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Welcome to ConsortiumInfo.org
Thursday, March 11 2010 @ 01:41 PM PST
 Our story so far: Now under surveillance, Frank begins to plan his escape. Read the first chapters here, and you can also follow the Further Adventures of Frank on Twitter.
 To Frank’s disgust, it was love at first sight for Lilly when Carl Cummings arrived to collect Frank’s passport. But Frank’s distaste turned to glee when he realized that the CIA agent hated dogs. Frank stepped back to better appreciate Carl’s futile efforts to fend off the obese corgi’s surprisingly energetic advances.
Predictably, Mrs. Foomjoy popped just then like a jack-in-the-box out of her door across the hall. Frank thought she looked magnificent in her full regalia of housedress, fuzzy slippers and curlers, as she fiercely admonished Cummings for his lack of appreciation for canine perfection. With an effort, she pushed past him and snatched Lily up, lighting into the startled Cummings with a vengeance all the while. And then, as suddenly as she had appeared, Frank’s apparition of a neighbor disappeared with Lilly behind her energetically slammed door.
The agent turned to Frank, a helpless look on his face. But Frank simply smiled and tucked his passport in the agent’s pocket. “Sorry for my bad manners, Carl. Next time I’ll introduce you.” He closed the door gently in the bewildered agent’s face.
 Have you discovered the Alexandria Project?
By now you've probably read endless takes on the news that Elliott Associates, one of the oldest hedge funds, with over US $16 billion under management, has made an unsolicited offer for Novell. Almost all of these articles have focused on whether Elliott means business, what they'll do to Novell if they are successful, and whether another (and perhaps ultimately successful) bidder will enter the scene.
  I haven't seen any article yet, though, that describes in detail how the high stakes game of tender offers is played, and how the usual process maps (and doesn't) to a high tech company like Novell. So I thought I'd provide an overview for those that haven't had occasion to follow a tender offer in the past, and also my thoughts on what may happen over the next several months in this particular game of cat and mouse.
So here goes.
Our story so far: At the end of an “interview” with a CIA agent, Frank realizes he may have become the prime suspect in the investigation of the ongoing hacking of Library of Congress. Now what? Read the first chapters here, and you can also follow the Further Adventures of Frank on Twitter.
 Frank struggled to organize his thoughts as he left the fiasco of an “interview” he’d just endured at the hands of CIA agent Carl Cummings. Time to be logical, he thought, not emotional. If he didn’t start getting a hold of himself, at this rate he’d find himself in jail.
So what should be at the top of the decision tree, he asked as he walked back to his cubicle. Well, the first gate appeared to be whether Cummings really thought Frank was the culprit. If no, then Frank could relax, but if yes, then Frank could be in real trouble. Frank weighed the possibility that Carl was just jerking everyone around, to feel self-important. Negative, Frank decided. Everyone else thought the disappearing documents were part of a test, not a real exploit, and Carl would have wanted to keep it that way.
So that means I’m in trouble, Frank told himself. See? I'm making progress already.
Our story so far: Our hero, Frank Adversego is trying to catch a hacker threatening the Library of Congress, whose motives remain obscure. But the pursuer is about to become the pursued. Read the first chapter here, and follow the Further Adventures of Frank on Twitter.
 While Frank was enjoying himself spear phishing venture capitalists, back at the Library of Congress files were flashing out of virtual view like fireflies on a summer’s eve. One by one, documents important and banal, short and long, drifted silently off in the digital darkness to points unknown, leaving only Alexandria Project contribution screen code behind.
Thus it was that at 10 on Friday morning, Frank’s office phone buzzed, and he heard the receptionist say, “Your turn, Frank. Conference room two.”
Frank logged off his computer and stood up with a thoughtful look on his face. Just enough time for a little self-coaching as he walked down the hallway. Stay cool, he thought. Be calm. You don’t have anything to worry about, so just tell the news.
 Have you discovered the Alexandria Project?
 A long running case of great significance to the legal underpinnings of free and open source/open source software (F/OSS) has just settled on terms favorable to the F/OSS developer. The settlement follows a recent ruling by a U.S. Federal District Court judge that affirmed several key rights of F/OSS developers under existing law.
That case is Jacobsen v. Katzer, and the settlement documents were filed in court just after 9:00 AM this morning. Links to each of them can be found later in this blog entry. The brief background of the case, the legal issues at stake, and the settlement details are as follows.
Our story so far: Our hero, Frank Adversego now understands where the name "Alexandria Project" comes from, but hasn't been able to figure out much else yet about the mysterious cracker whose exploit threatens the Library of Congress. Read the first chapters here, and follow the Further Adventures of Frank on Twitter.
