The oversight, as it was called, was supposedly discovered by Stephen Hemminger, an engineer working with Vyatta, a networking software company.  Hemminger became aware that Microsoft had not released the source code for Hyper-V, although the software had incorporated the source code from the Linux kernel, which is GPL-licensed.

A user posted an inquiry on a forum regarding a possible network driver for Hyper-V to be used with Vyatta.  Although the drivers were found, they carried both open and closed source components.  The GPL does not allow the use of closed source and open source codes together.  Hemminger decided to get in touch with Novell engineer Greg Kroah-Hartmann so Microsoft may be informed.  Kroah-Hartmann is head of the Linux Kernel Driver Project and was collaborating with Microsoft to initiate the Linux IC codes into the Linux kernel.  It was Kroah-Hartmann who also said that Hemminger’s posit that Microsoft was violating the GPL was ‘accurate’.

The ‘correction’ occurred about four months later, when Microsoft finally released the codes.  Even then, talk regarding a violation had already ensued.  Microsoft was supposed to have conformed with the licensing requirements imposed under GPLv2 but it took the company some time to comply.

Why the buzz?
The Linux community and its loyal users prefer the GPLv2 licensing type because of its coverage and wide range of acceptance.  The license offered more in terms of support from the community.  In the industry, when the distribution of the binaries meant for GPL work happens, the relevant source codes must also be released.  The delay only put Microsoft’s move under suspicion.

Dave Roberts, vice president for strategy and marketing for Vyatta, maintains that no accusations happened and that Microsoft was only informed of the omission.  According to Hemminger, Microsoft may have ‘possibly’ violated the GPL but the offense is not an outright defiance of set laws.

The Inquirer

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USB Monitor Pro is FabulaTech’s entry to the analyzer category and is touted as very simple yet highly effective for managing Windows USB traffic.  It can help the user monitor all outgoing and incoming data from and to a USB device connected to a PC.  The capability of the USB Monitor Pro to monitor data from either direction makes it an all-in-one solution, eliminating the need to use additional hardware, which leads to significant cost savings.

USB Monitor Pro is the product of years of experience in the development of USB device drivers.  It was designed with an emphasis on ease of use and convenience.  It is capable of capturing the most critical data to ensure that users obtain all the information they need.

According to FabulaTech’s senior developer Alan Rourke, USB Monitor Pro boasts of robust monitoring capabilities while allowing captured data to be examined even during the process.  This is a limitation that other USB monitoring programs suffer from.  With USB Monitor Pro, users can immediately view, capture and analyze all the information available ‘…in real time’.

Jerry Larkins, one of FabulaTech’s software developers, said that USB Monitor Pro was developed to bring down cost, save time and make data monitoring that much easier.  The new version is meant to prevent users from wasting time searching for data and protocols and instead focus their efforts on the main project itself.

USB Monitor Pro is an important component for device driver debugging, software development and analysis of USB traffic.  It is an indispensable tool for protocols analysis, determination of functionality in third party device drivers and for reverse engineering USB protocols.  It is a highly efficient program for use with optimization and testing.

The tool is designed for use by programmers, hardware engineers, software specialists, IT support technicians, systems integrators, lab experts, consultants and industrial control specialists.

What to expect
USB Monitor Pro is a very effective tool for tasks such as the capture, decoding and display of USB protocol.  It can also be used to filter and detect errors.  Captured data is presented in a simple format to make it easier for users to understand, compare and analyze.  It also allows for automatic monitoring of hot-plugged device; comes with a search engine to make searching for information faster and more convenient.

PR-inside

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The integration components meant for Linux are low level components, meant to ensure a glitch-free integration with the Linux kernel.  The relevant components have been released under the GPL 2.0, avoiding any patent defense clause that are in place in GPL3.

Hyper-V, once named ‘Viridian’, utilizes a hypervisor.  This will provide abstraction services for the operating system environment and make partitioning and resource allocation that much easier.  It was designed by Microsoft to optimize the use of server hardware by allowing a single computer to run several server roles as if they were on multiple virtual machines.  Hyper-V is meant to make the use of several operating systems on just one server more efficient and cost-friendly.  The Hyper-V is also enterprise scalable.

Hyper-V is Microsoft’s answer to user’s clamor for a better way to standardize using a single virtualization platform.  With the Linux drivers now available, Linux users will find consolidation easier with servers that run on Windows and Linux servers.  The availability of the source code for Linux users is expected to raise the popularity of Hyper-V even more.

