Software Reviews

A few years ago, the idea that savvy developers and IT professionals would need to know anything about intellectual property law would have been dismissed as a bad joke. Oh, certainly, there were arguments from time to time over fine points in the GPL Version 2, but for the most part, it didn’t matter.

Then along came SCO with its lawsuit against IBM and its challenges to the legality of Linux, and everything changed.

So it’s good news that the SFLC (Software Freedom Law Center), a group of lawyers that provides pro bono legal services to protect and advance FOSS (Free and Open-Source Software), announced on July 18 that it would be hosting the first Legal Summit for Software Freedom on Oct. 12. In 2007, it’s not just attorneys who need to know the basics of IP law.

“The Summit will have two parts: a closed session in the morning for a private meeting of some of the world’s foremost FOSS attorneys, and an open session in the afternoon consisting of free legal presentations to the public,” the SFLC said on its Web site.

“By hosting the Legal Summit, we intend to bring together leading attorneys in the Software Freedom community to discuss matters of mutual interest and concern,” said Eben Moglen, executive director of SFLC, based in New York, and co-author of the GPLv3. “We also intend to welcome other lawyers and interested members of the public to the summit by giving a series of presentations on the most important FOSS-related legal topics.”

“The summit will be held Friday, October 12, at Columbia Law School in New York. The public portion will begin at 2:00 pm and include legal presentations by Eben Moglen, Dan Ravicher, Richard Fontana, James Vasile, Karen Sandler and Matt Norwood, each of whom are attorneys at SFLC,” the organization wrote on its site.

The group will cover such topics as licensing, copyright, patents and trademarks, as well as corporate issues related to software freedom. The SFLC is seeking to get the summit approved for Continuing Legal Education credit for New York.

The summit is free, but pre-registration is requested for the public session. More information, including how to register, is available at the event’s Web site.

With the introduction of its Premiere Apps suite into the marketplace, we posited Google was getting its ducks in order to turn Apps into a major enterprise-ready contender.

But the search giant has pulled a surprise move, having released their “educational” edition of Apps, dubbed the Google Apps Education Edition, to registered non-profits in the US at no cost.

The Google Apps suite includes Google Start Page, Google Docs & Spreadsheets, Gmail, Google Talk, Google Calendar, and Google Page Creator, an insta-publish webpage maker.

Per InformationWeek, the Apps Education Edition was only available to accredited non-profit K-12 schools, colleges and universities. And while Standard Apps is free, it’s just not as robust as the Education and Premiere Editions, the latter of which retails for US$50 per user per year.

Even then, the cost-based editions could do with beefing-up in terms of security and scalability - but their recent acquisition of Postini can help with both.

It appears the “Don’t be evil” joshers have a philanthropic streak after all. But before we wax too poetic, consider how much play Apps will get in legitimate educational institutions (and enterprises!) if just a fraction of the country’s non-profits jump aboard.

Product Director Matthew Glotzbach of Google Enterprise says Google already has non-profits numbering in the hundreds using the Apps Standard Edition, so encouraging a transition shouldn’t be too much of a hassle, we think. Apps Standard, while convenient, suffers occasional functionality quirks.

Glotzbach is all halos and smiles, however. In the InformationWeek report, he dubbed non-commercial and charitable efforts “just important, if not more important, for fulfilling our mission and the good of the world.”

Sounds grandiose - but then again, that’s just how Google rolls. According to Philanthropy.com, last spring Google formed a partnership with the US Holocaust Memorial Museum to build online maps documenting the Darfur crisis.

“We’re always looking at ways we can take our technologies and use them to serve as catalysts for education and action in global and local policy issues for all types of organizations,” Glotzbach added.

Last night Google hosted a party in tangent with NTEN, the Nonprofit Technology Network, an organization comprised of IT professionals that help non-profit orgs put new technology to work. Amongst warm, frothy friends and eyes glazed over with cocktail dreams, they announced the news.

Many companies talk about YouTube’s end as if it were something that can be achieved with ease without many efforts. But we should only think about the considerable number of products that were described as YouTube killers and didn’t manage to attract the mass media’s attention except at launch.

Today, a new YouTube challenger appears from India where Reddif launched a similar service with almost the same functions as the popular YouTube. According to Tech2.com, iShare, the recently rolled out video service, aims to offer the young Indians the chance to become famous by publishing clips on the official page.

