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15th Anniversary: Behind Wired's Story Behind the Microsoft Antitrust Case
,----[ Quote ]
| When John Heilemann began working on a book about Silicon Valley in 1998, he
| discovered that he was hitting up many of the same sources as a group of
| lawyers from the Department of Justice. The DOJ, of course, was building its
| antitrust case against Microsoft, and Heilemann wanted in: "I started calling
| around and got the assistant attorney general to let me inside a lot of the
| case — as long as I didn't write anything until the trial was over."
`----
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/magazine/16-08/st_15microsoft
Some people introduce politics:
Labour is like Microsoft
,----[ Quote ]
| The Conservatives, on the other hand, have been closer to Google, with the
| search firm flying David Cameron over to California to speak at its Google
| Zeitgeist conference. Cameron insider Rachel Whetstone, the other half of
| strategist Steve Hilton, is a Google vice-president. Shadow Chancellor George
| Osborne, meanwhile, has been promoting the idea of using open source
| software, something of which Google has been very supportive.
|
| Many companies are ditching Microsoft servers and switching to Google Apps,
| and people who once voted Labour are switching party colours. Both in
| politics and in IT, we're in for interesting times.
`----
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/alex_singleton/blog/2008/07/22/labour_is_like_microsoft
Related:
UK Government: Closed Minds on Open Source
,----[ Quote ]
| To its eternal shame, the UK Government uses far less open source than most.
| Worse, it seems to have a closed mind to the whole idea. That's evident in
| the guidelines that have been released to aid in the interpretation of
| amendments to Computer Misuse Act (CMA) of 1990 with respect to “unauthorised
| access to computer material” (aka cracking)...
`----
http://www.computerworlduk.com/community/blogs/index.cfm?RSS&entryid=329
The UK has wasted over $4 billion on failed IT projects since 2000
,----[ Quote ]
| The Guardian is reporting that the United Kingdom government has flushed over
| £2 billion (More than US$4 billion) since 2000 on failed IT projects. IT
| projects fail.
|
| [...]
|
| And imagine if before the UK government went into these projects if it's cost
| of failure was hugely mitigated upfront by zero licensing costs and the
| chance to fully evaluate technology before adopting it.
|
| It's called open source. Heard of it?
`----
http://blogs.cnet.com/8301-13505_1-9840497-16.html
UK gov sets rules for hacker tool ban
,----[ Quote ]
| A revamp of the UK's outdated computer crime laws is long overdue. However,
| provisions to ban the development, ownership and distribution of
| so-called "hacker tools" draw sharp criticism from industry. Critics point
| out that many of these tools are used by system administrators and security
| consultants quite legitimately to probe for vulnerabilities in corporate
| systems.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/01/02/hacker_toll_ban_guidance/
Lawmaker blasts U.K. government on Microsoft policy
,----[ Quote ]
| "A member of Parliament of the United Kingdom has launched a stinging
| attack on the U.K. government's IT strategy, saying that it has given
| Microsoft too much control.
|
| John Pugh, who is a member of Parliament, or MP, for Southport and a
| member of the Public Accounts Committee, was speaking in an
| adjournment debate on Tuesday that he had called. The aim of the
| debate, he said, was to explore the alternatives to using Microsoft
| software, including open source."
`----
http://www.news.com/Lawmaker-blasts-U.K.-government-on-Microsoft-policy/2100-1012_3-6212721.html
Patient info ends up on eBay
,----[ Quote ]
| The Dudley Group of Hospitals NHS Trust is trying to find out how one of its
| computers full of confidential medical information was sold on eBay.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/09/17/patient_data_ebay/
iSoft in critical condition as NHS trusts seek alternatives
,----[ Quote ]
| The government's vision of an integrated computer system for the
| NHS is coming apart at the seams as NHS trusts are to start looking
| for alternative IT suppliers, The Guardian reports.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/05/nhs_upgrade_alt/
Microsoft in the NHS
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| Microsoft is one of the key technology firms in the £6.2 billion NHS
| IT programme. It is working particularly closely with iSOFT ...
