‘Duke Nukem Forever’ release possible in 2008, coming to home consoles
Garland-based video games developer 3D Realms has said Duke Nukem Forever, the highly anticipated sequel to its revolutionary 1996 PC game Duke Nukem 3D, is projected to be completed in late 2008, with versions likely for Microsoft’s Xbox 360, Sony’s PlayStation 3 home video game consoles and personal computers.
“We haven’t formally announced any platforms for DNF,” wrote 3D Realms President Scott Miller in an e-mail exchange. “But, of course hitting the big three makes the most sense (PC, PS3, 360).”
Miller added a note of caution on the 12-years-coming sequel and its release window, claiming, “We can’t make an official announcement. Frankly, we may miss the mark by a month or two, but I feel very confident that we’re on target this time. Its definitely an internal push.”
Duke Nukem Forever is not the only 3D Realms title coming to home video game consoles in 2008. Miller also confirmed the existence of a downloadable Xbox Live Arcade version of Duke Nukem 3D, which will feature on-line multiplayer support, Xbox Live achievements, on-line score boards, and a co-op mode.
“We’re really excited about bringing classic Duke to the 360,” said Miller during an interview. “We’re talking to Microsoft about getting a release slot sometime this year.”
For more about Duke Nukem Forever, developer 3D Realms, and the North Texas video games industry at-large, pick up the Feb. 15, 2008 edition of the Dallas Business Journal for a special report.
An earlier version of this story said 3D Realms had “confirmed” the game’s release in late 2008. The current version also features an expanded quote from Miller regarding the possible release window.
by bizjournals
Duke Nukem Forever coming in 2008 alongside XBLA title
This just in: Duke Nukem Forever may see release in 2008. No, really. This unprecedented news comes by way of a recent email exchange between developer 3D Realms and the Dallas Business Journal.
While 3D Realms’ president Scott Miller notes that the company hasn’t “formally announced any platforms for DNF,” it does “make the most sense” that the title would be hitting “the big three,” referencing the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PCs. Miller does concede that the company “can’t make an official announcement” because it “may miss the mark by a month or two,” but confidence is high in the project due to an “internal push.”
Aside from the long-awaited release of the title 11 years in the making, 3D Realms also confirmed plans to bring Duke Nukem 3D to the Xbox Live Arcade with on-line multiplayer and co-op to boot. No date or priced has been confirmed yet.
It has been a long time coming, but there could very well be a day when the game that has been in development longer than the time it took to completely conceive, design, develop, and produce the atomic bomb will hit the streets. What a glorious era for gaming.
Ben’s Update: Well, the information may not be wrong, but it certainly wasn’t meant for public consumption. 3DRealms has just posted about this story on its official website, and George Broussard sounds just a little angry about the story. “In what appears to be an unfortunate turn of events, there seems to have been some confusion between what was ‘off the record’ and what was not. I suppose we’re used to dealing with gaming press and not mainstream press. Lesson learned,” he wrote.
The release date is still ‘when it’s done’, and will be until the appropriate moment. Platforms have not been finalized or announced. You can rest assured that we are moving toward a goal and that the recently released teaser trailer is the start of that process and seeing more of the game, sooner than later.
“We apologize to gamers and websites everywhere for this series of events. Sometimes, you can be too trusting of people and assume things that come back to bite you,” he finishes.
by arstechnica
Pirate Bay Says It Can’t Be Sunk, Servers Scattered Worldwide
The world’s most notorious BitTorrent tracking site, The Pirate Bay, won’t be going to Davy Jones’ Locker, even if its four operators are convicted of facilitating copyright infringement, one of the defendants said in an interview Friday with THREAT LEVEL.
Peter Sunde Kolmisoppi, one of the four Swedes charged in Sweden on Thursday, said in a telephone interview that the site has set up a clandestine, double-blind operation with its servers spread throughout the world — and out of reach of the Swedish authorities.
“The Pirate Bay is not in Sweden,” the 29-year-old Kolmisoppi said.
Where are the servers?
“It’s a distributed system. We don’t know where the servers are. We gave them to people we trust and they don’t know it’s The Pirate Bay,” Kolmisoppi said. “They then rent locations and space for them somewhere else. It could be three countries. It could be six countries. We don’t want to know because then you’ll have a problem shutting them down.”
The Pirate Bay allows users to search for and access indexed torrents, which contain the information needed to download data containing copyright-infringing content like movies, music, software and other material from users of the service. The Bay, he said, operates like the search engine Google, which also points the way to copyrighted works on the internet.
