The Mink Dimension
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The Daily Mink - All the Mink, All The Time, via Syndication

Insecurity By Obscurity

I was so shocked by the way Symantec has left its customers to twist in the wind for five years I had to write down some serious questions about their pcAnywhere advisory this week. Read them on ComputerWorldUK.

(From Wild Mink on Fri Jan 27 23:03:59 GMT 2012)

Insecurity By Obscurity

This week saw a surprising and shocking announcement by Symantec. According to ComputerWorld's Gregg Keizer: Symantec this week took the highly unusual step of telling...

(From Simon Says... on Fri Jan 27 22:46:33 GMT 2012)

OSI Reform at FOSDEM

I was interviewed about my upcoming FOSDEM keynote and gave this concise summary of the background to the changes I’m working on with the Board of the Open Source Initiative.

Why exactly did OSI decide to reorganize its governance from a board-only organization into a member-based structure? How will this new governance allow OSI to address its mission better?

As you’ll read at its website, “the Open Source Initiative is a non-profit corporation with global scope formed in 1998 to educate about and advocate for the benefits of open source and to build bridges among different constituencies in the open source community.” Despite the breadth of that mission, it has focussed almost exclusively on approval of licenses as compliant with the Open Source Definition. The Board felt that it was time to return to that initial mission and work on the broader goals too.

We hope that as a consequence of the switch to a member organisation, OSI will be able to educate, advocate and build bridges as well as continuing as a “standards body for licenses”. Our success opposing CPTN’s attempt to buy Novell’s patents (among other things we did in 2011) has given a hint of the force that could be unleashed for software freedom by having a neutral and uniting venue for education and advocacy.

Come along at noon on February 4th for more.

(From Wild Mink on Thu Jan 26 10:19:07 GMT 2012)

Back To The Library?

There’s a big market for digital books, but I think they’re being sold badly. If eBooks were sold as library loans, maybe I’d like them more – I explain more in my article today on ComputerWorldUK.

(From Wild Mink on Wed Jan 25 15:40:21 GMT 2012)

e-books: You Can't Take It With You

There's a big market for digital books, but I think they're being sold badly, almost to the point of dishonesty. I think it's time the...

(From Simon Says... on Wed Jan 25 15:22:49 GMT 2012)

People’s Choice?

My postings from here and ComputerWorldUK are often reposted at opensource.com by the folk at Red Hat who run the site. They are once again running a “People’s Choice” ballot for all there usual authors, and I’d be rather pleased to get a good score so do please go other and vote for me! Thanks!

(From Wild Mink on Tue Jan 24 19:55:27 GMT 2012)

Blast from the past

I found I still had a blog on java.net, so I’ve posted a quick note about FOSDEM there!

(From Wild Mink on Mon Jan 23 22:12:28 GMT 2012)

Blast from the past

It's been two years since I posted here last, but life has been busy with open source all the same. Having helped a startup with their open source thinking, I'm now independent again and contributing much of my time to the Open Source Initiative (OSI) and to The Document Foundation (TDF), as well as offering open source policy and practice consulting.

That first association with OSI is taking me to FOSDEM in Brussels, Belgium for the weekend of February 3-5 to deliver a keynote on their behalf. I've written in more detail why FOSDEM is a must-attend open source event, but I wanted to alert friends in the Java community to the splendid agenda the Free Java Devroom has to offer. The agenda includes Oracle staff such as Mark Reinhold, Dalibor Topić and Edvard Wendelin, Mike Milinkovic from Eclipse, Stephen O'Grady from RedMonk and real free software hackers like Mario Torre and Andrew Haley. Those latter hackers, by the way, are among the people to whom we owe the existence of OpenJDK, so it's good to value them highly!

I'll be spending some of my time in the Free Java, LibreOffice and Legal Issues Devrooms, so say hi if you visit any of them (or, indeed, my keynote!)

(From Java Mink on Mon Jan 23 20:19:29 GMT 2012)

Wild Again

I am no longer associated in any way with ForgeRock AS. With my renewed independence, I’ve a new startup activity I’m exploring, and I’m open for consulting, speaking and writing engagements during those explorations. Do please get in touch if you have any need of open source policy, process and community consulting.

(From Wild Mink on Sat Jan 21 09:32:20 GMT 2012)

“Get back on the couch and stop creating and sharing…”

This TED video from Clay Shirky is a clear, accessible and compelling explanation of what’s wrong with SOPA and PIPA and why the fight won’t be over if we either defeat them (another bill will be proposed) or neuter them and they become law (that’s just what happened before and these bills still happen). Do watch, it’s 14 minutes well spent.

(From Wild Mink on Fri Jan 20 10:28:45 GMT 2012)

SOPA, PIPA and Open Source

SOPA and PIPA, the poorly-conceived draft legislation currently being considered in the USA, sparked a worldwide protest yesterday. I think they would also be bad for open source, and I explain why over on ComputerWorldUK.

(From Wild Mink on Thu Jan 19 20:21:41 GMT 2012)

Why SOPA and PIPA are bad for open source

The widespread internet blackout yesterday in protest at unbalanced legislation being rushed through the US Congress was dramatic and notable. I did have some questions...

(From Simon Says... on Thu Jan 19 20:13:53 GMT 2012)

OSI Opposes SOPA and PIPA

I was pleased to be able to send OSI’s sign-on to the civil society letter protesting the bad laws being considered by the US legislature at present. You can read more about it on my OSI blog.

(From Wild Mink on Wed Jan 18 23:36:43 GMT 2012)

All About FOSDEM

I’ve posted an overview of FOSDEM, the huge open source developer conference coming up soon in Brussels, on ComputerWorldUK today.

(From Wild Mink on Tue Jan 10 09:45:41 GMT 2012)

Coming to FOSDEM?

One of the most important events of the year for Europe's open source software developers is the Free and Open Source Developers' European Meeting -...

(From Simon Says... on Tue Jan 10 09:00:00 GMT 2012)

Can Mozilla Unify Open Source?

This week saw a quiet landmark in the history of the open source movement with the formal release of version two of the Mozilla Public...

(From Simon Says... on Fri Jan 06 17:46:28 GMT 2012)

Governing By Consent

The news in the UK on Boxing Day (Dec 26) - traditionally the day when country folk go hunting foxes - cast an interesting light...

(From Simon Says... on Tue Jan 03 13:17:41 GMT 2012)

Last Minute Gift Ideas

Stuck for a Christmas gift for someone you love? Why not give them the gift of software freedom? Go grab a CD image of some...

(From Simon Says... on Sat Dec 24 14:30:59 GMT 2011)

Why Java Isn't Dead On Ubuntu

There has been a certain amount of upset finally surfacing as a result of the decision Oracle took over the summer to discontinue packaging Java...

(From Simon Says... on Wed Dec 21 12:28:05 GMT 2011)

The New Digital Divides

The EU is worried that too many people have no internet access, and that's a valid concern that does indeed need attention. But it doesn't...

(From Simon Says... on Wed Dec 14 23:43:24 GMT 2011)

Open Source Trust Abused

The matter has been a unhealed wound for more than six months, but this week the problem that C|Net's Download.Com website has been perpetrating leapt...

(From Simon Says... on Fri Dec 09 18:30:00 GMT 2011)

Koha and Why We Need Foundations

A debate is raging around the value of non-profit Foundations to open source. In the face of well-informed criticism by Mike Rogers of Apache's reluctance...