My OperaGNUBishop
Sunday, February 20, 2011 11:43:37 PM
The companion to the devil 
IcedRobot - Free Android as in Freedom
Thursday, February 10, 2011 9:22:18 AM
It was a great weekend at FOSDEM, I got to meet many of the GNU Classpath Developers for the first time! I met Mario, Mark and Dave, which was really cool! Oracle had a noticeable presence there, I thank especially Tom for organizing the talks and also for the wonderful dinner. I also met Andrew who had a nice t-shirt which said R.I.P. Sun 1982-2010. There was also Eric, the creator of ProGuard, and we had a nice chat about optimizing byte code. Hopefully Roman can talk with him next year about Daneel(a pure Java based Dalvik interpreter). Too bad Dalibor and Jim Pick were not there, but congratulations to Dalibor for his new daughter!
The talk was in a mid-sized classroom, but the attendance was better than expected as the room was filled, and people who showed up late were turned away. I think the overall reception was good, though some people had doubts about my Untargeted Ads proposal(whose concept was not polished and delivered somewhat not convincingly enough). But I still think that if newspapers and magazines can deliver advertisements in their pages without collecting information about me(the user), then web apps can do it too.
I think Florian Mueller got it close that part of this project exposes the anti-GPL and non-open bias that Google has. This project is about building a truly Free Android which adheres to the Four Freedoms. But at the same time, I think we can all agree that it was Oracle who crossed the line first by using Software Patents offensively.
The Java well has been poisoned. Whether IcedRobot can be the antidote, only time will tell. If not, as a certain wise man at FOSDEM put it, Hello Object Cobol!
The talk was in a mid-sized classroom, but the attendance was better than expected as the room was filled, and people who showed up late were turned away. I think the overall reception was good, though some people had doubts about my Untargeted Ads proposal(whose concept was not polished and delivered somewhat not convincingly enough). But I still think that if newspapers and magazines can deliver advertisements in their pages without collecting information about me(the user), then web apps can do it too.
I think Florian Mueller got it close that part of this project exposes the anti-GPL and non-open bias that Google has. This project is about building a truly Free Android which adheres to the Four Freedoms. But at the same time, I think we can all agree that it was Oracle who crossed the line first by using Software Patents offensively.
The Java well has been poisoned. Whether IcedRobot can be the antidote, only time will tell. If not, as a certain wise man at FOSDEM put it, Hello Object Cobol!
Nokia buys Norwegian browser firm Opera Software
Thursday, April 1, 2010 3:58:33 AM
HELSINKI, April 1 (Reuters) - Top-selling mobile phone maker Nokia (NOK1V.HE) will buy publicly held Norwegian browser firm Opera Software (OPERA.OL) to improve Web surfing on a wide range of its mass market cellphones.
Wireless Internet usage is set to surge in 2010 and beyond as operators and phone makers continue to play catchup with Apple's iPhone (AAPL.O).
Opera Software and its larger rival Google (GOOG.O) offer browser technology that packages most of the data, thus weighing less on operators' increasingly congested networks.
"Connecting the next billion consumers to the Internet will happen primarily on mobile devices," Niklas Savander, the head of Nokia's services business, said in a statement.
Tech-savvy consumers have long used cellphones to access Internet on the go, but Web usage moved firmly into the wireless industry's focus after the 2007 introduction of the iPhone, and it is spreading from smartphones to more simple models.
All top handset vendors have since scrambled to match the iPhone's browsing experience, by buying software or whole companies, or by trying to build better browsers.
"Everyone knows that Nokia has defined this segment as strategically important. At the same time everyone knows that the Nokia browser has compared badly with the best ones in the market," said Espen Torgersen, an analyst at Carnegie.
"Most important the deal shows that the browser segment is important for handset makers, operators and content suppliers."
Shares in Opera's rival Google rose on the news and closed 0.07 percent higher at 567.12 dollars on Nasdaq.
Nokia did not disclose the value of the deal for the company, which employs more than 700 staff, adding it aimed to close the deal in the June quarter.
Nokia will use Opera's technology on the world's most widely used mobile platform Series 40, its proprietary operating system for mass market phones.
It is using its own browser in most of its smartphones, and also Mozilla's Firefox in its top-of-the-range model N900.
Nokia said it would continue to support Opera's current clients, including Verizon, Vodafone in Britain, Yahoo, Turkcell, and 3 in Italy and Hong Kong.