 Frank fidgeted by the cheese and crackers, looking helplessly for his daughter Marla in the crowd. He hated social events with a passion, and especially having to speak to people he didn’t know. He was sure that every phrase that came out of his mouth came across as a non sequitur.
But fair was fair. Marla had kept him company at the Library of Congress holiday party the weekend before, and this Wednesday it was his turn. Marla was finishing up an internship with a local high tech company, and at the last minute, her date had come down with the flu.
“Please, Dad,” she’d said over the phone, “There’s this guy at work that’s been hitting on me all week. It’ll do you good to get out of your crummy apartment, and how can you turn down a request to protect your little girl?”
 Have you discovered The Alexandria Project?
 I don't usually post twice a day, but today was opening day in Barcelona of the Mobile World Congress, the biggest mobile show of the year, and the announcements were popping thick and fast. One of those announcements unveiled a new mobile platform called MeeGo - a new open source contender in the race to power the broad array of devices that are rapidly proliferating in the mobile marketplace. And, I'm happy to say, MeeGo will be hosted by The Linux Foundation.
We've been working for some time on this, and we're very pleased that the project has now gone public. The LF press release can be found here, and the Intel version of the joint Intel-Nokia release is here. As usual, both are also pasted in below for archival purposes. I think you'd also find LF Executive Director Jim Zemlin's blog entry worth a read, and I'll quote from it below.
Our story so far: Security expert Frank Adversego comes under suspicion when the Library of Congress is hacked by a mysterious cracker with motives unknown and a taste for the bizarre; to protect himself, Frank had better get to the bottom of things. Read the first chapters here, and follow the Further Adventures of Frank on Twitter.
 Back in his cube again, Frank powered up his computer and reflected on what he’d just learned, which was both not much and a lot. Not much, in that he still had no idea who was behind the attack, or what he was trying to accomplish. But a lot because the only people targeted besides himself were George and Rick, and because only the files in one directory had been affected. That meant that what had hit the Library of Congress was no virus unleashed against Web sites generally, bent on spreading random mayhem. Instead, it was obviously an attack targeted just at the LOC. And once it had made its way through the LOC firewall, the attack had been manually controlled rather than automated.
As you may recall, the Linux Foundation last year ran a video contest that drew a lot of entries, many of which were not only entertaining, but had surprisingly high production values as well. Last year's invitation was to use the popular "I'm a Mac/I'm a PC" ad series as an inspiration, and you can see the winning videos here (all of last year's entries can be found here).
Well, it's that time again, and LF has just annnounced this year's contest theme, rules and deadline. The announcement is here, and also pasted in at the end of this blog entry. This year, the invitation is to submit what a Super Bowl ad for Linux might be like, if there was ever to be such a thing.
 Have you discovered The Alexandria Project?
 As you may recall, the CodePlex Foundation indicated in January that it expected to name a permanent Executive Director within a few weeks' time. That has now happened, and in the "small world" department, the new ED happens to be Paula Hunter - someone I've known for years, and worked with several times in the past. The full press release is below. Paula is someone I like and respect a lot, and a great choice for CodePlex.
As you'll see from the announcement, one of Paula's prior jobs was as the Executive Director of UnitedLinux. UL was a client of mine, and that's where I first met Paula. And if you've never heard the saga of UL, it's a rather fascinating story.
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STANDARDS BLOG
There are over 1,000,000 supported standards, with more being developed all the time. The Standards Blog examines how standards are developed, and their impact on business, society, and the future. This site is hosted by Gesmer Updegrove LLP, a technology law firm based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. GU is an internationally recognized leader in creating and representing the organizations that create and promote standards and open source software. The opinions expressed in The Standards Blog are those of Andy Updegrove alone, and not necessarily those of GU. Please see the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy for this site, which appear here.
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Quote of the Day“ Let the bidding begin” -Canonical's Matt Asay, hoping for a sale of SUSE Linux See all Quotes
Latest NewsElliott Said to Plan Sale of Novell Business If Offer SucceedsAaron RicadelaBloomberg News March 11, 2010 - Elliott Associates LP, the fund manager that made an unsolicited $2 billion offer for Novell Inc., would sell the NetWare networking-software unit if its bid succeeds, a person familiar with the matter said.
