Reuters - Electronic Arts Inc said on
Monday that Chief Financial Officer Warren Jenson will leave
the video game publisher, which is pursuing a hostile takeover
of rival Take-Two Interactive Software Inc .
AP - MARTHA STEWART LIVING OMNIMEDIA INC. Martha’s Circle launched in November with about a dozen food and lifestyles sites, including Apartment Therapy, The Wednesday Chef and Style Me Pretty. Initial advertisers include Macy’s, Ace Hardware and Bank of America.
AP - Traditional media companies trying to stem the flow of advertising dollars to Google and other large Internet companies are increasingly building ad networks of their own, anchored by their brands.
Reuters - Technology company InterDigital Inc
said on Monday it was in settlement talks with leading
cell phone maker Nokia (NOK1V.HE) and that the companies have
made substantial progress toward resolving all of their
disputes.
InfoWorld - We kick off this month’s review of cool new products from East Asia with a welcome update to the Asus Eee PC. This is the miniature laptop that impressed at least year’s Computex show in Taipei with its neat design, good looks and low price. Now there’s a new version on the way with a bigger screen and more storage space.
Reuters - Electronic Arts and Starz
Media are producing an animated prequel movie to the upcoming
sci-fi horror video game “Dead Space.”
InfoWorld - IBM announced last week that it would integrate a virtual worlds platform into Lotus Sametime , Big Blue’s collaboration software, that will be used by the U.S. intelligence agencies to communicate on key topics such as terrorism.
Reuters - Sony Pictures Home
Entertainment is targeting April 8 as the date it will release
its first batch of Blu-ray Disc titles that can be connected to
the Internet for more bonus materials and features.
AP - Will the HDTV set be the new picturephone? Quanta Computer Inc., a leading contract maker of laptop computers, and OoVoo, a maker of video chat software, are announcing plans Monday to take high-definition videoconferencing to the living room with a gadget that plugs into the HDTV and connects it to the Internet.
AP - Verizon’s fiber-optic service, so far mainly available to suburbanites, is making a big push into Manhattan with a deal to connect an 11,232-unit apartment complex.
Reuters - Electronic Arts and Starz
Media are producing an animated prequel movie to the upcoming
sci-fi horror video game “Dead Space.”
Reuters - Sony Pictures Home
Entertainment is targeting April 8 as the date it will release
its first batch of Blu-ray Disc titles that can be connected to
the Internet for more bonus materials and features.
AP - Chinese authorities said Monday they are investigating complaints that millions of cell phone users were spammed with unwanted text messages from advertisers.
This is different. There is a report by Borys Musielak of PolishLinux.org that Poland met to vote on OOXML on Thursday. Of 45 members of the committee eligible to vote, 24 showed up to vote, and it split almost down the middle, with 12 for, 10 against and 2 abstaining. This is extraordinary, since Poland voted yes in September, despite the technical committee being opposed. I call that progress.
But here is the worrying part: when it became clear that there was no consensus, and it was not going to be a Yes vote, the chairman
“decided to allow the missing members to vote by e-mail during the next 10 days”.
What to make of a process that keeps reinventing itself as it goes along?
Will it be possible to meet the deadline to inform the proper individuals by March 29 now? That is a firm deadline, I think, and while I wrote to Alex Brown, Maho Takahashi, Martine Gaillen and Keith Brannon, the last three at ISO.org, back on March 19th, asking for clarification about the rules, I have yet to hear back from any of them. Given the seriousness of the matter, here are more details about the meeting, as well as the text of my email, as part of Groklaw’s public record of the OOXML saga.
SCO told the truth for sure in at least one respect in its recent 10Q, namely that it expected its legal and other professional fees going forward in the bankruptcy would be substantial:
Furthermore, so long as the Chapter 11 cases continue, we will be required to incur substantial costs for professional fees and other expenses associated with the administration of the cases. A prolonged continuation of the Chapter 11 cases may also require us to seek financing. If we require financing during the Chapter 11 cases and we are unable to obtain the financing on favorable terms or at all, our chances of successfully reorganizing our businesses may be seriously jeopardized.