“We’re just a general-purpose search engine and torrent-tracking system. You can put whatever you want on the Pirate Bay,” Kolmisoppi said. “We don’t participate in how the people communicate with each other. We only participate in bringing the possibility to communicate and share files.”
The Bay has been on the entertainment industry’s and police authorities’ watchlists for years.
In June, 2006, a police raid shuttered it for three days after the authorities confiscated its servers, which were later moved. The raid sparked street protests in Sweden, and garnered the site an international presence after the mainstream media began reporting on it.
The four charged in Stockholm are Hans Fredrik Neij, Per Svartholm Warg, Carl Lundstroem and Kolmisoppi. According to charges lodged in Stockholm, the four are accused of “promoting other people’s infringements of copyright laws.”
“I think they’re lame,” he said of the charges.
Prosecutor Hakan Roswall was not immediately available for comment.
None of the defendants, Kolmisoppi said, have prior convictions, meaning even if they are convicted, they won’t likely be jailed for the two years the charges potentially carry.
“As a worse-case scenario for us, we get a fine,” Kolmisoppi said. “They can say we have to shut down the site, don’t host it in Sweden. But they can’t say it won’t be accessible in Sweden or anywhere. They can’t do anything about it, no matter what happens.”
He also disputes that the company is generating millions in profit, as the authorities allege.
“It’s so stupid to say we’re making a profit,” he said “We’re spending hours and hours of our own time to do this. If we were making millions, we wouldn’t have day jobs. And even if we did make millions, it would not change the fact that this is not illegal.”
Kolmissoppi said his day job is “developing a micro payment system.”
No court date has been set.
by wired
Reference: The Pirate Bay (often abbreviated TPB) is an Internet site that bills itself as “the world’s largest BitTorrent tracker” and also serves as an index for .torrent files that it tracks. ThePirateBay.org is ranked 154 (as of January 20, 2008) in the Alexa ranking list and ranked 258 (as of February 1, 2008) by Quantcast.
The Pirate Bay was started by the Swedish anti-copyright organization Piratbyr?n (’The Pirate Bureau’) in early 2004, but since October 2004 it has been a separate organization. The site is currently run by Gottfrid Svartholm (”anakata”), Fredrik Neij (”TiAMO”) and Peter Sunde (”brokep”).
On May 31, 2006, the site’s servers, located in Stockholm, were raided by Swedish police, causing it to be offline for three days. Later it came online with new hosting in the Netherlands – The Pirate Bay has since taken measures to ensure a restoration time of hours rather than days. On June 14, 2006 the Swedish newspaper SvD reported that The Pirate Bay was back in Sweden due to “pressure from the Department of Justice [in the Netherlands].” Upon reopening, the site’s number of visitors doubled, the increased popularity attributed to greater exposure through the recent media coverage. This has in turn increased the advertising revenues to the founders Gottfrid Svartholm and Fredrik Neij. According to speculations by Swedish newspaper SvD, the advertisements generated about 75,000 USD per month directly after the raid.
The raid, alleged to be politically motivated and under pressure from the MPAA, was reported as a success by the MPAA in the immediate aftermath, but with the site being restored within days and the raising of the debate in Swedish culture, The Pirate Bay and other commentators considered it “highly unsuccessful”.
Swedish prosecutors have announced that charges will be filed before the end of January 2008 against five individuals concerned.
On January 31, 2008, Swedish prosecutors filed charges against four of the individuals behind The Pirate Bay.
Torvalds: Linux ready to go green
The infrastructure and tools required to make Linux a green operating system are now in place, according to Linus Torvalds, who was in Melbourne this week attending Australia’s largest Linux conference.
In an interview at the linux.conf.au conference, Torvalds admitted that Linux was lagging behind on power-management and energy-diagnosis tools.
“It is an area we were pretty weak in a few years ago and just building up the infrastructure took a long time, but now we are at a point where we have most of it done,” said Torvalds.
“That doesn’t mean we are done. Now we have an infrastructure in place… we have the tools to measure power and notice when the power is higher and why that is, which is pretty important. Before, it used to be a black box,” said Torvalds.
Linux safe with or without Linus
Speaking about the future of Linux, Torvalds said he is pleased that there is no more pressure on the kernel due to its stability and the community of people helping to keep it maintained.
“We are still working on a lot of stuff, especially with new hardware. But I think, on the whole, a lot of the basics are there. What we work on is better maintainability, improving code so we can add features more easily,” Torvalds said.
When asked about retirement, Torvalds said he has no intention to move on and, even if he did, users would be “unlikely to notice”, as the operating system has such a strong support community.
