It happened a quarter of a century ago. The New York Times wrote that “An internal memorandum reflecting the views of some of Microsoft’s top executives and software development managers reveals deep concern about the threat of free software and proposes a number of strategies for competing against free programs that have recently been gaining in popularity.”

The memo warns that the quality of free software can meet or exceed that of commercial programs and describes it as a potentially serious threat to Microsoft. The document was sent anonymously last week to Eric Raymond, a key figure in a loosely knit group of software developers who collaboratively create and distribute free programs ranging from operating systems to Web browsers. Microsoft executives acknowledged that the document was authentic…

In addition to acknowledging that free programs can compete with commercial software in terms of quality, the memorandum calls the free software movement a “long-term credible” threat and warns that employing a traditional Microsoft marketing strategy known as “FUD,” an acronym for “fear, uncertainty and doubt,” will not succeed against the developers of free software. The memorandum also voices concern that Linux is rapidly becoming the dominant version of Unix for computers powered by Intel microprocessors.
The competitive issues, the note warns, go beyond the fact that the software is free. It is also part of the open-source software, or O.S.S., movement, which encourages widespread, rapid development efforts by making the source code — that is, the original lines of code written by programmers — readily available to anyone. This enables programmers the world over to continually write or suggest improvements or to warn of bugs that need to be fixed. The memorandum notes that open software presents a threat because of its ability to mobilize thousands of programmers. “The ability of the O.S.S. process to collect and harness the collective I.Q. of thousands of individuals across the Internet is simply amazing,” the memo states. “More importantly, O.S.S. evangelization scales with the size of the Internet much faster than our own evangelization efforts appear to scale.”

Back in 1998, Slashdot’s CmdrTaco covered the whole brouhaha — including this CNN article:

A second internal Microsoft memo on the threat Linux poses to Windows NT calls the operating system “a best-of-breed Unix” and wonders aloud if the open-source operating system’s momentum could be slowed in the courts.

As with the first “Halloween Document,” the memo — written by product manager Vinod Valloppillil and another Microsoft employee, Josh Cohen — was obtained by Linux developer Eric Raymond and posted on the Internet. In it, Cohen and Valloppillil, who also authored the first “Halloween Document,” appear to suggest that Microsoft could slow the open-source development of Linux with legal battles. “The effect of patents and copyright in combating Linux remains to be investigated,” the duo wrote.

Microsoft’s slogain in 1998 was “Where do you want to go today?” So Eric Raymond published the documents on his web site under the headline “Where will Microsoft try to drag you today? Do you really want to go there?”

25 years later, and it’s all still up there and preserved for posterity on Raymond’s web page — a collection of leaked Microsoft documents and related materials known collectively as “the Halloween documents.” And Raymond made a point of thanking the writers of the documents, “for authoring such remarkable and effective testimonials to the excellence of Linux and open-source software in general.”
Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader mtaht for remembering the documents’ 25th anniversary…

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot – When Linux Spooked Microsoft: Remembering 1998’s Leaked ‘Halloween Documents’

Many Americans want to abolish Daylight Saving Time, reports NBC News:
Since 2018, nearly all states have passed or entertained legislation that would drop the twice-a-year time shift. And 19 states have passed laws or resolutions in support of year-round daylight saving time, according to data from the National Conference of State Legislatures. But there’s a caveat: Nothing can change until Congress addresses a 1960s-era law blocking such action.
“This ritual of changing time twice a year is stupid,” U.S. Senator Marco Rubio said in March, reintroducing legislation to end Daylight Saving Time. In an official statement the Senator announced that “Locking the clock has overwhelming bipartisan and popular support. This Congress, I hope that we can finally get this done.”
But according to the Hill, “Both the House and Senate versions of the Sunshine Protection Act of 2023 haven’t appeared to go far. The Senate bill has been read twice and referred to a committee, while the House bill has only been referred to a subcommittee.”

While America waits, another medical association has come out in favor of ending Daylight Saving Time, reports NBC News:
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine is a medical association whose professionals advocate for policies that improve sleep health. On Tuesday, the academy released a statement calling on the U.S. to eliminate daylight saving time completely, stating that standard time best supports health and safety, as it aligns with people’s natural circadian rhythm. Undergoing the time switch itself raises the most concerns. Research shows that after the “spring forward” time change, workplace injuries, car crash deaths and heart attack risk have all increased. One 2023 study found that a week after transitioning from the time change, people reported more dissatisfaction with sleep and higher rates of insomnia.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot – ‘Stupid’ Daylight Saving Time Ritual Continues. But Why?

Long-time Slashdot reader smooth wombat writes:

: A recent social media post by an Aussie received a deluge of replies and comments. His comment? “I’m so f***ing tired of ‘tech’ being used to solve an ‘issue’ but only making everything worse and more inconvenient for everybody,” they wrote.

His comment was in response to going to a restaurant and having only a QR code to order from — literally a menu at the table with only the QR code on it. The app required to order from it “proceeded to charge a 6.5% venue surcharge, a 2% payment processing fee, and then had the audacity to ask for a tip (10%, 15%, 25%) as the cherry on top”.

From Australia’s News.com.au:

Hundreds of others enthusiastically agreed and many added they also didn’t like being asked to enter their personal details. “You’re waiting your own table and paying an extra fee for the privilege. It’s f***ed,” one person responded. “It’s also a big stinking FU to anyone old or not tech savvy. All just to hoover up your data,” another added.

