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Leading itemsThere were a few interesting developments around the business of Linux this week. Here's an overview:
Microsoft is right, claims Eric Raymond, at least when it comes to AOL's Instant Messenger protocols. In this particular area, where AOL holds the cards, Microsoft has developed a sudden interest in open standards and protocols. Eric predicts that they will win this particular battle, and that everybody should benefit from that victory. A Transmeta processor in the new Amiga? Rumors are easily started, but this one might just have some reality. It seems that, at last weekend's "World of Amiga" conference, a slide went up showing the logos of the companies working on the new system. On that list was ever-mysterious Transmeta. Thus starts the rumor that the new Amigas will use the processor that Transmeta is rumored to be creating. It would be fun to watch things play out that way. The end result could be the resurrection of an old favorite platform, based on a blazingly fast and inexpensive chip, all running Linux, but having no trouble with Windows applications. Such a system might just achieve some success. If that's what is really going on. For some "wild speculation" on what could be happening, see this posting on Deja.com. Then consider this followup by Jim Collas, president of Amiga. Maybe the speculation isn't so wild after all. Meanwhile, it has also been announced that Corel's products will be supported on the Amiga. A lot of interesting pieces appear to be coming together here. Problems with Red Hat's community stock offering. It seems that simply getting "the letter" from Red Hat is not sufficient for those who wish to buy their stock at the IPO price. Before being part of the IPO, it is necessary to get through a web-based test on E*Trade. It would appear that quite a few people are being told that they are not eligible to participate in the IPO. Needless to say, this is creating a fair amount of frustration, especially among those who opened E*Trade accounts for the sole purpose of buying this stock. It's not clear where the problem is. According to some, the difficulty is SEC regulations which are intended to keep novice investors from getting burned. Others put the blame firmly on E*Trade's shoulders. And some have gotten annoyed with Red Hat, though there doesn't seem to be any reason to blame them. For those who have not yet gone through the process, the key to eligibility seems to be to appear to be a long-time, seasoned investor. Those who are interested in more information may want to wade through this Slashdot topic. This Week's LWN was brought to you by:
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July 29, 1999
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