Hi,
I hope no-one is bothered by a post that isn't particularly about Linux.
It's about my experience choosing high-speed internet access in
Luxembourg and ends with a request for info about Alternet/Tiscali.
I recently arrived in Luxembourg and started looking for a good ISP.
My discovery? It's incredibly hard to find out any quality of service
info on an ISP. There is, for instance, no website that collects
information and complaints about ISPs. I find this amazing because
the contracts here are very restrictive, and if you don't like the
service, there's nothing you can do but wait until the contract ends.
I was used to being able to get out with 30 days notice.
Anyway, at first, I assumed I' go with DSL because I've always have.
Then tried to persuade me to consider cable - cheaper, faster, and
offering a telephone alternative to P&T. Coditel is the cable
provider in my area. The cable fan I spoke to is in an Eltrona area.
Try as I might, I couldn't get any objective information on the
Coditel service. What I did get was a lot of anecdotal evidence that
Coditel was having serious tech problems with their telephone
service, and their billing and customer support service was seriously
lacking. I did hear that their internet service worked as advertised.
But I also heard that the company's quality had gone downhill since
it was acquired by a Belgian company. Since I'm not really interested
in the local cable offerings for TV, I'd only have cable if it
offered me a way to avoid paying for a P&T landline, as well. Based
on what I could find out, I dropped the idea.
Next I returned to DSL. Having tracked the prices, I could see that
competition was having a noticeable effect, reducing the cable price
advantage. But again, I had limited information on quality of service.
So I devised an experiment. I have a DSL modem that I bought in
Canada. I decided to ask all 11 DSL ISPs I knew whether my DSL modem
ought to work here. I sent the message listing the technical specs of
my modem (I had already ascertained with the manufacturer that it
probably will work here) at 15:58 on Dec. 12. It's not 16:32 on Dec.
14, and so far, only 4 of the ISPs (2 of which turned out to be
different names for the same outfit) have bothered to respond.
Based on this experiment and my interaction with the people who
responded and their prices, I am considering signing up with Alternet/
Tiscali (they responded right away with accurate, detailed
information and had a deal on a level with the cheapest on the
market. I wonder if I could trouble list members for any information
that I should consider before committing myself.
Thank you,
Mike
mglists@gmailcom
Hi all,
just for reminder: this year's LinuxDays will take place next week from
Wednesday January 25th to Friday January 27th, at the CRP Henri Tudor
on 29 JFK Luxembourg-Kirchberg.
There's still seats available for the tutorials, don't hesitate to
participate. You're of course welcome to the presentations and expo.
Greetings, Eric
Just got an e-mail from Google with interesting positions, in case
anybody's interested:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Senior Software Engineer/Unix System & Network Administrator, Google.com
(SRE)
This position is available in Mountain View, Santa Monica, CA, / New
York, NY / Kirkland, WA / Dublin, Ireland, Zurich, Switzerland and
Bangalore, India
Are you part ace coder, part adrenaline junkie? Do you have a knack for
seeing a problem and immediately discerning the likely solution? Maybe
you've been coding for years, are bored with the old
design-build-review-test-ship-repeat routine, and yearn for some
faster-paced challenges? Or perhaps you're a seasoned software engineer
who is also a genius at jockeying networks and administering UNIX clusters.
We're looking for top-notch thrill seeking, software engineers to join
the Google.com team. Google.com engineers are in the thick of everything
involved with keeping Google running, from code-level troubleshooting of
traffic anomalies to maintenance of our most cutting edge services; from
monitoring and alerts to building new automation infrastructure. We are
aggressively building this elite team of high level engineers in this
mission critical environment. All team members must have strong
analytical and troubleshooting skills, fluency in coding, good
communication skills, and most of all enthusiasm for tackling the
complex problems of scale which are uniquely Google. Google.com
engineers tackle challenging, novel situations every day, and work with
just about every other engineering and operations team in the process.
Qualifications:
Strong programming/scripting skills in any of the following: C, C++,
Java, Perl, Python.
Senior Level experience with Unix system administration.
