Confused why you're here? My name used to be Ben Balbo. I'm now Ben Dechrau (/bɛn dex-raɪ/).

Monthly Archive for September, 2006

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You’re not my friend anymore. I’m taking my toys back!

Ah, the sound of 5 year olds arguing in the playground. It bring back such fond memories.

Alas, my hearties (I’m warming up for International Talk Like A Pirate Day), this is no child’s tantrum. The world’s “near monopolist” in software, Microsoft, has told the European Commissioner that unless it “make[s] their regulatory path clearer, more consistent and transparent”, they will not be shipping Vista to Europe.

Microsoft are seeking approval for Vista from the commission before it releases the software rather than after the fact. Jonathan Todd, the European Commission spokesman on competition, points out that “[t]he responsibility for ensuring that Vista complies fully with EU competition rules … lies not with the commission but with Microsoft.”

I have to say I’m not totally surprised that Microsoft will act this childishly, but it’s rather amusing nonetheless. Unfortunately, Microsoft didn’t follow through on similar threats to Korea, so it seems that Europe will be burdened with this operating system anyway.

From InternetNews via Digg.

BarCampMelbourne

BarCampMelbourne

BarCamp is an ad-hoc un-conference born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos and interaction from attendees.

I’ve started the BarCampMelbourne wiki page and have been talking to George Dickeson who’s doing the same for BarCampAdelaide about running the two on the same weekend – the 3rd and 4th of March 2007. Hopefully we can get others around Australia to organise their own BarCamps at the same time and have a BarCampAustralia!

If anyone is interested in helping out with the Melbourne event, please check out the wiki page and add your name to the list. Same goes for sponsors – we need a venue, food, wireless, t-shirts, projector, and more.

If you want to start your own BarCamp and join the fun in March, create a page on the barcamp.org wiki and be sure to add a link to your page at BarCampAustralia.

Steve Irwin just died!

Someone just told me he died while diving with stingrays – just found a report here