Dr. Bill | The Computer Curmudgeon

Well, it has happened! Sun Microsystems announced that it is releasing all of Java under the GPL! Wow!

Sun Pours Out Java Cup

“Sun on Nov. 13 released at www.sun.com/java all versions of Java—Standard, Enterprise and Micro Edition—under GNU GPL (General Public License) Version 2.0. Sun will maintain its commercial license and its CDDL (Common Development and Distribution License) in a multiple-license menu for certain customers that have already built systems based on previous contracts. ‘This undoubtedly is the largest single open-source contribution in the history of IT,’ Rich Green, executive vice president of software for Sun, said in an interview here. ‘It’s the mental final step for Sun and Java.'”

The next release of Ubuntu is already under development. And, this time they are concentrating on user experience more than “back end” development.

Ubuntu 7.04 (Feisty Fawn) Release Dates

Mark Shuttleworth says of “Feisty”: “The main themes for development in this release will be improvements to hardware support in the laptop, desktop and high-end server market, and an aggressive adoption of emerging desktop technologies. Ubuntu’s Feisty release will put the spotlight on multimedia enablement and desktop effects. We expect this to be a very gratifying release for both users and developers. Edgy has been a wild ride, with some remarkable achievements (nothing like re-inventing and substantially improving on init!) Feisty will be a little more focused on features that are very visible to end-users.”

OK, OK, I know, the podcast normally comes out on Saturday… but I am out of town… and hope to get it done this evening… hang in there! I should be back in town later this evening. And, I have some good stuff!

Well, first it was Office, now Vista. Microsoft has released the product to manufacture. Will YOU use it?

Microsoft Releases Windows Vista To Manufacturing

“Microsoft on Wednesday released Windows Vista to manufacturing, marking the end of the operating system’s five-year, and often difficult, development cycle. ‘This is a good day,’ said Jim Allchin, the co-president of the company’s Windows division, in a press conference Wednesday morning. ‘An hour ago we signed off [on the RTM build]. We’re ready to ship.’ The announcement, which was presaged in leaks from several Windows tipsters and analysts beginning last weekend, means that Microsoft has wrapped up its work on the Vista code, or at least the core code. Work can continue, for instance, on add-ons, including drivers, which will be delivered at launch or after via the Windows Update automatic update service. ‘RTM [release to manufacturing] signifies the next step and the next phase for Vista,’ said Allchin, who added that the torch had been passed to computer makers, which will install the OS on new PCs, and third-party software developers. Allchin also confirmed that Vista would release to corporate customers with volume license agreements before the end of November and that the next-generation OS would meet the previously-set deadline of January 2007. ‘January 30, in fact,’ said Allchin.”

An IBM sponsored study shows: At least in the server world, Linux has won. Web servers and database servers remain the dominant applications, but development environments are now among the most popular systems in production, meaning the trend toward Linux and Open Source applications should accelerate, according to a Blog by Dana Blankenhorn on ZDNet.

read more | digg story

What is “the Windows Tax?” Well, evil Microsoft has an agreement with every PC maker saying that they WILL install Windows on every PC sold. So, what if you are buying a PC to install Linux on it? Well, you still have to pay Microsoft’s evil “Windows Tax” and you end up owning a copy of Windows whether you want it or not! So, what if you went to the trouble to PROVE that you didn’t use Windows and demanded the “tax” be returned to you? Well… guess what? A guy in England actually did it!

Dell customer gets Windows refund

“Dell today gave freelance programmer and sysadmin Dave Mitchell, of Sheffield, UK, a refund of 47 pounds ($89) for the unused copy of Microsoft Windows XP Home SP2 bundled with his new Dell Inspiron 640m laptop, Mitchell says. Dell also refunded the tax, for a total of £55.23 ($105).”

Wow! What if we all did this? I suspect the numbers for Windows sales would go down, and the installed base of Linux would go up from a statistical point of view!

And what does Microsoft get? Good question. They deal is supposed to make Microsoft technology work better with Linux. Microsoft says that it is doing this based on their own customer’s demand. Check this out:

Microsoft Paying Novell $348 Million in Linux Deal

“SEATTLE — Software maker Novell Corp. (NOVL) said on Tuesday Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) will make two separate up-front payments totaling $348 million to the company under an agreement to allow Novell’s open-source Linux software to work with Windows. Microsoft will pay Novell $240 million up front in subscription fees to allow the world’s largest software maker to use its Linux software. Microsoft will pay an additional $108 million up-front for use of patents, Novell said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.”

$348 MILLION! It does make you think. What is Microsoft up to? Linux itself is free and Open Source. SuSE Linux is just one company’s version based on free source code. Things to make you go, “Hummmmmm.”

Bat-tang! Take that Microsoft!

IBM Linux Commercial

Remember the series of IBM commercials for Linux where “Linux” was metaphorically a little kid? Well, I didn’t see this one at the time… but check out this video. It rocks!

Wow! (Tongue firmly in cheek.) Microsoft Office 2007 has finally been sent to manufacturing! And, it is expected to cost “eleven-dy billion dollars!” And, it is so bloated that you have to have a super computer to run it! OK, I jest… but not by much!

Office 2007 Goes Gold

Honestly, I use OpenOffice. It is FREE! And, it does everything I need in an “Office Suite.” Yeeesh.

OpenOffice.org