Strong understanding of networking; understanding of how to isolate,
diagnose, and resolve service delivery components (service delivery
components include servers, networks, and applications); be familiar
with the functionality, operating, and failure modes of key networking
devices (routers, switches, bridges, firewalls, hardware load
balancers); be able to identify networking as the potential cause of a
service issue using server-resident tools to generate this data
(tcpdump, ping, traceroute, etc.); familiarity in interpreting the
output of these tools; familiarity with common network topologies,
protocols, and tools; have some notion of common network security
exploits -- and their remedies; understanding of troubleshooting at the
packet level.
Strong project management skills, especially in deploying live end-user
systems.
In-depth knowledge of Unix (preferably Linux), and shell scripting.
Proven technical troubleshooting experience.
Excellent analytic ability, strong communication skills, and a strong
sense of urgency.
Ability to handle periodic on-call duty as well as out-of-band requests.
6-15+ years experience for Senior SWE position, or 3-8 years experience
for SWE position.
BA/BS in CS, or equivalent experience.
Senior Systems Administrator/Architect, Google.com (SRE)
This position is available in Mountain View, Santa Monica, CA, / New
York, NY / Kirkland, WA / Dublin, Ireland, Zurich, Switzerland and
Bangalore, India
Are you a detail-oriented systems professional, seasoned Unix jockey,
Internet services architect, database whiz, performance analyst, or
software engineer, at the top of your game?
Looking for the next cool problem to solve, in a fast-paced and
engineering-driven environment?
Can you write a script or application that performs practically the
entire job you once held earlier in your career?
Does your idea of a good time involve taking things apart just to see
how they work? Are you successful putting them back together when you're
done?
Can you help achieve increased Availability, Reliability, Uptime, and
Quality? (for our systems and services, naturally)
If you answered "Yes" to more than three of the above questions, you may
have what it takes. Keep reading.
Google.com Engineers are involved in all aspects of running our site.
From design to debug, from architecture to applications, Google.com
engineers spend their time troubleshooting problems in large-scale
clustered application service environments, and focus on making
continual improvements to our services.
Working for Google.com, you will wear many hats: performance analyst,
service architect, system/database administrator, capacity planner,
tools developer, monitoring expert, and technical evangelist, for all
components of Google.com’s services.
This position requires a passion for problem solving, deep understanding
of networks, operating systems, multi-tiered Internet services, and the
ability to learn new applications and concepts quickly. Strong scripting
skills are essential.
Requirements:
3+ years experience in Unix or Linux Systems Administrator.
Experience in a high-volume or critical production service environment.
Strong understanding of networking; understanding of how to isolate,
diagnose, and resolve service delivery components (service delivery
components include servers, networks, and applications); be familiar
with the functionality, operating, and failure modes of key networking
devices (routers, switches, bridges, firewalls, hardware load
balancers); be able to identify networking as the potential cause of a
service issue using server-resident tools to generate this data
(tcpdump, ping, traceroute, etc.); familiarity in interpreting the
output of these tools; familiarity with common network topologies,
protocols, and tools; have some notion of common network security
exploits -- and their remedies; understanding of troubleshooting at the
packet level.
Skilled in leading projects, especially in deploying live end-user systems.
Proven technical troubleshooting experience.
Database administration experience a plus.
Programming or debugging of web applications running under Java VM.
In-depth knowledge of Linux, networking, and shell scripting.
Knowledge of Python programming a plus.
Experience with MySQL a plus.
Programming and troubleshooting skills in C/C++ and/or Java a plus.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
Ability to handle periodic on-call duty as well as out-of-band requests.
BA/BS in Computer Science or a related technical discipline.
Hi,
A few days ago, the European Commission's Directorate General for the
Internal Market launched a public consultation on proposals for the EU
Community Patent and responses to the Questionnaire are due by March,
31st.
