Is "Antitrust" for real?
There's been a lot of buzz on the Net recently about a movie that opened across the country January 12. The villain in MGM's "Antitrust" is based on the man so many love to hate, Bill Gates. Adding to the buzz -- at least among the open source crowd -- is the fact that Linus Torvalds, Jon "maddog" Hall, and Miguel de Icaza were all involved in the making of the movie.
That buzz was more than enough to whet my interest. So when I saw a message on the local LUG mailing list noting that free tickets for a sneak preview could be had at an Austin novelty and graphics company, I immediately drove into town to score one. Each pass was good for two people, so I asked my "three dimensional" to accompany me to the showing.
WARNING: I'll try to write about the film in a way that doesn't spoil it for those who are going to see it after reading this column. But some of my observations or revelations may unintentionally detract from your viewing pleasure. If you're concerned about that, bookmark this page and come back to it after seeing the film. If, on the other hand, you want to know more, visit the movie's Website (see Resources for a link), but be aware that it is not a Linux-friendly site and you may not be able to see all of it.
At the movies
The freebie ticket advised that we should arrive at least half an hour before the show started to be sure of getting a seat. We showed up an hour early and found about a hundred people already waiting in line. From brief conversations, I got the feeling that many of them were simply moviegoers, not geeks. They didn't know, for example, that the evil character of Gary Winston was a caricature of Bill Gates. But we weren't the only geeks there; we joined a group from the LUG sitting dead center and about five rows from the front.
jfruh
Apple syncing patent can't come soon enough
pasmith
New Twitter features borrow from 3rd party clients
Esther Schindler
Open Source Changes the Software Acquisition Process
mikelgan
How to set up continuous podcast play on the new iTunes
David Strom
Five important Windows 7 mobility features
sjvn
Guard your Wi-Fi for your own sake
Sandra Henry-Stocker
Grepping on Whole Words
Sidekick: The Good News & the Bad News
Either way you look at it Microsoft Data Center management did not follow standards or best practices in this failure. In which case it makes me wonder more about the outsourcing of corporate data much less personal data.
- mburton325
Join the conversation here
Quick, practical advice for IT pros. Made fresh daily.
Want to cash in on your IT savvy? Send your tip to tips@itworld.com. If we post it, we'll send you a $25 Amazon e-gift card.
Sign up »
Ease integration of Unix, Linux and Windows-based computers
Surviving Windows is easier than you think… MKS offers the power of an integrated all-in-one environment and provides you with the Power of UNIX on Windows
Learn More
Brought to you by: |
We have 5 copies of these two new books to give to some lucky readers. The deadline for entries is November 30, 2009.
|
iPhone for Programmers: An App-Driven Approach |
 |
The Google Way |
Priceless! The 25 Funniest Vintage Tech Ads
My oh my, how things have changed. These 25 vintage tech ads are guaranteed to take you back -- and, in most cases, remind you how truly terrible our tastes once were. Click ahead, and enjoy the shame-free trip down memory lane.
AISO founders envisioned a Web hosting company that was environmentally friendly. While the company employed energy-efficient innovations like solar panels, its infrastructure produced unacceptable power and cooling requirements. Find out how AISO leveraged AMD technology to overcome their challenge in this case study white paper.
In this whitepaper, Scalar explores the opportunity to change the landscape with respect to mission critical databases built around Oracle. Leveraging technologies such as Linux, high-end commodity processing power and Oracle RAC technology to architect, design, build and maintain database infrastructure that delivers maximum availability, reliability and performance at a fraction of traditional cost.
On a typical day, weather.com, the Web site for The Weather Channel in Atlanta, serves up between 15 million and 20 million page views. But in September 2004, when back-to-back hurricanes ransacked Florida, the peak traffic on one day more than tripled: over 70 million page views by more than 7 million unique visitors. Read the full success story now.
