Category Computing

SurfLinks & Spinalonga Downloads

Το cosmix.org τρέχει εδώ και 8 ημέρες σε WordPress 2.1. Oι παρατηρητικοί θα πρόσεξαν πως αυτό σημαίνει πως τρέχει WordPress 2.1 από τη πρώτη στιγμή που κυκλοφόρησε. Το custom theme όπως και τα plugins είναι ευτυχώς — ακόμη — απολύτως συμβατά και η αναβάθμιση έγινε γρήγορα και χωρίς προβλήματα. Επειδή υπάρχει μεγάλος όγκος ενδιαφέροντων links […]

Microsoft attempts to patent core-BlueJ functionality

...And the patent jokes never end. BlueJ, a free educational Java IDE primarily aimed at students, has contained some innovative debugging features for many years. Features that the largest software developer in the world, Microsoft, blatantly copied (without any attribution) a few years ago in its expensive commercial Visual Studio IDE. But copying was not enough for Microsoft; it would really like to patent them as its own, despite the fact that BlueJ has had them for about 10 years. Ah, let's all cry in unison: 'prior art'. Some of the comments on the linked page are very interesting. [Update: The Reg reports that the patent application has been withdrawn.]

Is (Un)FairPlay condemned?

If Norway's ruling is followed by EU members France and Germany [1] it might. On the other hand, Johanssen's work on reverse engineering FairPlay might push Apple towards licensing its technology to third parties anyway. But then again all this might just be wishful thinking.

Almost 14!

The Apple Newton may have been canned by Steve Jobs as part of his efforts to get Apple out of the red in the late 90s, just when the most powerful and promising models were coming out. It might also have been criticised early on for its quirks. Many have openly stated that it was […]

OSS has better economics than proprietary software

...according to a recent EU study. And from its perspective, i.e. that of a multinational organisation aiming towards technological independence, low cost and high-quality software for specific tasks, I agree. Now, all that's left is for the Commission put its money where its mouth is and really sponsor (and promote) Open Source software. No, I mean really.

Sugar, the OLPC UI

I’ve been meaning to do this since mid-November 2006, but only got to do it some days ago. I created a OLPC virtual appliance for my VMWare Workstation 5.5.3 and gave Sugar, the OLPC UI a try. Here’s a short list of what I think of it after a very quick run through its functionality. […]

Μακ, υποβαθμίστηκες. Hello iPhone.

Το trend δεν ήταν κάτι νέο. Τα σημάδια ήταν εδώ και καιρό εμφανή. Από το 2003 και έπειτα η απότομη, τρομακτική για κάποιους αλλαγή της θρυλικής εταιρίας που μόλις πριν από λίγα χρόνια είχε αρχίσει να ευθυγραμμίζεται και να ανακαλύπτει εκ νέου το κοινό της ήταν γεγονός: ο Mac, το βασικό για σχεδόν είκοσι έτη […]

Patent Insanity Redux

"Intertainer was the leader of the idea of entertainment on demand over internet platforms before Google was even thought up". Hmmm, no. Try again: Intertainer is two people and some lawyers trying to make money out of nothing. This needs to change.

Looking for a keyboard.

Ok that’s it. My almost two year old Apple Bluetooth Keyboard officially sucks. Bigtime. It has sucked for a long time now, but I always kept postponing changing it. This is kind of weird, as I recall the thrill I got after using it for the first time, in May 2005. Back then it definitely […]