So, here’s the news.

In a mail response, Skype revealed the intention to open source their Linux client.

[...]
We are happy about your interest in Skype!

We understand that many users complain that there is no Mandriva
version at present.

We are happy to be able to inform you that Skype will from now on be
part of the open source community.

Therefore Linux developers wil be enabled to influence the development
of the Skype client for Linux – which will most certainly result in
specific versions for the different distributions.

We understand the concern of the Mandriva users – on the other hand we
can assure that the indicated versions 8Fedora and static) will work
on a Mandriva system.
[...]

As Olivier points out in his FAQ, that doesn’t probably mean they’re opensourcing the protocol, but still is a great news.

I can easily see a GTK Skype client coming, as well as support from Pidgin and Empathy/Telepathy.

While I find a bit of bitter irony in the timing (now that Empathy is all the rage and has finally voice/video support), but it’s still a wonderful news.

Focusing their business on providing a (proprietary but) open service instead of a closed source client seems a nice step towards the freedom for Skype.
(ps: given their economic situation, they may just be looking for a way to decrease the costs, btw)

Do you welcome the move as I do ?

The release date of Launchpad has been changed from 21st July to July/August.

On https://dev.launchpad.net/OpenSourcing, I recently changed the date
for when the Launchpad.net code is being open-sourced: it now says just
“July / August 2009″, instead of “21 July 2009″.

To be honest I had doubts about Launchpad being opensourced in time, even when I created the countdown banner. What I didn’t guess is that the delay is due to testing on a new Bzr branch format, not really to Launchpad code itself.

Anyway, thumbs up from me: one month makes no big difference. I’m looking forward to the release.

According to https://dev.launchpad.net/OpenSourcing Launchpad will be open sourced in July 21th.

Hey, that’s less than 2 months ! Time to create a nice countdown and stick it on our sites, isn’t it ?

To embed the countdown on your site, simply copy paste the code below:

<object codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,0,0" width="192" height="192" id="countdown"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="sameDomain" /><param name="movie" value="http://countdownpage.createyourcountdown.com/filename=0000gtcd160852b92a2b685c264ee7495ac36127_090605173648" /><param name="quality" value="high" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://countdownpage.createyourcountdown.com/?filename=0000gtcd160852b92a2b685c264ee7495ac36127_090605173648"  name="countdown" width="192" height="192" wmode="transparent" allowScriptAccess="sameDomain" allowFullScreen="false"  codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,0,0"/></object>

How will it be open sourced ?

Completely, with the exceptions of Soyuz (Ubuntu building service) and Codehosting services.

I don’t know precisely what Codehosting is, but I imagine it to be a somewhat replaceable part. Soyuz being kept proprietary, instead, is not really an issue with Launchpad, but one that regards the Ubuntu community.

See the comments on this page to know more about it, including a strong reply from Mark Shuttleworth.

Back in topic

Open sourcing launchpad is a great news (advocated by many people), and I really hope it will bring the dream of federated bugtrackers around the net closer.

I also hope many plugins could be implemented. A wiki one, for example, is much needed.

Also, Canonical will take care of creating a work flow to let the contributions get into the trunk. They’re not just throwing the code around for everyone to see.

This will be the end of a process long months !

After a fair amount¹ of research I found a Free Software Song that doesn’t make me puck. Instead, I find it actually nice.

Download it and let me know what you think about it:

• Fenster band – Free Software Song (4.5 MB)

Also check out the official song page (with all the versions).

1. 5 minutes

As it’s usual for Mark‘s posts, the article is long, well thought and insightful, so I recommend you to read it.

http://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/288

What I’d like to point out is that keeping the discussions on individual blogs doesn’t make very easy for ideas to flow around. In my point of view, we really need a dedicated forum to tackle this kind of issues. (a mailing list could also work, but a forum is a quite more powerful tool)

My idea is that a distribution neutral website should be set up, with a little set of forums dedicated to discuss the issues with fragmentation and how to get rid of them.

Note: please note, I am not proposing to put a website up myself. This should be an initiative and common effort from the respective communities.

