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