`----
http://www.e-health-insider.com/comment_and_analysis/index.cfm?ID=69
Prescription for an I.T. Disaster?
,----[ Quote ]
| In 2002, the British government embarked on a $12 billion effort to
| transform its health-care system with information technology. But
| the country's oversight agency now puts that figure at $24 billion,
| and two Members of Parliament say the project is "sleepwalking
| toward disaster."
`----
http://www.baselinemag.com/article2/0,1540,2058194,00.asp
NHS computer boss failed IT exams
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| Mary Granger is amazed that her son was put in charge of a £20bn
| project to transform the NHS's computer system. She is less
| surprised that his 'Connecting for Health' project is over-budget,
| behind schedule and threatening to become the biggest IT disaster
| in history.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=35685
NHS Scotland pools budget for Microsoft savings
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| NHS National Services Scotland forecasts it will save up to £8m over
| three years from a new procurement deal with Microsoft
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/10/30/scottish_nhs_microsoft_procurement_deal/
Accenture escapes £1bn penalty for NHS walk-out
,----[ Quote ]
| Accenture, the IT and consultancy firm has avoided huge penalty fees for
| withdrawing from the UK National Programme for IT (NPfIT).
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/29/accenture_nhs_penalty/
,----[ Quote ]
| 'An NHS primary care trust has launched an investigation after a laptop
| containing names, addresses and dates of birth of 11,500 children was
| stolen from its offices'
`----
http://www.computerworlduk.com/management/security/data-control/news/index.cfm?newsid=2376
http://snipurl.com/1e08q
Accenture: NHS failure is 'track record for success'
,----[ Quote ]
| After months of negotiations, Accenture handed contracts worth £2bn over
| to rival Computer Sciences Corporation after getting paid just £110m
| for spending a third of the allotted 10 years on the job. Its hand had
| been forced by losses of $450m it was set to make on the deal this
| year.
`----
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2006/09/28/accenture_failure_success/
CfH refutes computer failure claims
,----[ Quote ]
| "Very often they are not major incidents as such, but could be caused when
| a patient administration system is running slow or there may be problems
| with the local network. The severity level is attributed by the user and
| this is subsequently very often down graded or amended."
|
| Many of the incidents that have been reported by CfH include failure of
| the systems used by surgeons to see X-ray pictures on a computer screen
| in wards and operating theatres. On some occasions the system is believed
| to have crashed during an operation, forcing surgeons to suspend the
| procedure while a hard copy of the X-ray is found.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/19/cfh_defends_itself/
NHS Direct all better
,----[ Quote ]
| NHS Direct is back online this afternoon after going on the sick
| with a server error earlier today.
|
| According to Netcraft, the Windows 2000 server at the bargain
| basement hypochondriac magnet modern, accessible public healthcare
| resource was rebooted today. See here.
|
| Whatever malady did for the box, it was "unexpected", as the message
| on the site explained for most of today.
|
| NHS Direct was unavailable for comment at time of writing.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/10/nhsdirect_back/
Confused BBC tech chief: Only 600 Linux users visit our website
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| Ooops. Highfield goes on to say that these users should be seen in the
| context of the vast majority, who run Windows.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/11/02/highfield_bbc_linux_website_users_bafflement/
BBC on the iPlayer
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| An interesting podcast with Ashley Highfield, Director Future Media &
| Technology....Clearly there’s a vast amount of money to be made by
| selling “DRM” solutions to gullible old media companies. It is sad that the
| BBC, who don’t even have to protect their profits, do not have the collective
| brains to see through this scam. Perhaps there is light at the end of the
| tunnel? -- "Where do we go from here? … The solution then is to say either we
| look at a future beyond DRM or we’re going to find it very hard to put our
| content onto open source solutions."
|
| But he is just teasing - they don’t actually look at this future, so I guess
| their choice is to not put their content onto open source solutions!
|
| [...]
|
| I think he needs to add Parliament to his list of people to work better with,
| after the recent lunacy from Lord Triesman
`----
http://www.links.org/?p=269
Interview with Mark Taylor, Pres. of UK Open Source Consortium, by Sean Daly
,----[ Quote ]
| Q: Now, when you say a smoking gun, what exactly do you mean?
