Thursday, January 26, 2006

In a move aimed to prevent fines stemming from its antitrust lawsuit filed by the European Commission (EC), Microsoft announced that it will be releasing portions of the source code to its Windows operating system.

The EC ruled in March 2004 that Microsoft had abused its position in the low-end server and media player market, and required that Microsoft “disclose complete and accurate interface documentation which would allow non-Microsoft work group servers to achieve full interoperability with Windows PCs and servers”. Microsoft reacted by making available 12,000 pages of technical documentation and up to 500 hours of technical support, but the EC came to the conclusion that it was not enough.

Announcing that “we are putting our most valuable intellectual property on the table so we can put technical compliance issues to rest”, Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith asserted that Microsoft would be superseding the EC’s requirements as a sign of good faith. “While we are confident that we are presently in full compliance with the Decision, we wish to dispel any notion that Microsoft’s technical documents are insufficient”, said Smith.

The EC responded in a memo that it will study Microsoft’s reply to the Statement of Objections once it receives the full details. However, EC Competition Commissioner spokesman Jonathan Todd commented that “it would be premature to conclude access to the source code would resolve the problem of the lack of compliance with our decision.”

A similar offer was made by Microsoft in August 2002 during its antitrust lawsuit filed by the United States Department of Justice and several states’ Attorneys General. The resulting “Microsoft Communications Protocols Program” had suffered continuous criticism regarding excessive cost, paperwork, and non-disclosure agreements. It is unclear at this time if Microsoft’s planned “Work Group Server Protocol Program” will suffer from the same issues if accepted by the EC.

Microsoft is expected to return to the EC courts in April.

Wednesday, March 9, 2005File:Plastic bag stock sized.jpg

They are cheap, useful, and very plentiful, and that is exactly the problem, according to researchers. A report issued on Feb. 23 by a cadre of environment and economics researchers suggested that Kenya should ban the common plastic bag that one gets at the checkout counter of grocery stores, and place a levy on other plastic bags, all to combat the country’s environmental problems stemming from the bags’ popularity.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Environmentalists in Brazil are urging the country’s residents to urinate in the shower while washing themselves, to help conserve water and save the rainforest. Television ads being aired in the country claim that by doing so, the nation could save over 1,000 gallons of water per household each year.

SOS Mata Atlantica ran the ad campaign in an attempt to use comedy to get people to reduce the amount of water they use. “[The ad is] a way to be playful about a serious subject,” said Adriana Kfouri, a spokesperson for Atlantica.

The animated ad narrated by children shows people, including a trapeze artist, an alien and dancers, all taking a shower while at the same time, urinating in it. The ending of the ad then states, “Pee in the shower! Save the Atlantic rainforest!”

Ken Livingstone, former mayor of London, England, proposed a similar campaign in 2006. He said urine should be classified as a “green waste” and that “there is no earthly reason that you need to flush the loo if you have merely urinated. That’s a huge saving of water.”

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

On Monday, Symbian Foundation discontinued Symbian OS, as a result of its lost popularity since Android came to market. The Finnish telecommunications company Nokia, being one of the few hardware manufacturers who use the system on some of the models, announced that it has taken over the operating system’s development.

Nokia had acquired Symbian Foundation in 2008. Now, the foundation refused to continue the project, because this smartphone operating system had lost its popularity when Android came to market.During the next several months, most Symbian Foundation employees, who were completely governing the project previously, will retire.By April 2011, only the licensing team will stay to oversee the project.

The executive director of the Symbian Foundation Tim Holbrow explained the change, saying that “There has since been a seismic change in the mobile market but also more generally in the economy, which has led to a change in focus for some of our funding board members. The result of this is that the current governance structure for the Symbian platform — the foundation — is no longer appropriate.”

Instead, Nokia takes over the development of the system. This is possible because the Symbian OS is currently open source and freely redistributable. In an interview with ZDNet, the head of Nokia smartphone business Jo Harlow said that the takeover was in significant part because Nokia hardware was the major one using the OS. The development environment would be switched to Qt framework for the system to support cross-platform applications use and development. It is unclear whether the licensing of the future releases of the system would remain open-source.

