Show #22 - 03.25.2007

[Download Show #22 as MP3]

News

• Palm Inc. may be taken over this week for as much as two billion dollars. (Reuters / Unstrung.com)
  
• Potentially by Nokia or three other bidders
  
• Makers of the Zire, Tungsten PDA, Treo smartphones and the LifeDrive

Software / Hardware / Power Web Picks

• Don't Copy That Floppy campaign from 1992
• Apple TV Now Shipping
• Specs Here
• 40GB Hard Drive
• Ethernet Wired/Wireless
• Supports Resolutions 1080i/720p/480p
• HDMI and Component Outputs
• Syncs with iTunes so you are not streaming DVD quality videos across your network in order to watch them
• If you are purchasing TV/Movie content from the iTunes Store, this is a great way to watch those videos on your TV
  

Penny Pinchers

• Rolling Your Own Devices
• Media Center PC
• Tivo costs 16.95/month (minimum) + The Purchase of the Box ($99-$799)
• Building Your Own Costs $500-$700 but no monthly fees
• Hauppauge PVR cards
• 64-bit Motherboard/Processor Combo Deals as low as $100
• 500GB and larger Hard Drives getting lower in price
  
• Initial Upfront Cost is greater, but long term savings are better
• Setting up the computer to respond to a remote control
• Some Great How-Tos on Internet
• Engadget - 1 year old, a little pricey, but allows for future growth. The parts used probably cost at least 1/3 less now
  
• Extreme Tech
• Ram Electronics - A budget solution, great parts but low on drive space (thus limited recording)
• Software Alternatives to Windows Media Center
• SageTV
• Freevo
• MythTV
• File Server
• Hard Drive costs getting lower everyday
• Depending on how much you want to spend you can get larger capacities and more reduntency than an large external hard drive.
• A more realistic solution than buying lots of external drives.
  
• Utilizing Linux as the base OS means not having to pay for another copy of windows.
• Linux Journal's How-To
• Some points to consider
• Shares created on a linux file server can be accessed via Windows, Apple, and Linux PCs
• Shares created on these servers can be reached from a media center PC, to play movies, music, and look at photos.
  

Security & Privacy

• How the NSA Secures their Computers
• Guides for various Operating Systems
• Windows XP, Server 2000, & Server 2003
• Apple OSX
• Sun Solaris
• More for the Enterprise world
• Handles Active Directory Group Policies
• Active Directory
• Group Policies
• Strong Password recommendations
• Remember last 24 passwords
• Max. Password age is 42 days
• 7 character length minimum
• Complexity requirements
  
• This is a pretty intense setup, but it is fairly secure. Also, this is a guide, and everything covered in the guide might not be usable or even neccasary for your environment but it is something to look at for a solid security foundation.
• A good backup strategy
• The Story:
  
• Perhaps you know that sinking feeling when a single keystroke accidentally destroy hours of work.
• Imagine wiping out a disc drive containing an account worth $38 billion.
• While doing routine maintenance work, the technician accidentally deleted applicant information for an oil-funded account — one of Alaska residents' biggest perks — and mistakenly reformatted the backup drive, as well.
• There was still hope, until the department discovered its third line of defense, backup tapes, were unreadable.
• The only backup remaining was the paperwork itself — stored in more than 300 cardboard boxes.
• Half a dozen seasonal workers came back to assist the regular division staff, and about 70 people working overtime and weekends re-entered all the lost data
• According to department staff, they now have a proven and regularly tested backup and restore procedure.
• The department is asking lawmakers to approve a supplemental budget request for $220,700 to cover the excess costs incurred during the six-week recovery effort, including about $128,400 in overtime and $71,800 for computer consultants.
• For the less math-willing, that's $420,900 or about two shakes from half-a-mil, ooch!
• The Moral:
• Realize that its not "if" a hard drive will break, its "when" a hard drive is going to break.
  
• Don't just do backups, test them -- make sure an actual restore is going to work when you need it.