“The question comes up but it is not something I really worry about. There are other people who could take over what I do. I would like to think that they would be worse at it, but it is not like [Linux] would go away or be in trouble,” said Torvalds.
Celebrating the death of DRM music
Torvalds also revealed he is glad to see the apparent demise of music protected by digital rights management (DRM). In an interview last year, Torvalds said he believed DRM was a “lot of hot air”, a comment that he said has now been proved right.
“I think I have been vindicated somewhat. DRM is so anti-consumer that I don’t see it really ever taking off,” said Torvalds.
Torvalds’ comments come just weeks after Sony BMG said it will begin selling music without any copy protection. EMI, Warner Music Group and Universal have also already begun dropping DRM in the US.
by zdnet
Reference: Linux is a a family of Unix-like computer operating systems that are based on the Linux kernel. The Linux kernel is implemented in so called Linux distributions that can be used on a personal computer or on a server. Examples of such distributions are Ubuntu or PCLinuxOS.
Linux is one of the most prominent examples of free software and open source development; typically all underlying source code can be freely modified, used, and redistributed by anyone.
The name “Linux” comes from the Linux kernel, started in 1991 by Linus Torvalds. The system’s utilities and libraries usually come from the GNU operating system, started in 1983 by Richard Stallman. The GNU contribution is the reason for the alternative name GNU/Linux.
A confidential informant says Google will stop monetizing all domains if they are less then five days old. This potential new policy change by Google could stop all Domain Tasting in its tracks. The Add Grace Period (AGP) is a time period when registrars can delete a domain at no cost, but in this time frame a registrant could register millions of these temporary domains and place Google Adsense for Domains on them. The result is the ability to produce millions of temporary websites that literally generate millions of dollars in income per week for Google. It was disclosed in court that one partner that Google had was generating as much as $3 million dollars a month from the practice and that was after Google’s revenue share. Oversee.net and other companies have been using this practice for years and it will have a direct impact on them. The gravy train of free money might be coming to a halt very fast. This policy change at Google should be announced to the channel partners soon and it will have a huge echoing impact on the Industry.
The Good news is that the Quantity of advertising will be spread among fewer domains now and so those domain owners that actually own real full domains should receive more money if bid prices start to rise as a result of this. However some advocates of Domain Tasting say that perhaps no one will be able to serve the niche for some ads and no one will make money on the unserved ads.
I think this is a return of the “Be Good” motto Google had a few years ago. Google has been quietly enabling this practice for years now. This is a smart policy move on Google’s part to ward off impending litigation that might have hit them in the coming months. Trademark lawyers have been getting crafter at taking down Kiting by suing under other laws. The new weapon of choice is not using Trademark laws but Forgery laws. The penalty for forgery is much worse and cares a much higher fine per article that is forged. Dell, Yahoo, and BMW have all filed lawsuits in the last two months that ask for millions of dollars of damage from Google partners and I think Google sees the writing on the wall, they might be named next.
The question that remains, will Yahoo follow suit and block all advertising on domains less then 5 day old as well? I have a feeling Yahoo will because Yahoo was one of the groups that is suing Domain Tasters using the Forgery law tactic. Most of the big Domain Tasters are using Google ad syndication feeds to monetize the traffic right now and the money will come knocking on Yahoo’s door now.
by Domaintools
Reference: Domain tasting is the practice of a domain name registrant using the five-day “grace period” at the beginning of the registration of an ICANN-regulated generic top-level domain to test the marketability of the domain. During this period, when a registration must be fully refunded by the domain registry, a cost-benefit analysis is conducted by the registrant on the viability of deriving income from advertisements being placed on the domain’s web site.
Domains that are deemed “successes” and retained in registrant’s portfolio often represent domains that were previously used and have since expired, misspellings of other popular sites, or generic terms that may receive type-in traffic. These domains are usually still active in search engines and other hyperlinks and therefore receive enough traffic such that advertising revenue exceeds the cost of the registration. The registrant may also derive revenue from eventual sale of the domain, at a premium, to a third party.
Domain tasting should not be confused with domain kiting, which is the process of deleting a domain name during the five-day grace period and immediately re-registering it for another five-day period. This process is repeated any number of times with the end result of having the domain registered without ever actually paying for it.
Napster goes back to MP3s
Napster, the brand that dragged the entire world kicking and screaming into the digital music revolution and then became a casualty of RIAA litigation, will soon be returning to its roots in the DRM-free music world. The P2P-turned-legit subscription service announced this morning that it will begin selling unprotected copies of its entire catalog in MP3 format beginning in the second quarter of 2008. Users of the service will be able to buy individual DRM-free tracks and albums, but Napster’s subscription service will remain unchanged. The company hailed the announcement as the first subscription service “featuring major label content” to announce plans to sell unprotected MP3s.
