IBM to support OpenDocument format

December 6th, 2005

IBM’s “Workplace” will support the OpenDocument format according to ZDNet.uk They’re expected to aggressively promote their Workplace hosted productivity suite to governments in developing markets. The software will support OpenDocument early next year. The Workplace suite gives people ways to edit documents through a web browser. Files are stored on the server and there, rules can be set to allow/share/disallow access.

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Is the EFF helping? Which side?

December 6th, 2005

The Register has an opinion piece today on the EFF, claiming that they’ll lose their case against Sony. They go back through the history of the EFF and it’s “successes?” or not… in the realm of attempted protection against IP overprotection.

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The perils of Metadata in documents

December 5th, 2005

Loose lips sink ships, so the old saying goes. These days documents are emailed back and forth and many times, revisions are made to “polite the text” up or “sanitize” or “redact sensitive information”. With many file formats though, the metadata about the revisions (or even the old versions of the data itself) are still there. The Security Fix has a great article on the topic today.

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More on the Sony XCP DRM (Rootkit)

December 5th, 2005

Freedom-to-tinker.com has some good detailed analysis on Sony’s (mis) use of GPL software in their XCP DRM (Digital Rights Management) software that’s been at the center of somewhat of a firestorm the last couple months. DRMS was the source of the code that was allegedly misappropriated, but the puzzle was why a Digital Rights Management removal bit of software was used in Digital Rights Management software to begin with…

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Mars was once a hostile environment?

December 5th, 2005

This is just funny to me (as if it’s inviting now….) Rover’s find evidence that Mars was once hostile.

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How accessible is the Open Document Format?

December 5th, 2005

Part of the big debate in Massachussetts over the Open Document Format has been it’s accessibility by persons with disabilities. The opponents have maintained that it will increase the difficulty of those people with disabilities in gaining access to vital public information. It’s also claimed that a Microsoft solution would be more accessible.

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Microsoft conceds on ActiveX changes to appease Eolas

December 5th, 2005

Microsoft will be releasing an update to Internet Explorer that changes the way embedded ActiveX controls are loaded. The method of loading embedded controls was at the heart of a lawsuit against Microsoft from smaller Eolas Technologies.

Software affected by the patent would include Macromedia Flash, QuickTime, RealOne Player, Acrobat Reader, Sun’s Java Virtual Machine, and Windows Media Player among other applications that embed into Web pages.

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AIM worm in the wild

December 5th, 2005

There was an article in the last few days about Instant messengers being a tempting new vector for viral infections… Well…. Incidents.org has information on a new AIM worm seen in the wild. It doesn’t travel via a security hole, but uses the good old standby of social engineering to get from place to place.

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XBOX 360 classaction suit?

December 5th, 2005

Microsoft has been sued by an XBOX 360 owner over the overheating/locking up issues that have previously been reported here and other places around the web. He is looking for classaction status for the suit. Microsoft maintains that only 3% of shipped units seem to suffer the problem and that’s low for an electronics device product release.

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Rhapsody welcomes other operating systems

December 5th, 2005

There was a time when you had to download Windows-only software to access Rhapsody (an online music service owned by real networks.) However, that has changed. It’s a move that I’m glad to see as a linux user, but just in general it makes sense that they can open it up to anyone with a web browser.

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