Apparently TomTom and Microsoft have promised not to sue each other for the next five years. The settlement came soon after TomTom countersued and joined forces with the open source movement.
I can’t decide if I like this or not.
Following the unfortunate events surrounding my presentation at XML Prague (a fabulous event, by the way; you should have been there), I now run Debian GNU/Linux as my primary OS on my work laptop. There is a Windows XP partition, so far, but my plan is to use Xen and virtualisation, and run the Windows operating systems as Xen domains.
The laptop installation that failed contained my first attempts at virtualisation, by the way. Microsoft’s Virtual PC ran Windows 2003 Server and Cassis, the Document Management System that I’m part of developing at Condesign Operations Support, and was connected to my XP installation through a loopback adapter. In theory, this is a very nice setup since it is possible to simply run a complete image of an OS and the server setup as part of a demonstration and then reset it to its pre-demo state for the next show. In practice, however, Virtual PC does not deliver. The hardware it emulates is very limited and everything it does is rather slow. It was enough to wet my appetite, however (together with my friend Niklas’ obsession with Xen), so I decided to do it right, now that I had to wipe the old drive anyway.
My Debian installation does not yet run a Xen kernel, but I’ll keep you posted.
It seems that Microsoft is giving away brand-new Acer Ferrari laptops as Christmas gifts to some bloggers out there. These people have apparently been praising the upcoming Microsoft Vista operating system in particularly clever (and objective, I’m sure) ways, and so now get their rewards.
If you haven’t had the chance to drool over an Acer Ferrari yet, have a look and tell me that you don’t want one.
Look, Mr Gates, I know I wrote a little something about the Vista EULA some time ago, and I know I’ve been blogging about Linux every now and then, but is it really too late for atonement? Perhaps I could write some positive words about the XML-based new layout format you hope to backstab, I mean, replace, PDF with, or maybe I could join the MS choir about the benefits of the Office XML format? Or I could just write a blog about the Microsoft-Novell agreement where you hope to short-circuit the open source market?
Call me.