GhazaliRidzwan.com publishes a range of articles related to the Web and open source. http://www.ghazaliridzwan.com/cms Wed, 08 Sep 2010 19:42:39 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://www.ghazaliridzwan.com/cms/images/M_images/rss20.gif http://www.ghazaliridzwan.com/cms GhazaliRidzwan.com publishes a range of articles related to the Web and open source. http://www.ghazaliridzwan.com/cms/BLOGS/Open_Source/I%2C_open_source_robot/ Urbi (http://www.urbiforge.org/), software that powers (among others) to existing robots (http://www.urbiforge.com/index.php/Robots/Custom) that were not designed around it.The head of the French-based producer of Urbi, Gostai founder Jean-Christophe Baillie (http://www.gostai.com/about/team/), made the announcement back in May at the IEEE Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) (http://icra2010.grasp.upenn.edu/) in Anchorage, Alaska, where Gostai was a gold sponsor.Gostai isn’t putting all its software under the Affero GPL. It also produces a suite of graphical programming tools for robotics called Gostai Studio, an RTC interface for Urbi called GostaiRTC, and the GostaiNet cloud computing architecture for robotics.Perhaps the most interesting of these is GostaiNet (http://www.gostai.com/activities/consumer/), which allows a number of robots to be controlled remotely from a cloud cluster. All you need are robots equipped with camera, microphone and speaker, and a WiFi router, and you can build your own robot army to take over the living room.Why go open source? To help create compatibility among robots, simply the creation of programs and behaviors, and to extend Urbi into mainstream computing, in parallel and event-driven applications with multiple agents. BLOGS - OpenSource Fri, 20 Aug 2010 08:19:57 +0100 http://www.ghazaliridzwan.com/cms/BLOGS/Open_Source/VA_approaches_open_source_day_of_reckoning/ MUMPS (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MUMPS) experts looking increasingly like an opera audience (aging out), the VA is looking to replace VistA. They like the idea (http://washingtontechnology.com/articles/2010/05/06/industry-group-recommends-open-source-vista-for-va.aspx)of open source, but they have serious questions about things like governance and management of the intellectual property.So, in the way of Washington, they have issued a Request For Information, (https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity mode=form id=83778a74b358710590035ba38fe44328 tab=core _cview=0)hoping the industry can answer its questions.The whole process (http://fcw.com/articles/2010/08/18/va-sees-challenges-in-open-source-development-for-vista.aspx)illustrates why big, proprietary contractors have the upper hand in government procurement. They can put experts onto this RFI, writing sparkling essays (complete with charts) showing exactly why sharing the intellectual property open source creates would be a really bad idea.Open source vendors can’t afford this, because the costs of the effort can’t easily be capitalized into a later contract. Open source doesn’t create million dollar washers. (http://guntotingliberal.com/?p=1800)Yet the advantages for the VA in the open source process are proven. The VA has been benefiting from that process for a quarter century. VistA itself, which has spawned a small open source industry with no help from the VA, is the proof of that.It’s like you have to educate someone on their own invention.The RFI reminds me of how I discovered my own daughter was dyslexic, many years ago. She got a learning game, went through the first level, and instead of going to the next level created a new screen name for herself, going through the same level again. Wash, rinse, repeat.Her dyslexia was eventually repaired, through an education process that emphasized hands-on learning, at which she excelled. She would write her spelling words into shaving cream my wife spread on a glass tabletop. She’s in college now and doing well.But the VA has already gone through this hands-on learning process. Why should they need the benefits explained yet-again?Because that’s how government procurement works. The VA spent most of the Bush years pushing VistA to the sidelines, and even signed a contract for a proprietary lab system from Cerner (http://www.zdnet.com/blog/healthcare/is-the-va-going-proprietary/473). While the VA’s new managers have some open source religion they are still in the position of judges, and need evidence before proceeding.There are experts who can deliver the lesson, like Fred Trotter (http://www.fredtrotter.com/2010/08/13/prior-art-for-the-billingnetwork-patent-troll/). Unfortunately Fred is currently fighting a patent troll (thanks