Of course, since the conversion won’t be happening for another few months, the company was very short on details. This morning’s statement revealed only that users of Napster’s online service and its mobile subscription service, Napster and Napster To Go, would be able to buy the MP3 files and use them on any number of devices that support the ubiquitous format. The announcement didn’t mention pricing, although it’s not unreasonable to expect that it will be similar to current track pricing.
Another big omission in the announcement was a list of which major labels will offer DRM-free tracks via Napster. EMI, Universal, and Warner Music Group have already begun selling DRM-free music through other outlets, and Sony BMG is rumored to be joining the party very soon. But that doesn’t mean that they’ve all signed on with Napster yet, and Napster CEO Chris Gorog admitted to the Wall Street Journal that the company is still finalizing agreements with “at least some” of the four.
Speaking of Sony BMG, the music label confirmed today that it is, indeed, planning to dip its toes into DRM-free waters, albeit via carefully-controlled experimentation. The label told USA Today that it will begin selling gift cards in select brick-and-mortar stores on January 15 for $12.99 that will be redeemable at its planned online music store, MusicPass. Through the “Platinum MusicPass” part of the service customers will be able to select from 37 albums available without DRM. Sony’s move isn’t exactly the nail in the coffin for DRM just yet (especially since users will have to go to a B&M store first before going back home to get the DRM-free content, which seems oddly backwards), but it’s only a matter of time before Sony BMG drops its experiment and joins the rest of the Big Four in a more straightforward way.
As for Napster, the move to DRM-free sales is the latest in a long line of attempts to gain a larger share of the digital music market, after trying a number of other initiatives. The service has remained one of the most popular when it comes to online music subscriptions, but is still battling against larger stores—namely, the market-leading iTunes Store. From that perspective, it comes as no surprise that going DRM-free has been popular among music retailers—iTunes still only offers DRM-free tracks from EMI artists and some independent labels. A different and wider mix of DRM-free artists could give an edge to an iTunes alternative, and that’s what Napster is going for.
“The ubiquity and cross-platform compatibility of MP3s should create a more level playing field for music services and hardware providers and result in greater ease of use and broader adoption of digital music,” Gorog said in a statement. Translation: Down with Apple!
by Arstechnica
Reference: Napster was a file sharing service that paved the way for decentralized P2P file-sharing programs such as Kazaa, Limewire, iMesh, Morpheus, and BearShare, which are now used for many of the same reasons and can download music, pictures, and other files. The popularity and repercussions of the first Napster have made it a legendary icon in the computer and entertainment fields.
Napster’s brand and logo continue to be used by a pay service, having been acquired by Roxio.
CES: GPS peripheral coming soon to the US
The Consumer Electronics Show has been big for the PSP. Sony officially revealed plans for Skype on the PSP. Now, they’ve shown off GPS navigation for use with the PSP. The peripheral has been readily available in Japan for quite some time now, but this is the first official sign that the US will also receive the device.
The Sony CES website reveals that the peripheral will work with navigation software, provided on UMD. “Your PSP will provide 2D/3D locations, driving directions, POI’s, and even downloadable city guides. With an easy search feature feature and customizable settings, GPS on PSP is the easiest way to navigate new areas and new cities.”
An official release date and price have yet to be revealed, but we’re glad to see it’s finally coming.
by PSPFANBOY
Reference: The Global Positioning System (GPS) is the only fully functional Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS). Utilizing a constellation of at least 24 Medium Earth Orbit satellites that transmit precise microwave signals, the system enables a GPS receiver to determine its location, speed, direction, and time. Other similar systems are the Russian GLONASS (incomplete as of 2007), the upcoming European Galileo positioning system, the proposed COMPASS navigation system of China, and IRNSS of India.
Developed by the United States Department of Defense, GPS is officially named NAVSTAR GPS (Contrary to popular belief, NAVSTAR is not an acronym, but simply a name given by Mr. John Walsh, a key decision maker when it came to the budget for the GPS program). The satellite constellation is managed by the United States Air Force 50th Space Wing. The cost of maintaining the system is approximately US$750 million per year, including the replacement of aging satellites, and research and development.
Following the shootdown of Korean Air Lines Flight 007 in 1983, President Ronald Reagan issued a directive making the system available for free for civilian use as a common good. Since then, GPS has become a widely used aid to navigation worldwide, and a useful tool for map-making, land surveying, commerce, and scientific uses. GPS also provides a precise time reference used in many applications including scientific study of earthquakes, and synchronization of telecommunications networks.
