too high to disprove a patent in cases where the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office lacked prior-art information. The company has its own supporters for that position, including amicus-brief backing from Apple, Google, GM, Verizon and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, among others.

Microsoft also recently backed Congressional efforts aiming at revising U.S. patent laws. Senate Bill S.23, or the "America Invents Act," was passed by the Senate last week, with deliberations in the House still pending.

i4i provides links to all 22 amicus-brief filers here. Seven former military officers also weighed in against revising the standard of proof in patent disputes. That brief (PDF) concluded that "to lower the standard [of proof in patent cases] risks military preparedness and morale."

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments in the case on April 18, with a decision expected by the end of June.

Zynga moving to Seattle’s Pioneer Square

 

Social game maker Zynga has picked Seattle’s historic Pioneer Square to open its local office.

John Cook at GeekWire reports that Zynga is creating an engineering center in the Washington Shoe Building in Pioneer Square.

In October, Zynga, the company behind hit social games such as FarmVille and Mafia Wars, started recruiting in Seattle for technical talent. The expansion in Seattle gives Zynga a foothold in one of the nation’s casual-gaming strongholds.

Zynga is recruiting in Seattle with companies such as PopCap Games, Big Fish Games, Microsoft, RealNetworks, and WildTangent.

Zynga is among a host of companies including Facebook and Hulu that have expand operations to the Seattle region. That has created intense competition for talent among tech companies big and small.

In March, Zynga hired Neil Roseman, the former Amazon.com vice president of engineering and former Evri CEO, to run the new Seattle office.

Spesifikasi Nokia E7 Qwerty Smartphone Symbian 3 Terbaru

Smartphone SymbianNokia E7 QWERTY adalah handphone Nokia terbaru berorientasi bisnis yang memiliki layar AMOLED 4-inch touchscreen, kamera 8-megapiksel dual-LED flash kemampuan merekam video 720p, memori 16GB dan HDMI port.

Nokia CEO: Microsoft Windows phone could be ready by 2012

Nokia CEO Stephen Elop

In February, Microsoft and Nokia announced a deal was brewing to work together to challenge the Apple iOS and Google Android in the critical mobile industry. Nokia CEO Stephen Elop told Reuters Friday that Nokia has begun work on the first Nokia smartphone supported by Microsoft software. Elop said a Windows-based Nokia phone could be produced the end of 2011.

Elop also took the time in the Reuters interview to pour cold water on the speculation that Microsoft wants to own Nokia.

Elop, a former Microsoft executive before moving to Nokia last September, said there was no strategic reason why Microsoft might want to buy Nokia.

Earlier this month, Nokia said Microsoft’s untested Windows Phone software could present challenges.

Microsoft leaps to No. 2 in online video viewing, still trails YouTube

Microsoft made a big leap in online video traffic in February, according to comScore.

Microsoft still trails Google’s YouTube, which had 141.1 million unique video viewers in February. But Microsoft jumped from seventh to second in February with 48.8 million unique viewers.

Microsoft was closely followed by Yahoo and Facebook.

Microsoft’s jump is likely a result of more users using Bing Video.SFGate explains that Bing has some exclusive video content, but most of the videos found via Bing are aggregated from YouTube and other sites.

According to comScore, 170 million U.S. Internet users watched online videos in February for an average of 13.6 hours per viewer. That added up to 5 billion viewing sessions.

Hari Ini, Fenomena 'Bulan Super' Beraksi

INILAH.COM, Jakarta- Fenomena Lunar Perigee atau 'Bulan Super' yang terjadi hari ini diakui pengamat berdampak pada situasi Bumi. Namun, Indonesia tidak perlu khawatir.

Menurut peneliti senior astronomi dan astrofisika di Lembaga Penerbangan dan Antariksa Nasional (LAPAN) Profesor Dr. Thomas Djamaludin saat dihubungi INILAH.COM, istilah Bulan Super (Super Moon) hanya dikenal di dunia astrologi berdasarkan konfigurasi benda-benda langit sehingga tidak didasari analisis ilmiah. Namun, tetap saja fenomena itu berdampak pada Bumi.

“Ini akan meningkatkan efek pasang surut air laut di mana air laut akan lebih tinggi dari rata-rata. Terkait dengan gempa, kita harus berhati-hati menganalisisnya. Memang sempat ada dugaan hubungan antara dua kejadian itu tapi perlu kajian ilmiah lebih lanjut,” ujar Thomas Djamaluddin via telepon.

Efek pasang surut bulan menurutnya, akan melepas energi yang memicu gempa. Tapi tetap saja, sebab utama gempa adalah pergeseran lempeng. Terkait dampak signifikan fenomena Bulan Super, Thomas memperingatkan keberadaan cuaca buruk yang bisa menyebabkan banjir rob.

“Biasanya bila ada cuaca buruk, otoritas yang bertanggung jawab seperti BMKG (Badan Meteorologi Klimatologi dan Geofisika) pasti akan selalu memberi peringatan. Tapi faktor utama cuaca buruk dan pasang surut yang memperburuk keadaan,” ujar Thomas lagi.

Untuk penampakan, bulan lebih besar 7% dari rata-rata namun sulit untuk dilihat dengan mata telanjang. Jika kita menggunakan teleskop, maka bisa melihat saat magrib pada 19 Maret dan titik puncak pada dini hari 20 Maret jam 2:10 WIB.

Microsoft Basmi Jaringan Virus Spam Terbesar

San Fransisco – Microsoft berhasil membasmi jaringan virus ‘berbahaya dan kompleks’ komputer. Jaringan ini biasa mengirim miliaran email tiap hari yang berkedok obat palsu atau lotre.
‘Botnet’ Rustock terdiri dari sejuta komputer yang terinsfeksi kode berbahaya. Kode ini memungkinkan hacker (peretas) mengendalikan mesin dari jauh menggunakan server ‘perintah dan kendali’.
Pemilik komputer yang terinfeksi biasanya tak menyadari hacker sedang menggunakan komputer yang mereka miliki.
"Komputer bisa terinfeksi malware dengan beberapa cara, termasuk ketika pemilik komputer mengunjungi situs jebakan yang berisi malware dan klik pada iklan berbahaya atau membuka email yang terinfeksi,” kata senior Digital Crimes Unit Microsoft Richard Boscovich.
Peretas melakukan serangan tanpa diketahui pemilik dan pemilik tak menyadari komputernya memiliki dua kehidupan, paparnya. Rustock dilaporkan sebagai salah satu botnet spam terbesar dunia yang mampu mengirim 30 miliar email tiap hari.
Menurut Boscovich, email dari Rustock ini biasanya berisi iklan viagra atau email yang berisi pemberitahuan menang lotre. Berhati-hatilah. [mor]

Instalasi Komponen Baru

Here we will give examples of how to install a new component in Delphi 3 . Previous first downloaded IEButton component . The way is as follows :
1 . After you download and extract the file , then you will get four files .
Copy these four files into the directory lib ( usually C : \ Program Files \Borland \ Delphi 3 \ Lib ) .
2 . Run your Delphi program . From the Component menu , select Install Components .
3 . In the Unit File Name , click Browse and navigate to the location of the file IEBtn.pas ( C : \ Program Files \ Borland \ Delphi 3 \ Lib \ IEBtn.pas ) .
4 . For the Package File Name , you can fill with C : \ Program Files \ Borland \ Delphi 3 \ Lib \ dclusr30.dpk
5 . Click OK .
6 . If the installation is successful then the component will appear in the Win95 IEButton component . 

source : http://www.klik-kanan.com/menginstall-komponen-baru.htm