I was checking out some feeds in my RSS reader, when I came across this little horror. It seems the Microsoft just grabbed a software patent. Okay, nothing new there, but it’s for a system that deliver targetted ads to your PC ….. by scanning the content of your hard drive. I kid you not.

From the Ars Technica article:

“It’s such a tremendously bad idea that it’s almost bound to succeed. Microsoft has filed another patent, this one for an “advertising framework” that uses “context data” from your hard drive to show you advertisements and “apportion and credit advertising revenue” to ad suppliers in real time. Yes, Redmond wants to own the patent on the mother of all adware.”

“The adware framework would leave almost no data untouched in its quest to sell you stuff. It would inspect “user document files, user e-mail files, user music files, downloaded podcasts, computer settings, computer status messages (e.g., a low memory status or low printer ink),” and more. How could we have been so blind as to not see the marketing value in computer status messages?”

I hope they’re just grabbing that patent in a form of pre-emptive self defence, it’s a possibility; after all they wouldn’t really be crazy enough to try running that kind of spyware/adware would they? Mind you, considering their record I find myself harbouring dark suspicions, power corrupts and all that.

*Shudder* This sort of thing is one of the reasons why I run Linux.

Thanks to Peter from The Buddha Diaries, I’ve realised that there is another easy way to install Sitquietly. I’m kicking myself a bit for not realising it sooner and I’ve updated the Sitquietly page with that.

Thanks for the nudge Peter!

I found an excellent article courtesy of OSNews the other day, entitled Does Microsoft have nowhere to run? The article deals with Microsoft and the rise of Linux and the conclusion is one I agree with.

The situation with Microsoft really does remind me of the words of the Tao Te Ching, chapter 76:

While alive, the body is soft and pliant
When dead, it is hard and rigid
All living things, grass and trees,
While alive, are soft and supple
When dead, become dry and brittle
Thus that which is hard and stiff
is the follower of death
That which is soft and yielding
is the follower of life
Therefore, an inflexible army will not win
A strong tree will be cut down
The big and forceful occupy a lowly position
While the soft and pliant occupy a higher place

(Source: www.Taoism.net and Tao Te Ching: Annotated & Explained, published by SkyLight Paths in 2006.)

Microsoft are in the position of trying defend a fairly inflexible position, they’ve painted themselves into a corner with Windows and Office and can’t move quickly enough. In fighting against Free Software, they’re trying the big and forceful thing, and as noted in the article it’s not working.

They’re trying every trick in the book to get things all their own way, the open document standard in Massachusetts in one example, their position pushing software patents is another. I can’t help but think how much more progress could be made if they’d just work with the community, all this energy that’s being put into fighting could be out into building really great software. How much better off would we be?

Just short one this time, I’ve update Sitquietly to V1.0.1. Nothing major, just the short list of changes below. You can find Sitquietly and the links to the latest version on the right hand side of the blog.

Well, I think I’ve earned a cup of tea!

V1.0.1
——-
Added contact details to readme.
Small code cleanups.
Changed contact details in about dialog.
Added contact details and changelog to the online help.

I’ve been a little busy in the background for a while now, programming, refining, testing. The result is my first program written for Linux. It’s called Sitquietly, and it’s a simple meditation timer.

You can see its’ page along the top of my site, I’ve been using it for my own meditation sessions, I think it works well enough to be shared out. I hope to get it into Ubuntu Universe as soon as I can, and I’ll be continuing development of it as I have a few things planned, including selectable chime sounds and maybe even background music. I certainly need to develop the online help and may even throw in a few basic meditation exercises to get people started.

Please give me feedback and let me know what you think, enjoy!

We’ve probably all seen the Get a Mac ads at the cinema or on TV, well Novell have put together a couple of spoof ads for Linux. I think the second one is better, check them out!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtp5gNhBZgo]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVOnFdMf0RU]

Well, I finally upgraded my PC the other day and I’ve got Ubuntu 6.10 back! Know what? It feels good to back on Free Software, I much prefer using Ubuntu to Windows any day of the week!

For me, one of the unexpected bonuses was a music player called “Banshee”. It’s a very good music player, but also contains social aspects in that it talks to the Last.fm social music site about what you’re listening to. The result is on the new box on the right hand side of my blog, it’s the top 10 artists I’ve listened to recently. What the heck, at least you can all have a giggle at my musical tastes now!

It’s been a while since my last post. I’ve been reading a bit of Chaung Tzu recently and his story about the p’eng bird rang a few rather rusty bells. The peng is a huge bird, able to fly huge distances easily, but it’s seen by a small Dove..

A cicada and a young dove laughed, saying, “Now, when I fly with all my might, ’tis as much as I can do to get from tree to tree. And sometimes I do not reach, but fall to the ground midway. What then can be the use of going up ninety thousand li to start for the south?”

The crop of O/S zealots remind me of the dove in this story. This O/S is the best, or that one is the best, there is no middle ground there, they can’t see past their own view point. The thing is that any given Operating System is simply a tool in a toolbox, useful in one situation but maybe not so much in another, each has its own respective strengths and weaknesses.

I feel that the best way lies between the zealots, the middle way. Use each tool as appropriate, don’t think that one tool is the entire toolbox.