Google prepares for Oracle battle

Oracle claims Google's Android operating system for smartphones and other mobile devices is illegally using ideas and code from Java, which was developed by Sun Microsystems, and Google are busy preparing to defend its case, says MediaPost.

Steve Lohr, tech writer for the New York Times reports, while "open source" software like Java once represented a "communal idealism" among the geek class, the suit is further evidence of its having become a weapon in corporate warfare among the huge technology companies.”

He says Google sees the suit as a move by Oracle to re-establish corporate control of Java; its general counsel claims Oracle is "trying to put the genie back in the bottle".

Ecolo, a green political party in Belgium, is planning to complete its move to a complete open source desktop system by the end of 2011, reports eGov Monitor.

On the 220 workstations in its main office, it will gradually replace the underlying operating system to Ubuntu Linux, says Sebastien Bollingh, the party's ICT manager.

Ecolo decided to increase its use of open source software in 2000. "We started by changing the applications that did not change anything for the users, like the database and the Web site," says Bollingh.

A new, open source jailbreak for the PS3 has been released by modder Mathieu Hervais, with the claim that it doesn't promote piracy, states TG Daily.

Users will need to know what they're doing, says the report, but the hack is achievable with a $25 Teensy++ USB development board or a $30 AT90USBkey loaded with the PSGroove files. The hack is essentially similar to the PS Jailbreak technique.

Unlike PS Jailbreak, though, the ability to boot ISO files has been disabled, it says This means it doesn't currently allow users to play games ripped from retail discs via a backup manager application and users will have to content themselves with third-party and home-made games.