'MS Windows, Photoshop most pirated software in RP'

Pop quiz: what are the two most pirated software in the Philippines today?

According to Business Software Alliance consultant Atty. Bien Marquez, majority of computer users in the Philippines who use pirated software often use illegal copies of Microsoft Word and Adobe Photoshop in their PCs.

"Aside from Windows, the most pirated software right now is Adobe Photoshop. The next is Autodesk AutoCAD, there's a lot of that. Finally, there are the anti-virus programs such as McAfee, Symantec and others. Those are the types of [pirated] software widely reported on the BSA hotline," Marquez told abs-cbnNEWS.com.

He said in one recent forum of architecture students, he asked the audience who among them were using pirated copies of AutoCAD. "Almost everyone raised their hands. When I asked who were using IntelliCAD, only two raised their hands," he said.

Marquez said some computer users prefer to use proprietary software instead of free software because they are satisfied with their experience in using paid software. He added, however, that while the BSA advocates the use of free software, users must realize that they should pay if they want to use proprietary software.

"We promote copyright protection. On the other hand, we also believe in giving users a choice especially since some of our members do create free software. It's up to the user if they want to use open source or not but if they use proprietary software, they have to be willing to pay," he said.

Marquez said there are five types of software piracy namely end user piracy, hard disk loading, software counterfeiting, client-server overuse and Internet piracy.

End user piracy takes place when end users make use of unlicensed software on their computers or install more copies than they are entitled to under the license agreement.

Hard disk loading happens when computer dealers pre-install illegal copies of software onto computers prior to sale. This means that some dealers use one legally acquired copy but install it on many machines. These computers are usually sold without any form of licensing documentation or disks

Software counterfeiting is the illegal duplication and sale of software in a form that is almost identical to the genuine product.

Client-server overuse takes place when too many employees on a network use a central copy of a program at the same time than stipulated under licence agreements

Finally, Internet piracy happens when software programs are placed by third parties on the Internet for download free of charge or for a fee. Pirates tend also to use the Internet as a means of advertising to solicit sales or auction sites to sell illegal software

The BSA launched on Tuesday a new video that encouraged Filipinos to be a "superhero" in the fight against piracy. The video directs viewers to BSA’s newly established website, which contains helpful tips on how to spot the use of pirated software in the workplace including basic information about software piracy and its types as well as the economic impact of software piracy.

Marquez said the BSA maintains a hotline where the public can submit reports against businesses using unlicensed and pirated software. From January to August 2009 alone, the BSA has already received over 500 reports through the hotline. The organization currently offers a reward of up to P1 million to individuals who can provide information that will lead to a successful case against a company that uses unlicensed and pirated software.

Cable TV piracy in RP needs to be addressed: group

Local cable operators are lamenting the slow paced legal system, which is hampering the fight against cable television piracy in the country, the Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia said.

"We are very unhappy with the courts. It had no real progress because the case presented to them over the last few years reached no decisions," Simon Twiston Davies, CASBAA Chief Executive Officer, said in a recent interview.

"More needs to be done on behalf of the TV industry to reinforce the importance of intellectual property rights. People who invest in content needs to be given a return on their investment," he added.

On behalf of broadcasters who own their copyrighted programs, CASBAA earlier filed a complaint against Turtle Cable, an infringing cable operator in Camarines Sur province. A year after the IPO of the Philippines served its first pay TV temporary restraining order (TRO), Turtle Cable settled the case by not airing unauthorized TV programming.

The settlement was reached as proceedings were about to enter the trial stage before the IP Philippines' Bureau of Legal Affairs. If the case had proceeded to trial, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) would have revoked Turtle Cable's operating license under the terms of a memorandum of understanding between IP Philippines and the NTC in 2007.

"We are pleased that we have had an agreement with the industry. We consider this as a sign of improvement in the Philippines. However, more needs to be done. There's a big problem in the Philippines, one which has been going on for many years now. Damages to legal operators, as well as to the international content or to those providing content, and also to the Philippine government is staggering. We would like to raise awareness on IP rights issue to the Philippine government," Davies said.

Citing data, CASBAA said pirated cable TV connections reached 990,000 last year, exceeding the number of legitimate ones at 965,000. The group added that the cost of piracy in the country has hit $94 million from only $84 million last year.