again, Justice Roberts (http://www.zdnet.com/blog/open-source/the-roberts-court-innovation-tax/6820)).Medsphere (https://medsphere.com/) could deliver the lesson, but they’re pretty busy these days filling orders. They do have an interesting white paper out on how they’re upgrading MUMPS with Java (https://medsphere.com/ovid-white-paper), but I suspect the VA wants more of a 10,000 foot view.So consider this a call-out to my friends at the Linux Foundation (http://www.linuxfoundation.org). These boys need a re-education. If you do it right, you can educate enterprises of all sizes. BLOGS - OpenSource Thu, 19 Aug 2010 09:54:24 +0100 http://www.ghazaliridzwan.com/cms/BLOGS/Open_Source/Oracle_suit_overwhelms_Ubuntu_launch/ Mark Shuttleworth (http://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/455) had his launch of Ubuntu 10.10 hijacked by the Oracle suit (http://www.zdnet.com/blog/open-source/shuttleworth-oracle-dooms-its-prospects-in-open-source-business/7181).We had a good excuse, however. Ubuntu 10.10 will support multitouch, the technology at the heart of another lawsuit, the one Apple filed against HTC (http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/apples-htc-lawsuit-is-it-biting-off-more-than-it-can-sue/31565)over its inclusion in Android. Software patents are not legal in Europe, where Ubuntu developer Canonical is based.Shuttleworth may argue now that Ubuntu’s implementation will be far more sophisticated than what Apple uses on the iPhone, a touch language (http://docs.google.com/View?id=dfkkjjcj_1482g457bcc7) that could resemble computing commands in their complexity (http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-20013760-264.html).Apple may claim a patent on its mousetrap, but can it claim to control all methods for catching mice?On the Canonical blog all this is referenced (http://blog.canonical.com/?p=414) as uTouch 1.0, a multitouch and gesture “stack” that will include a gesture recognition engine (https://launchpad.net/canonical-multitouch/utouch-grail)and an API (https://launchpad.net/canonical-multitouch/utouch-geis). The post said the work began with Ubuntu 10.04 LTS. Several prototypes are already being tested.The move to multitouch, however, brings up other questions:What devices is Ubuntu now designed for? Am I supposed to poke my fingers onto a flat screen and use a keyboard at the same time?Is the mouse now dead?So is Ubuntu abandoning the desktop, or laptop market? Will mine be the last keyboard standing?What does this have to do with Ubuntu’s perceived strength, as a server system (http://www.zdnet.com/blog/perlow/ubuntu-linux-i-like-it-but-it-doesnt-like-me/13750)?In his blog post Shuttleworth insisted multitouch can be as useful on a desktop as well as on a phone or tablet. The code will be published on Launchpad under the GPLv3 and LGPLv3.Rather than single, magic gestures, weâre making it possible for basic gestures to be chained, or composed, into more sophisticated âsentencesâ. The basic gestures, or primitives, are like individual verbs, and stringing them together allows for richer interactions. Itâs not quite the difference between banging rocks together and conducting a symphony orchestra, but it feels like a good step in the right directionStill, I’m writing this story leaning back in a chair, a screen over a yard from me, two arm lengths away. Unless you can let me make gestures in the air it’s not happening. Unless, of course, I change my relationship to the device.Alternatively I could replace my mouse with a multitouch pad, connected via a USB port. Even then I would have to match my actions on the pad to what is happening on the screen. This is beginning to feel less like a step up and more like the first requirements of a new skill set.Something tells me users are going to be learning some interesting Italian gestures to use in reference to their software.You know which ones. BLOGS - OpenSource Wed, 18 Aug 2010 09:05:30 +0100 http://www.ghazaliridzwan.com/cms/BLOGS/Open_Source/The_deafening_silence_in_the_Oracle-Google_lawsuit/ Sturm-und-Drang (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturm_und_Drang)over the Oracle-Google suit, there are some voices notably absent.The Free Software Foundation (http://www.fsf.org/) has not issued a press release. Neither has the Linux Foundation (http://www.linuxfoundation.org). Nor the Open Invention Network (http://www.openinventionnetwork.com/). Linux Defenders 911 (http://www.openinventionnetwork.com/linux911.php) has not replaced its penguin “bat signal” with a Drudge-like police strobe.It’s the mystery of the dogs that don’t bark. Why? (Aren’t these things from Babykind in the UK cute? (http://www.babykind.co.uk/babyshoesinchbluebeachbabe.htm))You