Fox to allow DVD copying on Apple’s iTunes
Also in Apple’s movie rental deal yesterday with Fox: Apple will license its FairPlay copy-protection technology to the studio for DVD movie releases. This will allow DVD purchasers to easily — and legally — copy movies to their computers for playback on iPods and iPhones.
The copy protection on DVDs was cracked long ago, but it’s still not easy for the average consumer to copy a disc and transfer it to iTunes. Having one-click DVD copying, like iTunes has done for CDs for years, could well be the killer app for Apple’s video products, including the Apple TV. (Update: According to Gizmodo, the files won’t be ripped from the DVD; instead, Fox will include iTunes-formatted versions of the movie on the disc.)
Up until now, the only way to legally get a movie on your Apple TV was to buy it from the iTunes store. If this trial is successful, we could see other movie studios sign on quickly. Odds are good that Disney, the media company in which Apple CEO Steve Jobs is the largest individual shareholder, will get the same deal when the movie-rental store launches in January.
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation (spelled from 1935 to 1985 as Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation), also known as 20th Century Fox, is one of the six major American film studios. Located in the Century City area of Los Angeles, California, USA, just west of Beverly Hills, the studio is a subsidiary of News Corporation, the media conglomerate controlled by Rupert Murdoch. The company was founded in 1935, as the result of a merger of two entities, Fox Film Corporation founded by William Fox in 1915, and Twentieth Century Pictures, begun in 1933 by Darryl F. Zanuck, Joseph Schenck, Raymond Griffith and William Goetz.
iTunes is a digital media player application, introduced by Apple on January 10, 2001 at the Macworld Expo in San Francisco, for playing and organizing digital music and video files. The program is also an interface to manage the contents on Apple’s popular iPod digital media players as well as the iPhone. Additionally, iTunes can connect to the iTunes Store (provided an internet connection is present) in order to purchase and download digital music, music videos, television shows, iPod games, audiobooks, various podcasts, feature length films, and ringtones.
iTunes is available as a free download for Mac OS X, Windows Vista, and Windows XP from Apple’s website. It is also bundled with all Macs, and some HP and Dell computers. Older versions are available for Mac OS 9, OS X 10.0-10.2, and Windows 2000. iTunes is not available for other operating systems, such as Linux, although there are iTunes substitutes created for Linux such as Amarok.
KDE 4.0 to be Released in January
The KDE Release Team has decided to release KDE 4.0 this coming January. The release was originally planned for mid-December. The KDE developers want to solve a couple of essential issues before releasing. Having solved some of those issues, among which were glitches in the visual appearance, and in Konqueror, the KDE community hopes to have a KDE 4.0 that will live up to the high expectations for it. Read on for more details.
Meanwhile, the progress towards KDE 4.0 is astonishing. Most parts, such as the KDE Development Platform and a lot of applications are considered stable and well-usable.
Some parts of the desktop experience do not yet meet the KDE community’s quality standards and expectations for a stable release. There are also some issues which need to be addressed upstream, for example a bug in certain codecs of xine that cut off audio fragments prematurely. The developers are confident to be able to release a more polished and better working KDE 4.0 desktop in January. The changed plans involve releasing on January 11th, 2008.
At the same time, the release team’s call for participation is repeated. To make KDE 4.0 a success, your effort is needed. An overview of current showstoppers can be found on Techbase, KDE’s knowledge platform.
This is also a call to the wider Free Software community, and also to companies working with KDE. If you have the resources to contribute, assistance in fixing the remaining bugs is most welcome.
KDE Reference: KDE (K Desktop Environment) is a free software project which aims to be a powerful system for an easy-to-use desktop environment. The goal of the project is to provide basic desktop functions and applications for daily needs as well as tools and documentation for developers to write stand-alone applications for the system. In this regard the KDE project serves as an umbrella project for many standalone applications and smaller projects that are based on KDE technology, such as KOffice, KDevelop, Amarok, K3b and many more.
KDE was founded in 1996 by Matthias Ettrich, who was then a student at the Eberhard Karls University of T?bingen. At the time, he was troubled by certain aspects of the UNIX desktop. Among his qualms were that none of the applications looked, felt, or worked alike. He proposed the formation of not only a set of applications, but rather a desktop environment, in which users could expect things to look, feel, and work consistently. He also wanted to make this desktop easy to use; one of his complaints with desktop applications of the time was that his girlfriend could not use them. His initial Usenet post spurred a lot of interest, and the KDE project was born. The name KDE was intended as a word play on the existing Common Desktop Environment, available for Unix systems. CDE was an X11-based user environment jointly developed by HP, IBM, and Sun, through the X/Open Company, with an interface and productivity tools based on the Motif graphical widget toolkit. It was supposed to be an intuitively easy-to-use desktop computer environment. The K was originally suggested to stand for “Kool”, but it was quickly decided that the K should stand for nothing in particular. Additionally, one of the tips in certain versions of KDE 3 incorrectly states that the K currently is just meant to be the letter before L in the Latin alphabet, the first letter in the word Linux (which is where KDE is usually run).
