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Preedit writes:
Mac cloner Psystar is claiming in new court papers that Apple's copyright suit against it should be dismissed, because Apple has never filed for copyright protection on Mac OS X 10.5 with the U.S. Copyright Office.
Infoweek is reporting that the claim, if it holds up, could open the door for third-parties to enter the Mac market without fear of legal action from Apple. In its latest set of allegations, Psystar is also accusing Apple of bricking Macs that don't run on genuine Apple hardware.
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Preedit writes:
Apple plans to get into the business of designing microprocessors for handheld devices, according to legal papers that are part of a dispute between IBM and one of its top technology executives. IBM is suing Power chip expert Mark Papermaster for allegedly violating a non-compete and accepting a job at Apple.
In court papers, IBM claims Apple wants Papermaster "to design microprocessors for incorporation in a variety of electronic devices, including handheld devices." The suit, according Infoweek, also notes that Apple earlier this year bought out P.A. Semi. IBM thinks it knows why.
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Preedit writes:
The state of Maine is the latest organization to skip Windows Vista, which has been a near-disaster for Microsoft. An internal state document uncovered by Infoweek reveals that Maine will not be upgrading its more than 11,000 personal computing devices from XP to Vista--ever. Instead, it's going to wait until Windows 7 ships in 2010 and hope for the best. The news is in line with a survey that shows only 4% of businesses in the UK have upgraded to Vista, the story notes. So much for that $300 million Seinfeld campaign.
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Preedit writes:
Continuing its defiance of Apple, Psystar is reassuring customers that it is "definitely still shipping" its line of Mac clones. And, in a further nose-thumbing at Steve Jobs, Psystar this week said it's now making Leopard restore disks available to its customers, even as Apple insists that Mac clones sold to date be recalled.
In its story on the latest developments, Infoweek is reporting that tiny Psystar apparently has no intention of backing down in its legal dispute with the much larger Apple.
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Preedit writes:
Not only is Mac clone maker Psystar continuing to defy Apple's ban on third-party Leopard installations, it's supporting the hardware with updates. Psystar Mac clones shipped as of Monday will include a 'service pack' that features fixes for a range of problems, some of them inherent in Apple's own software, according to InformationWeek.
The fixes address a range of troubles, from glitches in Apple's Time Machine back up feature to quirks in the Keyboard Viewer and Character Palette entries in Leopard's system preferences menu. There's also support for the latest versions of Java and other updates.
By offering a full menu of support, Psystar appears to be daring Apple to attempt to enforce provisions in the Leopard license agreement that forbid third party installations and sales, the story says.
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Preedit writes:
Nick White, the in-house Microsoft blogger who wrote about all things Vista, has resigned.
White is leaving Redmond to join the blog-centric marketing and public relations firm BuzzCorps.
White did not provide a reason for his decision. InformationWeek, however, notes that his position could not have been easy. White's posts often elicited hundreds of responses from Vista users complaining about the OS's numerous glitches and quirks.
The story further notes that White is the sort of young, blogosphere-savvy manager that Microsoft needs if it hopes to outrun Google, and his departure raises questions about the company's ability to retain Web 2.0 talent.
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Preedit writes:
The committee that oversees Microsoft's compliance with the 2002 antitrust settlement has got its hands on Windows 7. The Technical Committee is checking to see if the software meets the settlement's terms. Among other things, it's looking at whether Windows 7 favors Microsoft apps over third party programs, according to InformationWeek. The story also notes that Vista SP1 includes a number of changes that were added to satisfy the committee. For instance, it eliminates several browser overrides where Vista ignored users' default preferences and automatically launched Explorer.
Windows 7 is due sometime around 2010.
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Preedit writes:
A free download that can cut Windows Vista's gargantuan footprint by half or more is developing a big following on the Internet. vLite is a configuration tool that lets users automatically delete a lot of unnecessary Vista components — such as Windows Media Player and MSN installer — to pare the OS down to a reasonable size.
The software is catching on. An InformationWeek story notes that a forum that asks users to suggest new features has drawn nearly 50,000 page views.
Meanwhile, Microsoft officials have themselves conceded that Vista is "bloated" and are developing the next version of Windows on a core called MinWin, which is smaller than Vista by an order of magnitude.
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Preedit writes:
Microsoft has set up a Web site that uses inkblot images to help users create passwords, InformationWeek is reporting. The way it works: users view a series of inkblots, and write down the first and last letters of whatever word they associate with each inkblot. Then they combine the letters to form a password. Microsoft claims it's a way to create passwords that are easy to remember but hard to crack. But word of warning: the story notes that Microsoft is collecting and storing users' word associations.
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Preedit writes:
This InformationWeek story points out a recent deal between Microsoft and Japanese printer maker Kyocera Mita, under which Kyocera obtained from Microsoft a license to patents used in "certain Linux-based embedded technologies." The question everyone's asking is why Kyocera needs a patent license from Microsoft to develop its embedded Linux products.
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Preedit writes:
InformationWeek is reporting that Novell and Microsoft aren't the only ones concerned about certain provisions contained within the final draft of GPLv3.
"If the currently proposed version of GPLv3 is widely adopted, we may be unable to incorporate future enhancements to the GNU/Linux operating system into our software, which could adversely affect our business," TiVo warns in a regulatory filing cited by InformationWeek.
The problem: Tivo boxes are Linux-based. They're also designed to shut down if the software is hacked by users trying to circumvent digital rights management features.
But GPLv3 would prohibit Tivo's no-tamper setup.