The release of the code was facilitated by Senior Director Sam Ramji, who heads the Platform Strategy in Microsoft’s Server and Tools organization.  Ramji was also key to Microsoft’s move to develop partnerships with Linux and other communities specializing in open source applications.  The move has also been facilitated by Microsoft’s OSTC or Open Source Technology Center.

OSTC is the company’s division handling relationships with open source companies and communities who want to collaborate with Microsoft.  It is also the main contact point for in-house product groups that want to be involved with open source applications and technologies.  The OSTC was opened a few years ago, manned by people with solid backgrounds in open source applications and technologies, including Linux and UNIX.

The OSTC director, Tom Hanrahan, is also one of the key players in Microsoft’s efforts to improve its interoperability with open source technology.  The team working under Hanrahan assisted in the development of the drivers and will be in charge of the ongoing driver enhancements.

infopackets

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Hacked via Bluetooth
Handset models from Windows Mobile like the S710 and S740, Touch Find, Touch Cruise, Touch Pro, and Touch Diamond are vulnerable because all of them use the same Bluetooth driver, ‘obexfile.dll’. That particular file, which is HTC-specific, is what makes all your files in your phone subject to hacking, according to Alberto Moreno Tablado, a security researcher.

How to Minimize Damage from Bluetooth Driver Vulnerability
Until you haven’t yet installed the hot fix provided by HTC, there are a number of things you can do to reduce chances of getting hacked.

Firstly, avoid accepting Bluetooth connection from any unknown device. Random and indiscreet acceptance of Bluetooth connection is like leaving your door open for burglars to come in and raid your home.

Secondly, disable the file-sharing function of your Bluetooth. Consider this as an extra step of prevention in the event that you accidentally press the accept button for any Bluetooth connection.

If you have compiled a list of trusted or paired devices in your mobile phone, that list would have to go. Hackers might already have found their way to that list without you knowing. It’s entirely possible especially when you have occasionally lent your phone to other people.

Overall, it’s best to avoid using your Bluetooth connection as much as possible. Inform your friends about it and request for identity or device confirmation via SMS or phone if you do have a need to use your Bluetooth connection.

Hotfix Provided
It was only early this year that Alberto Moreno Tablado reported his discovery of a bug in the Bluetooth driver used by the HTC Windows Mobile phones. The OBEX FTP directory traversal attack can cause damage depending on two conditions: firstly, your Bluetooth must be switched on; secondly, the file sharing of your Bluetooth connection must be enabled. If these two conditions are met then a hacker can explore not only the shared folder of your Bluetooth but other folders as well. Hackers can access all files saved in your phone, from pictures to contact lists to videos. They can also upload files in your phone without you knowing it.

When Moreno Tablado’s earlier report to HTC went ignored, he then decided to disclose the issue to the public. The day after, a hot fix was provided by the company.

IntoMobile

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New Security Update to Fix Linux Kernel Vulnerabilities
Linux kernel is far from perfect and its latest security update, announced last July 28th, was developed to fix four key vulnerabilities, one of which dealt with network drivers. The other three concerned page table roots, personality flags, and validation of buffer sizes with eCryptfs.

As for the RTL8169 network driver, buffer size validation was also a problem. Michael Tokarev, who discovered this particular vulnerability with Linux kernel, showed that any remote hacker on the local area network (LAN) could cause the entire system to crash or gain increased privileges.

The security update is strongly recommended for users of 9.04, 8.10, 8.04 LTS, and 6.06 LTS of Ubuntu. Users of Xubuntu, Edubuntu, and Kubuntu are also encouraged to install the update.

No More X11 Video Drivers

If you want to use something else beside the X11 video driver with your Linux kernel then you simply have to get a hold of Ubuntu 9.10. X11 video driver will be replaced by the kernel mode setting, which is enabled by default for Intel-based vido cards. This means that the kernel mode setting is now responsible for all graphic mode configurations of your console.

This setup not only allows a number of programs to run faster but also simplifies video infrastructure. When kernel problems arise, this setup also makes debugging easier for developers.

While normal users shouldn’t expect huge changes, they may notice a bit of improvement when it comes to switching between virtual terminals and consoles or between different user accounts.

Ubuntu 9.10 will be released on October.

Microsoft Help with Driver Source Code May Be Too Late

According to the Software Freedom Law Center, Microsoft has violated the GNU General Public License (GPLv2) when it combined open source or free software code with its own closed source software for its Hyper V device, which is prohibited by the GPL.