Some, however, shared they preferred using QR codes to order their food — they removed the need to move to order more and limited engagement with staff. “I actually like the QR ordering because I don’t like people, but the surcharges and tipping can f*** off,” one said. “I love the QR codes — don’t need to leave the table to order another beer,” someone else wrote…

Jonathan Holmes-Ross, owner of board game restaurant, The Lost Dice in Adelaide told news.com.au that the use of QR code ordering had let his eatery “reduce costs by around 25%… We no longer have to take orders, work out bills and manually take payments,” he said. “This gives our wait staff more time to look after our customers, and the kitchen has excellent order information as the accuracy of the orders is great. We now have very few mistakes saving us time and waste. We can also mark items that have run out instantly on the app by using stock levels, again avoiding the disappointment of (the) customer.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot – Aussies Angry Over Being Asked to Use QR Codes at Restaurants

Ars Technica reports:

In three-and-a-half years of service, one of SpaceX’s reusable Falcon 9 boosters stands apart from the rest of the company’s rocket inventory. This booster, designated with the serial number B1058, has now flown 18 times.

For its maiden launch on May 30, 2020, the rocket propelled NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken into the history books on SpaceX’s first mission to send people into orbit. This ended a nine-year gap in America’s capability to launch astronauts into low-Earth orbit and was the first time a commercial spacecraft achieved this feat… Over the course of its flights to space and back, that white paint has darkened to a charcoal color. Soot from the rocket’s exhaust has accumulated, bit by bit, on the 15-story-tall cylinder-shaped booster. The red NASA worm logo is now barely visible.

On Friday night, this rocket launched for the 18th time, breaking a tie at 17 flights with another Falcon 9 booster in SpaceX’s fleet… It fired three engines for a braking burn to slow for reentry, then ignited a single engine and extended four carbon-fiber landing legs to settle onto a floating platform holding position near the Bahamas. The drone ship will return the rocket to Cape Canaveral, where SpaceX will refurbish the vehicle for a 19th flight.

Other interesting statistics from the article:

This single booster rocket has launched 846 satellites into space. (Astrophysicist/spaceflight tracker Jonathan McDowell calculates there are now over 5,000 Starlink satellites in orbit.)
A SpaceX official told Ars Technica the company might extend the limit on Falcon 9 booster flights beyond 20 for Starlink satellites.
Friday’s launch became the 79th launch so far in 2023 of a Falcon rocket, with SpaceX aiming for a total of 100 by the end of December, and 144 in 2023 (an average of one flight every two-and-a-half days).
Since 2016, SpaceX has now had 249 consecutive successful launches of its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot – A SpaceX ‘Falcon 9’ Booster Rocket Has Launched 18 Times Successfully, a New Record

Microsoft has changed its mind, the Verge reported Friday, and now will continue giving a free Xbox Game Pass Ultimate to most of its 238,000 employees, according to an announcement from Xbox chief Phil Spencer.

Earlier reports had suggested that Microsoft was removing the free Xbox Game Pass Ultimate benefit — and some employees weren’t happy about it.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot – Microsoft Reverses Decision, Lets Employees Keep Free ‘Xbox Game Pass Ultimate’

The New York Times shows an enormous Amazon drone hovering over a driveway in the Texas suburbs. (Alternate URL here.) The drone lets go of a large brown package, which plummets to the ground.

But 10 years after Amazon revealed its drone program, drone delivery is only “kind of” a reality, the Times argues — in one city in Texas. “The venture as it currently exists is so underwhelming that Amazon can keep the drones in the air only by giving stuff away.”

Years of toil by top scientists and aviation specialists have yielded a program that flies Listerine Cool Mint Breath Strips or a can of Campbell’s Chunky Minestrone With Italian Sausage — but not both at once — to customers as gifts….

Only one item can be delivered at a time. It can’t weigh over five pounds. It can’t be too big. It can’t be something breakable, since the drone drops it from 12 feet. The drones can’t fly when it is too hot or too windy or too rainy. You need to be home to put out the landing target and to make sure that a porch pirate doesn’t make off with your item or that it doesn’t roll into the street… But your car can’t be in the driveway. Letting the drone land in the backyard would avoid some of these problems, but not if there are trees. Amazon has also warned customers that drone delivery is unavailable during periods of high demand for drone delivery…

A more complicated issue was getting the technology to the point where it was safe not just most of the time but all of the time. The first drone that lands on someone’s head, or takes off clutching a cat, sets the program back another decade, particularly if it is filmed.

The drones also struggled with real-world issues like Texas heat waves. During one heat wave the drones were suspended. And when they flew again, “a 54-year-old professor of civil engineering at Texas A&M ordered a medication through the mail. By the time he retrieved the package, the drug had melted.” One of Amazon’s customers tells the Times that Amazon’s drones “feel more like a toy than anything — a toy that wastes a huge amount of paper and cardboard.”

Amazon claims that in the last 10 months their drones have delivered “hundreds” of items in Texas. Beyond that, Amazon recently announced that its drone deliveries would be expanding within the next 14 months, the Times points out — to Britain, Italy, and a new U.S. location. “Yet even on the threshold of growth, a question lingers. Now that the drones finally exist in at least limited form, why did we think we needed them in the first place?”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot – Whatever Happened to Amazon’s Drone Delivery Service?