Matthias chose to use the Qt toolkit for the KDE project. Other programmers quickly started developing KDE/Qt applications, and by early 1997, large and complex applications were being released. At the time, Qt did not use a free software license and members of the GNU project became concerned about the use of such a toolkit for building a free software desktop and applications. Notably, KDE was removed from Debian because the project interpreted the GPL as not allowing KDE to be linked to Qt. Two projects were started: “Harmony”, to create a Free replacement for the Qt libraries, and the GNOME project to create a new desktop without Qt and built entirely on top of free software.
In November 1998, the Qt toolkit was licensed under the free/open source Q Public License (QPL). This same year the KDE Free Qt foundation was created which guarantees that Qt would fall under a variant of the very liberal BSD license should Trolltech cease to exist or no free/open source version of Qt be released during 12 months. But debate continued about compatibility with the GNU General Public License (GPL). In September 2000, Trolltech made the Unix version of the Qt libraries available under the GPL, in addition to the QPL, which has eliminated the concerns of the Free Software Foundation. Starting with the release of Qt 4.0, it is available as free software for the Unix, Mac and Windows platforms, indicating that the next major version of KDE applications and libraries will have native support on these platforms.
Both KDE and GNOME now participate in freedesktop.org, an effort to standardize Unix desktop interoperability, although there is still some competition between them.
Comcast Corporation , the nation’s leading provider of cable, entertainment and communications products and services, and Microsoft Corp. , the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions, have launched a new Internet-based communications product for small and medium- sized businesses (SMBs), giving SMBs access to services that have traditionally only been available to larger companies with IT staffs. Comcast’s SMB customers will be the first in the country to receive Microsoft Communication Services from Comcast, which will provide them with corporate- class e-mail, calendaring and document sharing. This product is Internet- based, so SMBs do not need additional server capacity and is backed by 24×7 Business Class customer support from Comcast, which will serve as an SMB’s “help desk.”
Comcast is the only major U.S. Internet service provider to make this product available at no additional cost with its broadband services. Microsoft Communication Services lets small-business owners focus on running their businesses rather than worrying about IT issues by:
- Enabling SMB teams to share documents and access calendars, track
tasks, and use e-mail efficiently and effectively through corporate-
class productivity and collaboration solutions based on Microsoft
Exchange Server 2007, Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 and Microsoft
Windows SharePoint Services 3.0
- Removing barriers of up-front costs, help desk support and ongoing
system maintenance, which often prevent SMBs from experiencing the
benefits of corporate-grade IT services
- Extending the boundaries of the “office” to anywhere there’s Internet
access
- Improving communication by letting SMBs extend access to these
collaboration tools, such as document sharing, to important business
partners or suppliers
- Providing full integration with Comcast’s network and around-the-clock
support
Microsoft Communication Services is the first major product to be launched in conjunction with Comcast’s introduction of high-speed Internet, phone and video services for small businesses across the country. Comcast is providing SMBs with the first real alternative to the local phone company for these services.
“Working with Microsoft to enhance our Comcast Business Class Internet demonstrates our commitment to bringing simple, time-saving tools to small businesses,” said Bill Stemper, president of Comcast Business Services. “Many of our small-business customers use stand-alone Microsoft products on their own PCs, which benefits individual employees. Now, as part of their Comcast high-speed Internet service, they can quickly schedule meetings, share a common address book, or easily share or review important documents, which benefits the entire business.”
Added Michael O’Hara, general manager for the Communications Sector at Microsoft, “The alliance announced today is particularly exciting because it serves to deliver new levels of productivity and flexibility to small and medium-sized businesses across the U.S. We can now offer SMBs the business- building communication and collaboration tools they need, and Comcast is helping remove the traditional barriers that have kept SMBs from adopting these tools in a meaningful way.”
“Small businesses present a significant opportunity for service providers offering integrated service packages. Despite advances in network infrastructure over the past decade that have improved reliability and decreased costs, businesses that don’t have an extensive IT capability lack many of the tools utilized by corporate-class establishments,” said Matt Davis, director of Consumer & Business Multiplay Services at IDC. “Service provider offerings that provide compelling applications along with affordable pricing as part of a bundled broadband and voice solution are well positioned to garner share in the marketplace.”