"The lack of anti-piracy enforcement remains a key obstacle. Courts are unresponsive," CASBAA said, adding that the government was also deprived of $44 million in taxes in 2008.

Piracy of pay TV signals can take place by physically tapping into individual lines, taking satellite signals without permission, or by redistributing stolen content to more homes. While it is not expected to be eradicated anytime soon, Davies said the evolving technology will certainly help in reducing cable TV piracy in the country.

"There are no forecasts yet, but there are indications. Digital subscription will probably keep everyone in check. The deployment of digital system will hopefully keep things under control and fuel legal connection," he said.

In a report, CASBAA said digitization is bad for piracy as it makes signal theft more difficult, increasing transparency. The group represents more than 130 channel programmers, pay TV operators, and technology providers in Asia.

"Digitization is good for consumers, good for the industry, good for Asian development. Given a greater choice of programming, the possibility of buying content that suits their particular interests or 'niches,' and the opportunity to view it when they want and where they want, consumers willingly buy. Building out digital networks to meet these demands helps Asian governments achieve their digital development goals. The process could be accelerated if governments relaxed regulatory constraints and improved the investment climate," CASBAA said.

FIRST LOOK: New Mac system not a dramatic upgrade

While Microsoft Corp. prepares to release the next incarnation of Windows on Oct. 22, Apple Inc. is cutting ahead, launching a new version of its operating system for Mac computers on Friday.

Apple's new Snow Leopard software isn't as big of a step forward from its predecessor as Windows 7 will be from Windows Vista. The most important changes in the Apple operating system are under the hood, allowing software developers to rewrite their programs to run much faster.

Snow Leopard is a relatively cheap upgrade, costing $29 for an individual user who has Leopard, the previous operating system. A "family pack" for five users costs $49.

For Mac owners using the older Tiger operating system, switching to Snow Leopard costs $169, or $229 for a family pack. That "box set" includes the latest iLife and iWork software for such tasks as movie editing, photo organizing and word processing. Buying the DVD is the only upgrade option for consumers — you can't download the software.

What's the catch? Well, part of the reason Snow Leopard can promise faster, better applications is that it's designed for Macs with Intel chips, which Apple started using in early 2006. It won't run on older Macs with the previous PowerPC family of chips. The launch of the new operating system is a hint to get a new computer.

In an Apple's demonstration of the software to The Associated Press, these were some of the most obvious changes that stood out in Snow Leopard:

• The built-in e-mail, calendar and address book applications will support Microsoft Exchange servers, the kind used by most companies. That means it will be easier to get company e-mail without using dedicated programs like Entourage or Outlook, which Microsoft is releasing for Macs late next year. However, Snow Leopard supports only the most recent release of Exchange.
• Moving the mouse cursor over a program icon in the "dock" at the bottom of the screen reveals all the windows open in that program, tiled side by side. This is an extension of the "expose" feature, which shows all windows in all programs side by side.
• Right-clicking in a window should bring up more relevant choices, bringing this function closer to its Windows equivalent.
• The new standard version of the QuickTime video-playing software will now convert clips for playing on iPhones or iPods, or upload them to YouTube. You will also be able to trim clips. Previously, you had to buy QuickTime Pro to convert videos or fire up the more time-consuming iMovie.
• You can make the file thumbnails even bigger, giving you a better idea of the contents of your hard drive at glance.
• The operating system is more compact, freeing about 7 gigabytes of hard drive space previously claimed by Leopard.
• Ejecting disks should be easier. Sometimes, Macs won't let you eject a disk or disconnect a drive because the operating system believes it's reading or writing to it. Apple says Snow Leopard will be better about freeing up the disk, or if it can't, it will give a reason.
• Web browsing and image and document previews should be noticeably faster. This is because more of the software now processes data in 64-bit chunks, twice as big as before. Other applications should benefit from this change as well, once developers start writing them in 64-bit versions.
• Developers will also be helped by a new system called Grand Central Dispatch, which makes it easier to take advantage of the multiple "cores" in today's processors, boosting the speed of heavy-duty applications like video editing. It will also be easier to take advantage of more system memory.

