Well, it's out in the open now. Jonathan Dudas, the Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), vowed that the U.S. government will “fight

Z4CK - Which was previously mentioned by A42 has made it to paperback. Z4ck is the 'magic bullet' created by Duncan Steele which allows him to bypass any network security. Framed for a murder he did not commit, and hunted by government agencies, Duncan must use all of his skills to survive, and clear his name. The first 6 chapters of the book are FREE in PDF, Plucker or Palm DOC format. The full electronic version price has now changed and is $3, about the cost of a good coffee! With costs for the paperback at $11, you can get more info at http://www.z4ck.org

In the article, Expunging the myths of open source, Richard Stallman is interviewed and gives his perspective - once again - regarding Free Software, and the use of the phrase 'Open Source'. He makes a case that just using 'Open Source' as a phrase describing Free Software has eroded some of the founding principles.

While the 'value' of Open Source is apparent to many, the real issue may in fact be that, when talking about Open Source, the whole topic of freedom doesn't come up. On many

Nat Brown, a Microsoft executive for nearly 10 years, has joined a company specialising in open-source media software. What's interesting here is not that he left Microsoft, and not that he joined an Open Source company - but the reason that he left Microsoft:

The ZDNet commentary by Dan Farber, Ballmer security pitch leaves skeptics unswayed, is worth a read, if only for one thing which Steve Ballmer of Microsoft apparently said.

At the top of his list: engineering fewer vulnerabilities into software and educating users on how to stay more secure.

Did Ballmer actually say that? Because if he did (and even if he didn't), software engineers around the world should be giggling. Why? Because nobody is supposed to be engineering vulnerabilities into software in the first place. Either Ballmer said it, or said something similar to it, or Dan Farber may have a perspective on Microsoft's work which was not affected by Ballmer's words. What does that say?

In December, 2002, Microsoft released an infamous study on the Total Cost of Ownership. It was odd to say the least, with wacky comparisons (you can read the PDF here), but now the German firm Soeren Research has apparently answered with vigor.

Oddly, I can't find Soeren Research on the internet - but you can read the article here.

Here's the link, and here's the commentary. While some people are off chanting about Freedom, some are seeking balance which is a move toward Freedom. And the Balancers seem to be making progress. As of the latest news in from around the world, the chanters are becoming better at chanting.

It's a matter of time before a certain popular figure is lobbying WIPO to change it's name because 'IP' is misleading. Perhaps WPCTO would be better? But how do you pronounce

The Governments of Argentina and Brazil are taking the World Intellectual Property Organization to task - you can read their proposal in English, French and Spanish - all in Adobe's proprietary PDF format. Or, if you prefer plain text, you can read it in English here. An excerpt:

It looks like Bill Gates has been equated to Satan by Iranians;

When it comes to GNU/Linux, there's always an ongoing struggle between server and desktop ability. Server needs XYZ, and either desktop doesn't need it or needs instead YZX. It's a constant problem within the main problem itself: Mainstream success of GNU/Linux.

That's why Tom Adelstein's article, Defining the Linux Enterprise, is such an interesting read for those who understand what is going on - or think that they do. The problem isn't a community problem, it's a business problem - and yet as a business problem, it's a community problem.