To tackle the inevitable noise, those would be memberlist-access forums. Everyone could read them, but only a selected number of people would be allowed to post. Ideally, each of the main distribution leaders would be given access and the ability to add/remove to/from the memberlist any additional person of their choice. For main distributions I mean not only Debian/Ubuntu/Fedora/Suse, but also main derivatives, along with a set of smaller but equally important distributions like Mandriva for example (which demostrated itself to be capable of meaningful innovations).

If an access-list forum seems elitist to you then you’re right, it is. In the same site, another set of publicly writeable forums may be set, to allow ideas random people ideas to be expressed and maybe be picked up and tackled in the private forums. And by the way we should provide a place to allow people to globally flame about Mono and Ubuntu-Debian-relationship, shouldn’t we ?

Shall such a website be done ? Would it help getting rid of the mess ?

I’d keep the forums scheme as simple as:

Access-listed forums

• Announcements
• Discussion
• Development Issues

Public forums

• Announcements
• Discussion
• Development Issues

So what do you think ? Does a place like this already exist ?

IT journals have been quite quick to report OpenMoko‘s death after Sean Moss-Pultz‘s announce at  OpenExpo. It seems to me they’ve been so quick that they missed something. So here is a quick post to quickly make clear a what it needs to. Also, OpenMoko hasn’t put out a Press Release yet, which I believe is a mistake.

I’ve been asked by a friend to make this post, I seem to have many readers these days so perhaps I can help spreading the word out.

Openmoko is not dead

The FreeRunner phone (codename: GTA02)  won’t stop being produced or supported. The GTA03 phone development, instead, will be stopped.

So yes, the GTA03 is dead before being born. Instead the company will work on a Project B, which is going to require less resources and help build capital to pursue further projects (like a new GTA03).

What’s the Project B ? No one knows precisely, by the way, here it is:

So what it appears to be is a little touch tablet. Be it a media player, an e-book reader or a pornographic storage media system, that’s what has been shown by the CEO during the talk.

Why ?

Moss-Pultz was very careful to specify he doesn’t drive a Ferrari, and he doesn’t like to put the crisis forward as an excuse for everything, but – by the way – something happened.

Putting a new product into production means a big investment for the inventory, which is quite a big step for small companies. In other words, OpenMoko is not Apple, Google  or Microsoft.

Expanding the concept, the best from Apple came after they put together enough cash cows to provide them the capital needed for big investments. First came the iPod, then the iPhone. The same goes for every company. And, by the way, we’re still waiting copy-paste and push notifications from them

The choice they had to face:

This could be more explicative:

Essentially, I made the same argument I heard so many times on this list: “How do expect us to buy a GTA03 when you’ve yet to deliver on all the promise of FreeRunner?” And I took the arguments I heard from disty seriously, “how do you expect us to buy FR, when GTA03 is right around the corner?“

And:

Our biggest challenge was to make a choice about how to spend the
balance of 2009.

There were two paths:
A: Fulfill our promises on FreeRunner and launch GTA03
B: Fulfill our promises on FreeRunner and  launch project B.

We will talk more about project B in the coming months, but these
salient facts should be able to guide any budding executives out there.

1. GTA03 was in constant flux as a design.
2. GTA03 schedule was consequently always slipping.
3. The resources required for GTA03 are 3X those required for Project B.
4. We don’t have 3X.

So, we picked plan B.

As you have just read, both the choices won’t affect in anyway the support for the existing phone, which is still being sold.

How to help the project (as a developer) then ?

So, what about GTA03? As it was defined, it is dead. So how do we
get to a new GTA03? Two requirements: continue to improve GTA02; deliver
on project B. What is GTA03 and when do we get there? There are a number
of independent efforts out there that are pitching me ideas for GTA03.
I talked to sean a bit about this and I’d like to try to open up more
of the design process and the marketing process to the community.
Perhaps on a separate list. Some of these discussions have already started.

What can you do to help?
1. Move GTA02 code upstream.
2. Stay Involved.
3. Continue work on applications
4. Buy a FreeRunner.
5. Get involved in GTA03 discussions

Once again: is the GTA03 dead ?

