The H Week - Oracle & Java, Firesheep, increasing problems for mobile phones

Oracle was very much in the news this week as it moved to strengthen and establish its position on Java both commercially and in regard to open source. GitHub and Hotmail moved to using SSL for improved security and security problems were reported for both the iPhone and Android based phones.

Featured

In our feature for this week Glyn Moody suggests it is time for free and open source software to move on and that Mozilla, with its Open Web App initiative may be pointing in the direction that movement should take.

• Is it time for Free software to move on?

Open Source

Much activity this week regarding Oracle as its product policies really start to become apparent after the Sun acquisition. All of this news was Java related as Oracle announced its intention to offer a commercial version of the JVM and commented on its JVM strategy. Newly appointed Java Community Process executive committee member Apache immediately increased its pressure on Oracle to move to a more liberal Java policy and Apple joined IBM in supporting the Oracle OpenJDK project. Meanwhile in the dispute over Java code copyright and patent infringement Google responded to Oracle's claims by accusing Oracle of having manipulated its evidence. Mark Shuttleworth said that Ubuntu will drop X11 graphics in favour of Wayland. Reacting to the rapid changes in the mobile market the Symbian Foundation scaled back its role and Nokia took over Symbian development. For the sake of improved security GitHub, the project repository host, switched to SSL operation. Mozilla moved slowly down the path to Firefox 4 and Red Hat released both a beta of RHEL5.6 with full Ext4 support and RHEL6.

• Ubuntu to abandon X11
• Oracle plans to offer a commercial Java Virtual Machine
• Nokia taking over Symbian development
• GitHub now SSL only
• Mozilla: Firefox 4 Beta 7 coming Wednesday
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.6 beta adds full Ext4 support
• Apache sounds the attack against Oracle's Java policy
• Oracle comments on JVM strategy
• Oracle vs. Google: Google accuses Oracle of manipulating the evidence
• Oracle and Apple to join forces in OpenJDK project for Mac OS X

Open Source Releases

• RockMelt: Chromium meets social
• Webconverger 7 browser only OS released
• Clonezilla Live open source clone system updated
• Palo 3.2 available as a GPU version
• IPFire open source firewall updated
• Tiki Wiki CMS Groupware 6.0 released
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 released
• Mozilla releases Firefox 4 Beta 7
• Hacker wins $3,000 for first open source Microsoft Kinect driver - Update
• Second release candidate of MySQL 5.5 with alternative authentication
• openSUSE 11.4 Milestone 3 released
• Open source DVR MythTV 0.24 arrives
• jQuery 1.4.4 and jQuery Mobile Alpha 2 released

Security

Security wise the Firesheep cookie-jacker caused a bit of a stir and increased security resulted in reduced convenience for those accessing Hotmail via Outlook or Windows Live Mail. Attacks on mobile phones are on the rise and this week saw problems for the iPhone and for Android based phones. The Fedora distribution was criticised for rejecting a SQL injection hacker tool which could be used for testing security, but also could be used for malicious attacks.

• Firesheep cookie-jacking tool triggers arms race
• SSL for Hotmail blocks Windows Live connections
• Web sites can launch iPhone applications without prompting
• Android holes allow secret installation of apps
• Fedora criticised for hacker tool ban

Security Alerts

• Back door exploit for Android phones
• Microsoft closes seven holes in Office
• Critical hole in Mac OS X 10.5.x
• Apple releases Mac OS X 10.6.5 update
• Internet Explorer hole: attacks are likely to increase

To see all last week's news see The H's last seven days of news and to keep up with The H, subscribe to the RSS feed, or follow honlinenews on Twitter. You can follow The H's own tweeting on Twitter as honline.

(trk)