Lastly, Apple is making it easier to tap into what can be the most powerful computing engine in a desktop PC: the graphics chip. While the central processing unit does most of the heavy lifting, the graphics chip is mostly called upon to generate screen images. Developers will now be able to expand the uses of the graphics chip, which could make for smarter enemies in video games and more realistic simulations of real-life objects.

So how does Snow Leopard compare to Windows 7? Snow Leopard's benefits will be most apparent down the road, while Windows 7 promises more of an immediate payoff.

Windows 7 combines a bigger revamping of the user interface of Microsoft's last effort, Vista, with a series of smaller under-the-hood changes. It even can work on many older PCs — in fact, Windows 7 is supposed to run better on modest hardware than Vista did.

Apple's share of the US personal-computer market nearly tripled from 2004 to 2008 but hasn't gone up significantly since then, and now stands at around 8.5 percent, according to IDC. So Apple could use a fresh reason for buyers to get excited about Macs.

Snow Leopard is unlikely to provide that. People already have a high opinion of Apple's software. What holds them back from switching from Windows is still the relatively high price and limited selection of Macs and third-party software. Coming in as the underdog in the public-perception contest, Microsoft has more to gain from these software revamps.

For most Mac users, Snow Leopard will likely be a no-brainer upgrade, given the low price. But early upgraders often face minor bugs and installation problems, so unless you're dying for one of the new features, waiting a month or so is a safer course.

Sun absorbs $147M loss as Oracle deal looms

Sun Microsystems Inc. recorded a $147 million loss while sales eroded 31 percent in the April-June period, likely the server and software maker's last full quarter as an independent company.

Sun's latest numbers, reported Friday in a regulatory filing without the usual news release and conference call with analysts, highlight the uneven financial performance that forced the Santa Clara-based company to put itself up for sale.

In April Oracle Corp. outbid IBM Corp. and agreed to buy Sun in a $7.4 billion deal. It is scheduled to be completed this summer, and still needs approval from European antitrust regulators, which could come any day now.

The deal will give Oracle more control over development of the Java programming language, which Sun invented and is a key ingredient of the Internet. It also moves Redwood Shores-based Oracle, a business software maker, into the hardware market. Sun is one of the world's biggest sellers of computer servers, which power Web sites and corporate back offices.

Sun said after the market closed that it lost $147 million, or 20 cents per share, in the three months ended June 30, which is Sun's fiscal fourth quarter. That compares with a profit of $88 million, or 11 cents per share, in the year-ago period.

Excluding employee stock-based compensation and other expenses, Sun said its loss would have been 3 cents per share.

Sales in the latest period fell to $2.63 billion from $3.78 billion last year.

Revenue from server sales fell 36 percent over last year to $1.1 billion. Revenue from support services fell 15 percent to $886 million.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected a loss of 19 cents per share and sales of $2.37 billion.

For the full fiscal year, Sun lost $2.23 billion, versus a $403 million profit last year.

Sun's shares fell 2 cents to $9.32 in after-hours trading. The stock is still selling below the $9.50 per share that Oracle has agreed to pay for Sun, a sign that indicates some investors fear the deal might still be scuttled.

The latest results mean that Sun has lost $5.6 billion since 2002. It had only two profitable years — 2007 and 2008 — in that period.

Kaspersky, ColdSpark ink OEM agreement

Kaspersky Lab, a leading developer of secure content management solutions, and ColdSpark, a BakBone Software company, and leader in next-generation enterprise messaging infrastructure, announced that they have entered into an OEM agreement. ColdSpark will leverage the Kaspersky Anti-Virus Engine to provide end-to-end anti-virus protection for enterprises’ messaging infrastructures.

In recent years, spyware, adware, rootkits and other hostile programs have grown at an alarming pace. Protection from these threats is essential given that they pose significant security and legal risks. Currently, in addition to award-winning detection of viruses, Trojans and worms, the Kaspersky Anti-Virus Engine provides superior protection from spyware, adware and other potentially hostile programs. Additionally, the Kaspersky Anti-Virus Engine provides advanced protection from all types of mobile malware, all through a single scanning engine.

ColdSpark’s flagship product, the SparkEngine Mail Transport Platform, enables customers to enhance the power of their email to drive revenue, build customer relationships and improve business efficiency while ensuring security, compliance and performance.