No, it has been postponed. But it’s very likely for the project – once resumed – to be completely re-engineered. So in a way GTA03 is dead. But a new GTA03 project will see the light, some day.

So, in a way it’s dead.

Original sources

So here’s some official sources. Openmoko has been shy about releasing anything officially, but you can read their clarification on the matter in their mailing list.

Also the video of the OpenExpo announce is available for everyone to see:

Click here to see the video on my site

The settlement agreement requires TomTom to remove the infringing parts from its products in 2 years from now.

Software Freedom Law Center noted:

Today’s settlement between Microsoft and TomTom ends one phase of the community’s response to Microsoft patent aggression, and begins another. On the basis of the information we have, we have no reason to believe that TomTom’s settlement agreement with Microsoft violates the license on the kernel, Linux, or any other free software used in its products. The settlement neither implies that Microsoft patents are valid nor that TomTom’s products were or are infringing.

Redhat released the following comment:

Red Hat was not a party to this case. Even so, without a judicial decision, the settlement does not demonstrate that the claims of Microsoft were valid. Patent litigation is a difficult process, and there are many reasons besides the merits of the case that a defendant such as TomTom might have chosen to settle in the present economic environment. As the terms of the settlement license have not, to our knowledge, been made public, it is not possible to comment on their compliance with open source requirements and principles.

While the agreement will provide a certain amount of money for Microsoft, what will the whole story be useful for ?

As RedHat and SFCL note, a settlement does not constitute a precedent in future trials. I can’t think of Microsoft doing that just for money, because that just would confirm the claims about their business model being a dying, and the chance it will just become the next SCO.

OT: oh, and it’s worth nothing sissy-crying about being excluded, when you show such attitude towards other companies.

So, WTF ?

• useless 1-time amount of money for Microsoft (“financial details of settlement not disclosed” – so we may even wonder if MS will ever get a penny)
• still bad PR
• strong incentive for the market to set aside the fuck FAT standard and switch to an open filesystem.

Yeah, because… why does everyone uses FAT ? Because it’s diffused, very operating system can read it and write it. Well, it happens one major vendor – TomTom – has just promised to remove patent encumbered functionality from their products – and wonder what ? They were asked do it from Microsoft itself.

I’m looking forward to see other embedded vendors to join the burden of migration.

That’s all, that was my egg for today .

Splashtop is an instant on embedded Linux which boots in seconds (I mean, 3-4 seconds) and give the user fast access to web-based features as Web Browser, Skype, online gaming and similar stuff.

Actually, the most interesting thing about Splashtop is that, being embedded in the computer’s firmware, it does not substitute to the choosen operative system. It’s just a faster alternative to check the mail, and chat with friends.

Also, while the faq asserts the contrary …

Can I boot Windows in the background while I’m using Splashtop?

Currently Splashtop runs separately from your primary operating system. You’ll have to exit Splashtop in order to launch your operating system. The same is true in reverse as well – you will have to exit your operating system (and restart your computer) in order to open Splashtop.

[ from: http://www.splashtop.com/faq.php#06 ]

… an (entertaining) video caught during a presentation shows Splashtop can be used as a temporary interface to a slower loading operating system (like Win.. well, watch the video).

As probably every of you already heard about this, I am writing this post mostly to reflect with you about the possible medium-term impact Splashtop may have on personal computing.

Here are some points:

It’s loading fast and it’s virtually immune to viruses(*): that means it will appeal a wide range of computer illiterates, that mostly use the computer to surf the web and check the mail. Also, since it loads instantly, may mean it’ll get occasional use even by power users, in the occasions they just need to quickly check their mail or drop a message to someone in MSN/Skype.

(* not true)

Also, Splashtop is already deployed by a handful of mainstream manufacturers, and certainly other are working to get it on their motherboards as well.

A wide adoption may mean for Splashtop to become the most diffused operating system.

While a Linux based operating system riskying to become a de-facto standard on every computer may seem gold, not everything shines. Reflect: if it’s so cool to have already been adopted and everybody likes it so much, how comes they didn’t patent it ?

