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Mozilla redrafts open-source licence
From the Updates Available dept.:
Mozilla has announced plans to redraft the open-source licence underpinning projects such as Firefox.
..."The spirit of the licence has served us well by helping to communicate some of the values that underpin our large and growing community. However, some of its wording may be showing its age," said Mozilla on its FAQ page.
"Keeping both those things in mind, Mozilla is launching a process to update the licence, hoping to modernise and simplify it while still keeping the things that have made the licence and the Mozilla project such a success."
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Mozilla borrows from WebKit to build fast new JS engine
From the Vroom VROOM! dept.:
Mozilla's high-performance TraceMonkey JavaScript engine, which was first introduced in 2008, has lost a lot of its luster as competing browser vendors have stepped up their game to deliver superior performance. Firefox now lags behind Safari, Chrome, and Opera in common JavaScript benchmarks. In an effort to bring Firefox back to the front of the pack, Mozilla is building a new JavaScript engine called JägerMonkey.
The secret sauce that will drive Mozilla's new JavaScript engine engine into the fast lane is some code borrowed from Apple's WebKit project. Mozilla intends to bring together the powerful optimization techniques of TraceMonkey and the extremely efficient native code generator of Apple's JSCore engine. The mashup will likely deliver a significant boost in Firefox's JavaScript execution speed, making Mozilla's browser a formidable contender in the ongoing JavaScript speed race.
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'Severe' OpenSSL Vulnerability Reported
From the One Ping Only dept.:
Computer scientists say they've discovered a "severe vulnerability" in the world's most widely used software encryption package that allows them to retrieve a machine's secret cryptographic key.
...The scientists, from the University of Michigan's electrical engineering and computer science departments, said the bug is easily fixed by applying cryptographic "salt" to an underlying error-checking algorithm. The additional randomization would make the attack unfeasible.
An OpenSSL official, who asked that his name not be published, said engineers are in the process of pushing out a patch and stressed the attack is difficult to carry out in real-world settings.
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A Fresh Look for Ubuntu
From the UI dept.:
The new style of Ubuntu is driven by the theme "Light". We've developed a comprehensive set of visual guidelines and treatments that reflect that style, and are updating key assets like the logo accordingly. The new theme takes effect in 10.04 LTS and will define our look and feel for several years.
...We're drawn to Light because it denotes both warmth and clarity, and intrigued by the idea that "light" is a good value in software. Good software is "light" in the sense that it uses your resources efficiently, runs quickly, and can easily be reshaped as needed. Ubuntu represents a break with the bloatware of proprietary operating systems and an opportunity to delight to those who use computers for work and play. More and more of our communications are powered by light, and in future, our processing power will depend on our ability to work with light, too.
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Elements of Firefox overhaul arrive for testing
From the Competition dept.:
Mozilla, faced with new competitive pressures, has begun work on three separate, significant changes to Firefox.
First is a new JavaScript engine that--with a transfusion from the project behind Apple's Safari--should run Web-based programs at least 30 percent faster. Second is a new graphics engine for Windows that will take advantage of hardware acceleration for graphics and text. And third is a programming tool to help bring to fruition a new system for Firefox add-ons.
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Microsoft Was Behind Google Complaints To EC
From the Share Our Pain dept.:
A lawyer for Microsoft confirmed that the software giant told the US Department of Justice and the European Commission how Google’s business practices may be harming publishers, advertisers and competition in search and online advertising.
Dave Heiner, vice president and deputy general counsel at Microsoft, wrote in a blog post on 26 Feb. that in meeting with government agencies to discuss its recently approved search deal with Yahoo, Microsoft officials explained how Google has tilted the mechanics of the search advertising business in its favor.
“As you might expect, the competition officials asked us a lot of questions about competition with Google—since that is the focus of the partnership,” Heiner wrote. “We told them what we know about how Google is doing business. A lot of that entails explaining the search advertising business, which is complex. Some of that inevitably gets into Google practices that may be harming publishers, advertisers and competition in search and online advertising.”
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US government rescinds 'leave internet alone' policy
From the Yeah, More Committees! dept.:
The US government’s policy of leaving the Internet alone is over, according to Obama’s top official at the Department of Commerce.
Instead, an “Internet Policy 3.0” approach will see policy discussions between government agencies, foreign governments, and key Internet constituencies, according to Assistant Secretary Larry Strickling, with those discussions covering issues such as privacy, child protection, cybersecurity, copyright protection, and Internet governance.
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When using open source makes you an enemy of the state
From the Enemy of Crap Software dept.:
... the International Intellectual Property Alliance, an umbrella group for organisations including the MPAA and RIAA, has requested with the US Trade Representative to consider countries like Indonesia, Brazil and India for its "Special 301 watchlist" because they use open source software.
What's Special 301? It's a report that examines the "adequacy and effectiveness of intellectual property rights" around the planet - effectively the list of countries that the US government considers enemies of capitalism. It often gets wheeled out as a form of trading pressure - often around pharmaceuticals and counterfeited goods - to try and force governments to change their behaviours.
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Xerox sues Google, Yahoo over search patents
From the Copy n Paste dept.:
Xerox Corp has sued Google Inc and Yahoo Inc, accusing them of infringing the document management company's patents related to Internet search.
In a lawsuit filed last Friday in the U.S. District Court in Delaware, Xerox said Google's Web-based services such as Google Maps, YouTube and AdSense advertising software, as well as Web tools including Yahoo Shopping, infringe patents granted as far back as 2001.
Xerox seeks compensation for past infringement and asked the court to halt the companies from further using the technology.
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The Billion Dollar Kernel
From the Fractions dept.:
The Linux kernel would cost more than one billion EUR (about 1.4 billion USD) to develop in European Union. This is the estimate made by researchers from University of Oviedo (Spain), whereby the value annually added to this product was about 100 million EUR between 2005 and 2007 and 225 million EUR in 2008. Estimated 2008 result is comparable to 4% and 12% of Microsoft's and Google's R&D expenses on whole company products.
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