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WHO'S THIS ROBINSON GUY? |
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RANTS |
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BLOGROLLING |
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Friday, July 18, 2003 |
"Software can be copyrighted but not patented under European law, but critics contend that a proposed European Union directive allows underhanded software patenting that would place a chokehold on competition and innovation." [acm.org]
4:41:51 PM
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64-processor IBM-Apple OS X machine? A rumor on hardmac.com. [Hat tip to Michael Swaine.]
I have long been wondering if we'll see an announcement to this effect at some point. I don't think it would involve OS X's Mach kernel, which just doesn't seem to be up to it. But what if IBM and Apple worked together to adapt the AIX kernel -- or even the upcoming highly-scalable Linux kernel? Seems like either might be doable... then they'd be able to produce a hugely powerful Unix server with the easiest-to-use GUI in the world. It would be a great product, potentially one that could dominate the world of Unix servers. Given that OS X 10.3 will be based on a chip in IBM's Power lineage, it is only logical that there would be people at Apple and IBM exploring whether this would be feasible, and perhaps by now they'd actually be busy creating it...
12:09:02 PM
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I was wondering whether FreeBSD, which is the basis for Mac OS X, might be vulnerable to an eventual lawsuit from SCO on similar grounds to their suit against IBM. I found this (from an interview available on Byte.com):
"But what about BSD?" I asked. Sontag responded that there "could be issues with the [BSD] settlement agreement," adding that Berkeley may not have lived up to all of its commitments under the settlement.
"So you want royalties from FreeBSD as well?" I asked. Sontag responded that "there may or may not be issues. We believe that UNIX System V provided the basic building blocks for all subsequent computer operating systems, and that they all tend to be derived from UNIX System V (and therefore are claimed as SCO's intellectual property)."
"So is anybody clean? What about Apple and Microsoft?" I wondered. "Sun is clean," he said—but he gave no answer in regards to Apple and Microsoft.
11:18:20 AM
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"Match.com thinks it has found a formula for ruling the fiercely competitive online dating business: A scientific way to find Mr. or Ms. Right." [business2.com -- but you have to be a subscriber to the Business 2.0 magazine to read the full article!]
I can't resist noting that using collaborative filtering to match people is something I first did with my 212-ROMANCE voice-mail-based dating service in NYC in the mid 1980's. And it is not totally unlike something that Transpose will be doing soon... ;) if we can get the damn packet-dropping problem fixed! Despite early pointers in a different direction, Bob now thinks that problem is "conclusively" proven to be a defect in our SonicWall firewall.
10:49:57 AM
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"Dominance in Web search may be determined by the scope of a company's patent portfolio, rather than its ability to shuttle people to Internet sites.
At least, Yahoo Chief Executive Terry Semel seems to think so.
With the Web portal's proposed $1.63 billion buyout of commercial search specialist Overture Services on Monday, Yahoo would acquire 60-plus patents related to technology and processes for indexing the Web, as well as for pay-per-click and bidding systems to grant sites higher placement in search results." [News.com]
10:28:10 AM
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© Copyright 2006 Gary Robinson.
Last update: 1/30/06; 2:43:11 PM.
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