From Siliconvalley.com: “As the doldrums continue, the valley’s can-do identity is shaken. Business delegations that once came from countries all over the world, to admire and take notes on the Silicon Valley miracle, don’t come knocking. An unemployed former marketing manager says he is giving up his job search because looking for work brings the same result as not looking for work — no work.”

Anonymous Reader writes “My story is sad, but must be told. If others learn from my sins, my suffering need not be in vain. Eight years ago, I was a successful developer of embedded software on UNIX-variant systems. But circumstances saw me changing career to alternative health care, and getting out of computers completely. After writing a successful book on alternative healing, I realised that subsequent writing would be easier if done on computer, instead of my antiquated Brother Word Processor. This was my turning point. In terms of computing, I was in bad company – living in New Zealand, in which Microsoft holds a 57% stake, with everyone telling me to get a Windows PC. It was then that point my addiction began. Read essay here“

From Wired News: “Afraid that Peru may adopt a bill decreeing the use of open-source software in all government systems, Microsoft apparently enlisted the American ambassador in Lima to help try and convince the Peruvians to kill the legislation.”

Big Mouth Billy Bass is an “animatronic” mounted fish that sings and wiggles. Add Linux to it and you get a more flexible, more interesting singing, wiggling mounted fish, assuming you ever wanted a singing, wiggling mounted fish in the first place. Obviously, someone decided the effort was worthwhile. Read about the project here.

mangeli writes “Gentoo Linux, perhaps the fastest growing new linux distribution, has taken the linux world by storm. Coming out of obscurity only a short time ago, it has leapt into the mainstream of the community and has become one of the top ten distributions. We recently got a chance to interview Daniel Robbins, founder and Chief Architect of the project.”Read the interview here.

– By Mikael Pawlo –
We need to send Mr.
Smith to Washington, D.C. Mr. Smith is in his early 30s,
clean-shaven, wearing a suit with a white shirt and discrete tie. He
polishes his shoes every morning, when reading the Brooks Brothers’
autumn catalogue. And he is a hardcore Linux user.
I loved the story of the tech
activists protesting anti-copying in Washington, D.C. In a round-table
discussion on digital content and rights management (DRM) hosted by
the U.S. Department of Commerce, the New
Yorkers for Fair use participated as audience members and spoke up
on the possible implications of DRM. This is a nice story, and Jay
Sulzberger tells me that the New Yorkers for Fair Use will have a seat on the panel in future discussions. However, this illustrates a problem with the political process. Citizens are rarely consulted outside of
elections. Professional, well-funded lobbyists often set or influence
the agenda in Washington, D.C. While this may be good for corporations
that can afford the lobbyists, it may pose severe troubles for users
and smaller corporations or independent developers.

The current copyright battle is a complicated one, where the
intellectual property protection for computer programs tends to tilt
toward patent protection. The Free Software Foundation chooses not to
consider and discuss some alternatives to the current legislation. I
think The Free Software Foundation could add a lot of experience and
thoughts to such a discourse. Richard M. Stallman, however, seems not
interested in pushing the discussion of copyright further in Congress.
Earlier this year, Stallman
stated that “since Congress shows little inclination to ask me
what to do — I can’t, alas, offer the sort of campaign contributions
that a Microsoft or an Enron can provide — there’s no practical need for
me to think about how to advise them on this question today.”

Meanwhile, U.S. and European authorities and work on the development of
software patents without much opposition to them. The
Eurolinux Alliance does what it can, but we certainly could use
more fire-power and we need to address regulators in Washington, D.C.

When Lawrence
Lessig was in
Stockholm early this summer, he told me that the EU needs to give
the United States a good example of how to reframe the copyright debate. I am
sorry, Larry, but everyone in Europe is looking at the United States now. We are
reading your
books for crying out loud! U.S. regulators are setting the IP and
Internet regulation agenda, without the 200 years of IP history
established in Europe. What some Americans might refer to as Europe’s independent and more sophisticated political culture is
the Wind
Done Gone, without Alice Randall’s wit. I am not as much a
pessimist as Lessig. If Lessig was a character in Winnie the Pooh, he
would definitely
be Eeyore. I do not believe that the public has lost the
copyright battle to the media dinosaurs, but if we do nothing, we will
loose. I can appreciate Lessig’s observation that certain large media
corporations are conducting a regulatory power grab that may stifle
innovation. However, there is no need to watch this happening as
sitting ducks.

