To:mswier@YAHOO.COM
Date: Wed, 30 Nov 2005 17:22:44 -0500 (EST)
From:"Linux Pipeline Newsletter" <linuxed@techwire.com>
Subject: [LXP] Linux Pipeline - 11.30.2005 - Hard Times For Hard Lines Linux Pipeline Newsletter | Hard Times For Hard Lines | 11.30.2005
Linux Pipeline Newsletter
www.LinuxPipeline.com
Wednesday, November 30, 2005


In This Issue:
  • Editor's Note: Hard Times For Hard Lines
  • Top Linux News
        - Microsoft Giving Office XML Format To Standards Group
        - Browser Makers Band Together Against Phishers
        - 64-Bit Linux, Windows Both Win Big In Server Market
        - More News...
  • Editor's Picks
        - Massachusetts OKs Open Microsoft Office Format
        - GNU Guru 'Foils' U.N. Security With RFID Protest
        - Hackers Follow The Money -- And Hit Popular Apps To Find It
        - More Picks...
  • Voting Booth: Google -- Evil Or Not?
  • Get More Out Of Linux Pipeline
  • Manage Your Newsletter Subscription


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    Editor's Note: Hard Times For Hard Lines

    For a number of years now, there have been two groups within Microsoft with two very different attitudes towards Open Source. One group clearly understands how open standards and Open Source are changing the market, and it's prepared to adopt, survive, and very likely prosper under the new rules.

    The other group -- the hard-liners -- is willing, even today, to do almost anything to discourage open-source software or even the use of open standards: Witness the company's seemingly interminable battle to prevent Massachusetts government officials from adopting the OpenDocument format for use with state records.

    Like the Soviet Union's hard-line leadership in its final years, however, it's increasingly obvious that the new guard is truly in charge, even if the old guard hasn't yet received the news. After weeks of hints that Microsoft would do what it kept saying it would not do, namely support OpenDocument within its Office suite, the company went one better: It will now turn over its XML-based Office document formats to the Ecma group, which will publish and maintain them as open standards.

    To continue the Soviet analogy, this won't please Open Source hard-liners who hoped to keep the Cold War going strong -- even if the conflict pleases them far more than it does ordinary users who simply want this stuff to work without making their jobs any harder. And as usual, back-room diplomacy played a key role at bringing together groups who pretend not to speak with one another in public: News reports that state officials changed course and approved Office XML as well as OpenDoc for use with state records don't explicitly connect the dots, but I'll eat this newsletter if Microsoft's handover to Ecma was not part of a quid pro quo to get Office XML back on the state's document-format menu. As a result, Microsoft will now find itself back on higher ground in a debate centered upon the technical merits of its Office file formats, rather than its evil ways as a proprietary puppet-master.

    This process has been similar in some ways to Microsoft's shift towards standards support in Internet Explorer 7 and, by extension, towards Internet standards in general. Since IE 7 remains in beta testing, the fact that Web standards watchdogs have heaped praise upon the browser hasn't really sunk in yet. In fact, Mozilla developers might soon find themselves in an odd situation: competing against Microsoft -- and, at times, probably trailing -- in a race to see who can provide the best support for Web standards.

    Consider also Microsoft's plans for a tool aimed at Web developers working with AJAX-based sites. By all accounts, AJAX remains difficult to use, in spite of the power and usability it delivers as a finished product, and the market could use a developer tool that simplifies the process while still adhering to Web standards.

    Such an announcement, in the past, would have left standards advocates waiting to see what trouble Microsoft planned to make by "extending" the technology with its own proprietary doohickeys. Yet today, tinkering with the standard would leave developers with sites that even IE 7, with its superb AJAX and CSS support, would have trouble rendering.

    All of this is a far cry from the good old days, when the Cold War raged and the Evil Empire could be counted on for a dirty trick or two, no matter what the occasion. Unlike the Soviet example, however, Microsoft's steady turn towards open standards, while still vulnerable to the occasional hint of old-school idiocy, is a sign that the company still understands how to survive -- and perhaps even to dominate -- in a technology market where so many of the old rules no longer apply.

    Enjoy the rest of your week.

    Matt McKenzie
    Editor, Linux Pipeline
    mattcmp@sonic.net
    www.LinuxPipeline.com


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    Top Linux News

    Microsoft Giving Office XML Format To Standards Group
    Microsoft has submitted its Office Open XML document format to Ecma, allowing the international standards body to begin the process of turning the software maker's proprietary business-document format into an open standard.