|
| Mark Taylor: Well, the -- (laughter) -- the thing is, the iPlayer is not what
| it claimed to be, it is built top-to-bottom on a Microsoft-only stack, the
| BBC management team who are responsible for the iPlayer are a checklist of
| senior employees from Microsoft who were involved with Windows Media. A
| gentleman called Erik Huggers who's responsible for the iPlayer project in
| the BBC, his immediately previous job was director at Microsoft for Europe,
| Middle East & Africa responsible for Windows Media. He presided over the
| division of Windows Media when it was the subject of the European
| Commission's antitrust case. He was the senior director responsible. He's now
| shown up responsible for the iPlayer project.
`----
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20071021231933899
BBC Corrupted
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| Today the BBC made it official -- they have been corrupted by Microsoft. With
| today's launch of the iPlayer, the BBC Trust has failed in its most basic of
| duties and handed over to Microsoft sole control of the on-line distribution
| of BBC programming. From today, you will need to own a Microsoft operating
| system to view BBC programming on the web. This is akin to saying you must
| own a Sony TV set to watch BBC TV. And you must accept the Digital
| Restrictions Management (DRM) that the iPlayer imposes. You simply cannot be
| allowed to be in control of your computer according to the BBC.
`----
http://defectivebydesign.org/blog/BBCcorrupted
The trainwreck-waiting-to-happen that is UK government IT spending
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| Think about that. Think about what this means: eight vendors have a
| tremendous amount of leverage over the taxpayers of the United Kingdom.
|
| [...]
|
| The UK, in other words, is a captive of its IT vendors. That is shockingly
| wrong.
`----
http://blogs.cnet.com/8301-13505_1-9777862-16.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=TheOpenRoad
The [UK] politics of open source
,----[ Quote ]
| There's been a suggestion of a shift towards open source in the
| houses of government in the UK recently, with the Conservative
| Party promising to promote open source if elected and the incumbent
| Labour Party releasing the code behind its new carbon footprint
| calculator under the General Public License.
`----
http://www.businessreviewonline.com/os/archives/2007/07/the_politics_of.html
Lessig: Required Reading: the next 10 years
,----[ Quote ]
| Yet governments continue to push ahead with this idiot idea -- both Britain
| and Japan for example are considering extending existing terms. Why?
|
| The answer is a kind of corruption of the political process. Or better,
| a "corruption" of the political process. I don't mean corruption in the
| simple sense of bribery. I mean "corruption" in the sense that the
| system is so queered by the influence of money that it can't even get
| an issue as simple and clear as term extension right.
`----
http://www.lessig.org/blog/archives/003800.shtml#003800
Governments slammed for anti-competitive software tendering practices
,----[ Quote ]
| A leading Australian open source advocate has called for an end for to
| tender lock-outs of competitors to Microsoft, claiming the practice
| is costing Australian taxpayers tens of millions of dollars each
| year.
`----
http://www.itwire.com.au/content/view/11496/53/
Open-source evolves from 'nerdy' to notable
,----[ Quote ]
| Last January, Host Europe, a company that runs the Web sites for 120,000
| businesses in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, secured an unlikely supplier
| for the open-source software it uses to run almost all of its computer
| servers.
|
| [...]
|
| "I think that the adoption of open source has been much greater in some
| of the Continental markets and in the United States," said Mark Brier,
| an open-source technician at the National Computing Center in
| Manchester, England, a nonprofit group that advises government
| on computer purchases. "Here there is no large-scale adoption."
|
| Scott Thompson, the executive director of OpenAdvantage, a
| nonprofit group in Birmingham, England, that promotes open-source
| software among businesses in the West Midlands region, said the
| spread has been limited by outmoded government procurement rules
| that favor larger, established proprietary vendors, government
| outsourcing of technology operations to companies with relationships
| to proprietary vendors, and the well-funded defense of proprietary
| software makers.
`----
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/07/03/technology/source02.php
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