Daily Dose: Oracle Vs Google Update

Oracle, who is suing Google for patent infringement related to the use of Java in their Android OS, was told on Friday to scale back their damages claim, which was between 1.4 and 6 billion USD. Judge William Alsup, in a written order, said the starting point for damages should be $100 million.  

This order was in preparation for the trial, which will take place October 31. 100 million was the figure that Sun Microsystems offered Google for a three-year royalty license for Java at the start of Android's development, which Google turned down- according to a Google attorney in an argument to prove that Oracle's claims were out of touch.

Linux 3.0 arrives

Linux 3.0 has been released, and although Linus Torvalds has claimed it's nothing more than a routine update, there have been some notable changes, including improvements in file system support and virtualization, an added storage backend for Xen, and changes made to the Btrfs file system, which is still under development.

Android Market Allows Multiple APK Support

The Android Market will now support multiple APKs, according to an update on the Android Developers Blog. This will help to fix Android fragmentation issues by enabling developers to make different versions of one app and place them in a single Android Market product listing.

From the Developer Blog:

"With multiple APK support, you can now upload multiple versions of an APK for a single product listing, with each one addressing a different subset of your customers. These APKs are complete, independent APKs that share the same package name, but contain code and resources to target different Android platform versions, screen sizes, or GL texture-compression formats. When users download or purchase your app, Android Market chooses the right APK to deliver based on the characteristics of the device.

Oracle Buys Linux Kernel Specialists Ksplice

Oracle purchased Ksplice, a company that provides technology and services for errors and vulnerabilities in the Linux kernel, and will integrate that technology into its Unbreakable Linux kernel, with the hopes of increasing Linux's security and efficiency. Ksplice's Uptrack service lets customers apply security updates, diagnostics patches and critical bug fixes without rebooting.

Link Of The Day

Best Programming Interview Answer. Ever.

A suggestion for the ideal programming interview answer, courtesy of novitaOnCT2! Thanks!