Gamer's Corner

• PS3 Firmware v1.60 Released
• Released this past Thursday
• Folding@Home protein folding (distributing computing) for Stanford University
  
• Full On Screen Keyboard
• Remote Play with PSP vis Wireless AP
  
• Background Downloading for Playstation Store (FINALLY!)
• Unfortunately Sony keeps promising these big updates and other than the background downloading, not super impressive.
• Engadget confirms with "trusted sources" that Microsoft intends to release the "black Xbox 360" which will be dubbed the Xbox 360 Elite
• Limited quantities (couple hundred to several thousand)
• The case, controller, and Live headset will all be black and come in new packaging
• Will cost $479 and will be a thrid SKU, it will be sold alongside Premium and Core
• Elite hardware (in white) will take the role of Xbox Premium (basically after Elite is launched and sold out, Xbox Premium will have 120GB / HDMI)
• No word on when that will be, but its loosly estimated to tbe late summer or fall.
• Elite models run cooler than 360s, but they are NOT confirmed to have the new 65nm chips
• Prices may remain the same with the 120GB / HDMI hardware upgrade in the Premium Xbox, but you may still see a price cut on the line when 65nm chips start shipping.
• The HD DVD drive will NOT be internal or bundled -- Microsoft never did nor does not currently have plaes to put an HD DVD drive in the 360
• There are no current plans to integrate WiFi into the Elite or future Premiums (although that can always change)
• According to a comment on the forums of Engadget by I agree with CharlieX who wrote, "I don't know if it's a sign, but if [Microsoft] is unwilling to put a HD-DVD in their box, do they know something we don't?"
• Microsoft Goes After Playstation's Big Three
• The Games:
  
• Devil May Cry
  
• Metal Gear Solid
• Final Fantasy
• Why might they succeed?
• Unlimited funds
• Larger user base than PS3
• PC Gaming Standard - Gamix
• Tomlinson - Windows Admin.
• Not a console, rather a specification.
• 1.8 Ghz, 512 MBs of RAM, 128 MBs of video RAM, a DVD drive, and four USB ports.
• Games:
• No Gravity
• Kiki the Nano Bot
• Slune

Show #21 - 03.18.2007

[Download Show #21 as MP3]

News

• Former Disney CEO turns to online video

Former Disney CEO Michael Eisner said Monday that he was turning his attention to online video, announcing the launch of Vuguru, an independent studio that will focus on online video content. Its first project would be Prom Queen, which will be released on April 2. Instead of long-form episodes, the program will be split into about eighty 90-second long clips more suitable for online video.

• Apple Prepares for iPhone Launch
• Giant billboard put up, and then taken down at the 5th Avenue Apple Store in New York, NY. [Pics]
• Specs
  
• 3.5-inch 480 x 320 touchscreen display
• 11.6 millimeters thin
• 2 megapixel camera
• 4GB or 8GB of storage
• Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR (Enhanced Data Rate) and A2DP (Advanced Audio Distribution Profile)
• [Derek] Of course Bluetooth 2.1 is already out there, but with backwards compatibility built in to new protocols and the fact that the iPhone will be firmware updatable you may see support for that as well
• WiFi support that engages when in range of an Access Point (to save battery)
  
• Quad-band GSM with EDGE support
• Runs OS X with support for Widgets, Google Maps, iTunes (of course) with CoverFlow out the gate, and the Safari web browser
• [Derek] Not long before we see someone hack Firefox onto it I'm sure
• Partnership with Yahoo! will allow users to hookup free push IMAP e-mail
• Apple states it has 5 hours of battery for talk or video, 16 hours in music mode, no word on standby
• Proximity sensor that turns off the screen when its close to your face
• $499 exclusive through Cingular for 4GB and $599 for the 8GB and it ships in June
• Microsoft to launch the zPhone?

Crunch Gear is reporting that it has confirmed rumors of a Microsoft Zune Phone. Would that be a zPhone? According to Crunch Gear's Matt Hickey whose hook was a Microsoft filing with the FCC (all cell phone manufacturers must register their devices with the FCC):

….it looks like MS is working on a mobile WiMax-enabled Zune Phone, which would have download speeds of up to 2Mbps, fast enough for the Xbox-to-Zune streaming we’ve heard about, and fast enough for just about anything else the Zune Phone might be used for.

So now that we know that the Zune Phone is real, and that it’s in development, what else can we say about it? Tons.

The first real news is that we can expect to hear an announcement from Redmond about it before March 17, St. Patrick’s Day, at which time we should learn the name of the device. At the same time, we should also learn other launch specifics, and here’s where it gets incredibly juicy; our source says that, pending FCC approval, the specter-like Zune Phone will hit the streets sometime in May, a full month before the iPhone.

