RIP: Robert Anton Wilson

Posted by gerloff on 0

Robert Anton Wilson, (co-)author of works such as the "Illuminatus" trilogy and "Schrödinger´s Cat", has died yesterday. Here’s his last blog post:

 Various medical authorities swarm in and out of here predicting I have
between two days and two months to live. I think they are guessing. I
remain cheerful and unimpressed. I look forward without dogmatic
optimism but without dread. I love you all and I deeply implore you to
keep the lasagna flying.

Please pardon my levity, I don’t see how to take death seriously. It seems absurd.

Goodbye, RAW. Thank you for your inspiration. Hail Eris.

 

Pirate Bay to become independent nation?

Posted by gerloff on 0

The Sweden-based Bittorrent tracking site The Pirate Bay is apparently looking to buy the independent Principality of Sealand. This micronation is based on a British naval platform in the North Sea, and is currently on sale for 65 mio. pounds.

Running its own nation would presumably give the site a degree of reprieve from the legal pressures of the Swedish government, which is being prodded to shut down the site by the US government and the RIAA, among others.

via The Register 

Jeremy Allison leaves Novell in protest over Microsoft agreement

Posted by gerloff on 0

Samba developer Jeremy Allison has resigned from his position at Novell, as Groklaw reports. He states that he is taking this step to protest against that company’s infamous patent agreement with Microsoft:

"Whilst the Microsoft patent agreement is in place there is *nothing* we can do to fix community relations. And I really mean nothing," Allison wrote. "Until the patent provision is revoked, we are pariahs….Unfortunately the time I am willing to wait for this agreement to be changed …has passed, and so I must say goodbye."

via Slashdot

RAND: “Random and non-discriminatory”

Posted by gerloff on 0

Heise.de‘s usually excellent Stefan Krempl, who does most of their articles on copyright and patents, has sweetened my Friday afternoon with a minor slip.

In an article about various EU folks crying wolf about how the Chinese will eat our lunch if we don’t introduce tight patents on really, really everything (ok, I’m exaggerating, but not by much), he expands the acronym "RAND" to:

random and non-discriminatory

Made me smile.
 

Some US firms “losing patience” over European patent system

Posted by gerloff on 0

In Brussels at "the genuine paneuropean IP summit" (what, no trademark? C’mon, you can do better!), a few large US companies and their lawyers have called for the reform, extension, upward harmonization and so forth of the EU’s patent system. 

With civil society safely excluded by attendance fees of EUR 1.500 (bring two IPdroids, get the third one gratis), Microsoft’s Marshall Phelps faced no opposition in airing his grievances about how difficult it is to get a patent in Europe, and a software patent in particular. He also criticised efforts to "simply open the doors and give everything away gratis". I have no idea what he means by that – it certainly couldn’t be the Commissions antitrust case, since no one demands that Microsoft should give any of their source code away.

[I was going to elaborate on his argument, when it occurred to me that a logical process into which nonsense is fed will not yield wisdom as a result.] 

Everybody and their brother then apparently proceeded to warn that Europe was falling further behind the US in the number of patents. The trick, you see, is that the pure number of patents granted is no good as an indicator of how innovative a region is. But presenting simple numbers convinces simple minds.

EU internal market commissioner Charlie McCreevy then soothed the audience by promising that he would do his best to get rid of this terrible injustice and most repulsive immorality.

So nothing new, really. But those firms afraid of free competition are stepping up their efforts for more far-reaching monopolies again. Looks like software patent season is nigh once more.

via heise.de

Rock for Kim Yong Il

Posted by gerloff on 0

North Korea, a country hitherto not noted for its entertainment value, is putting on its first rock festival. Jean-Baptiste Kim, a South Korean born Frenchman who’s running the "Voice of Korea" site, invites bands from all over the world. Intent on brushing up the hermit kingdom’s image, he highlights that "This is the very first time in history that North Korea allows western musicians in the heart of DPRK territory to play capitalist popular music."

