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LXer Feature: 26-Oct-2008

Highlights from the LXer newswire this past week include a hands on with the mobile version of Firefox called Fennec, OpenOffice 3.0 is downloaded over 3 million times in its first week of availability and after a successful pilot program the Russian Government decides to make Open Source software the standard for all of its schools. Also, a review of the Ohio Linuxfest 2008, Linux netbooks start to make a dent in Windows sales, Dillo finally gets tabs and to wrap things up a Microsoft lawyer states that "we're all 'mixed source' now", smells like some good ole' fashioned FUD to me.

In December, Johnny Chung Lee, then a Ph.D. candidate, posted a five-minute video on YouTube that became an Internet sensation. To share his innovation, Johnny Chung Lee posted a video on YouTube. In it, he uses a Wii remote controller and “head tracking” glasses to make a screen image come alive. The video showed how, in a few easy steps, the Nintendo Wii remote controller — or “Wiimote” — could transform a normal video screen into a virtual reality display, with graphics that seemed to pop through the screen and into the living room. So far, the video has been seen more than six million times. That video, together with others that Mr. Lee, now 28, posted on YouTube, have drawn people to the innovator as well as his innovations. Video game companies have contacted him and, in September, M.I.T.’s Technology Review named him as one of its top innovators under 35.

Microsoft said Friday that it has joined a group that's developing a standard for open source messaging software known as the Advanced Messaging and Queuing Protocol (AMQP). "By joining the AMQP Working Group, Microsoft is aiming to contribute to the development of the specification in ways that will best promote interoperability for existing market implementations and provide customers with increased choice," said Sam Ramji, Microsoft's senior director for platform development, in a statement.

BMW is developing an open-source platform for vehicle electronics. By taking the open-source approach, rather than using proprietary software, BMW aims to allow providers of infotainment services to develop plug-and-play applications. BMW is asking other automakers to join in its effort. But four other automakers that along with BMW took part in a panel discussion Tuesday at Convergence 2008, a conference on automotive electronics, are not as far along in their consideration of an open-source platform.

On Friday morning, I gave 3G wireless another chance. Maybe it was looking a gift horse in the mouth. Faster is better, and we should be grateful companies are continuing to invest in the networks we all rely upon. But after all the hype and anticipation, third-generation wireless infrastructure has been underwhelming, in my experience

Microsoft needs to get rid of its chief IP lawyer and its patent strategy if it wants further efforts at interoperability to be taken seriously by open source vendors and users. In at least two interviews with IT publications this week, Horacio Gutierrez reaffirmed that the company intends to try and force open source companies to sign patent licensing deals or face lawsuits.

For an awful lot of people their first encounter with a computer will invariably be Microsoft Windows. This straight away creates a barrier against considering alternate operating systems because they look different to what the user has been accustomed to. Here's how to paint a Windows facade over Linux and remove that obstacle.

A 43-year-old Japanese piano teacher's sudden divorce from her online husband in a virtual game world made her so angry that she logged on and killed his digital persona, police said Thursday. The woman has been jailed on suspicion of illegally accessing a computer and manipulating electronic data.

Organisation of Camp KDE 2009 is now moving at full speed and the event website is now active. The organisers are now releasing a Call For Presentations (CFP) and a Call For Sponsorship (CFS). Camp KDE 2009 was recently announced on the Dot and will be held in Negril, Jamaica from January 17-23, 2009. We are excited to continue the momentum of KDE interest shown at the 2008 KDE 4.0 Release Event in California. This new conference will be held at the Travellers Beach Resort in Negril.

Delays to the latest version of Intel's project putting an open-source stack on its Atom processors have not deterred IT companies from early backing for the platform. Start-up Good OS has announced a relationship with MiTAC International to deliver its gOS Gadgets Linux operating system on a netbook based on Intel's Moblin 2.0.

Want to combine your love for robots and strange mini-ITX systems with your interest in furthering educational opportunities for U.S. schoolchildren? You, too, can bid on this strange, one-of-a-kind Linux system available only through a charity auction on eBay.

Canonical has finally freed the Ibex. The first release candidate for Ubuntu 8.10 ("Intrepid Ibex") is available for download or in-place upgrade by 8.04 ("Hardy Heron") users, according to a post to the Ubuntu Announce mailing list by Steve Langasek, release manager. In addition to regular old Ubuntu, release-candidate versions of Kubuntu, Xubuntu, UbuntuStudio, and Mythbuntu are also available, according to Langasek's post.

With two weeks having passed since the Linux 2.6.27 kernel release, Linus Torvalds has closed the merge window for the next kernel (Linux 2.6.28) and he has pushed out the first release candidate in this next series.

Amazon announced Thursday general availability of its Elastic Compute Cloud, part of the Internet retailer's Web service offerings. Launched in beta 26 months ago, the service provides a resizable compute capacity to businesses with varying server needs."The appealing thing about EC2 is that instead of buying a server, you pay for it by the hour," said Frank Gillett, a Forrester Research analyst.

The essence of the FreeNAS server is to provide storage that is easily accessible from the network. To this end, it is important to understand how FreeNAS handles hard disks and how they can be configured and used to provide the best and most reliable storage for your network.

Andy Bechtolsheim, a revered technologist who cofounded Sun Microsystems and has been instrumental in designing the company's servers, is stepping down from his day-to-day role to help build a new networking startup. Sun, which makes servers and software widely used in corporate computing centers, said Bechtolsheim's transition to part-time work status was effective immediately.

GSmartControl presents your hard drive SMART (Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology) health information in a graphical display. With GSmartControl you no longer have to fish around in /dev/disk/by-id to find the drive you're interested in and then inspect the output of smartctl trying to figure out which SMART attributes have values that you should care about.

One of the most often heard complaints from users looking to migrate to Linux is that there are no good accounting applications. To be fair, there is a degree of truth in that concern. At least there was, until now.

On the outside, the Windows version of the XO laptop looks just like the Linux model. But simply booting up the device shows that the Windows version bears little resemblance to the original One Laptop Per Child device. With the Microsoft version, you get Windows, for all the good and bad that entails. It's full-on Windows--XP Professional, in fact--and can run basically any software that can adjust itself to the mini-laptop's diminutive screen and modest processor.

Whether you're talking about the Wii, the Xbox 360 or the PlayStation 3, the video game industry is on a record-setting pace for revenue in 2008. Consumers have scooped up billions of dollars worth of game consoles, accessories and big-budget titles. With sales set to top $22 billion in 2008, according to The NPD Group, gaming looks as though it's weathering the ongoing economic downturn well.