Category: Computers, Science & Technology

Now there’s a headline that is fun to type!

Enterprises saving millions of dollars with open source

“Organizations are saving millions of dollars on IT by using open source software. In 2004, open source software saved large companies (with annual revenue of over $1 billion) an average of $3.3 million. Medium-sized companies (between $50 million and $1 billion in annual revenue) saved an average $1.1 million. Firms with revenues under $50 million saved an average $520,000. Asked to categorize all the benefits (cost savings and other) from open source, most companies said they were moderate or major. Some 70% of large firms are seeing moderate or major benefits from open source. Of the companies under $1 billion in revenue, 59% are seeing major benefits.”

Wow! And, check out the stats in this example that the author of the entry (Matt Asay) uses:

“I would argue that the cost savings in the larger organizations is even more substantial. As but one anecdotal example, Alfresco recently talked with a prospect where Microsoft had quoted them tens of millions of dollars for a simple intranet application. The same application built with Alfresco would run the prospect $100,000 (and that’s if they really, really tried hard to spend the money).”

Now THAT’S some REAL savings! Open Source rocks!

First let me say that this post is ALSO just my own harebrained opinion and does not necessarily represent reality! So… here’s the deal:

Today I have received a “cease and desist” official registered letter warning me to correct one of my old (circa 2005) blog posts. Please note, that at the time of the post (in 2005) I saw the letter in the post as an “interesting” Internet e-mail that was circulating at the time… as you can read in the post itself, I did not attest to it’s accuracy at all. I did say that as a CNHP I believe that butter is much healthier for you… and I stand by that… but, there are those that say that as a Natural Health guy, I am a loon anyway… so what do I know! The letter was from the “Margarine Protection Squad” (not their real name) … but an industry group… they referred me to the American Health Association and such (like that would impress a renegade natural health guy like me!) Anyways… here’s a link to Snopes statement “correcting” the letter that was circulating back then… which I did post here… only as a “isn’t this wild” view of computer circulated stuff… yeeesh! The things people get in an uproar about!

Link 1 – Snopes Correction

Link 2 – Break the Chain – Chain Letter Correction Site – Urban Legend “Debunking”

So, “A” this is not written by me… it is a flaky Internet e-mail I got and thought was interesting… and “B” I am a widdle ol’ computer nerd with a computer interest blog… anything I believe about butter vs. margarine is simply my personal opinion anyway! So, does “the man” get to control my opinion… well, since I don’t want any lawsuits, and I don’t personally care about the topic anyway… I DISAVOW ALL KNOWLEDGE AND THINK THAT THE LETTER THAT WAS CIRCULATED VIA E-MAIL WAS A CROCK! So there. I didn’t write it… I got it in a spam message… please don’t sue me… please??! OK??

Here’s a link to the original post:

Link to the “Evil” Margarine VS. Butter Post

The next big release of Microsoft’s server OS is going to be a mite late!

Microsoft Delays Windows Server 2008, Needs ‘More Time to Bake’

“In the clearest sign to date that not all is well in the state of Redmond, Microsoft cheerfully announced this morning that the release date for Windows Server 2008 is being pushed back to Q1 2008. Citing the delay as a part of an ‘open and honest dialogue about the development process of a product of this magnitude,’ a spokesperson for the Windows Server development team posted on its company blog this morning, just after 11:00 am Eastern time, that WS2K8 will likely be one of the features of a rollout event that was already scheduled for February 27, originally slated to feature Visual Studio 2008 and SQL Server 2008. The reason, the spokesperson said, had something to do with barbecue. ‘Why? Well, as you know, Microsoft’s first priority is to deliver a great product to our customers and partners,’ the spokesperson wrote, ‘and while we’re very happy with the feedback we’re getting and the overall quality of the latest product builds, we would rather spend a little more time to meet the high quality bar that our customers and partners deserve and expect.’ Then quoting something program manager Alex Hinrichs told her, she added, ‘It’s like a brisket. It just needs a little more time to bake.'”

Wow. If it is true. Wow.

‘We have broken speed of light’

“A pair of German physicists claim to have broken the speed of light – an achievement that would undermine our entire understanding of space and time. According to Einstein’s special theory of relativity, it would require an infinite amount of energy to propel an object at more than 186,000 miles per second. However, Dr. Gunter Nimtz and Dr. Alfons Stahlhofen, of the University of Koblenz, say they may have breached a key tenet of that theory. The pair say they have conducted an experiment in which microwave photons – energetic packets of light – travelled ‘instantaneously’ between a pair of prisms that had been moved up to 3ft apart. Being able to travel faster than the speed of light would lead to a wide variety of bizarre consequences. For instance, an astronaut moving faster than it would theoretically arrive at a destination before leaving. The scientists were investigating a phenomenon called quantum tunnelling, which allows sub-atomic particles to break apparently unbreakable laws. Dr. Nimtz told New Scientist magazine: ‘For the time being, this is the only violation of special relativity that I know of.'”

