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 Monday, August 25, 2003
Gartner: Microsoft cuts Windows price to $40 in Thailand. In a move that could lead to lower prices for Microsoft's software in other countries, the Redmond, Washington, software company has cut the price of its Windows operating system and Office application suite in Thailand, according to a report released by market analyst Gartner Inc. [InfoWorld: Top News]
And people get upset about pharmas selling drugs for less in other countries, yet here is MS doing the same thing. It costs almost $200 in the US. I guess they will have it set up so that you can not bring any copy back into the US. 7:08:56 PM 
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US goverment trying to sink WIPO open content talks. The US government has set out to scupper the proposed World Intellectual Property Organization summit on Open Source and Open Culture. Lessig writes:
But the astonishing part is the justification for the US opposing the meeting. According to the Post, Lois Boland, director of international relations for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, said "that open-source software runs counter to the mission of WIPO, which is to promote intellectual-property rights." As she is quoted as saying, "To hold a meeting which has as its purpose to disclaim or waive such rights seems to us to be contrary to the goals of WIPO."
If Lois Boland said this, then she should be asked to resign. The level of ignorance built into that statement is astonishing, and the idea that a government official of her level would be so ignorant is an embarrassment. First, and most obviously, open-source software is based in intellectual-property rights. It can't exist (and free software can't have its effect) without it. Second, the goal of WIPO, and the goal of any government, should be to promote the right balance of intellectual-property rights, not simply to promote intellectual property rights. And finally, if an intellectual property right holder wants to "disclaim" or "waive" her rights, what business is it of WIPOs? Why should WIPO oppose a copyright or patent rights holder's choice to do with his or her rights what he or she wants?
Link
Discuss [Boing Boing Blog]
A great demonstration of how clueless this administration is (although a democratic one would not be any more cluefull. Clinton signed DMCA). The battle is not between the left and the right. It is between centralized power and decentralized power. Government and capitalists want power to be central since it gives them more. Our Constitution was designed to decentralize governmental power as much as possible. But it did little for corporate power. And the combination of the two is becoming overwhelming.
So we have a Media Cartel, a Power cartel a Transportation cartel. Each is controlled by a few who work in concert with the Federal government to horde more power for themselves. Over 200 years later, we are still fighting the battles against the same underlying themes: preventing the aggregation of power into the hands of a few. Could the Second American Revolution be on its way? I think so but not through force of arms. Concentration of power also generates the nimbleness to adapt, to deal with change. The dinosaurs that demand central power will not be able to adapt to the changes developing. they may do some damage through their thrashing but the power lords forget that both democracy and capitalism have at their roots a bottom-up approach derived from the people. Neither a government nor a coporation can survive without the consent of the people. So said our Founding Fathers and so we are all going to discover. 7:01:52 PM
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Fair and balanced update: Franken beats Fox. Salon: federal judge Denny Chin threw out Fox’s attempted injunction against Al Franken’s new book, which uses “fair and balanced” (a phrase trademarked by Fox) in its subtitle. The judge appears to have had a field day slamming Fox, suggesting that they could be in danger of losing the trademark if they pursued the suit further, and getting in some fabulous zingers: …the judge pointed out that one of O'Reilly's own books is titled “The O'Reilly Factor: The Good, the Bad, and the Completely Ridiculous in American Life.” “Is that not a play on ‘The Good, The Bad and the Ugly?’” Chin asked, noting that the movie title is also trademarked. “I don't know,” replied [Fox lawyer] Hanswirth. “You don't know?” asked the judge… Hanswirth went on to argue that Franken has diluted Fox’s trademark by using it “to ridicule Fox’s No. 1 talent, Mr. O’Reilly.” She then suggested that, because Coulter is on the cover, “somebody looking at this could determine Ms. Coulter has some kind of official relationship with Fox.” “The President and Vice President are also on the cover, are they not?” asked Chin. “Are consumers likely to believe they are associated with Fox News?” God bless the judicial branch, which appears to be the only part of our government that has retained any common sense. By toj8j@alumni.virginia.edu (Tim Jarrett). [Jarrett House North]