Nokia shares closed 0.4 percent higher at 11.57 euros, helped by JP Morgan upgrading the stock to "overweight" from "neutral". (Additional reporting by Gwladys Fouche in Oslo, editing by Will Waterman)
Wireless Internet usage is set to surge in 2010 and beyond as operators and phone makers continue to play catchup with Apple's iPhone (AAPL.O).
Opera Software and its larger rival Google (GOOG.O) offer browser technology that packages most of the data, thus weighing less on operators' increasingly congested networks.
"Connecting the next billion consumers to the Internet will happen primarily on mobile devices," Niklas Savander, the head of Nokia's services business, said in a statement.
Tech-savvy consumers have long used cellphones to access Internet on the go, but Web usage moved firmly into the wireless industry's focus after the 2007 introduction of the iPhone, and it is spreading from smartphones to more simple models.
All top handset vendors have since scrambled to match the iPhone's browsing experience, by buying software or whole companies, or by trying to build better browsers.
"Everyone knows that Nokia has defined this segment as strategically important. At the same time everyone knows that the Nokia browser has compared badly with the best ones in the market," said Espen Torgersen, an analyst at Carnegie.
"Most important the deal shows that the browser segment is important for handset makers, operators and content suppliers."
Shares in Opera's rival Google rose on the news and closed 0.07 percent higher at 567.12 dollars on Nasdaq.
Nokia did not disclose the value of the deal for the company, which employs more than 700 staff, adding it aimed to close the deal in the June quarter.
Nokia will use Opera's technology on the world's most widely used mobile platform Series 40, its proprietary operating system for mass market phones.
It is using its own browser in most of its smartphones, and also Mozilla's Firefox in its top-of-the-range model N900.
Nokia said it would continue to support Opera's current clients, including Verizon, Vodafone in Britain, Yahoo, Turkcell, and 3 in Italy and Hong Kong.
Nokia shares closed 0.4 percent higher at 11.57 euros, helped by JP Morgan upgrading the stock to "overweight" from "neutral". (Additional reporting by Gwladys Fouche in Oslo, editing by Will Waterman)
Learning From India
Tuesday, March 9, 2010 2:10:34 AM
There are many good advices in the article, but I will just point out something I think Western Companies(including Scandinavian ones) are missing at the moment.
Quote:
Indian firms invest an enormous amount in their employees' training and development. IT firms typically allocate 60 days of formal training for new hires and companies often spend months training even experienced workers hired from other firms.
The study said that U.S. firms have largely abandoned investing in employees, seeing it as a waste if they leave the business. It adds that employee turnover is estimated to be 30 percent in India, and investing in employees ensures the quality of those who stay at the company.
Indian bosses place far less emphasis on shareholders than is typical at Western businesses. As a result they're more able to take a long-term view.
"A lot of U.S. companies in particular will say, 'We're not going to meet our quarterly numbers, so we've got to adjust everything in the pipeline to make sure we do.' That's a costly thing for the long term," said Cappelli.
Reference:
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/BUSINESS/03/05/india.leadership.lessons/index.html
Quote:
Indian firms invest an enormous amount in their employees' training and development. IT firms typically allocate 60 days of formal training for new hires and companies often spend months training even experienced workers hired from other firms.
The study said that U.S. firms have largely abandoned investing in employees, seeing it as a waste if they leave the business. It adds that employee turnover is estimated to be 30 percent in India, and investing in employees ensures the quality of those who stay at the company.
Indian bosses place far less emphasis on shareholders than is typical at Western businesses. As a result they're more able to take a long-term view.
"A lot of U.S. companies in particular will say, 'We're not going to meet our quarterly numbers, so we've got to adjust everything in the pipeline to make sure we do.' That's a costly thing for the long term," said Cappelli.
Reference:
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/BUSINESS/03/05/india.leadership.lessons/index.html
Apple Sues HTC
Monday, March 8, 2010 5:45:56 AM
Apple sued Nokia, and is now going after HTC. With Dell also getting
into the Tablet race with the Dell mini 5(which is powered by Android).
Will Apple sue them also, like they are doing now with HTC?
And since they are mentioning user interface, will they come after Opera in some way?
Quote:
The suit involves “20 Apple patents related to the iPhone’s user interface, underlying architecture and hardware.”
Apple thinks it owns the concept of the touchscreen Web phone and it wants other cell phone makers to pay for copying the iPhone or to stop altogether.
Quote from Steve Jobs:
'We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We've decided to do something about it. We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours.'
into the Tablet race with the Dell mini 5(which is powered by Android).