Elliott, which owns about 8.5 percent of Novell stock, would also try to run the company more efficiently and bring about $400 million in cash that Novell holds off shore to the U.S., said the person, who asked not to be identified because details of Elliott’s offer haven’t been made public. Elliott may also try to find a buyer for Novell’s business that specializes in an open-source operating system, the person said.... ...Full StoryDMTF Submits Completed OVF Specification for ANSI/ISO Standardization
DMTF.org March 11, 2010 - DMTF has been busy extending and refining the Open Virtualization Format
(OVF) specification. The organization recently completed version 1.1 of
the specification and has submitted it for consideration as an ANSI and
ISO standard. This is an important milestone for DMTF. The specification
will be put through a number of tests to ensure it meets a complex
system of checks and balances of reviews before it is adopted as an
American and International standard. DMTF will be tracking the OVF
specification as it makes its way toward becoming a national standard
and then an international standard.
Originally proposed in September 2007, the OVF specification describes
an open, secure, portable, efficient and extensible format for the
packaging and distribution of software to run virtual machines....DMTF has also submitted OVF to the InterNational Committee for Information
Technology Standards (INCITS) 'Fast-Track' process to develop it as an
American National Standard at American National Standards Institute (ANSI).
Once it is approved as an ANSI standard, OVF will be submitted to the
International Standards Organization (ISO) for consideration as an
international standardization.... ...Full Story What to Expect from HTML5
Neil McAllister
InfoWorld March 11, 2010 - Support for the next generation of HTML is already appearing in today's
browsers and Web pages... Anticipation is mounting for HTML5, the
overhaul of the Web markup language currently under way at the Worldwide
Web Consortium (W3C). For many, the revamping is long overdue. HTML
hasn't had a proper upgrade in more than a decade... Many claim the HTML
and XHTML standards have become outdated, and that their document-centric
focus does not adequately address the needs of modern Web applications.
HTML5 aims to change all that. When it is finalized, the new standard
will include tags and APIs for improved interactivity, multimedia, and
localization. As experimental support for HTML5 features has crept into
the current crop of Web browsers, some developers have even begun voicing
hope that this new, modernized HTML will free them from reliance on
proprietary plug-ins such as Flash, QuickTime, and Silverlight....[but] some W3C insiders say the road ahead for
HTML5 remains a rocky one.... ...Full Story And the winner of the Novell sweepstakes is...Microsoft?
Preston Gralla
ComputerWorld Blogs March 11, 2010 - Novell is facing a potential breakup if it's bought by Elliot Associates L.P., a hedge fund. The open source community is justifiably worried. But a chorus of people point to a potentially very unlikely white knight --- Microsoft. The company that some consider as the scourge of open source may well be Novell's savior....Microsoft would be buying more than just good will. It would gain a very substantial installed base to whom it could sell Linux services and products --- and you can be sure it would try to sell Microsoft technologies as well. So don't be surprised if Microsoft comes riding to Novell's rescue. ...Full Story Disappointing news from CodePlex Foundation I've written on a number of occasions before about CodePlex Foundation, and in particular on whether it would be able to gain credibility with the open source community as a truly open, independent vehicle for progress. Chief among the recommendations I made for achieving that result was to create a larger, more representative board of directors. The slate that has now been released not only remains small, but remains incomplete (the clear implication is that the remaining seat will be allocated to whatever company is willing to become an additional financial sponsor). Moreover, it took more than six months to announce even this minimalist slate. This doesn't auger well for the future of CodePlex as a respected, independent voice for open source software. The CodePlex Foundation Announces Appointment of Permanent Board Members
Press Release
CodePlex Foundation March 10, 2010 - The CodePlex Foundation, a not-for-profit foundation formed with the mission of enabling the exchange of code and understanding among software companies and open source communities, today announced the appointment of four members to its permanent Board of Directors.
New appointees include Jim Jagielski, Chief Architect at SpringSource, a division of VMware, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Apache Software Foundation and an Advisory Board Member at Open Source Software Institute and Tony Hey, Corporate Vice President of External Research for Microsoft Corporation.
Continuing on the Board as permanent Directors are interim Board members Sam Ramji, Vice President of Sonoa Systems, and Stephanie Davies Boesch, Director of Program Management of .NET Framework, Microsoft.
Departing from the interim CodePlex Board are Miguel de Icaza, Vice President, Novell; Shaun Walker, Co-Founder and Chief Architect of DotNetNuke Corporation; Bill Staples, General Manager of the Web Platform and Tools Engineering Groups - Microsoft; and D. Britton Johnston, SQL Server Appliance Engineering - Microsoft. Outgoing Board members will continue to work with the CodePlex Foundation on the Board of Advisors.