The Free Software Foundation should fund a lobbyist. No one else will
represent the Free Software users and developers in Washington on
a day-to-day basis. We may get a little help from Intel and Apple, when
they fight for their own technical freedom from the big five record
companies and Disney and their allies from Hollywood. Still, someone must
explain implications of DRM, the effect of public procurement policies
that mandate proprietary software, dangers of lemon laws for software
and so forth. Software is politics. We need to learn from the New
Yorkers for Fair Use. There is a future for ideas.

If you are reading this, Mr. Smith, I suggest you call Mr. Stallman right
away. He could use your polished grin.

Mikael Pawlo is an associate of the Swedish law firm Advokatfirman
Lindahl. On nights and weekends he works as an editor for the leading
Swedish open source and free software publication Gnuheter. He is also
contributing editor of the Harvard Berkman Center publication on Internet
law issues, Greplaw.org.

“Commentary” articles are contributed by Linux.com and NewsForge.com readers. The opinions they contain are strictly those held by their authors, and may not be the same as those held by OSDN management. We welcome “Commentary” contributions from anyone who deals with Linux and Open Source at any level, whether as a corporate officer; as a programmer or sysadmin; or as a home/office desktop user. If you would like to write one, please email editors@newsforge.com with “Commentary” in the subject line.

Zach Paine writes “Geeks Unite! This event is open to all linux geeks in the Western PA area.

This Saturday, July 27th, the Western Pennsylvania Linux Users Group will be
hosting it’s first ever open source picnic. It will take place at the
Hickory Hills complex in the North Hills (directions below), starting at 4pm.

There will be a pool, so bring appropriate swimming wear (that means you
James!) and towels. There is also a jungle gym if you want to bring
geeks-in-training as well as a volleyball court and basketball court if
people bring basketballs or volleyballs. There are also indoor areas to
hangout, so the picnic will go on, rain or shine.

FOOD! Of course there will be food, provided that people volunteer to bring
some. There is a grill available, so if you can provide meat, that would be
quite helpful. People have already volunteered to bring food, but we still
need more. We also still need more tables and chairs, plates, forks, cups
napkins, drinks, and various other foods. If you can bring any of these
things please contact BethLynn, bluekanary@yahoo.com.

Also, please RSVP to Beth if you are planning to attend. If you are willing
to help set up, please show up between 2:30-4.

There is also a map and directions here.”

LinuxSecurity Contributors writes “LinuxSecurity.com has info on Secure Computing’s position on SELinux.
Secure Computing has reviewed the concerns expressed by the open source community about SELinux and certain Secure Computing patents. We understand that considerable effort has been invested in SELinux, with the expectation that SELinux would be available for everyone’s use. On the other hand, it is the policy of Secure Computing to retain and enforce its rights in all of its patents and other intellectual property.”

Dave B writes: “Sun and Apple are co-operating to produce a Mac port of StarOffice. The port would be java based but take advantage of Apple’s Aqua interface. It is not know how this will affect Apple’s relationship with MS or the future development of MS Office for Mac. C|Net has the story.

http://news.com.com/2100-1001-946714.html?tag=fd_top“

Anonymous Reader writes: “This LinuxDevices.com ‘device profile’ introduces i3 micro technology’s Mood Box, a (Linux-based) stylish ‘next-generation set-top box’ that is intended to fit the decor of homes, upscale hotels, and commercial settings — delivering IP-based live TV, video-on-demand, pay-per-view, music-on-demand, Internet browsing, email, and other interactive services and ‘infotainment’ applications to users’ TV sets. Read it here.”