The “Spider-Man Geekout Edition” of the Dr. Bill Podcast #87

Dr. Bill Podcast – 87 – (05/05/07)
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Highways as wind farms! Microsoft and Adobe compete to Open Source? Dell and pre-installed Ubuntu! The Digg users vs. Digg owners battle! Will Microsoft buy Yahoo!? Geek Software of the Week: BareGrep! The Gamemaster and I talk Spidey!

Geek Software of the Week: BareGrep

Us Linux dewds get spoiled by having a powerful tool like grep… now you can have it on Windows!

BareGrep Home Page

A free file finding and text searching tool. High-performance search algorithm. Regex syntax is a common subset of Perl, PHP and Java (see the Regex Reference). Simple search mode for literal strings, when not using regexes. Wildcard and regular expression file search. Files to find or search can be specified as a list including wildcards. Recursive directory search. Find and search matching files anywhere on the file-system. Interactive, incremental search. Searching while you type, to find results quicker. Feedback on regex syntax errors while you type, to build regexes quicker. Export search results to a file or the clipboard. Configurable selection of search result columns. Configurable prefix, suffix, alignment and truncation. Many file formats. Windows / DOS text files (lines end in CR/LF pairs). Unix text files (lines end in LF). Microsoft IIS logfiles (and other files terminated with a string of nulls). Many configurable user preferences. Preferences can be saved to a file, the registry or not at all on exit. Preferences are loaded from a file in the local directory, a file in the application directory or the registry (in that order). Preferences can be loaded and saved at any time by the user, and shared with other users. Single small executable, no installer. No installation needed, start using the tool immediately. Small executable can be run from the network. Easy to temporarily install and then completely remove.”

Will Microsoft Buy Yahoo!?

Hummm… that would be something wouldn’t it?

Reports: Microsoft Eyeing Deal to Buy Yahoo

“Microsoft Corp. has stepped up its pursuit of a deal to buy Yahoo Inc., two newspapers reported on Friday, as the two companies reenter talks to strike a deal amid huge growth from rival Google Inc. Yahoo shares jumped 14.6 percent to $32.20 in electronic trading on Friday, while Microsoft shares fell 1.4 percent to $30.53. The two companies have held informal deal talks over the years. But the latest approach comes as Microsoft seeks to ink a deal in the wake of Google’s expansion. ‘It’s been talked about for a long time, ever since Google came into the picture. I can’t imagine a more perfect deal,’ said Peter Lobravico, vice president of risk arbitrage sales/trading at brokerage Wall Street Access. ‘You can’t find a stronger buyer than Microsoft and while it would spur a lot of political and regulatory noise, everyone knows in the end that the deal would go through.'”

Digg Users vs. Digg Owners?

Well, this has to be one of the stranger stories in the tech world… and one I am sure you will be hearing a LOT about. First of all, let me say that the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is BAD legislation right up front. However, for the moment, it is the law of the land! What does this have to do with Digg, the social networking news site? Well, it seems that a Digg poster posted a story that included the code key that unlocks the new HD-DVD Hi-Def movie DRM (Digital Rights Management.) Publishing this key is a violation of the DMCA. Digg management made the decision to remove the post, and the poster’s account. And, it was on!

It seems that the users of Digg (pretty much en masse) claim that Kevin Rose and company should have left the post up, after all, they reasoned, “Isn’t post popularity the only thing that is supposed to elevate a posting on Digg?” And, the post with the code was up to over 15,000 Diggs! So, they said, “Leave it alone!” Never mind that according to the DMCA Digg could have been held accountable for the post (that THEY didn’t even know about until after the fact, I mentioned it was a bad law, didn’t I?) But, at the moment it IS the law. They acted in their own best interest to legally protect themselves, I am sure at the advice of their lawyers. But the Digg community is unrelenting! They are trashing Digg, Kevin, and the other Digg management for their actions. Come on, guys! Lighten up! There is no conspiracy theory to be propagated here… Digg is a company… they are protecting themselves from the Feds. Were they “in the pocket of the HD-DVD people” because they sponsored some Diggnation episodes? No. They were just covering their collective posteriors!

It’s Official! Dell Will Ship With Ubuntu!

Long a subject of conjecture… it is now official! Dell will ship PCs with Ubuntu Linux pre-installed for customers!

Dell to Preload Ubuntu Linux on Some Consumer Machines

“Dell and Canonical will announce a partnership on May 1 that will see the hardware giant ship Ubuntu Linux preinstalled on some of its desktop and laptop computers. The move, which has been expected for some time, makes Dell the first major desktop vendor to release consumer desktops and laptops with preinstalled Linux. Jeremy Bolen, a Dell spokesperson in Round Rock, Texas, confirmed to eWEEK in an interview that the company plans to offer select consumer products preloaded with Ubuntu 7.04 but declined to be more specific, saying that an update will be made in the coming weeks.”

Competing to Open Source Software?

Imagine Microsoft and Adobe both trying to be first to Open Source new software? Are we in the Twilight Zone? Where’s Rod Serling? Wow.

Adobe vs Microsoft battle turns to open source

“Adobe open sources flex (as well as a growing list of other technologies). Microsoft responds by indicating it will open source some of its upcoming Silverlight product (which competes with Adobe’s Flash technology). There is a war emerging for Rich Internet Applications and the desktops that tie into them. And open source is quickly becoming the weapon of choice.”

Who would have thought THIS would happen? Well, at least, I believe, this is good for software customers.

“There is a war emerging for Rich Internet Applications and the desktops that tie into them. And open source is quickly becoming the weapon of choice.”

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