They did:

Patents:

• Mechanism for intuitively invoking one or more auxiliary
• Method and apparatus for virtualization of appliances

Other (unspecified) patents are pending.

This may open the door to yet another lock in scenario. And possibly even worse than the actual force-Windows-on-every-consumer. Thruth to be said, so far, the approach of splashtop toward developers seems much more open that Apple’s and Microsoft’s, but patents always raise concerns, no matter what:

• as patenting means Splashtop will be the only player in the BIOS-as-OS business
• or will be anyway more cheap than commercial competitors

So, what make this worse than MS monopoly ? For maybe the first time in computing, patents will be possibly able to completely forbid competition in a non-secondary area. That said, I’m no patent expert and probably over-simplifying, that’s just what popped into my mind when I saw those patents referenced on their homepage.

What consequences may Slashtop have on the market ?

Their browser is based on Firefox. This could set Firefox to surpass Internet Explorer in the browser war by using its same weapon: being already installed when the customer first turns the computer on. If Slashtop succeeds, expect to see a great increase in the Firefox share.

Same effect, but much blander for Instant Messaging protocols, which will now play a fair game thanks to the multi protocol client. Skype, also, may see a little boost over MSN, simply because being pre-installed while – I assume – the multiprotocol IM client installed by default won’t support Audio/Video chat.

While many people point that using Splashtop may bring people more used to Linux applications and thus more inclined to switch, I don’t really think so. The splashtop interface doesn’t seem that similar to Gnome’s and Kde’s, and most of the applications that users will get accustomed to, are present on Windows from a long long time.

How will affect power users ?

Power users with the need of mobility are likely to use it quite as much a beginners. The others maybe be pratically unaffected.

Something that should be noted though, is that Splashtop is upgradable. Thus, probably replaceable. That may open the door to a landscape of hacks and possible integration with existing linux distribution, just to wide to be fully grasped in this early stage.

Still, given the patents concerns, it remains to be seen how legal for a Linux distribution will be to ship it’s own Splashtop replacement. Or how legal will it be for an OEM to distribute a Splashtop-like application in place of Splashtop.

Possible competitors

Dell is working on another approach (and I really wonder if it came out as a workaround for Splashtop’s patents). It will embedd an additional ARM processor in their computers, to run it’s own Firmware-Linux-distro (based on – *surprise* – SLED 10 – with full support for *surprise* OOXML).

Running the BIOS-distro onto an alternate CPU allows for a system that doesn’t need to implement any of the mechanisms described in the “Auxiliaries” and “Appliances Virtualization” patents. Basically, you don’t pay for the patents, you pay for having an additional processor.

Conclusions

I came to none . What do you think will be Splashtop’s impact on the market ? How will it affect Linux ?

Microsoft has a majority market share in the new desktop PC marketplace.
This is a bug, which Ubuntu is designed to fix.

Non-free software is holding back innovation in the IT industry, restricting access to IT to a small part of the world’s population and limiting the ability of software developers to reach their full potential, globally. This bug is widely evident in the PC industry.

Steps to repeat:

1. Visit a local PC store.

What happens:
2. Observe that a majority of PCs for sale have non-free software pre-installed.
3. Observe very few PCs with Ubuntu and free software pre-installed.

What should happen:
1. A majority of the PCs for sale should include only free software like Ubuntu.
2. Ubuntu should be marketed in a way such that its amazing features and benefits would be apparent and known by all.
3. The system shall become more and more user friendly as time passes.

I made a tag cloud with the words present in the launchpad page of BUG #1.

Almost all these words comes from the (1000+) comments on the bug page, and provide a quick and interesting view on the mental associations people made when confronted with the problem of competing with Microsoft.

Ok ok, it was just for fun.

Curiosity: the bug is also accessible at https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/liberation because Liberation is the nickname assigned to the bug.

Ps: “Windows work” and “xp years” are quite unfortunate

http://counter.li.org/

Also, publish this invite on your blog if you have one, let’s help the project !