Free Republic

<p>BOSTON -- With more than $32 billion in sales last year, Microsoft Corp. doesn't usually worry about losing one customer. But this one may be different.</p> <p>In a memo sent last month, Massachusetts Administration and Finance Secretary Eric Kriss instructed the state's chief technology officer to adopt a policy of "open standards, open source" for all future spending on information technology.</p>

India greets H-1B cutback with a shrug By K.C. Krishnadas Bangalore, India - The reduced cap on U.S. H-1B high-tech visas has so far had little impact on India's software industry, but it could put a crimp in the business if the electronics industry recovers in the United States, executives here said last week. The number of temporary visas that the United States can issue annually reverted to historical levels of 65,000 on Oct. 1, when Congress let legislation raising the cap to 195,000 expire. Industry players in India have been worried that a cut, and possible restrictions being contemplated...

Found an admirable tome but it's in praise of the wrong god? Faith Converter is a godsend for priests, vicars, rabbii and holy men of all descriptions. Preach next Sunday's sermon from the Vedas, Noble Eightfold Path, Torah or Das Kapital! The premier theological plagiarism solution for OS X, Faith Converter converts text between ten different religions, encompassing Atheism, Buddhism, Christianity, Communism, Hinduism, Islam, Juche, Judaism, Linux and Scientology. Converted text can be copied, saved or printed. Sample Conversions: "Attend church at Christmas or else God will send you to Hell, with Satan, for not reading your Bible." becomes: "Attend...

Exclusive: IDF training software to go to US forces in Iraq By ARIEH O'SULLIVAN The US military has asked the Israeli army to translate its special educational software program that teaches soldiers how to behave in occupied territories, so US forces can apply it in Iraq, senior Israeli officers said Wednesday. The newly completed completed software teaches the IDF's code of conduct, which is based on 11 principles. These deal with such issues as how to behave at roadblocks, during arrests and searches and with rioters. All are common events soldiers face in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The...

SAN JOSE, Calif. - In a move aimed squarely at Microsoft Corp., Sun Microsystems Inc. is unveiling on Tuesday a suite of software for businesses that want to dump - or just can't afford - the Windows operating system on their companies' desktop computers. The Sun Java Desktop system, which was formerly code-named Mad Hatter, runs on the open-source Linux operating system and includes a variety of programs that replace Microsoft's Internet browser, productivity suite and other parts of the Windows package. In morning trading, Sun shares rose 9 cents, or more than 2 percent, to $3.95 on the Nasdaq...

Veritas Israel providing disaster recovery planning systems to Palestinian Authority Veritas Israel CEO Daniel Daniel: The moment the IDF bombs the PA, it should be ready for a computer crash. Sapir Peretz 8 Sep 03 14:57Veritas Israel is providing computer security and database back-ups to the Palestinian Authority (PA), as part of its disaster recovery planning (DRP) solutions. The products provided are meant to go into operation in case initial infrastructures collapse. Veritas Israel CEO Daniel Daniel said the company had been providing the DRP systems to the PA and to private companies operating in the PA for the past...

China's Red Flag Linux to step onto global stage Alliance with HP strengthened as prelude to worldwide expansion of development effort TAIPEI, Taiwan -- An alliance between Hewlett-Packard Co. and Chinese Linux developer Red Flag Software Co. Ltd. established last month should lead to cooperation between the two companies on technology development and marketing of Red Flag Linux to companies in China and around the world. The announcement, made in Beijing on Aug. 20, strengthens a long-standing relationship between the two companies and represents a milestone in Red Flag's plans to expand its business outside the world's most populous country....

A friend of mine who sold Amway showed me a catalog of historical software that Amway sold under their umbrella of products. Amway no longer carries it. Do you know the name of the developer? Where can I find it?? Thank you Freepers!!

Here is a link to a program that is supposed to help get rid of worm, etc. viruses. Maybe it works okay, maybe not. Any other ideas? Click here.

Sobig.F email work is causing problems!