• A "source" tells us that it will use OFDM (orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing) wireless technology, A.K.A. WiMax
• A large-scale WiMax network would have to be rolled out
• As we all remember from the 3G rollout, these things take years usually
• Of course as far a slocal schemes are concerned like XBox connectivity, VoIP, or a PC in your home, that seems more practical
  

Software / Hardware / Power Web Picks

• [Koby] PicksPal
• In many places you can't legally gamble, but what about just for bragging rights?
• PicksPal is a free sports site where people “bet” on upcoming games.
• No money is involved.
• If you win, your point total goes up and you have bragging rights around the office.
• Since launching nearly two years ago, over 100,000 people have joined the site
• Lots make daily picks on just about every kind of sporting event in the U.S. - boxing, NFL football, pro football, bass fishing, ultimate fighting, basketball, baseball, etc.
• The site makes money from advertising.
• Tom Jessiman, the founder of PicksPal, stumbled onto something that could change the way we predict sporting event outcomes.
• Recently, however, the PicksPal team noticed that a very small percentage of users tend to be correct in their picks significantly more often that they should be statistically. When they grouped these special users they found them to be a powerful predictive force.
• Sports betting (both legal and illegal) is a massive worldwide business. Participants are always looking for an edge and are willing to pay for picks by “experts” (I know this from my extensive research watching Two for the Money).
• Tom and his team figured out pretty quickly that there was a potentially massive business here. And they have started tapping into that business by launching launching what they call “Genius Picks”.
• For $10, users can get access to the collective wisdom of the 30 best PicksPal players over the previous five weeks in a given sport, and get five predictions on upcoming games.
• Look for mainstream media to start covering this company in the very near future. PicksPal is based in Silicon Valley and has raised $6 million in venture capital over two rounds of financing. They are backed by Canaan Partners and Bay Partners.
• AutoIt v3.2.3.0 Beta
• Simulate keystokes, mouse movements and window commands (maximize, minimize, wait for, etc.
• Automate any windows based task (or windowed DOS tasks)
• Assist in automatically installing software
  
• PC rollouts with hundreds or thousands of client machines that need to be automatically installed
• It is not limited to software installation
• Can be used to automate most simple windows tasks

Penny Pinchers

• Farecast Beta

Farecast uses millions of observations of past airfare prices to predict whether a ticket price between two cities for a particular date is expected to decline or increase in price over the next seven days. If the price is expected to go up, then Farecast recommends that you buy your ticket now. If it is expected to go down, then the service recommends that you wait for a lower price. The company currently offers predictions for flights originating in 75 US cities.

• 70% to 75% of the time the company is accurate in its predictions
• If Farecast tells you a ticket’s price is going to drop and recommends that you wait, you can pay the "Fare Guard" fee to lock in access to the lowest price of that day for the next week.
• If the price instead goes up, Farecast will send you the difference between what you ended up having to pay and the price you locked in with them.
• If Farecast’s prediction was correct and the price does drop, you can buy the ticket at the lower price and they make $10 from the Fare Guard service.

Will Fare Guard be a success with consumers? It may be a little difficult to explain clearly, particularly given that it’s only one way movement that will be guarded against. If Farecast predicts that a ticket price is going to go up, so I buy at the current price, and in fact the price goes down - Fare Guard does not offer to compensate me for the money I could have saved if I had ignored Farecast’s recommendation. That, according to the company, would be yet another product and this current one needs to be tested first. The current product will probably be much easier for users to understand than it is to explain in the abstract, sometimes you’ll be offered Fair Guard protection and sometimes you won’t. It’s fascinating to see what kinds of value added “products” can be placed on top of data mining.

Gamer's Corner

• You Don't Know Jack
• Free? WTF. Sweet!
• Published almost like a blog of games, Jellyvision has come back out of nowhere with the YDKJ series
• Gamervision
• Just Launched Social Network for...Who Else...Gamers
• Site layout is not overly easy to navigate. Not difficult just not simple.
• Flashy AJAX pages give the site a zing look and feel.
• The seem to cover all areas of gaming from PC, to Playstation, to the Nintendo DS
  
• Unfortunately open registration is currently closed and they are doing testers only. You can send an email requesting to a part of the test phase.
  

Editorial ("Power Up")

• Lip Reader combines Audio and Video written by Tracy Staedter from Discovery Channel and used by permission for The Power of Information
  

A lip-reading computer that could help solve crimes and assist consumers is the goal of a new project at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England.