Well, I guess this is one judge who is not going to get invited to the White House anytime soon. It is great to see stupid lawyers in front of smart judges. But, as Jane Haddam said, the Stupid Thing is a Republican Play, so having stupid lawyers kind of fits [grin] 6:38:12 PM
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Torvalds Slams SCO: "They are smoking crack. [...] The SMP code was written by a number of Linux people I know well (I did a lot of the SMP IRQ scalability myself, personally), so their claims are just ludicrous. And they claim they own JFS [journaled file system technology] too. Whee. They're not shy about claiming ownership of other people's code - while at the same time beating their breasts about how they have been wronged." [Universal Rule]
I think that this could be the case that finally breaks the back of so many of the putrid patents around. These guys do not create, they simply live off of patents that they claim are infringed but will not demonstrate to anyone. How can someone determine whetehr there is infringement if they can not see the disputed code? And, in the small amount of code that has leaked out, there is little doubt that they are sliming some of the details. If you lie once, why should we believe you? If you are afriad to show the offending code, why should we believe you? Patent lawyers have been running these scams for years, hoping that they can keep the frog in the boiling water and not overreach. But IBM is not going to just cave. I expect SCO to start looking for an exit strategy that will allow them to retreat with honor. That is, if they had any brains. This is one of those times that I wish we were more like the British and the loser paid. 6:22:58 PM
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Protecting You From Yourself. PROTECTING YOU FROM YOURSELF....Security expert Bruce Schneier recently sent me a copy of his new book, Beyond Fear, no doubt hoping I would review it on my site and thus send it rocketing onto the bestseller list. No luck on... [CalPundit]
Ain't technology in the hands of money grubbing capitalists grand? Nokia cell phones are designed so that it you use a non-Nokia battery, the phone purposely burns through the battery faster than if you use a Nokia one. So the customer compkains and decides to stick with Nokia. And you bet that all this is covered by the DMCA so that if any 3rd party company mimiced a nokia battery they would get sued. I am buying the phone not the battery. If the business model can't deal with that and needs to make money from the battery, it needs a different business model. Just screw the consumer. As long as you do not get caught. But then, if you have a strong lobbying arm, the government will protect you anyway. 5:57:13 PM
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Well, here is something that got my attention. Howard Dean was in town yesterday with a rally in downtown Seattle. It was attended by 10-15,000 people (Here is a 360 degree quicktime picture.) The Seattle Times placed it in section B - Local News - under the fold, with barely any column inches on the page. In fact, it discusses how he was 45 minutes late rather than what he had to say, or that some Democratic leaders think he is too liberal. (These are the same southern Democrats who believe that only by imitating conservatives can the party win. But if you are a conservative, then why be a Democrat?) The front page, on the other hand, was devoted to a huge picture of some guitar players trying to beat the world record for most people playing Louie, Louie!! This story was so important that they had to continue it inside! Seems to me that the Times has its priorities screwed up.
When Bush came to town on a fundraising trip to speak to people who paid $2000, the Times was all over it. Yet more then 10,000 people spending their Sunday waiting to listen to a New England politician can not beat out Louie, Louie. The Times is certainly free to print what it wants but I would think that such a large display, the largest group to hear Dean speak yet, would warrant more attention then what the Times gave it. This strikes me as strange and an interesting editorial decision. I find myself reading the paper less and less to get news. It is more an interesting social experiment to see what the media moguls of the old age find important. Because it is less and less the things that I find important. Which is why I write a blog.
The 15,000 people that showed up did not find out about it from the Times. They knew because of the Internet or cell phones or email. Perhaps the Times editorial staff is pissed because of this new wrinkle in social discourse and hopes to ignore it. Bury it and it will go away. If so, it will miss one of the great sea changes in democracy we have seen in the last 100 years and demonstrate that newspapers such as the Seattle Times are dinosaurs that will disappear, like the illuminated texts of European monks. 11:24:21 AM
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