“Extending Kaspersky Lab’s anti-virus technology to our customers will provide large enterprises with automated anti-virus protection to close any potential windows of vulnerability,” said Scott Brown, senior vice president and general manager, ColdSpark. “We feel that the Kaspersky Anti-Virus Engine is a strong fit with our SparkEngine technology based on its high level of protection, performance, manageability and simplicity.”

“Viruses and worms can penetrate hundreds of thousands of computers in just a few hours, making response time to new threats crucial for effective protection from malware. Kaspersky Lab’s reliance on proactive technologies is supported by industry-leading, signature-based protection that yields accurate and timely detection of malware,” said Petr Merkulov, vice president, Technology Alliances, at Kaspersky Lab. “We are excited to be working with ColdSpark to deliver integrated anti-virus protection for secure e-mail communication.”

IBM to get workers for ‘delivery center’

TECHNOLOGY GIANT IBM Corp. yesterday re-launched a "delivery center" in a bid to bring more job opportunities to local talents.

Richard A. Patterson, vice-president for global delivery at IBM Global Business Services, said the Philippine strategic center aims to provide more information technology careers in the country as the company brings its clients near their target markets.

The Manila delivery center, which was established in 2003, is the fourth fastest growing center in eight strategic hubs globally, he said in a press conference.

Mr. Patterson said the Philippines was chosen as a location for the delivery center because of the stability of the peso and the "high level of support" from the government.

Moreover, "good quality" education, language proficiency, and the technical capacities of local talents make the Philippines an ideal place for a global delivery center, he added.

The Manila delivery center is part of IBM’s "globally integrated enterprise approach," adopted by the technology giant to give corporate clients an option to provide services close to their target markets.

Mr. Patterson explained that global delivery centers cater to both large companies and small and medium enterprises by providing consulting and applications services.

IBM’s delivery centers worldwide are focused toward the transportation, banking, telecommunication and industrial sectors, Mr. Patterson said.

SAP gathers clients for RP leg in world tour

OVER 300 customers, partners and prospective clients of German business software company SAP gathered recently at the Philippine stop of the SAP World Tour, one of 27 stops of the 70-leg tour in the Asia-Pacific region and in Japan.

SAP Philippines country manager Jenny Ligones said the world tour “is a global event, but at every stop, it addresses the unique needs of companies in that particular region. In today’s business environment, our customers need to see clearly, think clearly and act clearly to thrive. Gaining clarity and then acting upon it, both within their organization and across their wider network, ensures our customers become best-run businesses.”

SAP’s clientele in the Philippines cuts across all sizes, from food and beverage giant San Miguel Corp. to small and medium enterprises like Optical Works and food franchise business Rice in a Box. The solutions SAP offers its clients are, as Ligones said, “customized to their needs and are designed for transparency and real-time efficiency in their business processes.”

The SAP World Tour “takes place in over 100 cities across 50 countries in Europe, Asia, North America and Latin America, and it is seen as a premium business and technology event that has reached over 240,000 of SAP’s customers, partners and influencers over the last five years, providing businesses with information on how SAP solutions can help companies of all sizes successfully transform business challenge into opportunity,” Ligones said.

The tour has an interactive format focusing on the SAP’s new, strategic initiatives, highlighting the power of SAP Business Suite 7, focusing on analytics and business intelligence, surviving the current market conditions with the SAP SME portfolio and best-run now packages, SAP customer relationship 7 and CRM in SAP Business All-in-One and a specific industry focus for each market.

The interactive format included industry- and product-specific breakout sessions where SAP World Tour Manila participants learned how the SAP business software solution portfolio can help companies adapt more quickly to changing market needs, differentiate against tougher competition, execute growth strategies in an international environment and maximize results with existing resources, while continuing to concentrate on core business competencies and maintaining close customer relations.

Ligones said this year’s SAP World Tour “comes at an opportune time, as best-run businesses have an advantage in coping with the current economic situation. The Philippines is indeed fortunate to be a part of such an event.”

OFWs learn basic computer skills in London

At a time when internet technology has made communication with loved ones more easier, faster and cheaper many Filipinos working in the household sector in the United Kingdom such as domestic helpers, housekeepers and nannies have little or no knowledge at all in operating the computer.

Juvy Santiago, a Filipino overseas worker for almost a decade is one of them. She has not tried browsing the internet simply because she has dedicated herself to earn a living to fend for her family back home.