might reply, elementary my dear Watson. This isn’t really an open source issue. Google is using Java ME, not the GPL version of Java, in Android.Most reporters, of course, have gone all Inspector Lestrade (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inspector_Lestrade) on this story. (I include myself in this condemnation.) We are buying the Google line (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/08/16/google_oracle_android_lawsuit/). Or predicting the end of open source (http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Linux-and-Open-Source/Oracle-Suit-Against-Android-Threatens-Open-Source-Existence-224135/). Depending on our views and preconceptions.Without taking a firm stand on the merits of the case, Groklaw is also stoking the fires (http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20100813112425821), writing that the end result of all this needs to be the end of software patents, which are now proven to hamper innovation. “Groklaw will cover this litigation soup to nuts,” they add.Surprise.Individual advocates are speaking up, of course. Florian Mueller, who agrees with Groklaw on the evil of software patents, is attacking the OIN (http://fosspatents.blogspot.com/2010/06/oins-linux-system-only-constant-is.html#suggestions). Bradley Kuhn says it’s a black mark against both Java and Google, as well as software patents (http://ebb.org/bkuhn/blog/2010/08/16/oracle-google.html).But as I paged through all the news analyses (http://blogs.forbes.com/taylorbuley/2010/08/13/android-lawsuit-is-really-just-oracle-flirting-with-google/?boxes=techchannellighttop)yesterday (including our own (http://www.zdnet.com/blog/open-source/oracle-sues-android-hours-after-posing-as-open-source-advocate-at-linuxcon/7146?tag=mantle_skin;content)), each using the controversy to promote their own agenda (page views in my case (http://www.zdnet.com/blog/open-source/oracle-aims-to-destroy-open-source-software-industry/7172?tag=mantle_skin;content)), a very strange thought occurred to me.Could this be the anchor baby of open source advocacy? (You were wondering when those slippers would come back into the story, weren’t you?)That is, could this suit be a nonsense meant to rile people up, for the sake of riling them up, more for partisan advantage than anything else, for light rather than heat, because we can.Until I hear something official from people who really matter — folks like Eben Moglen, Jim Zemlin, and Keith Bergelt — my suspicion of that is going to grow. BLOGS - OpenSource Wed, 18 Aug 2010 08:10:34 +0100 http://www.ghazaliridzwan.com/cms/BLOGS/Open_Source/Shuttleworth%3A_Oracle_dooms_its_prospects_in_open_source_business/ Oracle’s ill-advised patent infringement case against Google will backfire, and hurt its prospects in the growing open source business market.That, according to Ubuntu creator and Linux giant Mark Shuttleworth, is the natural outcome of Oracle’s case against the Linux-based Android operating system.Shuttleworth, who stepped down as Canonical’s chief last spring to focus on the technical development of Ubuntu Linux, was more than happy to weigh in on the patent infringement case filed late last week.Here’s the entirety of  Shuttleworth’s comments, submitted by request to ZDNet this week:Oracle has significantly undermined its relationship with the open source and developer community. That may or may not have an immediate impact on its bottom line, but it’s going to present real challenges for the pace of adoption of key Oracle technologies, like Java and MySQL, which have traditionally been led from the bottom up. Developers have been the drivers of adoption of open source platforms, and they will avoid platforms that look like patent traps.Major software houses have historically been promoters of softwarepatents, they have said that patents will help them defend theirmargins, and protect their incumbent position on lucrative markets.Microsoft, for example, spent much of the last decade threatening suitsto keep Linux out, and attempting to generate revenue from its patentportfolio. But looking at the numbers, it’s apparent that patent suitshurt the largest software companies the most - they are the ones who areobliged to ship new products to large numbers of users, and are mostvulnerable to patent attacks. Meanwhile, being focused on the defense ofexisting markets is a recipe for missing out on the next opportunity,something that Microsoft feels very keenly today. The largest software companies in fact stand to benefit from reducingthe scope of patents in the software industry. Oracle may well be thelast to realise that. BLOGS - OpenSource Wed, 18 Aug 2010 01:28:51 +0100