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.
About Comcast
Comcast Corporation (http://www.comcast.com) is the nation’s leading provider of cable, entertainment and communications products and services. With 24.2 million cable customers, 12.9 million high-speed Internet customers, and 4.1 million voice customers, Comcast is principally involved in the development, management and operation of broadband cable systems and in the delivery of programming content.
Comcast’s content networks and investments include E! Entertainment Television, Style Network, The Golf Channel, VERSUS, G4, AZN Television, PBS KIDS Sprout, TV One, Comcast SportsNet and Comcast Interactive Media, which develops and operates Comcast’s Internet business. Comcast also has a majority ownership in Comcast-Spectacor, whose major holdings include the Philadelphia Flyers NHL hockey team, the Philadelphia 76ers NBA basketball team and two large multipurpose arenas in Philadelphia.
Comcast
Comcast was founded in 1963 by Ralph J. Roberts, Daniel Aaron, and Julian A. Brodsky based on a recommendation from Warren “Pete” Musser, of Harrisburg, who brought the deal to Ralph Roberts to buy his first cable system in Tupelo, Mississippi. The company was incorporated in Pennsylvania in 1969, under the name Comcast Corporation from American Cable Systems, though a former insider says that “Comcast” is a derivation of the name “Communications and Broadcasting”. Moving into the area of programming content, Comcast became majority owner of Comcast-Spectacor, Comcast SportsNet (in Chicago, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Washington DC/Baltimore, MD, metro Sacramento, Detroit, and Houston ), E! Entertainment Television, Style Network, G4, The Golf Channel and Versus (formerly known as Outdoor Life Network) over a period of years. In 2006, Comcast started a new sports channel in cooperation with Major League Baseball’s New York Mets, SportsNet New York in the greater New York City region.
Comcast also has a variety network known as CN8, or the Comcast Network, available exclusively to Comcast and Cablevision subscribers. The channel shows news, sports, and entertainment and places emphasis in Philadelphia, New England, and the Baltimore/Washington, D.C. areas, though the channel is also available in New York, Pittsburgh, and Richmond. In August 2004, Comcast started a channel called CET (Comcast Entertainment Television). It is only available to Colorado Comcast subscribers. It focuses on Life in Colorado. It also carries some NHL & NBA Games when Altitude Sports & Entertainment is carrying the NBA or NHL. In January 2006, CET became the primary channel for Colorado’s Emergency Alert System in the Denver Metro Area.
The UK division was sold to NTL in 1998. After the sale of their cellular division to SBC Communications of San Antonio and the acquisition of Greater Philadelphia Cablevision in 1999, Comcast and MediaOne announced a $60 billion merger which did not occur until three years later (as AT&T Broadband).
In 2002, Comcast paid the University of Maryland $25 million for naming rights to the new basketball arena built on the College Park campus, named Comcast Center.
On January 3, 2005, Comcast announced that it would become the anchor tenant in a new skyscraper in downtown Philadelphia, to be named the Comcast Center, not to be confused with the Maryland arena mentioned above. The 975 ft skyscraper, while still under construction, has topped off and is officially the tallest building in Pennsylvania.
In December 2005, Comcast announced the creation of Comcast Interactive Media (CIM), a new division focused on online media.
Presently, Comcast serves a total of 24.1 million cable customers, 14.1 million digital cable customers, 12.4 million high-speed internet customers, and 3.5 million voice customers. The company employs over 90,000 people. Comcast is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and also has corporate offices in Houston, Detroit, and Denver.
Mozilla may separate from Thunderbird, its stand-alone e-mail client, the company’s CEO has disclosed.
In a posting to her blog Wednesday, CEO Mitchell Baker said that Mozilla’s first priority is, and will continue to be, its open-source browser, Firefox. “As a result, Mozilla doesn’t focus on Thunderbird as much as we do browsing and Firefox and we don’t expect this to change in the foreseeable future,” said Baker.
Thunderbird’s community, which includes a large number of unpaid programmers, should be cut loose “to determine its own destiny,” she said.
The e-mail app, which was just updated to version 2.0.0.5 last week, is Mozilla’s answer to Microsoft Outlook and Entourage, and other stand-alone e-mailers such as Mail, which is bundled with Mac OS X. Like Firefox, it’s free to download, and comes in editions for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X.