As the community patent discussions might very well end up legalising
swpats trough the backdoor, it is extremely important that those who are
concerned about swapts and/or more generally about and the European patent
regime and the Munich office, respond to this public consultation. The
9-pages english-only questionnaire can be found at:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/internal_market/indprop/docs/patent/consult_en.pdf
Dan Michels
============================
Commission Press Release in French:
Marché intérieur: la Commission demande l’avis de l’industrie et d’autres
parties intéressées sur la future politique des brevets
La Commission européenne a lancé une consultation publique afin de
déterminer comment une action future, dont le but est de créer un système
de protection des brevets à l’échelle de l’UE, pourrait le mieux prendre
en compte les besoins des parties intéressées. Le brevet communautaire
demeure une priorité, mais la Commission souhaite également savoir quelles
seraient les mesures à prendre à brève échéance pour améliorer le système
des brevets en Europe. Toutes les parties intéressées, l’industrie comme
les particuliers, sont invitées à répondre pour le 31 mars 2006 (date
limite).
Le Commissaire responsable du Marché intérieur et des services, Charlie
McCreevy, a déclaré: «des règles satisfaisantes régissant la propriété
intellectuelle sont essentielles: en stimulant l’innovation et en
entraînant le développement réussi de nouveaux produits, elles contribuent
à la croissance et à l’emploi. Nous souhaitons optimiser ces avantages en
Europe en créant un véritable Marché unique pour les brevets. C’est
pourquoi je demande aux entreprises et aux particuliers de me dire
comment, selon eux, nous pourrions y parvenir. En attendant, nous
continuerons à œuvrer en faveur du brevet communautaire qui reste au
centre de notre politique».
La Commission s’est engagée à accroître la compétitivité de l’industrie de
l’UE et à améliorer les conditions cadres dans lesquelles elle exerce ses
activités. Dans ce but, la propriété industrielle, qui couvre les brevets,
a été identifiée comme l’une des sept initiatives trans-sectorielles
d’envergure dans la nouvelle politique industrielle de la Commission qui a
été présentée le 5 octobre 2005 (IP/05/1225). Dans le cadre de son
engagement à améliorer la réglementation, la Commission a lancé cette
consultation afin de garantir que toute nouvelle proposition concernant la
politique des brevets UE tiendra compte des besoins des parties
intéressées.
La consultation porte sur trois thèmes majeurs: le brevet communautaire,
la manière d’améliorer l’actuel système des brevets en Europe et les
domaines dans lesquels une harmonisation est possible. La Commission
demande également quelles sont les actions à entreprendre, notamment dans
le cadre de l’actuel système de brevet européen, pendant que les travaux
relatifs au brevet communautaire se poursuivent; ces actions pourraient
aussi consister à rapprocher davantage les systèmes nationaux de brevet
par le biais d’une harmonisation des législations ou d’une reconnaissance
mutuelle des brevets nationaux. Dans ce contexte, la fixation des règles
de compétences pour les litiges en matière de brevet est une question
présentant un grand intérêt.
Les réactions des parties intéressées constitueront la base d’une audition
que la Commission envisage d’organiser à Bruxelles le 13 juin 2006.
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [Patents] Patents back on EU agenda
Date: Mon, 16 Jan 2006 05:42:21 +0100
From: Florian Mueller <fmueller.nosoftwarepatents(a)googlemail.com>
To: <patents(a)aful.org>
PATENTS BACK ON EU AGENDA
Anti-software patent campaigner warns that
the community patent project might give
software patents a stronger legal basis in Europe
Brussels (16 January 2006) - The Financial Times reports that EU internal
market commissioner Charlie McCreevy will today announce "one final effort"
to establish an EU-wide community patent:
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/6bfc7f6a-85e7-11da-bee0-0000779e2340.html
McCreevy played a key role in the EU's recent push for software patents,
which ended on July 6, 2005, when the European Parliament rejected a
bitterly contested proposal by 648-32 votes. Anti-software patent campaigner
Florian Mueller, who founded the NoSoftwarePatents.com Web site, issued a
first warning in October that the EU's community patent project might
legalize software patents "by the back door". Mueller now views the
Commission's announcement of consultations with industry lobbyists as "a
definitive indication that our camp has to take action again".