Before you start writing your application, be sure to check the requirements. Not all subjects of your lyrics are equally welcome:

There are few restrictions and conditions on participation but any band will be
considered even though you are from USA. The lyrics should not contain admirations
on war, sex, violence, murder, drug, rape, non-governmental society, imperialism,
colonialism, racism, anti-DPRK, and anti-socialism.

For a sample of what’s acceptable, check here and here (Warning: This will make your brain run out of your ears and nose). 

Oh, and travel costs are on you. But they’ll transport your equipment at no charge.

via Telepolis 

Asterisk VoIP book in “beta test”

Posted by gerloff on 0

The author of a howto book about the free Asterisk VoIP software invites all and sundry to review his work before publication. Heise.de reports that German Asterisk consultant Stefan Wintermeyer has put the book up on his website, and is asking for bug reports. (Sorry, all in German.)

He’s going even further: The whole book, due around February, will be published under the GNU FDL. It will be available in stores for about EUR 50.-, as well as gratis via download. Wintermeyer considers this an experiment, hoping that people will buy hardcopies anyway, or in even greater numbers.

Makes sense. When I was struggling with LaTeX, I always had the LaTeX Companion on hand, despite abundant online help being available. The money spent for that book was a very good investment, and I’d choose the same route for any other serious project I’m working on.
 

Free Software for sustainable development: Case studies released

Posted by gerloff on 0

It’s a common argument that Free Software lends itself especially well to developing countries. "Breaking Barriers", a new publication by the UN Development Program supports this claim by presenting 14 case studies about sustainable development projects based on Free Software:

 Over the last few years, as FOSS has matured and become more widely accepted, many projects have been carried out that attempt to make use of FOSS to help bring about socio-economic development and empower people in developing countries or regions. Some of these projects are highlighted in this compilation of 14 FOSS case studies from Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe and Latin America. The benefits obtained and challenges encountered, as well as any valuable lessons learned are also highlighted.

You can download the .pdf (980 kB) here.

Microsoft (R) Firefox

Posted by gerloff on 0

Though I haven’t been forced to use Microsoft’s Internet Explorer for ages, this is still pretty funny:

Microsoft(R) Firefox 2007.
it’s better now… like seriously… 

WIPO report: Developed countries conspired to sabotage Development Agenda

Posted by gerloff on 0

Discussions on the WIPO Development Agenda, an effort to make WIPO comply with its UN mission and focus on development, have dragged on for quite a while now without making much headway. No one doubts that this is due to opposition from developed countries, who are the ones profiting from the grossly imbalanced global system of intellectual monopoly powers.

Yet a confidential report that IP Watch is writing about shows that the obstructionism is more organised than what you might have expected. The report is from a meeting of developed countries that took place in September 2006, on the day before WIPO’s General Assembly.

It’s all there: Keeping appearances up, using supposedly neutral countries as a smokescreen, and throttling fundamental reform by pushing for the smallest possible outcome:

The chair highlighted the political side of the development agenda talks. While the continuation of an open, rolling discussion would not be acceptable, “there was also a view that we could not stop the process of the PCDA [Provisional Committee on proposals related to a Development Agenda] because it is politically important that Group B+ can certainly not be seen to be unfriendly.”

So the plan was to seek to define the mandate of the continued committee
with the inclusion of proposals made by the secretariat and by Kyrgyzstan
(which made a developed-country friendly proposal earlier this year that
has been kept alive), and push for feasible, short-term gains.

These developed countries will be seeking to break the ranks of developing nations by  targeting those perceived as the weakest ones:

“[W]e will need to talk to the contacts we have in the Africa Group, Asia Group – GRULAC [Group of Latin American and Caribbean countries] is more difficult for most of us – to see where and when there are opportunities to move that general debate into some short-term practical solutions,” the chair summarised, according to the report.

Of course, it could be argued that this is just the way diplomacy works. True. Aint pretty, is all.