A Choice of Fates
Baker laid out three possible fates for Thunderbird, including creating a new non-profit organization similar to the Mozilla Foundation to focus on the e-mail program; building a new subsidiary of the Foundation just for Thunderbird; and releasing Thunderbird into the wild as a community-only project. The latter was the path taken by SeaMonkey, the name for what was once called Mozilla Suite, when the latter was dropped by Mozilla in 2005.
“We don’t know the best answer yet,” Baker said. “And we don’t expect to without a broad public discussion and involvement.”
From the comments left on Baker’s blog, that discussion may not be polite.
“I see it as a bad idea for the Mozilla ecosystem as a whole,” said a user identified only as Dean. “Already there have been misgivings from some developers about the Foundation/Corporation’s dedication to Mozilla as a platform.”
“This is a crazy,” said another used, tagged as Benoit.
Some Backing
Others, however, backed Baker, and took up sides on which option would be the best for the e-mail program. Scott MacGregor and David Bienvenu, the Mozilla employees who lead Thunderbird development efforts, voted for option No. 3. “We believe, creating a separate independent company focused on the Thunderbird mission is the best way for us to take care of our users, while having the most flexibility to grow and support our mission,” said MacGregor in an entry at his own blog. “Our vision is to create an independent company responsible for developing future versions of Thunderbird.”
Although neither Baker or MacGregor mentioned Web-based mail in their missives, users weren’t as hesitant to blame the likes of Gmail, Windows Live Mail and other free online services for Thunderbird’s woes. One in particular put it succinctly: “I don’t know what I’ll be using in a couple of years but my safest bet would be some other Web mail application and not a desktop e-mail client,” said a user who called himself John Q Public.
Mitchell did not hint at a timetable for making a decision or when internal Thunderbird development and support would stop. Likewise, Mozilla did not comment on those issues or what, if any, impact Baker’s message will have on Thunderbird 3.0, a major update that until today presumably was still in the works.
Mozilla to push Thunderbird out of the nest
In a blog entry written yesterday, Mozilla CEO Mitchell Baker discusses plans to create a new organizational structure for Thunderbird so that Mozilla can focus exclusively on the Firefox web browser.
Thunderbird 2.0 flies the coop
Mozilla’s CEO is concerned that the organization can’t give Thunderbird the attention it needs without degrading its efforts to continue building and supporting the Firefox ecosystem. The top priority, Baker says, should be “delivering the web, mostly through browsing and related services.” What Thunderbird needs now, according to Baker, is “a separate organization focused on Thunderbird [that] will both be able to move independently and will need to do so to deepen community and user involvement.”
Mozilla wants to give the Thunderbird project more autonomy and create an independent organizational structure that is better equipped to the needs of the Thunderbird community. Baker hopes that placing the responsibility for managing Thunderbird in the hands of an independent body will create new potential for innovation and help the project achieve broader community involvement.
In order to facilitate public discussion, Baker articulates the benefits and challenges of three potential organizational models. Mozilla could create a nonprofit Thunderbird Foundation, establish a subsidiary of the Mozilla Foundation just for Thunderbird, or push Thunderbird back into the community and help the Thunderbird developers create their own independent services and consulting company.
Commercial software companies tend to broaden their focus and expand vertically into other markets as they grow, but Mozilla is moving in the other direction and increasingly embracing greater specialization. On the surface, Mozilla’s decision to spin-off Thunderbird as an independent project may seem counterintuitive, but when one takes a closer look at the community dynamics and the relationship between Firefox and Mozilla, the reasoning begins to make more sense. Mozilla—both the foundation and the corporation—exists to serve as a vehicle for moving development forward by coordinating the efforts of a globally dispersed community, and interfacing with other organizations and corporate entities that have a vested interest in empowering Mozilla to achieve its goals or leveraging the resulting technologies.
Baker recognizes that, despite considerable overlap in agenda and underlying technology, Thunderbird and Firefox both have their own distinct communities with very different needs. Nothing of tangible relevance is gained by maintaining both projects within the same organizational infrastructure, and nothing is lost by pushing Thunderbird out of the nest, especially since an independent Thunderbird would likely still have access to Mozilla’s considerable financial resources. Mozilla is already providing funding to other closely aligned external projects that are leveraging Mozilla technologies and there is nothing that would preclude similar provision of funding for Thunderbird.
Establishing a separate foundation or creating a Mozilla subsidiary for Thunderbird would increase the flexibility of both projects by allowing them to each focus on their own agendas, operate in a manner most conducive to their own individual growth, and establish their own partnerships with external organizations. Mozilla has ensured a sufficient level of transparency in the process of organizational transition by starting the debate out in the open and involving the community. I think we can look forward to seeing exciting new opportunities for Thunderbird emerge as it becomes independent and flies out of the nest.
