Microsoft up to their old tricks again?

iTWire - $50 more for Linux Eee PC 900 – what gives Asus?

And there we were believing that we could trust a vendor like Asus. The line they’ve spun to journalists in Australia about the Linux Asus Eee PC 900 being $50 more than the Windows version because it has more storage is a load of bull. Overseas, both models are the same price!

This spoof originally appeared on the now defuct pwot.com Website in 2000.

The Bill Gates Interview

The Controversial Interview, from February 21, 2000

Q: First of all, thank you, Mr. Gates, for sitting down with us today.

Gates: No problem, Andy. I think your site is the best thing on the internet right now. By far.

Q: That’s very kind. I’d like to start by asking you to look into your crystal ball, so to speak. Where do you see computing five or ten years from now?

Steve Ballmer's Presentation Computer Is...

By Andy Patrizio on April 28, 2008 10:14 PM

Nothing else needs to be said.

(thank you, Digg)

Just picked this up from the Gnome-Devel mailing list:

+ ndesk-dbus, ndesk-dbus-glib (external dependency)
- good from a security point of view
- need to be in a mono-specific section of the external dependencies
(because of the special rules about depending on mono)
=> accept

Hmm, I wonder what "special rules" those would be?

Given Mono's encumbrance on Microsoft's poisonous "Intellectual Monopoly"®, that statement is both intriguing and terrifying.

UMG Says Throwing Away Promo CDs is Illegal | Electronic Frontier Foundation

UMG seems to think that the "promotional use only" label somehow gives it "eternal ownership" over the CD. While this might make sense to a goblin living in Harry Potter's world, it's not the law under the Copyright Act. According to the first sale doctrine, once a copyright owner has parted with ownership of a CD, book, or DVD, whether by sale, gift, or other disposition, they may not control further dispositions of that particular copy (including throwing it away). It's thanks to the first sale doctrine that libraries can lend books, video rental stores can rent DVDs, and you can give a CD to a friend for their birthday. It's also the reason you can throw away any CD that you own.

I'm sometimes accused of having a rather inflexible attitude towards freedom, leaning too far towards idealism, and seemingly incapable of accepting pragmatism. The fact is, however, that those who preach pragmatism are mostly hypocrites, who ostensibly extend olive branches of compromise, but with no genuine intention of making concessions, instead continuing their intractable agenda of oppression - unabated. Rarely do I ever see any progress that favours the side of freedom. In reality, pragmatism is nothing more than a euphemism for the oppressed surrendering unconditionally to their oppressors. To perceive it otherwise, is to indulge in denial.

So it is with one particularly virulent strain of oppression called "Intellectual Property", or more accurately "Intellectual Monopoly", the bastard son of the unholy triumvirate - Copyrights; Patents and Trademarks.

Lou Dobbs Tonight

More H-1B visas?

CNN's Louise Schiavone reports on the push from billionaire Bill Gates to allow more workers into the U.S. on H-1B visas.

Fawning members of congress fail to challenge Bill Gates, as he sells out America for cheap foreign labour.

Another new low for the Redmond gangsters.

The Chronicle: Information Technology: 04/24/98

Microsoft is "trying to make them advertising agents of their wares," says Albert Borgman, a philosophy professor at the University of Montana at Missoula who has written about technology and its effect on society. "This is going beyond the pale."

An excellent article from Techdirt, postulating that the idea of so-called "Intellectual Property" is completely bogus.

Techdirt: Another Look At The 'Does File Sharing Equal Stealing?' Question

PlexNex: Microsoft Concedes They've Been Cheeting All Along

Joe Wilcox hits it hard -- all good wood -- in his spot on assessment of the shadow interoperability measures just announced which were supposed to rock our world ...