software

China: Microsoft banned from selling operating systems

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Microsoft has been banned from selling multiple versions of its flagship Windows operating system in China after breaching a local licensing agreement.

microsoft-windows-xp
Hard line: software group Microsoft has been banned from selling some of its products, such as Windows XP, by the Chinese authorities Photo: PA

The US software giant must not sell versions of Windows XP, 2003, 2000 or 98 software in the Asian super-economy after a Beijing court ruled the products include Chinese fonts designed by a local company.

The court said Microsoft had violated its licensing agreement with Zhongyi Electronic, which designs character fonts.

Microsoft said it plans to appeal the ruling, adding it “respects intellectual property rights” and uses the intellectual property of third parties “only when we have a legitimate right to do so”.

Zhongyi said that the agreement it signed with Microsoft allowed it to use the special fonts only in Windows 95, but that the software giant had continued to do so in subsequent versions. “By winning this case against an internationally well-known company like Microsoft, it shows that China, although still a developing country, is taking positive steps to protect intellectual property rights,” said Ling Xin Yu, Zhongyi’s lawyer.

The ruling is somewhat ironic, given the amount of piracy Microsoft and other manufacturers of operating and other technological systems face in the Chinese market.

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China censors all home computers

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The Chinese government wants all computers sold in China after July to come with software that automatically censors the internet.

Chinese citizens at a computer shop: China moves to censor home computers
The Chinese government wants all computers sold in China after July to come with software that automatically censors the internet Photo: REUTERS

The move will give the government unprecedented control over what can and cannot be seen on the internet. In recent weeks, China blocked access to a host of websites, including Hotmail and Twitter, and expressed worries that the internet was becoming a tool of protest.

An issue of the state-controlled magazine, Outlook Weekly, strongly criticised local officials for not paying more attention to the internet, saying that online debate forums in China are not just “ordinary chit chat in free time” but could also be stirring trouble.

Under the directives from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, which declined to comment on the topic, computer-manufacturers will be asked to install blocking software from a company with ties to the country’s military.

The program, called Green Dam, is designed primarily to stop access to pornography, according to its makers, Jinhui Computer System Engineering company. “From July 1, every PC will be shipped with the software before it is sold to customers,” said a member of the company’s marketing department, who identified herself only as Miss Zhou.

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Lethal military robot warriors will get a guide to ethics

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When and what to fire will be part of hardware and software ‘package’

robot-warrior
Lethal military robots are currently deployed in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Ground-based robots like QinetiQ’s MAARS robot (shown here), are armed with weapons to shoot insurgents, appendages to disarm bombs, and surveillance equipment to search buildings. A Georgia Tech computer science professor is developing a package of software and hardware that tells robots when and what to fire.

Smart missiles, rolling robots, and flying drones currently controlled by humans, are being used on the battlefield more every day. But what happens when humans are taken out of the loop, and robots are left to make decisions, like who to kill or what to bomb, on their own?

Ronald Arkin, a professor of computer science at Georgia Tech, is in the first stages of developing an “ethical governor,” a package of software and hardware that tells robots when and what to fire. His book on the subject, “Governing Lethal Behavior in Autonomous Robots,” comes out this month.

He argues not only can robots be programmed to behave more ethically on the battlefield, they may actually be able to respond better than human soldiers.

“Ultimately these systems could have more information to make wiser decisions than a human could make,” said Arkin. “Some robots are already stronger, faster and smarter than humans. We want to do better than people, to ultimately save more lives.”

Lethal military robots are currently deployed in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Ground-based robots like iRobot’s SWORDS or QinetiQ’s MAARS robots, are armed with weapons to shoot insurgents, appendages to disarm bombs, and surveillance equipment to search buildings. Flying drones can fire at insurgents on the ground. Patriot missile batteries can detect incoming missiles and send up other missiles to intercept and destroy them.

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If you buy Windows 7 or even use it, you are an idiot

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You have no rights, so buy Windows 7

The Windows Vista replacement, Windows 7, will be released before Christmas. Photo / AP

Rant Forced updates and reboots, then shutdown

MICROSOFT IS DOING its level best to make Windows 7 seem more palatable than the Broken OS, but it is all just show. As usual, once you look beyond the hype and spin, you will see it is once again a cynical scam.

This time, Microsoft is dipping its toes in the water around its latest WGA / WAT control freakery. It will forcibly shut down Windows 7 RC machines every two hours. It will start to do this three months before the RC programme ends in June 2010, but Microsoft will kindly give you two weeks notice before it starts shutting you down. This kindness can be thought of like two ‘just out of prison types’ showing up at your door saying, “Youze wanna pay for dat softwarez? If youze don’t, youze kneez just might break on dere own, ya know? Mista Balma don’tz likez peoplez like youze.”

Microsoft has every right to do whatever the heck it wants with the RC, and it also has every right to get paid for its software that you are using. But then again, is it insane? No, don’t answer that, it is not. It is cold, calculating, and doesn’t give a rat’s *ss about your rights. All Microsoft cares about is forcing money out of you, repeatedly and as often as possible. If you buy Windows 7 or even use it, you are an idiot. Consider this about your 17th warning, as if everything Microsoft has put people through over the years wasn’t enough. Maybe someday you will get a clue.

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We spied on 36,000 customers using the internet, admits BT

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BT tested secret “spyware” on tens of thousands of its broadband customers without their knowledge, it admitted yesterday.

It carried out covert trials of a system which monitors every internet page a user visits.

Companies can exploit such data to target users with tailored online advertisements.

An investigation into the affair has been started by the Information Commissioner, the personal data watchdog.

Privacy campaigners reacted with horror, accusing BT of illegal interception on a huge scale. Yesterday, the company was forced to admit that it had monitored the web browsing habits of 36,000 customers.

The scandal came to light only after some customers stumbled across tell-tale signs of spying. At first, they were wrongly told a software virus was to blame.


BT carried out undercover trials of a system which records every website a customer visits (below)

Executives insisted they had not broken the law and said no “personally identifiable information” had been shared or divulged.

BT said it randomly chose 36,000 broadband users for a “small-scale technical trial” in 2006 and 2007.

The monitoring system, developed by U.S. software company Phorm, accesses information from a computer.

It then scans every website a customer visits, silently checking for keywords and building up a unique picture of their interests.

If a user searches online to buy a holiday or expensive TV, for example, or looks for internet dating services or advice on weight loss, the Phorm system will add all the information to their file.

One BT customer who spotted unexplained problems with his computer was told repeatedly by BT helpdesk staff that a virus was to blame.

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Microsoft seeks patent for office ‘spy’ software

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Microsoft is developing Big Brother-style software capable of remotely monitoring a worker’s productivity, physical wellbeing and competence.The Times has seen a patent application filed by the company for a computer system that links workers to their computers via wireless sensors that measure their metabolism. The system would allow managers to monitor employees’ performance by measuring their heart rate, body temperature, movement, facial expression and blood pressure. Unions said they fear that employees could be dismissed on the basis of a computer’s assessment of their physiological state.

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