Bayosphere

Reuters: Microsoft CEO Talks of ‘Broader Concept’ for Xbox. “We know we have to succeed but there is a broader concept there that we will pursue at some point,” Ballmer said. “You can say, is it the end of the road or is there a bigger play? And the answer is yeah, there’s a bigger play we hope to get over time.”

Can anyone doubt that Microsoft intends to compete before much longer with the PC makers? The X-Box is clearly designed to be the hub of home information and entertainment systems — including a server for other devices.

I give Dell and the other PC companies about five years of life before Microsoft squashes them like gnats.

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The Register: KaZaA ordered to cease infringing copyright. Music sharing system KaZaA has been given two weeks by a Dutch court to cease infringing recording artists’ copyrights.

Of course, it wasn’t KaZaA that was infringing. It was the users of the software.

That distinction matters not a bit to the entertainment moguls who want to stop all forms of digital distribution they don’t control outright. The fact that there are excellent non-infringing uses of this technology means nothing to them or, apparently, to the courts.

And the assault on users’ rights continues.

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Taiwan-based Via Technologies is in the fight of its life. The opponent is Intel, the biggest chipmaker on the planet.

More in my Sunday column.

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Want to tell the U.S. Justice Department what you think of its giveaway “settlement” with Microsoft in the antitrust case? Here’s request for comments announcement in the Federal Register.

If you’ve already read the terms of this sellout, e-mail your comments directly here. Or send comments to Renata Hesse, Trial Attorney, Suite 1200, Antitrust Division,
Department of Justice, 601 D Street NW, Washington, DC 20530; fax numbers 202-616-9937 or 202-307-1545.

The Justice Department may not receive or open your letters even if you send them by regular mail. Here’s a note from the DOJ Web site: Given recent mail delivery interruptions in Washington, DC, and current uncertainties involving the resumption of timely mail service, the Department of Justice strongly encourages that comments be submitted via e-mail or fax.

POSTSCRIPT: It turns out that the mail-to link above was incorrect when I first posted it here, even though I copied it directly from the Federal Register’s page. It’s the right one now. How long do you think it will take for the Federal Register to make a correction, if ever?

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AP: Court upholds ban on DVD-cracking code. But Hollywood studios, looking to protect their coveted content, disagreed. A lower court found the harm to Hollywood outweighed the free speech protections and the appeals court agreed.

AP: Lawsuit by professor who challenged anti-piracy laws dismissed. Brown ignored evidence that showed Felten and other researchers were being cowered by legal threats from the RIAA, Cohn said. Graduate students working with him have their projects on hold and another scientist has delayed publishing a book about the findings, Cohn said.

The news just gets worse and worse for people who care about freedom.

In the DVD case, the appeals court appeals court has joined the chorus behind a law that is ruinous of fair use and even free speech. How can such things happen? In the Felten case, the judge allowed the record industries’ blatant bull — a claim that Felten hadn’t been threatened — to stand.

It all comes back to a pernicious law, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. A Republican Congress and President Clinton, a Democrat, willingly placed themselves in the pocket of the entertainment and software industries. Neither cared an iota about the traditional rights of information users, and the politicians sold us all out on behalf of industries that transcend greed.

The Corley DVD case now allows the banning of Web links in some circumstances. What could possibly be more corrosive of free expression?

The Felten case means that researchers need permission from the entertainment industry — a precedent that will surely spread to other industries; just watch — to publish research. What could be more corrosive to the public good?

Hollywood, the record companies and the software industry love the DMCA, because it allows them to stomp out innovation that might threaten their business models. The DMCA will do more damage to your rights, and to society, than you can possibly imagine.

When will you care enough to contact your member of Congress? How about right now?

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Above is an evening street scene in Taipei’s retail technology center, which turns out to be a short walk from my hotel. There are dozens of stores selling a variety of electronics gear.

Taiwan is in economic difficulty, maybe serious trouble. It’s in recession, an unheard-of condition, and average personal income is going to drop this year.

A massive typhoon also hit here just after the Sept. 11 attacks in the U.S. That further slowed an already struggling economy. Some of the subway stations are still closed from the flooding, though the major tech companies are long since back in operation.

Taiwan is worried about lots of things, but mainland China’s move up the economic ladder and opening of its markets — and labor force — to the outside world is giving some people here serious qualms. Manufacturing has moved in large amounts across the straits, and there’s a widespread feeling that Taiwan could end up being hollowed out.

But Taipei, a metro area of more than 6 million, is a noisy and full of energy. These people aren’t planning to cooperate with anyone’s predictions of trouble ahead.

Had several interesting interviews here. I’ll be telling you more in upcoming columns.

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In Beijing last week I used the cards pictured here for Internet access. They’re pre-paid cards for dial-up connections. I paid cash.

In other words, my Internet connection was anonymous. So much for the pervasive image of China as a nation that ruthlessly controls access to the Net.

Yes, the regime does try to control content with its “Great Firewall” preventing access to certain Web sites — a mistaken and, I hope, futile policy given how relatively easy it is to go around the blocks. But in other ways the Net is wide open, such as these pre-paid cards.

More in my Wednesday column.

Question: Why in the world don’t U.S. telecom companies — and ISPs in Europe, too — offer these cards? They could solve a massive problem for travelers.

My ISP has pretty good coverage but it’s not universal. I’d be delighted if I could land in a new city and buy a pre-paid Net access card — good for, say, 10 hours of use — at the airport news stand. I’m betting many, many other people would find this a good solution, too.

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I’ve had CNN on in the hotel while I did e-mail tonight, and there’s an advertisement running frequently begging people to come and visit the U.S.

Just a data point…

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Linux has been to the heights of hype, and recently sunk amid the normal de-hyping that surrounds all such phenomena. But it’s still making inroads, as Elise Ackerman notes in this story in today’s Mercury News.

On a trip to Beijing last week, I also found some interesting signs of Linux life, including the PC pictured below. It was on sale at a major department store in the center of the city.

I also talked with the CEO of a major local Linux distributor, Red Flag Software, and got what seemed like a fairly realistic viewpoint. Linux hasn’t matched the early promise in China, but the OS and the nation are made for each other.

More in my Sunday column.

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Mercury News: Missing photographer found slain in Oakland. The weeklong search for missing Mercury News photojournalist Luci S. Houston ended tragically Sunday, when her body was found in her locked car parked about two miles from her Oakland home.

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