The podcast is running late because we had Ben’s birthday celebration this past weekend… it was quite a production… details will be revealed soon… and some photos… it was a superhero/geek fest! I may do a special, mini-podcast and then catch everybody up on the next one with all the geeky cool happenings! Suffice it to say it was a day long birthday adventure based on Stan Lee’s “Who Wants to Be a Superhero?” TV show on the SciFi Network!

Totally off topic… but one of the funniest things I have heard this week! (I will preface this by saying that I have a cat, so maybe that is why it struck me as SO funny!)

“There’s a difference between cats and dogs… dogs have masters… cats have staff.”

Too much!!! (And, so very true!)

Looks like iTunes may have a bit o’ competition! And, competition is good for consumers, so I say, “Bring it on!”

Big names sign up to iTunes rival

“Some of the world’s biggest record labels including Universal and SonyBMG have begun selling music through a new download service, challenging Apple. Customers can buy tunes through Gbox at the same price charged by market leader iTunes – 99 cents a track. Music fans can download tracks direct from Gbox or from the online retailer Amazon. However, only US customers can currently make use of the service. Gbox will also benefit from a special advertising deal with Google. The adverts, which will appear when a user searches for a particular term, such as the name of an artist, will link to the Gbox site. However, the search engine giant will get standard advertising fees rather than a cut of sales under the arrangement.”

Celebrate our 100th podcast (tomorrow!) with our official “Dr. Bill 100th Podcast Commemorative Mug!” Awww… come on! You KNOW you want one! Don’t want to shell out the measly $12.99 to get one? Well, we are giving away TWO of them! Enter the contest by clicking on the link below!

ENTER THE CONTEST!

OR, you can buy lot’s of cool “Dr. Bill” stuff at our own Cafepress Store! Click on the link below to check our cool stuff out!

The Dr. Bill Product On-Line Store!

The world’s most insecure operating system is getting a BOATLOAD of updates this week! Get ready to do some downlowding!

Microsoft’s Mega Batch Of Patches, The Second Largest In 2007

“IT managers and techs may want to reschedule any plans they had for fun in the sun for the rest of the week. In its monthly Patch Tuesday release, Microsoft (MSFT) issued the second-largest bunch of fixes this year — patching vulnerabilities that will affect anyone using Windows, according to Amol Sarwate, manager of the Vulnerability Research Lab at Qualys. Microsoft released nine security bulletins, fixing a total of 14 vulnerabilities. Eight of the bugs are critical; four are rated important, which is the next rung down on the risk scale; and two are rated moderate. The fixes address flaws in Windows, Windows Media Player, Windows Gadgets, Office, Excel, Internet Explorer, Visual Basic, Virtual Sever, and Virtual PC. ‘Today was the biggest patch day in the last five or six months,’ said Sarwate, noting that the patches affect three or four core components. ‘We haven’t seen this many critical patches since February. And we have the largest amount of applications affected. Anyone using Windows will be impacted by this.'”

Remember how it raised fear, uncertainty and doubt about Linux? Seems like a long time ago, huh? Well, now a judge has finally ruled that SCO owns no part of UNIX, and it (SCO) should now die an appropriate flaming death! Hooray for the good guys!

SCO never owned UNIX copyrights, owes Novell 95 percent of UNIX royalties

“Federal district judge Dale A. Kimball issued a ruling on Friday declaring that Novell owns the UNIX copyrights. Kimball’s ruling means that the end is near for SCO’s protracted litigation trainwreck, an epic assortment of lawsuits that have achieved infamy in the tech industry. Judge Kimball finds that Novell never transferred ownership of the UNIX copyrights to SCO during or after a 1995 agreement between the two companies. Judge Kimball’s ruling effectively ends SCO’s ‘slander of title’ lawsuit against Novell, which was based on SCO’s allegation that Novell had wrongfully claimed ownership of the UNIX copyrights. Since Novell is the rightful owner of the UNIX copyrights, ‘there is no basis in the evidence before this court for finding that Novell’s public claims of ownership were a misappropriation or seizure of SCO’s property,’ said Judge Kimball in his 102-page ruling. Confirmation of Novell’s ownership of the UNIX copyrights will also put an end to SCO’s lawsuit against IBM, in which SCO alleges that IBM infringed on UNIX copyrights by incorporating proprietary UNIX code into the open-source Linux operating system. Judge Kimball has determined that, under the terms of Section 4.16(b) of the 1995 Asset Purchase Agreement between the two companies, Novell has the authority to ‘direct SCO to waive its purported claims for breaches of [UNIX] license agreements with IBM and Sequent.'”

so, it turns out SCO owes Novell money. Right! Like SCO will ever be able to pay a dime to anyone! But, they will die… a fitting end.