But her life is about to change.

Santiago is one of the attendees of the training in basic computer course organized by the Philippine Overseas and Labor Office (POLO) of the Philippine Embassy in London.

The course aims to provide basic knowledge in word, excel, power point and writing an email and chatting online, among others.

For Santiago, who has been hoping to acquire basic skills in using the computer, the program came at the right time.

“Malaking maitutulong nitong first learning namin sa embassy ng computer kasi doon kami matututo kung paano kami gumawa ng word, mag- type kami o kahit anumang document na kailangan naming gawin, pwede na naming isarili yun,” said Santiago, a housekeeper in London.

Santiago aims to use the internet as an alternative means of communicating with her family in the Philippines. She said she is looking forward to chat online with her kids which will help her in cutting down her telephone bills.

A total of 29 enrollees participated in the course who like Santiago, are working in the household sector and have very little or no knowledge of the use internet and very low computer literacy.

“The objective of course is to upgrade the skills of our OFWs especially those in the household sector--- the nannies, domestic helpers and others,” said Labor Attache Jainal ‘Jun’ Rasul of the Philippine Embassy’s labor office.

With the UK Home Office toughening up the laws on immigration for low-skilled migrant workers, Rasul said this is an opportunity that OFWs here should not pass up.

“We know for a fact that UK is skills-based and they are attracting migrants who are skilled or highly-skilled so this is the best time to invest in themselves in terms of education.”

The course is going to run for six consecutive Sundays and is conducted at the embassy in London. The POLO office is also offering other skills training such as basic English language course at the culmination of this project.

DepEd starts IT-based learning in Visayas

The Department of Education on Friday said ICT-based educational materials are now being pilot-tested in selected public schools in the Visayas via the Learning Resource Management and Development System (LRMDS) to enhance learning among students.

The move is part of DepEd’s continuing development of educational tools that are responsive to the needs of the 21st century.

The LRMDS portal contains quality learning and teaching tools for students and teachers which the schools can access anytime and anywhere. These come in the form of lesson guides, interactive teaching materials and professional development materials.

DepEd also launched the enhanced Basic Education Information System (BEIS) geared to strengthen management decision-making and optimize allocation of education resources. Through the BEIS, data from the school, division, regional and national levels will be processed into useful information which can be easily accessed.

“These are some of the major contributions of DepEd to provide 21st century education for all Filipinos,” Education Secretary Jesli Lapus said. “We know all too well that the use of ICT in education is very critical in learning as well as in school management,” he added.

The LRMD portal and BEIS are funded by the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID). These initiatives fall under the Stage 2 of Strengthening the Implementation of Basic Education in Selected Provinces in the Visayas (STRIVE) Project.

“I am sure this will have far reaching effects when implemented in the rest of the DepEd regions and divisions nationwide” Lapus said.

In a related development, the Australian government has turned over to DepEd the Training and Development Center in Region VII based in Cebu City. The center will provide professional development for educational leaders, teachers and non-teaching staff.

“We need to invest more in honing the skills and talents of our own people because they will eventually be in the frontline,” Lapus said. “The center is cost-effective in providing continuous professional training to DepEd personnel” he added.

In a related development, DepEd has targeted all the 5,237 public high schools nationwide to be equipped with computer laboratories by the end of 2009. President Gloria Arroyo has instructed Lapus to have all high schools connected to the internet within this year.

“Our next target is to increase access to varied and quality learning, teaching and staff development resources,” Lapus said.

College e-textbooks go to class in iPhones

US and Canadian college students can pack textbooks into their pockets instead of spine-bending backpacks courtesy of an iPhone application released by CourseSmart.

The northern California supplier of electronic textbooks on Tuesday released free software that makes digitized forms of college textbooks available on Apple's ubiquitous iPhone or iPod Touch devices.

"We've seen significant demand from student customers for the ability to get required textbook content in electronic form on an iPhone or iPod Touch," said CourseSmart executive vice president Frank Lyman.

"We see incredible potential for iPhone and iPod Touch applications in education."

Students that buy "eTextbooks" from CourseSmart can view them from any Internet-linked computers and are able to print out pages or copy sections into custom study guides.

Instead of lugging old-fashioned ink and paper books to classes, students can use iPhones of iPod Touch devices to access textbooks online for reference during classes.