“The increasing usage of mobile phones with digital cameras has changed the way users consume digital media. With broadband becoming affordable and social networking taking off in India, we believe that iShare will provide users a context to connect and enjoy a more comprehensive multimedia entertainment experience on the internet creating new opportunities for our partners to reach out to their audience,” Ajit Balakrishnan Chairman and CEO of Rediff.com said according to Tech2.com.

The main difference between YouTube and iShare is that the Indian service offers a downloadable platform that provides the users with full control over the account. Basically, the customers are able to upload videos, photos and other type of content straight from their desktop in a matter of minutes with a low bandwidth usage.

YouTube was acquired in October 2006 for $1.65 billion and since the acquisition was officially announced, the online video sharing service remained the leader of the category with no powerful rivals able to compete with it. However, a lot of companies aim to make a powerful competition with similar solutions; but until now, no one managed to steal a considerable amount of users from YouTube. Take the example of Sony’s eyeVio that was described as YouTube’s killer. It is now available only to Japanese users but the media abandoned it for the Google video sharing service.

In the audiophile world, Linn do no longer need any introduction nor presentation as their name has been standing as a proud proof of excellence for so many years and has become a synonym to supreme quality and unrivaled devotion to keeping to the strictest standards as far as audio equipment is
concerned.

The latest offer in the field of complete sound systems comes from Linn these days and it is dedicated to those who aren’t at all willing to make any compromise with the way their gear works and their audio sounds; the Akurate Music System from Linn brings a fresh air in the industry as it comes forth with some of the niftiest components the British manufacturer has to offer.

The Linn Akurate System offers you one CD player, one Kontrol pre-amplifier, a 2200 power amplifier and 242 series loudspeakers; even more the Akurate System will soon receive a tuner, as stated by Linn officials. The whole price for this gear goes up to the hefty sum of $28,000; pretty much one could say. Nevertheless let us not forget what we’re dealing with here and remember that we’re actually talking audiophile, very high-end equipment from one of England’s best and most revered manufacturers, widely recognized as an emblem for utmost quality.

The CD player in the Akurate System plays standard CDs, DTS-Audio CD, SACD and DVD-Audio discs and it thus offers one complete disc-center for your enjoyment. The Linn Kontrol preamp is in fact more than meets the eye as it sports no less than 12 outs, 6 digital and 6 analog and is able to handle high-resolution formats such as Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Pro Logic II, DTS surround and DTS 96/24.

Finally, the 2200 amp blasts the whole sound through some of the niftiest loudspeakers available with the Linn proprietary 3K driver array grouping the midrange, tweeter and super-tweeter in a closely-packed baffle for incredible sound. Now, if you think the Akurate could suit your quarters, run fast to the bank and get a loan. Get a bigger one, as you may actually want a Linn turntable as well…

Microsoft has made one step forward with the evolution of the two-factor authentication technologies associated with the Windows operating system. The efforts that Microsoft has poured into building the Windows Smartcard Framework (WSF) translate into the company’s vision of generalizing the usage of PKI smart cards and tokens. In the past, the Redmond company has focused on delivering smart card minidrivers designed to integrate seamlessly with Smart Card Base CSP and Smart Card KSP. Now, David Cross the Director of Program Management for Windows
Security, announced the availability of the Smart Card Minidriver Certification program.

“The creation of a certification program for smart card mindirivers and smart cards is one of the key pillars of Microsoft’s Windows Smartcard Framework and part of Microsoft’s ongoing and broader investment in security. The smart card minidriver certification program was developed by Microsoft’s Smart Card Certification Center in the Ireland based European Development Center. The certification program was developed in close cooperation with the smart card industry to ensure an appropriate quality that meets the needs of Microsoft, IHVs and the issuers and users of smart cards,” Cross explained.

Currently, the smart card minidriver certification program is available for X86, X64 and IA64 architectures and for Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Vista. According to Cross, the initiative will create a general quality standard for V5 smart card minidrivers. At the same time, both the minidrivers and the smart card will be eligible to receive the “Works with Windows Vista” logo. Furthermore, Microsoft will also distribute the minidrivers through Windows Update.

“To participate in the program, smart card IHVs should open a Winqual account, review the Windows Logo Requirements for Smart Card Minidrivers, download the Windows Logo Kit (WLK) from, test their card minidrivers against the certification kit in the WLK and submit these drivers through Winqual once the smart card minidriver passes all the tests. The submission and publication of the smart card minidriver can be managed through the Winqual portal. The smart card minidriver specifications, along with certification requirements are available from WHDC,” Cross concluded.