The Free Software Foundation is reviewing Novell Inc.’s right to sell new versions of Linux operating system software after the open-source community criticized Novell for teaming up with Microsoft Corp.

“The community of people wants to do anything they can to interfere with this deal and all deals like it. They have every reason to be deeply concerned that this is the beginning of a significant patent aggression by Microsoft,” Eben Moglen, the Foundation’s general counsel, said on Friday.

The foundation controls intellectual property rights to key parts of the open-source Linux operating system.

Novell angered members of the open-source community that develops Linux and other free software programs in November when it entered a wide-ranging business deal with Microsoft.

Critics called on the board to punish Novell by banning it from distributing new versions of Linux software, said Moglen.

Source: Reuters

Apple Inc. is urging some iPod and iTunes users to hold off on upgrading computers to Windows Vista, warning that the iTunes music software may not work well with the new operating system from rival Microsoft Corp.

Apple said iTunes may work with many Vista computers, but the company knows of some compatibility problems and recommends that users wait until it resolves the issues with an iTunes update in the next few weeks, the company said in a statement provided Friday by spokesman Derick Mains. The iTunes software is key to synching music on computers with iPod portable players.

Source: AP

Today I decided I’m going to give Google’s social network, Orkut a try. So happily I went and registered as a new Orkut member.

After the long registration I was given the option to search for communities and people. Since I am originally from Israel I typed In “Israel” in the search box and then I was presented with the (shocking) results.

Since my perception of a social network is a place to meet people and create friendships I was surprised to discover that most of the results came back were hate groups talking about how they hate Israel and USA and how they want to destroy the only Jewish state.

To add insult to injury the top result was of a community called “Anti ISRAEL Anti USA Anti WAR” which among other state “HOLOCAUST IS A BIG LIE”, “ISRAEL IS NOT A CONUTRY”, ” BUSH IS A TERRORIST” and other hate messages.

I don’t know what algorithm Google use to sort he search results (See screen shot) but if 7 out of the first 12 link to hate groups, I think that ether they need to change the algorithm so positive communities will rank higher than hate groups or just that Orkut is full of hate.

Anyway I think that for now, until Google will promote peaceful and more positive groups I’ll just shy away from all this hate and try a different, more positive social network.

Viacom Inc. has demanded that Google Inc.’s online video service YouTube pull down all of its video clips after they failed to reach an agreement, the company said.

About 100,000 video clips from Viacom-owned properties including MTV Networks and BET has been asked to be removed.

Source: Reuters

A Microsoft-sponsored open-source project is expected on Friday to release a translator that will convert file formats between Microsoft Office and rival standard OpenDocument, or ODF.

Microsoft started the project at SourceForge last year, relying on three partners to develop the code that lets a user open and save word processor documents in two different formats.

The Microsoft format is called Office Open XML (OOXML), which is the default document format in the company’s recently released Office 2007 suite. The other is ODF, which is backed by Microsoft competitors IBM, Sun Microsystems and Novell.

The plug-in will work with Microsoft’s Word application, including the latest Office 2007 version as well the Office 2003 and Office XP editions, Microsoft said. Once installed, a person can open and save documents in the ODF format from Word.

People can download the software, available under the open-source BSD license, for free from SourceForge on Friday. Microsoft intends to make the software available from its own Web site as well, the company said.

Source: News.com

Amazon.com Inc. said on Friday first-day advance orders for “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” the seventh and last installment of J.K. Rowling’s successful book series, were 547 percent higher than for its predecessor.

Thursday’s pre-orders for “Deathly Hallows” exceeded the first two weeks of pre-orders for its predecessor, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” Seattle-based Amazon said. “Half-Blood Prince,” released in July 2005, generated more than 1.5 million pre-orders on Amazon, the online retailer said.

The final Harry Potter book is slated for release on July 21

Source: Reuters