Of course, Microsoft had tried to make up for its ‘oversight’ by subsequently releasing over twenty thousand lines of source code to the Linux kernel project. This move is not, however, without any benefits for Microsoft. If and when it is accepted, it could make Linux run better when it’s used under Hyper-V virtualization –  something which can be considered as a pre-emptive move to prevent users from switching to Linux completely.

examiner.com

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What’s Chrome All About?
This new laptop driver from Google is specially designed for individuals who ‘live on the web’ and works best with netbooks – the kind of laptop that’s more popular with budget-conscious users because of its affordability. Of course, it’s also less powerful than most laptops, but this doesn’t bother its owners when all the latter wants is to surf the net and that’s certainly something netbooks can do.

Google, however, envisions its future OS to be used with full-sized desktops as well.

At present, the company estimates the number of users of their Chrome Internet browser to be at thirty million – not a bad figure considering it’s only been out for nine months. The Chrome browser will be incorporated with its new OS.

Chrome is admittedly a potential threat to the Richmond-based software giant, Microsoft, which has been the leader in its industry for over twenty years.  Google describes its new laptop driver as a ‘natural extension’ of what Chrome – the Internet browser – could do and an ‘attempt to rethink what operating systems should be’.

Chrome will be launched mid-2010. Engineering director Linus Upson and Product Management VP Sundar Pichai stated in the company’s website that the new OS was designed for those ‘who live on the web’. These individuals commonly use their netbooks to keep in touch with friends, shop, catch up on the news, check their email, or simply search the Internet for information.

Google believes that the operating systems currently used by browsers may be lacking because they were designed in an ‘era where there was no web’. With its new laptop driver, the company aims to completely redesign ‘the underlying security architecture of the OS’. More specifically, it hopes to prevent users from being troubled by viruses, malware, or even the inconvenience of security updates.

Android, an operating system that had been released a short time in the past by Google, was designed for mobile phones but may also be installed on netbooks. Google, however, aims for its new laptop driver to be operable even with larger machines.

These developments are considered to have ‘widespread implications’ by CNET’s Stephen Shankland. It shows the company’s determination to make the Internet function as an integral foundation not only for static pages but also for active applications, too. Certainly, it also means competition for Microsoft, but more importantly, these moves may also require the attention of anti-trust regulators.

NEWS.scotsman

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Why It Doesn’t Always Work
In an ideal world, there would always be open-sourced video drivers – and open drivers for other devices, too, for that matter – that’s quick and effective to use with open-sourced operating systems.

But in reality, open source platforms and proprietary ones don’t always work together well. Say you want your 3D desktop to work for some reason. The easiest solution to this would be to enable default video drivers with your open source OS – e.g. Linux – rather than go to the trouble of looking for a compatible proprietary video driver.

Let’s try another example. What if you have your entire library music files – something you spent a huge amount of money and time building – locked in a program that makes use of a proprietary driver? Then you have an unexpected need to switch to another OS, one that doesn’t support that particular driver, you’d be summarily forced to convert all your files just to make them work with another system. That’s going to be a tedious job, don’t you think? If you knew this would happen, would you still stick with a proprietary driver in the first place?

User-friendliness is another critical factor. Sure, open source software drivers are just that – open and give you the freedom of choice, but can they also match the level of user-friendliness that you have enjoyed with your current proprietary driver?

VoIP Drivers – Ekiga versus Skype
Let’s consider another angle. This time, let’s talk about VoIP drivers, particularly those for installing Ekiga and Skype.

Ekiga is not as well-known as Skype and its user numbers is certainly nowhere close to those of Skype. But it is an open-source program and in the past, it was the best VoiP and video conferencing application for GNOME and works well enough with Linux.

But then Skype became operable with Linux. Users of Ekiga could very well switch to Skype not only because it has made noticeable improvements with its previous driver issues but also for the mere fact that it’s also more commonly used by those using closed operating systems of Microsoft and Mac.

In the end, it’s still your choice, though…and a matter of finding the right balance between proprietary and open drivers.

E-LINUX.it

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A Problem with Display
if you have the same PC system requirements – Windows 7 and NVidia driver – then you might have already encountered display problems. More to the point, you may have noticed that your windows have a hard time maintaining their position on 1 of two displays.

Another possible problem could be your dialogue boxes. Try to change their size and you’ll notice that your dialog box would ‘slide’ down your screen until it has completely sunk into your taskbar whenever you click on it.

A Problem with the Upgrade, Too
Like any normal PC user, you then resort to the upgrades offered by NVidia for Windows 7 users. Upgrades, after all, are designed to fix all such issues. The problem is, the upgrade you download might end up making your problem worse.