    Browser Makers Band Together Against Phishers?
    Representatives from the most prominent browser makers -- including Microsoft and Mozilla -- recently gathered to discuss ways to identify safe Web sites, alert users to phony sites, and make life harder for online criminals.

    64-Bit Linux, Windows Both Win Big In Server Market
    Linux and Windows both enjoyed a strong third quarter in the worldwide server market, according to market researcher IDC, and x86 systems using 64-bit processors appear poised to completely take over the category from their 32-bit predecessors.

    CraigslistFounder Backs Online News Venture
    Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist, is backing a new effort to deliver news online that combines the best aspects of professional journalism and citizen journalism -- and, he hopes, keeps journalists employed in the process.

    Number Of Chinese Bloggers Doubles
    The number of Chinese bloggers more than doubled during the first nine months of the year and now stands at nearly 34 million, according to a research firm studying the habits of Internet users in the world's most populous nation.

    Microsoft Hires Cray Researcher, Expands HPC Efforts
    Microsoft has hired Cray supercomputer developer Burton Smith to boost the company's high-performance computing (HPC) development efforts, where it faces an uphill battle for respect and market share against Linux and IBM.

    Tivo Hopes To Get Under Your Skin -- Literally
    Tivo files a patent describing a personal video recorder (PVR) that recognizes viewer preferences through an RFID chip embedded in clothing, jewelry -- or even "inserted somewhere [in] the user's body."

    Verso Goes Global With Skype-Blocking Software
    U.S.-based Verso Technologies is taking its show on the road, targeting African telecom markets, Chinese network carriers, and other overseas customers with an interest in the company's technology for censoring VoIP, IM, P2P and other "types of Internet traffic.


    Editor's Picks

    Massachusetts OKs Open Microsoft Office Format
    As Microsoft moves to turn over Office XML to the Ecma standards body, the state government of Massachusetts reverses an earlier decision and says it will support the format alongside the open-source OpenDocument and Adobe PDF.

    GNU Guru 'Foils' U.N. Security With RFID Protest
    Free Software advocate and GNU founder Richard Stallman's talk was a welcome addition to the U.N. World Summit on the Information Society's agenda this week -- until his protest against the event's use of RFID tracking devices put event security staff into a very un-welcoming mood.

    Hackers Follow The Money -- And Hit Popular Apps To Find It
    Cyber criminals, say security researchers, have shifted targets: Yesterday's operating system and Web- or E-mail server attacks are giving way to today's software application attacks. The change has left more firms at grave risk from professional attackers who consider their data sources to be -- sometimes literally -- as good as gold.

    Q&A: Microsoft Aims To Make Life With 'Ajax' A Lot Easier
    Microsoft's Brian Goldfarb discusses the phenomenon surrounding the collection of standards-based Web development technologies collectively known as 'Ajax,' as well as the company's plans to release a set of developer tools intended to make using the technology easier and more effective.

    Sony Plays The Blues As Bloggers Turn Up The Volume
    Sony BMG will halt its sales of more than 50 music CD titles that harbor its now-infamous DRM software and the rootkit intended to conceal it. That hasn't stopped bloggers of all stripes from turning the incident into a public relations disaster -- and possibly a legal and business disaster, as well -- with no end in sight for the beleaguered company.

    Q&A: Bill Gates On Supercomputing, Software in Science, And More
    Bill Gates discusses how work now being done at Microsoft Research may impact medicine, engineering, and other sciences; how more powerful desktop processors allow new ways to improve user interfaces; and his own evolving role at Microsoft.


    Voting Booth: Google -- Evil Or Not?

    Cast Your Vote Now!
    Google has long been considered a friend and an ally to the open-source community. Today, however, as the company grows from a scrappy upstart into an IT superpower, is it time for open-source supporters to take a tougher attitude?

    It's your final week to cast your vote on this question! We'll have a new poll, and the results for this one, in next week's newsletter: Cast your vote!


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    ------- Advertisement -------------------
    Join InformationWeek for a FREE, OnDemand TechWebCast, From Risk Mitigation to Risk Optimization. This presentation provides Gartner recommendations on best practice industry models and process improvement strategies and Borland will present a new paradigm for risk optimization that is based on these best practice industry models and leverages people, process and technology. Thursday, December 8, 2005 ? 11:00-12:00 AM PT / 2:00-3:00 PM ET
    "http://www.techweb.com/webcasts/riskmitigation120805"

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