Cody Taylor

pcardno writes “It seems it’s not just Microsoft that have spotted a good opportunity to distribute their software through Firefox Addons. On installing the latest annoying, sysbar bubble based Java update, my Firefox informed me that I had a wonderful new Java addon automatically. Here’s the addon screenshot. Yes, I could opt out of it, but why are Sun installing Addons to my Firefox without me making specific choices in the application itself? To be clear — I have never chosen to install this Addon, yet it has been installed without my permission with the latest Java Update.”

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mjasay writes “At the Mobile World Congress, Steve Ballmer took aim at Apple’s closed iPhone ecosystem with an ironic plea for openness: ‘Openness is central because it’s the foundation of choice.’ Ballmer has apparently forgotten his company’s own efforts to vertically integrate hardware and software (Zune, XBox), its history of vertically integrating software (tying SharePoint into Office, IE, SQL Server, Active Directory, etc.), as well as years of illegally tying Windows to Internet Explorer that only the US Justice Department could undo. Indeed, Microsoft’s effect on the browser market has pushed Mozilla to get involved in a recent European Commission action against the software giant, with Mozilla’s Mitchell Baker recently declaring that ‘A number of illegal activities were also involved in creating IE’s market dominance,’ now requiring government intervention to open up the browser market to fair competition. Putting aside Microsoft’s own tainted reputation in the field of openness, is Ballmer right? Should Apple open up its iPhone platform to outside competition, both in terms of hardware and software?”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

With a market that is anxiously sizing up the netbook platform – – driven in large part by Intel’s low-cost Atom processors – – the gOS offers a simple proposition: A simple-to-install, free operating system integrated with Mozilla and Google technology for fun and productivity.

Are you using the Windows 7 beta? Are you anxiously awaiting updates that may advance its capabilities? Are you hoping, perhaps, that Microsoft will make it easy on you by turning your beta copy into a release candidate via Windows Update? Well, starting next week, Windows 7 users will start getting updates, all right. But don’t get too excited.