<p>SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - Scott Kirwin clung to his job at a large investment bank through several rounds of layoffs last year. Friends marveled at the computer programmer's ability to dodge pink slips during the worst technology downturn in a decade. But it was tough for Kirwin, 36, to relish his final assignment: training a group of programmers from India who would replace him within a year.</p>

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - A new type of "smart" machine that could fundamentally change how people interact with computers is on the not-too-distant horizon at the Department of Energy's Sandia National Laboratories. Over the past five years a team led by Sandia cognitive psychologist Chris Forsythe has been developing cognitive machines that accurately infer user intent, remember experiences with users and allow users to call upon simulated experts to help them analyze situations and make decisions. "In the long term, the benefits from this effort are expected to include augmenting human effectiveness and embedding these cognitive models into systems like robots...

A fast-approaching deadline that requires thousands of suppliers to update their communication channels to megaretailer Wal-Mart Stores has become a boon to some software companies. Black & Decker and drugmaker Abbott Laboratories are among a handful of major companies that this week said they have purchased and installed special software to help meet new requirements for doing business with Wal-Mart, the world's largest retail chain, with more than 4,700 stores around the globe. The software is designed to shuttle a daily flow of electronic purchase orders, invoices and shipping notices between companies by using the Internet rather than private networks....

<p>Sometimes in a David and Goliath story, you want to root for Goliath.</p> <p>SCO, a small Utah software company, has made news lately by suing IBM, in its capacity as a big user of Linux. SCO also has its sights on all the other users of Linux, the free operating system that most people consider a bright spot of the modern tech world. Linux, after all, is run by volunteers, and its ever-growing popularity keeps Microsoft up at night. In other words, what's not to like?</p>

A few weeks ago I attempted to follow a link from here to www.hollywoodhalfwits.com. Much to my chagrin, the site was blocked with the following: Forbidden You were denied access because: Access denied by WebWasher DynaBLocator content category. The requested URL belongs to the following category: Hate and Discrimination. When I got home, I checked the site out and found no Hate or Discrimination. I found that this particular website was a conservative forum dedicated to exposing liberals in entertainment and media. The Hall of Halfwits and Hall of Heroes is both good and entertaining. After a little research I...

The expensive, federally mandated "cures" to the election snafus of 2000 are worse than the problem, experts warn. "What we know is that the machines can't be trusted. It's an unlocked bank vault ... a disaster waiting to happen," warns David Dill, a Stanford University computer science professor who has gotten more than 110 fellow scientists to sign a petition urging more accountability in voting technology. The researchers think problems with software systems will result in hacking and even more fraud than usual, with people casting extra votes and poll workers changing ballots undetected. "Techies and election bureaucrats are...

New software translates the cat's meow By CNETAsia Staff CNETAsia July 17, 2003, 8:37 AM PT Japanese toymaker Takara looks set to herald a new age of communication between humans and felines with a device which converts a cat's meows into human speech. The Meowlingual, a gadget which gives cat owners Dr. Dolittle-like powers of discerning their pets' emotions, will be launched in Japan this November, a company spokeswoman told newswire AFP. This announcement comes a year after the firm introduced a similar device--Bowlingual--which translates a dog's woofs into words through voice-pattern recognition. Bowlingual consists of a wireless microphone that...

washingtonpost.com 'AOL Journals' To Bring Blogs To Millions By Leslie Walker Sunday, July 13, 2003; Page F07 The "blogosphere" may never be the same after America Online releases free blog-publishing software to its 34 million members this summer. AOL this month began showing demos of its tools for creating Web logs, or blogs, to veteran bloggers. AOL has dubbed its service "AOL Journals" because its surveys showed that members found the word "blogs" confusing, said Rick Robinson, AOL's vice president for community products.

Did Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden have access to a U.S. computer tracking program that enabled them to monitor our intelligence-gathering efforts and financial transactions? If so, who is responsible for allowing the program to fall into their hands? And who else among America's enemies might have access to the tracking system? It's an explosive spy software scandal that no one in official Washington wants to investigate. This complex, tangled story began two decades ago, when a tiny private company called Inslaw Inc. developed a software package to help U.S. attorneys' offices in large urban districts keep tabs on...

Connecticut's attorney general got the market's attention when he announced his intention to file an antitrust suit against Oracle (ORCL) on Wednesday. But he'd better enjoy it while he can. Making the case stick won't be easy. "It sounds as though Connecticut's criticism is that, as a customer, the successor to his supplier is not as desirable as the one he has now. That's a fair concern for a customer to raise, but it's not an antitrust issue. It's a matter of contract rights," said Emmett Stanton, an antitrust specialist and partner in the Silicon Valley law firm of Fenwick...