Story 2014-05-15

RedHat Openstack announcement causes an uproar

by
in linux on (#3KQ)
Call it a non-issue, bad journalism, or a hasty backtrack, but for 24 hours, this was a big deal. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this week that RedHat would not be supporting competing companies products on its OpenStack cloud software :
In its quest to sell OpenStack, Red Hat has chosen not to provide support to its commercial Linux customers if they use rival versions of OpenStack, according to documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. The company's support, which includes providing bug fixes and helping customers if they run into technical problems, is a key reason people use Red Hat rather than free versions of Linux.
Well, queue up the angry competitors with torches and pitchforks. The CEO of Mirantis, whom RedHat seems to have deemed a competitor, was just one of the many outspoken critics. MegaOm took advantage of the furor to ask, "Is RedHat the new Oracle?" And then, suddenly it was over, as RedHat clarified its cloud offerings would remain open and available for customers to run whatever software they preferred .

Hasty turn-around? A chagrined CEO back-pedaling as a result of sharply more negative press than he'd anticipated? Or just a Wall Street Journalist getting the story wrong. And anyway, is RedHat the next Oracle?

Dogecoin wallet hacked

by
in security on (#3KP)
story imageIn the words of the Register, "see if this sounds familiar."

Not good times for the Dogecoin wallet provider DogeVault. This isn't news hot-off-the-press: Dogevault went offline on May 13th . They are hoping their backups work as they attempt to restore service. But who cares? Pundits are already singing their dirge for Dogecoin , or calling it doomed to failure .

So: what's next? Dogecoin was a fluke, right? A mirthful riff on the success of Bitcoin, that by luck or happenstance wound up becoming temporarily worth something? If you believe cryptocurrencies are the future, what's the plan, if hacks and wallet thefts become the almost unstoppable future? Or if you believe cryptocurrencies are a passing nerd fad, what comes next?