Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> espoused:
> Britain: E-Mail Time Capsule in Works
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
>| Now the British Library is appealing to ordinary Britons for their
>| e-mails, saying it wants to create a snapshot of British life in 2007.
>|
>| [...]
>|
>| The e-mails will be collated and indexed by Microsoft Corp., which
>| has previously partnered with the library to digitize books from
>| its archive, and they will be available to researchers before
>| the year's end.
> `----
>
> http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070503/britain_e_mail_archive.html?.v=1
>
> You might ask why they are 'in bed' together. Have a look at the link below.
> Like the BBC, their little relationship with Microsoft is used to shut out
> those who do not pay 'Windows/Vista tax'. It is information the public
> actually pays, but requires Microsoft's tools to view.
You are kidding? Who on earth is agreeing to these deals? This is a
most appalling level of corruption. I wonder just how much of my tax
money has been handed over to Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates whilst they
create a system which I cannot access.
Perhaps there is an opportunity here, though - how about sending, for
example, the debian mailing lists for archiving? A good campaign here
could bring this Microsoft/British Government Corruption problem to a
head.
>
> In other news, find out why Microsoft loses money (and where), in case you
> think that their latest trick indicates good financial health:
>
> Microsoft to Challenge Attorney Fees
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
>| Attorneys representing Microsoft Corp. in an Iowa class-action
>| lawsuit said Thursday they plan to challenge the $75.5 million
>| in fees and expenses sought by plaintiffs' attorneys.
> `----
>
> http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070503/microsoft_trial_fees.html?.v=1
>
> That is just one lawsuit among so many. Settlements aside...
>
>
> Related:
>
> Vista and British Library put da Vinci online
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
>| Microsoft and the British Library have digitised two of Leonardo da
>| Vincis' notebooks.
>|
>| [...]
>|
>| The British Library has created an updated version of its application
>| called "Turning the Pages" which allows people to browse parts of
>| its 150 million piece collection via a web browser. We heard how
>| this works better using Vista.
> `----
>
> http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/30/vinci_notebooks_vista/
>
> This needs Windows Vista to access.
>
>
> Publish And Perish
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
>| Alexander Rose, the executive director of the futurist Long Now
>| Foundation, worries about the impermanence of digital information.
>| "If you save that computer for 100 years, will the electrical plugs
>| look the same?" he asks. "The Mac or the PC--will they be around?
>| If they are, what about the software? " So far there's no business
>| case for digital preservation--in fact, for software makers like
>| Microsoft, planned obsolescence is the plan.
>|
>| "The reality is that it's in companies' interest that software should
>| become obsolete and that you should have to buy every upgrade,"
>| Rose says. We could be on the cusp of a turning point, though, in the
>| way businesses and their customers think about digital preservation.
>| "Things will start to change when people start losing all of their personal
>| photos," Rose said.
> `----
>
> http://www.forbes.com/2006/11/30/books-information-preservation-tech-media_cx_ee_books06_1201acid.html?partner=yahootix
> http://tinyurl.com/yyjqoh
>
>
> Before the loveaffair with Microsoft:
>
> British Library calls for digital copyright action
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
>| In a manifesto released on Monday at the Labor Party Conference
>| in Manchester, the United Kingdom's national library warned that the
>| country's traditional copyright law needs to be extended to fully
>| recognize digital content.
>|
>| "Unless there is a serious updating of copyright law to recognize
>| the changing technological environment, the law becomes an ass,"
>| Lynne Brindley, chief executive of the British Library, told ZDNet
>| UK.
> `----
>
> http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6119043.html
--
| Mark Kent -- mark at ellandroad dot demon dot co dot uk |
| Cola faq: http://www.faqs.org/faqs/linux/advocacy/faq-and-primer/ |
| Cola trolls: http://colatrolls.blogspot.com/ |
|
|