When coupled with a speech recognition system, the technology could work to not only decipher the words of criminals captured on video but could also improve voice-activated computers in cars or mobile phones.

"There is interest in using lip-reading for all sorts of human computer interaction, particularly in noisy environments," said Richard Harvey, a senior lecturer in the University's School of Computing Sciences.

"Noisy" can mean that an audio signal is muddled by other sounds, for example from a car radio or a crowd. But it can also mean that a visual signal is fuzzy or unclear.

People overcome such communication obstacles by pulling information from various places — lip movement, facial gestures, body language — to piece together what's being said. But computers designed for speech recognition typically focus on speech alone.

In previous experiments, Harvey and his team found that accuracy was significantly improved when a noisy audio signal was augmented with visual information.

For example, some speech sounds that are easily confused in the audio domain — "b" and "v," or "m" and "n" — are distinct in the visual domain. Conversely, some spoken words look identical in the visual domain, for example, "bat" and "pat."

The researchers will be working over the next three years to find the best way to combine audio with video.

First they will work with researchers at Surrey University in Guildford to figure out how and when a visual signal goes bad.

Next, they will work on extracting information from the face, particularly the lips. One approach models the shape and color of the lips as they move; another measures the size of the mouth opening.

Lastly, they will find the best way to match the visual cues from the lips to the works spoken, so that "bat" is indeed recognized as "bat," and not "pat."

"The fact is that it works and gives good results," said Peter Robinson, a professor of computer technology at the University of Cambridge. "There are a number of clever techniques to get from the image...to what goes into the processing and then combine that with the results from the speech analysis."

In three years, said Harvey, the team could have a camera able to recognize simple words and phrases.

Show #20 - 03.11.2007

[Download Show #20 as MP3]

News

• MP3's Loss is Open Source's Gain [Slashdot]
• The fallout from Microsoft's recent courtroom loss to Alcatel-Lucent over MP3 patents
• "Alcatel-Lucent isn't the only winner in a federal jury's $1.52 billion patent infringement award against Microsoft this week. Other beneficiaries are the many rivals to the MP3 audio-compression format... Now, with a cloud over the de facto industry standard, companies that rely on MP3 may finally have sufficient motivation to move on. And that raises some tantalizing possibilities, including a real long shot: Open-source, royalty-free formats win."
• Fair Use Bill introduced to change the DMCA [Congressman Rick Boucher]
• Boucher tried in 2002 to introduce this bill and failed.
• He also tried in 2003 with no success.
• Should bring back some fair use rights for the consumer
• But it is not a complete fix, the law about circumventing encryption will still be illegal under the DMCA
  

Software / Hardware / Power Web Picks

• Meebo / MeeboMe / eBuddy.com /
  
• Skype
• Voice Over IP (VoIP)
• Encrypted calls and chat when doing Skype to Skype
  
• Free for Skype to Skype calls
• $29.95/year for unlimited SkypeOut to US and Canada
• Call regular/cell phones
• Get international minutes on the cheap
• $38/year for SkypeIn
• Get your own telephone number that people can call
• Select a number in YOUR area code
• Have up to 10 numbers per Skype Name in different area codes
• Downsides
• Mostly limited to your PC
• Can NOT make emergency phone calls, so not a complete replacement for your home phone
  
• Stand alone skype phones range in price from $80-$200 depending on brand and model
  
• To utilize free Skype to Skype, you need to have friends on the services
• Hardware utilized to encrypt communications

Penny Pinchers

• LibriVox
• Free audiobooks of Public Domain publications
  
• Ways to Save on Gas
• Gas is continuing to go up in price
• Do not use Premium if your car does not need it
  
• Keep your tires inflated to their recommend PSI ratings
• PSI ratings can usually be found on a little steel panel inside the doors, on the tires, or even in the owners manual
• Keep your Tires rotated and balanced as well
  
• Drive the speed limit
• You loose around 1 MPG for every 5 MPH over 60MPH you drive
• Also driving the speed limit means less tickets
• Keep your car maintained
• The cleaner you keep your car's internals, the less your engine has to work, which means less gas used
  
• Air Filter every 30K miles
• New Spark Plugs every 30-60K miles (even sooner on some cars)
• Oil Changes every 3-5K miles
  

Security & Privacy

• Five Unsecure Things People Do

Gamer's Corner

• Wii a porn portal? [Slashdot]
  
• A Christian group is going to start a smear campaign that because Opera, a web browser, runs on the Wii, it is a porn portal.
• Like many new gaming technologies, the Wii's wireless internet capabilities make it a portal to porno. "Parents think the computer is the only way for their kids to get porn on the internet. Unfortunately, they are dead wrong," says Mike Foster, founder of ThePornTalk.com. "Gaming devices like the Wii and the PSP aren't just for fun games anymore. You're able to surf the net, chat with friends, email, and view porn because of its internet access. Kids know this but parents don't!"