The current proposal for an EU community patent regulation, on which the
Council has been unable to reach agreement since 2000, contains a clause
that the European Patent Office should "apply to the Community patent the
case law which it has developed". Anti-software patent campaigners have long
criticized the EPO for its case law. The EPO allows software to be patented
under the pretext of a "technical contribution", which usually boils down to
faster computation times, more economic storage of data, optimized network
traffic, or novel ways to use input/output devices. Unless the
aforementioned clause on case law were to be replaced with a "waterproof"
exclusion of software from the scope of patentability, the judges at the
European Court of Justice or a new Community Patent Court would be
"extremely likely to follow the EPO's law-bending approach and declare
US-style software patents legal in the EU", Mueller fears.
He believes that it is "imperative for our movement to influence the new
debate on the community patent on a timely basis, or else we would find it
hard, if not impossible, to stop the avalanche". In his opinion, it is "a
steep challenge" to ensure that a community patent law would simultaneously
address the issue of the EPO's patent granting practice, "because many
politicians believe that the community patent is an important measure from a
competitiveness point of view, and won't like the all-or-nothing notion of
having to solve two huge problems at one fell swoop". But, he adds,
"defining what is patentable would be needed to really make Europe more
competitive".
Presently, the European patents that the EPO grants are effectively bundles
of many national patents. The examination process is centralized at the EPO,
but most of the total cost of a European patent is due to the need to
provide multiple translations of the patent document, which some consider a
competitive disadvantage versus the US patent system. A community patent
would bring down the number of language versions required to a few or just
one (English). Lower costs would likely result in an increased number of
patent applications, and there are different opinions as to whether that
would foster innovation or have the opposite effect.
The community patent appears to be part of Microsoft's strategy for giving
software patents a stronger legal basis in Europe. In an interview with the
EU Reporter issue dated November 28, 2005, Microsoft EMEA chairman Patrick
de Smedt said his company is "keen to have software patents on the European
agenda", and the community patent project is mentioned in the same article
(downloadable as PDF document from
http://www.eureporter.co.uk/newspaper.php)
NOTE: Florian Mueller founded the NoSoftwarePatents.com campaign in 2004
with the support of three corporate sponsors (1&1, Red Hat, MySQL AB), and
managed it until March of 2005. He then gave his website to the Foundation
for a Free Information Infrastructure (FFII), the leading European pressure
group that opposes the patentability of computer programs.
Mueller has been nominated as one of the "top 50 most influential figures in
intellectual property" by Managing Intellectual Property magazine, and as
one of the 50 "Silicon Agenda Setters". His NoSoftwarePatents.com campaign
received the "CNET Networks UK Technology Award" in the "Outstanding
Contribution to Software Development" category, and the EU-focused newspaper
European Voice lists him as the European "Campaigner of the Year 2005"
(www.EV50.com) after he received more votes in a public poll than U2
frontman Bono and other candidates.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Florian Mueller
fmueller.nosoftwarepatents(a)gmail.com
phone +49-8151-21088
--
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much
liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.
-Thomas Jefferson, 3rd US president, architect and author (1743-1826)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Serge Marelli, Luxembourg
----------------------------------------------------------------------
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [Fsfe-france] Boycott des cd avec DRM
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 2006 16:40:10 +0100 (CET)
Bonjour à tous,
Voila une initiative de boycott des CD avec DRM... (pr info)
http://www.pledgebank.com/boycottdrm
Vincent C.
_______________________________________________
Liste de discussion FSF France.
http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/fsfe-france
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Due to lack of participation (inlcuding myself) we will NOT have our
dinner this thursday.
Next Thursday (19/01) is LiLux meeting and we will have to talk about
the details of the LinuxDays for january 25th to 27th.
- --
Thierry Coutelier Président LiLux asbl
7, Rue Jacques Sturm L-2556 Luxembourg
Office:+352 710725 608 Home:+352 406776
http://www.lilux.lu/
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Hello and Happy New Year 2006.
Next Thursday (12/01/06) we have planned to have our new year dinner
at the Castello Borghese (Senningergerg) at 20h00.
You are all invited with your partner to come and enjoy a nice moment.
Please send me an e-mail if you may come and tell me if you come alone
or with your partner.
Best regards.
- --
Thierry Coutelier Président LiLux asbl
7, Rue Jacques Sturm L-2556 Luxembourg
Office:+352 710725 608 Home:+352 406776
http://www.lilux.lu/
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