"It's important to students to be able to access textbook content in color with the same page layout as a printed textbook and now the eTextbooks App allows them to do that," Lyman said.

CourseSmart began offering eTextbooks in 2007 and as of Tuesday had reportedly sold copies to students in slightly more than 5,900 schools.

CourseSmart said it works with a dozen major textbook publishers to stay current with electronic versions mandated by professors for classes and claims its prices are typically about half that of print versions.

The CourseSmart iPhone program is available at Apple's online App Store.

Where's Open Source/Free Software when you need it [Skype alternative]?

Free software is definitely going strong in some areas, especially in the server market. However, there are other areas where free software and free protocols have failed. Internet based voice and video communication is one of those areas. The market is basically fully owned by Skype, a piece of proprietary software based on a proprietary (and abusive) protocol in the hands the same company that runs eBay. Free software advocates have been saying “what if Skype was discontinued?” for years. Then I read about eBay considering shutting Skype down. Pardon?

The Skype copyright issue

The problem is that when eBay bought Skype, they were in too much of a hurry to read the fine print. Skype’s original owners retained the copyright for some crucial portion of Skype, specifically the peer-to-peer side of it — the same code which is probably responsible of making sure that user A routes packets for user B without his or her knowledge of authorisation.

So, the 2.6 billion dollars eBay paid for it was obviously not quite enough — Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis have been getting “licensing” money for that code since “selling” Skype to eBay.

To me, it sounds more like a rental agreement more than a sale: eBay paid 2.6 billion dollars for the right to rent Skype’s core technology from Skype’s owners. Let’s call it a “bond” — an expensive one. Especially when the landlord decides to throw you out.

Where was free software?

Free software and free protocols have been lagging behind in terms of user penetration. I very much doubt that the user base of every every single free voice client available now gets even close to the 480 million users Skype enjoys.

Why?

One simple answer: “fragmentation”.

There is a protocol — a free protocol — which can be used for internet-based voice communication: it’s called SIP. At the beginning, it had its problems — it didn’t work behind an ADSL router, which meant it didn’t work for most people who might want to use it. A lot of those problems are now solved. But, some of them stayed. For example:

• Voice quality tends to be low — and definitely lower than Skype. SIP is a “container” protocol. Voice can be compressed and treated using several sub-protocols. This means that each SIP client needs to be able to deal with at least a few of them, and for each call SIP clients end up “negotiating” which one to use. The two clients also need to have a compatible implementation of that voice protocol, which is not always the case. Result: quite often the voice quality is really quite low.
• Video doesn’t always work, and it’s poor quality. This is the same problem as the point above, except that it’s worse. Video protocols are harder to implement, and incompatibilities are more frequent.
• You can’t find other SIP users. Whereas with Skype you can find pretty much anybody by typing their names in the Search box, with SIP you have a bunch of independent networks ad no ability to find other people. Creating a global “search” option would have fixed that, but creating something like that is anything but easy — in fact, it takes tons of work, and (even more importantly) cooperation amongst SIP clients using a well defined, established protocol.
• Configuring a generic SIP client is often confusing — too confusing for the normal user. Configuring a “branded” SIP client is not confusing, but binds people to a specific SIP network. There should be a zero-configuration system where all the server information (STUN, forwarding, etc.) is gathered from the SIP server once you put the account name and password.

SIP is not the only protocol available to make voice calls. While developing its gTalk IM client, Google took the XMPP protocol (which allows federation and other neat features) and extended it so that it supported voice. Google did things right, and made sure that those extensions became part of the XMPP protocol. However, today it’s 2009 and the only client that supports voice in XMPP is… gTalk, which is not available as free software and only exists for Windows (!). I had great hopes when gTalk came out. However, 2010 is approaching, and I very much doubt that gTalk has a sizeable user base that uses it for voice calls. I see this as a missed opportunity for Google. I wonder if federated user searches using XMPP and a multi-platform gTalk client would have helped. I guess so!

I could also mention that audio in GNU/Linux is very much messed up: using PulseAudio in Skype results in calls resembling a badly dubbed movie, OSS and ALSA proponents are still arguing (!), and so on. But that’s a different story, and GNU/Linux only has a tiny percentage of the market anyway.