Editorial ("Power Up")

• Can Apple Penetrate the Corporation [Slashdot]
  
• Everyone has seen the "I'm a Mac" Commercial where Mac just got out of a meeting
• Apple can already connect to Windows Networks
• Microsoft Office, Keynote, and other productivity software on the Mac
  
• With the switch to Intel architecture
• Ability to install Windows OS on Mac
• Support for more kinds of applications more easily
• VmWare & Parallels allowing virtual windows machines
• National ID Card Rules Unveiled [via Wired]
• 162 Pages of Proposed Rules
• Will cost states and individuals $23 billion over the next 10 years
• States will need to upgrade hardware to print on the card stock and also need to maintain the storage requirements for 10 years worth of documents
• The card stock will need to glow under ultra-violet lights
• Zero privacy language in the document
• No limits on the use of the information in the cards by the feds
  

Tech Forum Talk Back

• What is DRM?
• DRM = Digital Rights Management
• Invented to maintain creative control of digital media (music/movies)
• DRM restricts your use of the files as a consumer in that you can only play the files on a limited number of computers or only on certain devices (depending on where the media was purchased)
• For example when you buy a track off iTunes it is wrapped in FairPlay DRM which limits the number of computers that can be authorized to play the song or movie to 5 computers.
• The idea here is to prevent piracy of digital files.
• Has not really worked all that well because programs exist to strip the DRM from the files so that those files can be played on other devices and computers
• The content makers need to learn to focus on a way to digitally watermark the files with the username and place of purchase on the file so that they can work on suing the people actually pirating songs rather than those they think are pirating.

Show #19 - 03.04.2007

[Download Show #19 as MP3]

News

• Linux community has just launched Show Us the Code, a website movement humoring Steve Ballmer's repeated claims of Microsoft intellectual property within the open source linux operating system.
• Last year in November Microsoft made SUSE Linux distributor Novell pay up or get sued
• We'll talk about that later in the show
  
• HDDVD and BluRay DRM Cracked
• BackupBluRay and BackupHDDVD by a programmer named Muslix
• BD+ will likely see increased usage
• [Derek] explain BD+
• [Derek] VMware says Microsoft is rigging the virtualization market
• What is virtualization?
  
• "Microsoft is trying to restrict customers' flexibility and freedom to choose virtualization software," VMware's document begins, "by limiting who can run their software and how they can run it."
• Microsoft believes the claims made in VMware’s whitepaper contain several inaccuracies and misunderstandings of our current license and use policies, our support policy and our commitment to technology collaboration. We believe that we are being progressive and fair with our existing licensing and use policies and creating a level playing field for partners and customers. We are deeply committed to providing high-quality technical support to our customers who are utilizing virtualization technology. In addition, we are committed to working collaboratively with industry leaders to foster an environment of interoperability and cooperation that best serves our customers.

  We believe it's better to resolve VMware’s claims between our two companies so that we can better serve customers and the industry. EMC is a long-time partner of Microsoft. We've extended this courtesy to VMware due to our mutual customers and partnership with EMC. We are committed to continuing to collaborate with VMware as we have been doing on regular basis. Consistent with this, Microsoft believes that we will be able to accommodate a mutually agreeable solution between our two companies and clear up any existing misunderstanding with regard to the points raised in the whitepaper.

• What’s clear from this response is that Microsoft is now taking VMware seriously, but that it is also working to frame the company not exactly as an equal contender, but as the division of a partner. While Microsoft is openly calling for a negotiation, the situation it’s presenting looks more like an intervention.