I take this and other such wording in the 10Q as SCO suggesting that some entity out there might like to settle the litigation, so it can get something instead of nothing. And indeed here comes Dorsey & Whitney filing for their legal services for January, a total of $22,799.25. Mesirow filed its third monthly bill also for financial advice in January and February, and it comes to a total of $82,847.70. It was supposed to be $92,053.00, Mesirow says, but it voluntarily reduced by 10% as a rate reduction. What’s it all for? The breakdown in both bills is fascinating.
I’m very happy to report that despite all the pressure to get India to change its vote, India has stalwartly voted No once again to OOXML. That will, I hope, encourage others to vote what they truly believe is right.
This will help you when you read the article on Arnaud’s Open blog, “Let’s be clear: The Apache Software Foundation does NOT support OOXML”, written to counter all the stories Microsoft reportedly is telling governments and NBs about various companies and projects allegedly supporting OOXML.
We won the Free Software Foundation’s 2007 award, the Award for Projects of Social Benefit. So this is recognition of us as a group.
Harald Welte won the Award for the Advancement of Free Software. The press release says this about our work at Groklaw:
The Award for Projects of Social Benefit is presented annually to a free software project that intentionally and significantly benefits society. Since its start in 2003, Groklaw has evolved into an invaluable source of legal and technical information for software developers, lawyers, law professors, and historians.
We’ve worked so hard together for so long, it is wonderful to have our group work recognized. Dan Bricklin was kind enough to attend for us and convey our thank you, and there’s a picture of him with the award in the press release. FSF’s art designer designed our plaque so charmingly. You can see a picture of it in the press release, but Dan sent me a picture he took, too. Would you like to see it?
New rules for changing your vote on OOXML. Yup. Like we didn’t expect that. I know you don’t want your votes to end up ignored, so here’s what I think you have to do by March 29, and I’ll show you the exact wording on the SC 34 page after that:
1. they’ve added people you must email, and you must copy yourself, so just writing to Keith Brannon is no longer sufficient. You must add Maho Takahashi and Martine Gaillen as recipients of your email, and CC yourself.
2. you have to have a specific subject line on your email: “Modification to the vote on DIS 29500 - Country (National Body/e.g. JISC)”
3. you have to mention the name of the sender in the email.
4. they also say you must inform ITTF of your intention to change your vote in writing by March 29.
I don’t know if that last means you have to do more than just email, or who exactly you’d write to if there is a separate requirement. We get to guess. I’ve written to ask. Here’s the ITTF page, and because it lists the same names, I think that is what they mean, but I don’t know. I’d suggest asking, if it isn’t clear to you either, and if I get an answer, I’ll post it here. If you have a lawyer, ask your lawyer, by all means. It’s terrible that it’s so unclear, but it is what it is. The problem with the Fast Track rules is that they are unclear both before votes *and* after.
SCO’s latest 10Q is now filed, along with a couple of exhibits, Exhibit 10-1 the 2nd Amendment to Lease, that’s the one in New Jersey, and
Exhibit 10-2, 5th Amendment to Canopy Sublease, the lease in Utah.
In this 10Q, SCO cries some more about its sad state, worries about its future, and tells us that the MOU with Stephen Norris isn’t carved in stone. Uh oh. Somebody doing some due diligence? Or were they just kidding around?
Remember I told you I’ve noticed that people who don’t support Microsoft’s agenda end up the victim of smear campaigns?
The New Zealand Open Source Society is reporting that an employee at Microsoft recently sent an email to one of the technical bodies advising an NB involved in the OOXML ISO process, smearing a man’s reputation, Matthew Holloway, apparently to undermine his technical input which was critical of OOXML. Standards New Zealand was took the claims so seriously
that they responded to parties who received this email. The New Zealand Open Source Society has all the gruesome details, and the reason I’m highlighting it here, aside from wanting to help undo a wrong, is because NZOSS request that if the slur, or others like it, has spread to other NBs or advisory bodies that you please direct them to the defense of Mr. Holloway’s good name and reputation by Standards New Zealand on that page. Here’s the request:
We have discovered that Matthew Holloway was badly slurred by a Microsoft employee in an email to one of the bodies advising an overseas standards NB. It is worth noting that our own national body, Standards New Zealand (SNZ), took the claims so seriously that they responded to parties who received this email.We discovered the slur by chance; similar information may be circulating in other countries. If you are aware of this please point concerned parties to this article. SNZ have given us permission to quote this email. I have removed names to protect the guilty parties.
Sad. Why can’t Microsoft just compete fairly, with decency?
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