Friday, July 8, 2005

The University of Alberta is set to expand into the heart of Edmonton’s downtown with plans now in place to purchase the aging Hudson’s Bay building on Jasper Avenue between 102nd Street and 103rd Street. The deal, which is yet to be approved by the University’s Board of Governors, could result in students starting classes in the building as early as September 2006.

The building has been a huge vacancy in the downtown core, with only the broadcasting corporation CHUM Limited using any space. University of Alberta President Indira Samarasekera has said there are no plans to ask the company, which owns 91.7 The Bounce and A-Channel to move.

The deal would also solve the University’s space crunch. The total University population is growing much faster than the number of facilities required to support it, so expanding beyond the current campus makes sense. Establishing a presence downtown will also help the University and it’s many spin off companies.

The University has not yet decided how the project would be funded, but is currently looking at a number of options, including partnerships with all three levels of government.

Friday, October 10, 2008

In an attempt to speak with as many candidates as possible during the 2008 Canadian federal election, Wikinews has talked via email with Stefan Jetchick, who is a candidate in Quebec’s Louis-Hébert riding, running under the Christian Heritage Party of Canada (CHP) banner. The CHP is a minor, registered political party running a significant number of candidates across the country, looking to earn its first ever seat in the House of Commons. Jetchick is their only candidate running in the province.

The Quebec riding of Louis-Hébert, in the Capitale-Nationale region, has existed in the House of Commons since 2004. It includes the west section of Quebec City, primarily Sainte-Foy—Sillery and Laurentien’s south end. The Conservative incumbent in the riding is Luc Harvey; also running are Pascal-Pierre Paillé (Bloc Québécois), Denis Blanchette (New Democratic Party), Jean Beaupré (Liberal Party of Canada), and Michelle Fontaine (Green Party of Canada).

The following is an interview with Mr. Jetchick, conducted via email. The interview is published unedited, as sent to Wikinews; this includes Mr. Jetchick’s separation of multipart questions into fragments, and his formatting relating to his applicable experience.

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

A pipe has burst in New York City, the largest city in the United States, causing a generator to explode. The explosion occurred in Midtown Manhattan near Grand Central Terminal (GCT) and the Chrysler Building, and approximately at the intersection of 41st Street and Lexington Avenue. Nearby buildings have been evacuated, and a large area has been blocked off. There are reports of a very large crater at the scene.

The New York Police Department (NYPD) has officially ruled out terrorism. Grand Central Station was quickly evacuated soon after the incident. Subway lines 4, 5 and 6 have no service in both directions between the 125th Street Station and the Bowling Green Station. 42nd Street Shuttle service has been shut completely.

The Fire Department of New York (FDNY) received a call at 5:56 p.m. EDT (UTC-4) reporting an explosion. More than 170 firefighters were dispatched to the scene. Witnesses reported that buildings in the nearby area shook. This was a five-alarm response.

At least 20 people have been reported injured, and one woman, Lois Baumerich, died from a heart attack. Two people are currently in critical condition.

There are potentially harmful materials at the scene of the explosion and HAZMAT crews are on the scene to clean up debris. There are reports that pipes were wrapped in asbestos, but the air is being tested, and results should be available late Wednesday night.

ConEdison Workers are on the scene as well, and it appears that they are working nearby.

Emergency workers are reporting that the situation is not under control. They are still unable to confirm why the pipe exploded due to the inaccessible nature of the scene at the source of the explosion. The pressure of steam has subsided and the air appears to have cleared, revealing the crater. Disruption of electricity in the surrounding area is minimal.

GCT is reported to be reopened at this time. An area was cordoned off and people trapped in the vicinity due to fears of asbestos pollution resulting from the explosion.

According to a press conference with the mayor, the pipe involved was built in 1924, and a likely cause of the eruption and explosion was cold water leaking into the pipe, possibly from rain or from a water pipe. A tow truck had fallen into the crater left by the explosion, and the explosion also shattered glass on nearby buildings.