Will Apple sue them also, like they are doing now with HTC?
And since they are mentioning user interface, will they come after Opera in some way?
Quote:
The suit involves “20 Apple patents related to the iPhone’s user interface, underlying architecture and hardware.”
Apple thinks it owns the concept of the touchscreen Web phone and it wants other cell phone makers to pay for copying the iPhone or to stop altogether.
Quote from Steve Jobs:
'We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We've decided to do something about it. We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours.'
Microsoft's EU Browser Ballot Screen Not Really Random?
Tuesday, March 2, 2010 2:35:28 AM
Seems like it is not random not because of malicious intent, but due to the bad use of Sorting Comparison.
The offending function:
function RandomSort (a,b)
{
return (0.5 - Math.random());
}
is used with array.sort(sortfunc). Therein lies the problem, since it does not really compare var a and var b, but spills out random comparisons. So many times, the item at a particular position is being shuffled back and forth with the item at the adjacent position. So it would be very difficult for the browser which is originally at index 0 to be bumped to index 4 and vice versa.
A careless mistake, which probably shows that MS does not think it is a high priority for them to get it right. Hopefully they will fix it by the next update.
The offending function:
function RandomSort (a,b)
{
return (0.5 - Math.random());
}
is used with array.sort(sortfunc). Therein lies the problem, since it does not really compare var a and var b, but spills out random comparisons. So many times, the item at a particular position is being shuffled back and forth with the item at the adjacent position. So it would be very difficult for the browser which is originally at index 0 to be bumped to index 4 and vice versa.
A careless mistake, which probably shows that MS does not think it is a high priority for them to get it right. Hopefully they will fix it by the next update.
Opera Open Sources Dragonfly(again)
Monday, February 22, 2010 5:58:41 AM
I hope this really jump-starts Opera down the Open Source path
So help us out!
QUOTE:
"This is Opera’s first full open source project, so there will be a learning curve. We ask you to bear with us while we get everything up and running and policies in place. Coming from a closed source background there are some hurdles to overcome, such as the current bug tracking system being on a closed server. We hope to migrate to an open bug tracking system as the project gets on its feet."
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/10/02/19/141246/Opera-Open-Sources-Dragonfly
So help us out!
QUOTE:
"This is Opera’s first full open source project, so there will be a learning curve. We ask you to bear with us while we get everything up and running and policies in place. Coming from a closed source background there are some hurdles to overcome, such as the current bug tracking system being on a closed server. We hope to migrate to an open bug tracking system as the project gets on its feet."
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/10/02/19/141246/Opera-Open-Sources-Dragonfly
Opera Software Acquisition
Saturday, February 20, 2010 2:44:27 AM
Ever since Jon stepped aside, the acquisition rumor mill has been running wild. Now we have a reputable source like Reuters saying that Opera is emerging as an acquisition target. I sure hope it is Google and not Microsoft. Maybe some of the Smartphone companies like Nokia or RIM want to get into some action. We can go on and on about the possibilities, but only time will tell...
How to be a Billionaire(for Geeks)
Thursday, February 18, 2010 7:58:01 AM
An interesting look at Bill Gates from the people around him:
http://money.cnn.com/video/fortune/2008/06/20/fortune.msft.habits.cnnmoney/index.html
I wish I had the concentration he has
http://money.cnn.com/video/fortune/2008/06/20/fortune.msft.habits.cnnmoney/index.html
I wish I had the concentration he has
Corporate Japan slow to embrace openness
Wednesday, February 17, 2010 3:21:56 AM
The Toyota Crisis is bringing Corporate Japan into the spotlight.
"Toyota followed the secretive rules of corporate Japan, a culture that closes off amid challenges instead of opening up."
Can Corporate Japan change to "Don’t lie. Move quickly. Be transparent. Allow in the media. Get your CEO out front early, even if there’s no consensus." ?
http://business.blogs.cnn.com/2010/02/16/japan-slow-to-embrace-corporate-openness/
"Toyota followed the secretive rules of corporate Japan, a culture that closes off amid challenges instead of opening up."
Can Corporate Japan change to "Don’t lie. Move quickly. Be transparent. Allow in the media. Get your CEO out front early, even if there’s no consensus." ?
http://business.blogs.cnn.com/2010/02/16/japan-slow-to-embrace-corporate-openness/
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2009-02-12 02:00:09The Opinions expressed on this Blog are my own, and quite possibly the Opposite to those of Opera Software, so take it with a grain of salt. ;)
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