The permanent CodePlex Foundation Board has five members, two drawn from launch sponsor Microsoft and three chosen from the open source and corporate development communities. The fifth permanent board seat will remain open while the Foundation continues discussions with potential corporate sponsors.... ...Full Story And…Action! Standards Play a Leading Role at the 2010 Oscars
ANSI.org March 9, 2010 - [Sunday] night, as millions of people around the globe tuned in to watch Hollywood’s who’s-who walk the red carpet for the 82nd Annual Academy Awards, or “Oscars,” standards were in the house, on the screen, and behind the curtain making the magic of the movie industry’s biggest night possible.
While motion picture technology is developing in new directions – and dimensions – most movies, including many of this year’s Best Picture nominees such as The Blind Side and An Education, are still recorded on 35-millimeter (mm) film. The International Organization of Standardization (ISO) Technical Committee (TC) 36, Cinematography, Working Group (WG 1), Production technology, has developed a large number of standards related to motion picture photography, sound recording, reproduction, and projection....
In contrast to those traditionally filmed flicks, the sci-fi/fantasy box-office behemoth Avatar was shot entirely with digital cameras. INCITS/ISO/IEC 13818-2-2000 (R2006), Information Technology - Generic Coding of Moving Pictures and Associated Audio Information: Video, specifies the coded representation of picture information for digital storage media and digital video communication and specifies the decoding process....To assure that the Oscar broadcast is reliably delivered to those millions of home screens,...ANSI/SCTE 07 2006, Digital Transmission Standard For Cable Television. This ANS describes the framing structure, channel coding, and channel modulation for a digital multi-service television distribution system that is specific to a cable channel.... ...Full Story W3C pulls former Novell CTO for CEO spot
Joab Jackson
Business Week March 9, 2010 - Filling a position left open since 2008, former Novell CTO Jeffrey Jaffe has taken on the role of chief executive officer for the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium).
Jaffe will work alongside Web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee, who will remain the organization's director. While Berners-Lee will concentrate primarily on the direction of the W3C's standards, Jaffe will look to streamline the W3C process of working with members.... ...Full Story Industry Coalition Plans Interoperability Program with Certification
William Jackson
Government Computer News March 8, 2010 - The Initiative for Open Authentication, an industry coalition promoting
the use of open standards for interoperable strong authentication, used
its annual meeting at this week's RSA Security Conference to discuss
plans for an interoperability certification program.
...The OATH Certification Program is intended to provide assurance to
customers that products implementing OATH standards and technologies
will function as expected and interoperate with each other. This will
enable customers to deploy 'best of breed' solutions consisting of various
OATH 'certified' authentication devices such as tokens and servers from
different providers... OATH has taken a modular approach and intends to
develop the profiles to address the different OATH specifications as
applied to the identified components of the OATH Reference Architecture.... ...Full Story The Art of Narrative and the Semantic Web
Kurt Cagle
DevX.com March 8, 2010 - ...the vast majority of content that is developed on
the web [today] falls more properly into the realm of messages rather than
documents -- Facebook and Twitter notifications, resources generated
from rapidly changing databases, documents in which narrative content
are embedded within larger data structures, RSS and Atom feeds, KML
(ironically, Google Earth and Google Maps) documents and so forth.
Thus, a URL no longer contains a static narrative -- it contains a
constantly changing message....XML technologies are now about a
decade old, XQuery and XML Database tools are just now really becoming
main stream. Semantic Web technologies are beginning to emerge, but
widespread adoption is likely to still be two to three years out. However,
publishing and journalism are definitely at the forefront of that curve,
because these areas in particular are most sensitive to the need to both
provide enjoyable news content and the need to make such stories
manipulatable and discoverable within the ever increasing sophistication
and scope of the web itself. The narrative thread has become a rich,
interwoven tapestry, illuminated by brilliant strands of meaning,
semantics and abstraction, turning our writings into conversations, and
from there into dialogs.... ...Full Story nuBridges Forms Tokenization Standards Group
Press Release
nuBridges.com March 5, 2010 - nuBridges announced today that it is leading the formation of a Tokenization Standards Organization to develop industry standards for the tokenization data security model. With a growing variety of solutions being developed and implemented around data tokenization, nuBridges invites tokenization providers to work together toward creating a single standard that will ensure a high level of security and interoperability.
The need for a Tokenization Standards Organization is the result of a rapid increase in the acceptance of tokenization as a security model for guarding payment card information as well as personally identifiable information (PII) and protected health information (PHI) during the past year. Another impacting trend is the use of tokenization to reduce scope for Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS) audits....The initial goal of the Tokenization Standards Organization is to define an interoperable standard to address the business processes associated with tokens and tokenization functions.... ...Full Story
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