Microsoft “apre” solo parzialmente il suo formato XML

Slashdot | Microsoft Partially Opens Proprietary XML Format: "Groklaw has an article up reporting that Microsoft is going to open up their XML representation of the DOC format in response to Massachusetts' demand for open formats. According to Groklaw there are some interesting caveats involved in the move. From the license: 'We are acknowledging that end users who merely open and read government documents that are saved as Office XML files within software programs will not violate the license'. While opening up the format even partially is a good idea, it's still a far cry from folks being able to write programs that create DOC-compatible files."

P2P e pirateria: gli artisti indipendenti sono a favore del P2P, parla Terence Trent D’Arby

Slashdot | Indie Artists Support Peer To Peer: "the Associated Press has a good story on indie artists voicing support for file sharing networks. While not a new topic on Slashdot, it's great to see musicians speaking out about the value of p2p as an alternative channel for reaching audiences. Choice quote from Veiga's article, on what it's like to pass muster before a mainstream media company: 'For Sananda Maitreya... online music distribution gives him the freedom he says he lacked when he was signed with a major label in the 1980s under his former name, Terence Trent D'Arby. Back then, Maitreya recalled, committees had to sign off on any music released. 'The Beatles could not have faced that criteria and come up with anything other than the most mediocre, conservative music,' said Maitreya."

Ancora su tatuaggi e copyright

Tatoo artist stakes a claim on Rasheed Wallace's arm - 02/15/05: "'When you buy a painting, then you own the painting. But if you want to reproduce the painting in a book, if you want to have it be the central part of a commercial, then you have to pay a licensing fee,' said Lydia Loren, a Lewis & Clark Law School professor who teaches intellectual property law."

EFF: tatuaggio e copyright (e non è un pesce d’aprile)

EFF: Deep Links: "...According to this AP story, the man who put a tattoo on the right arm of Pistons forward Rasheed Wallace is suing to stop Wallace from 'displaying' his artwork in ads for Nike basketball shoes... Over the past year we've unfortunately witnessed some absurd examples of copyright overreaching... and now the suggestion that athletes should cover their tattooed arms if they wish to avoid lawsuits. Rarely has the need to defend fair use been so vividly illustrated. For more examples of such overreach, check out the definitive reference tome, David Bollier's Brand Name Bullies."

Software di sicurezza Symantec fallato e vulnerabile

Security software insecure

Symantec said some of it anti-virus software has holes in it. The company admitted its Norton Antivirus, Norton Internet Security and Norton System Works, 2004 and 2005 editions, were so flawed hackers could quite easily sneak in and knobble computers running the software.

Japan’s Information-Technology Promotion Agency told Symantec about one situation with both Windows versions of Norton AntiVirus 2004 and 2005, where a real-time scan of a specific file type can cause the Blue Screen of Death to appear. The programs’ Auto-Protect and SmartScan features were found to be faulty and susceptible to Denial of Service attacks. Red-faced company engineers released patches for the holes and distributed updates to users of its LiveUpdate automatic update service.

Symantec said it assessed the Risk Impact of the discoveries as low.

BBC: ancora pericoli per i file Microsoft Word “pettegoli”

BBC NEWS | Technology | Warning over Microsoft Word files: "...Writing a Microsoft Word document can be a dangerous business, according to document security firm Workshare. Up to 75% of all business documents contained sensitive information most firms would not want exposed, a survey by the firm revealed...90% of those companies questioned had no idea that confidential information was leaking.

...Sensitive information inadvertently leaked in documents includes confidential contractual terms, competitive information that rivals would be keen to see and special deals for key customers...The problem is particularly acute with documents prepared using Microsoft Word because of the way it maintains hidden records about editing changes.

...Poor control over the editing and amending process can mean that information that should be expunged survives final edits. Microsoft, however, does provide an add-on tool for Windows PCs that fixes the problem. 'The Remove Hidden Data add-in is a tool that you can use to remove personal or hidden data that might not be immediately apparent when you view the document in your Microsoft Office application,' says the instructions on Microsoft's website... A tool for Apple machines running Word is not available.... on average, 31% of documents contained legally sensitive information but in many firms up to three-quarters fell in to the high risk category... Problems with documents could mean trouble for firms as regulatory bodies step up scrutiny and compliance laws start to bite, said Mr Pearson."

Apple Mac: The lost 1984 video, Part 3

The lost 1984 video, Part 3: "the complete TV broadcast of the Macintosh introduction in 1984 as a solid 425 MB MPEG-4 file"

Bill Gates giura che il suo software è/sarà “interoperabile”: ma con quale altro software?

Gates vows 'interoperable' software: "Gates vows 'interoperable' software

...The email, which was sent to all Microsoft customers, had King Bill promising to work much harder to make his software work with the operating systems that are competing with his.... this would mean a dramatic turn around for Microsoft... Last time a similar email was sent out was to announce Volish plans to improve the security of the company's software. We all know how serious he was about that then.

He has launched a Web site devoted to interoperability... Gates says that open source software encourages the proliferation of different software systems, making it harder to integrate them with other proprietary systems.

Many Microsoft products already work with other non-Microsoft products, and the company will build more interoperability into the design of its products, Gates said. However there was no word on whether he would order Volish products to work on Linux systems."

Bancomat della Wells Fargo abilitati al Web e basati su Windows. Cosa potrà mai andare storto?

Slashdot | Wells Fargo Web-Enables ATMs: "Wells Fargo has completed a five-year project to Web-enable its 6,200 ATMs in 23 states. Now the ATMS will be Windows based rather than OS/2 based. Avivah Litan, an analyst at Gartner Inc., in Stamford, Conn., said the move to Windows-based systems is 'not great news for the security of the system. I'm sure there's a lot of holes that will be created because of this.'"

[IxT] Bollino obbligatorio per i tatuaggi sotto copyright

Se avete amici o amiche che amano sfoggiare tatuaggi in spiaggia, quest'estate tenete presente l'ultima novità: quelli del copyright si sono accorti delle violazioni del diritto d'autore di certi tatuaggi e vogliono tassarli.

Tutti i dettagli sono in questa storia che ho scritto per Zeus News:

http://www.zeusnews.it/news.php?cod=3995

Ciao da Paolo.

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(C) 2005 by Paolo Attivissimo (www.attivissimo.net).
Distribuzione libera, purché sia inclusa la presente dicitura.