Software / Hardware / Power Web Picks

• European Space Agency
• Super Space Ports
  In late February, Time Magazine's online site Time.com published "Space Cowboys," an in-depth business story on the New Space Race, covering every player from promiment Virgin Galactic to secretive Benson Space Company. About the Land of Enchantment, Time says: "New Mexico sees itself as a Silicon Valley of space, a place where an industry cluster could develop, absorbing investment and throwing off jobs as it does. When state economic-development secretary Rick Ho-mans, chairman of the New Mexico Spaceport Authority, saw the list of global companies participating in the X Prize in 2004, he says it suddenly dawned on him that the new space industry might look like the early computer industry--a bunch of crazy guys. 'They start with chaotic, crazy inventors and entrepreneurs--colorful characters. . .'" The story is also featured prominently in the March 5, 2007 print edition.
  
• Space Port America - New Mexico
• ESA Space Port
• Fly-By Mars
• OpenCongress
• RSS feeds for Senators and Representatives
• Keep track of issues that you are concerned about
• Great Web 2.0 concept for people interested in politics
• Nice How to Use to give you tips/hints on how to utilize the page and RSS feeds
  
• MiniAjax.com
• A showroom of simple, nice, downloadable AJAX scripts for your website
• AJAX Slideshow
• AJAX Check Username
• AJAX Charts
  

Penny Pinchers

• Olympus DSLR being announced tomorrow
• Interesting marketing
• Images released but mostly blacked out
  
• 10 Ways to be More Frugal This Week [via The Simple Dollar]
• Prepare and eat every meal at home
• $5-10 per meal out vs $1-$2 at home
• $210 vs $21 savings of $189 or 90%
• Multiply by a family of four that could be as much as a $756 cost savings per week)
• Drive the speed limit
• Saves gas
• No traffic tickets, saves $$
  
• Buy generics at the grocery store
• Grocery store brand
• Least expensive per OZ / LB / Etc
  
• Entertain yourself with something you already own
• TV
• DVDs
• Computer / Internet
• Golf Clubs
• Basketball Goal
  
• Leftovers taste better
• You've heard that spaghetti tastes better the next day, right? Well it does, rather than get into why it does that, just remember it will save you money in the long run because buying in bulk is usually cheaper and cooking in bulk reduces energy usage. Just remember to cook things that keep well.
  
• Community Calendars
• Skip splurges
• Adjust your home temp by 2 degrees or use a programmable thermostat
  
• Use a Programmable Thermostat
• Programmable Thermostat Excel Calculator
• Turn on only lights and devices that you need
• 10 x 100 watt light bulbs on all at once cost $93.60/month if left on 24 hours per day for one month
  
• Learn to do things on your own rather than pay someone else to do them
  

Security & Privacy

• Tor (The Onion Router) Open to Attack
• Preferential routing scheme is based on algorithms
• Those algorithms were cracked
• Only 3 to 6 nodes need to be compromised to reveal the the person attempting to be anonymous
• 15 page study PDF - University of Colorado / University of Washington
  

Gamer's Corner

• [Derek] Virtual Men Tend to be Standoffish Too
• Males stand further away when talking to other males in the virtual world of Second Life and are less likely to keep eye contact, according to a study that shows at least one aspect of human behavior carries over into the virtual realm.

• The study led by doctoral student Nick Yee at Stanford University found that male "avatars," or three-dimensional representations of Second Life players, stood on average 7.7 feet away from each other, compared to 6.9 feet for mixed-gender pairs — measured, of course, in the virtual scale of Second Life.

Editorial ("Power Up")

• [Derek] While Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was taking a break from dealing with cranky users still waiting for Vista [back in November], he went ahead and told the entire Linux community that they owe him a big thank-you. Yes, yes he did. In a Q&A session at the Professional Association for SQL Server conference, Ballmer said that Microsoft signed a deal with SUSE Linux distributor Novell in order to get some money back for its "intellectual property." Among other transactions, the one in question sends forty million dollars to Microsoft in exchange for Microsoft's promise not to sue Novell over possible patent violations. As to whether or not the SUSE Linux distribution actually infringes upon any patents, Novell's payment appears to be some sort of admission fee, and, according to Ballmer, Linux users owe him a big "thanks." After all, he was just assuring that Microsoft gets the "appropriate economic return for our shareholders from our innovation." Meanwhile, Red Hat called the whole thing an "innovation tax" and plans to protect its customers against any infringement claims by Microsoft, asking Ballmer to go ahead and show us all what part of the Linux kernel infringes upon Redmond's patents. So while Ballmer pens his report, get to it, open-source community -- start writing your thank-you notes.