When you have the upgrade installed, there were no signs of errors. But don’t celebrate just yet because when you proceed to using your computer, you could end up experiencing the very undesirable BSOD or ‘blue screen of death’. This blue screen, with its white text explaining your present predicament, is virtually tantamount to your system crashing. Try rebooting your PC after this and if the BSOD still shows up then you should know that it’s your driver at fault.

Use Previous Video Driver
Don’t worry because there are various ways to cure your PC’s blue screen. Pull out the properties dialog box for your video driver. You’ll then see a button for ‘Roll Back Driver’. This comes with a helpful description of its function: if your most recent device driver update fails for whatever reason, clicking this button would allow you to forget about the new update and make use of a previously installed driver.

This is a very helpful option because its quick-fix solution will not affect the rest of the system. Only the update for the affected device will be changed; other device driver updates will be maintained.

Create a Restore Point
To play it more safely, you should also create a restore point with your computer’s System Restore Utility. It’s best to do this before allowing Windows Updates to run for Windows 7. Choose a particular function or activity as your restore point and your OS will go back to this point if you encounter similar problems in the future.

LinuxPlanet

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Kurtis was quite impressed after the Red Hat’s Fedora Core 3 has been installed because it had a graphical installer that ran all the way up to completion. While at it, it conveniently resized the NTFA partition. It also set up dual boot while allowing him to surf the Internet. Right then, he saw the potential the Linux has.

Kurtis, though, realized that even if Linux had great potential, it still was not on a trajectory to work for desktops. Let’s talk about the Linux Kernel. When you talk about the kernel of an operating system, it’s the very first software that the PC executes. It also mediates access to the hardware and manages it as well. All the different hardware in the PC would need its own corresponding kernel device driver that makes them all run first before the software can be used.

Although not known among desktops, Linux is used on a wide range among servers and embedded devices since it lends support to thousands of different devices while being clean, fast and reliable at the same time. The free software stack that is Linux-based took as much effort as the creation of the Space Shuttle.

The basic Linux Kernel operates on 8,000,000 lines of code that represents 4,000 man-years of engineering. If you were to add the amount of free software of Linux, together with the word processor, the web browser and the media player, the lines of code would be 10 times more than the kernel. And it would even be more if non-coding tasks such as writing documentation, artwork creating, strings translation and bug reporting are included.

Kurtis recalls how he primarily joined Microsoft because he thought the Windows New Technology kernel, still being used in Windows Vista today, was going to lead the brains of all computers and later on, robots all over the world. Bill Gates’ realized that the creation of the Microsoft DOS kernel, the biggest moneymaker, and later on became the Windows 9x kernel, was not actually a noteworthy engineering effort. He had to hire David Cutler of Digital Equipment Corporation to create a team that would build the Windows New Technology kernel.

Although Windows is popular when it comes to devices and servers, it never became as popular with desktop computers. One possible reason for this is that the code was not available for further extension and improvement. As for the Linux kernel, it was readily available for all the people of the world to tweak it so that it can run on their own hardware. It is simply because the Linux kernel came free when Windows NT was not available for computer experts to manipulate. That makes the Linux kernel more powerful than Windows NT kernel.

TechFlash

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Microsoft Security Essentials works like usual antivirus software in which client software will monitor programs and applications on a PC. When processes are being done, such as downloading or transferring and modifying files, the system will check against a list of malware signatures in the client software to find out if the codes and the signatures match that of a known malware. If that happens, it blocks the file from further processes.

If no matches are found, the system will later ping the server based DSS or Dynamic Signature Service to see if there are any updates on new signatures, if there are new signatures, it will remove the malware. The DSS may also request a sample of the code if ever new malware might be in hand, it will use the code to create a new signature. The service updates is database constantly. It also publishes new signatures to Microsoft Update 3 times each day.

The service itself also includes new features that help in protecting you from rootkits, rootkits are programs designed to conceal the fact that your PC has been infected and compromised. It scans the PC whenever it’s idle to conserve memory usage. If an antivirus software is already installed on your PC, then this service may not be for you.

Though the service lacks features like performance tuning, managed firewalls, backup and restore and multi-PC management, the service is still a good download for those who don’t have any antivirus software installed at all. The company mentioned that they don’t see Security Essentials as a top competitor to other free software, they also claim that the audience they are trying to reach are those who have no protection at all.

Overall, Microsoft Security Essentials will prove useful to those who have no antivirus or anti-malware software at all. It will protect your PC from being compromised and infected, and will continue to protect it. It is advised that all Microsoft OS users who don’t have their PC already protected should download the service free. The download is available on Microsoft’s Website.

cnet

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