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It was a good week for Open Source announcements.
Mission Critical Linux, Inc. announced the release of the
source code for its high-availability Kimberlite cluster
technology under the GPL.
Metro Link contributed
a number of enhancements and bug fixes to Open Motif.
"These changes were developed for Metro Link's commercial Motif
products and are now being contributed back to Open Motif."
Lineo has
announced a new website, http://opensource.lineo.com,
"dedicated to open source projects funded or maintained by
Lineo and its employees". The website may be intended to
balance concerns about Lineo's business direction, based on
bundling its Embedix Linux distribution with proprietary software
and then licensing the result.
Finally, TCS announced the opening of a Linux
Research and Development facility in Texas to develop
"Linux-related technologies" for Dell Computer Corporation.
"'TCS and Dell are making a commitment not only to help each
other develop and support the latest Linux technologies, but also
to provide those technologies to the Open Source community,' said
[CEO of TCS.] Ramadorai".
Transmeta's Crusoe.
Transmeta's Crusoe chip is apparently being demonstrated this week
at PC Expo in Ultra-light laptops from Fujitsu, Hitachi, IBM and
NEC, according to
this press release. Battery life and reduced noise were sited
as the reasons for the high interest in the chip. Unfortunately,
actual shipments of such Ultra-lights are still months away.
IBM has reported its plans to
use the Crusoe chip in ThinkPad notebooks by the end of the
year. " Transmeta says the Crusoe chip extends the battery life
of mobile computers by using a hybrid of software and hardware,
replacing millions of power-hungry transistors. Nichols said
IBM retrofitted a ThinkPad 240 with the chip so that it could
demonstrate the unit this week for customers at the PC Expo at the
Jacob Javitts Centre in Manhattan. He said IBM's notebook division
has been working with the chip the past six months. "
Netwinder manufacturer Rebel.com also announced plans for using the Crusoe chip in upcoming versions of the
Netwinder. "Rebel.com selected Crusoe based on a number of
factors, including its ability to work in a small fanless
enclosure, its low power consumption, its high performance and its
compatibility with industry standards."
The news is also covered in this CNet article.
ZF Linux Devices, Inc. has a slew of announcements.
New York company ZF Linux Devices made several announcements this
week. Their new MachZ PC-on-a-Chip is
"ultra-low power (less than 1/2W @ 133MHz)". It comes with a
software suite that includes a PhoenixBIOS and a choice of Linux or
WindRiver VxWorks. They also
announced an alliance with Phoenix Technologies to bundle the
PhoenixBIOS with the MachZ.
The FailSafe MachZ
runs a family of products providing distributed network
solutions for the Small Office/Home Office (SOHO), education and
developing economy markets.
LynuxWorks, Inc., formerly Lynx Real-Time Systems, will
bundle LynuxWorks BlueCat Linux and the LynuxWorks development
tools with the MachZ Integrated Development System (IDS). WindRiver
will supply VxWorks.
The device
is financed, to the tune of $15 million, by Sands Brothers
Venture Capital LLC of New York, and included additional investments
from National Semiconductor, Samsung, TAT Capital Partners, and
individual investors, and it will be
distributed by Kanematsu Semiconductor Corporation, a Japanese
distribution company.
Linux Stock for Sale.
In the past two days, two announcements of large sales of VA Linux
stock have gone out, the first from
Small Cap World Fund, which will be selling 1.55 million shares
and the second announced that Larry Augustin
will be selling a more modest number, only 120,000 shares.
Larry isn't alone. Red Hat Inc. co-founder Marc Ewing has
filed his intent to sell 1.5 million shares of Red Hat stock.
"The shares have an estimated market value of $49 million, the
filing said."
Corel
successfully completed its sale of new common shares,
guaranteeing it will stay afloat for at least some time longer.
"In the event that all of the warrants are exercised, the
Company will issue an additional 3,649,635 common shares resulting
in gross proceeds of Cdn. $16,642,335.60."
Rackspace.com has amended it's prospectus and lowered its IPO
terms
according to this article from Reuters.
Award Winners.
In the midst of other problems, Corel was pretty happy to
pick up a couple of awards this week, for Corel Linux and the
Corel Draw 9 Graphics Suite.
Enterprise Linux, a quarterly supplement inserted into several
business magazines (ENT, MIDRANGE Systems, Enterprise Systems
Journal, HP Professional and Application Development Trends),
picked up an award at this year's American Society of Business
Press Editors (ASBPE). In addition, the press release announces
that Enterprise Linux will become a stand-alone monthly magazine
beginning in August.
That brings us to three monthly print magazines for the Linux
community so far, including Linux Journal and Linux Magazine.
Enterprise Linux differs from the other two since it comes from the
established business publishing arena, which has clearly decided the
time is ripe for added Linux coverage to their current stock.
Linux Gets Game.
The available games for Linux continue to multiple with the
announcement that WarBirds III, a multi-player online World War
II air combat game, has been enhanced with Linux compatibility.
Also, Terminus, a new
epic space role-playing game, has been
released for Linux (as well as Mac and Windows) after three and a
half years of development. "Another exciting feature in
Terminus is the ability of computer-controlled characters to
express human emotions as they interact with other characters and
react to events using advanced AI technology. Characters can
become angry and impatient; they can even fall in love."
A demo of Terminus is available at www.vvisions.com.
Internet Partnership Group Tunes Into PenguinRadio.
PenguinRadio, which is
developing a stand-alone Linux-based Internet appliance for listening to
radio stations broadcast on the Internet, announced the receipt of an equity
investment from the Internet Partnership Group.
Michael Tiemann appointed to Embedded Linux Consortium board.
Red Hat has announced that
Michael Tiemann, Red Hat's CTO, has been appointed to the board of
the Embedded Linux Consortium.
IDC: the impact of a Microsoft breakup on the Linux Market.
IDC takes
a gander at the impact of a potential breakup of Microsoft into
two separate companies on Linux, foreseeing potential increased
competition in personal productivity
software and hardware sales. "IDC believes an independent
Microsoft applications company could present a serious threat to
desktop/personal productivity players in the Linux space --
including Corel, Applix, and even Sun Microsystems."
EuroLinux Congratulates British Telecom.
The EuroLinux Alliance, promoters of the petition against software
patents in Europe, has issued this release congratulating British Telecom "for demonstrating the
absurdity of software patents." "BT was granted its patent nearly 15
years ago for a software concept which may have seemed new and inventive
at the time. But such a patent, by being so abstract and general, has
actually given BT the right to strangle the development of the World Wide
Web and a lot of related technologies, which owe nothing to the inventive
effort of BT."
Press Releases:
Open Source Products.
Unless specified, license is unverified.
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Centura Software Corp. (NEW YORK) announced the launch of
db.star, "its secure, high-performance open source ultra-small
footprint embeddable database solution for handheld devices".
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Centura Software Corp. (NEW YORK) announced that it demonstrated
the compatibility of db.linux, a member of the db.star family,
Panasonic 4.7GB DVD-RAM drive at PC Expo.
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PortalSphere Inc. (OTTAWA) has made its PortalSphere
Application Server developers toolkit freely available to users
worldwide from
http://www.portalsphere.com/DevDownload.html.
Commercial Products for Linux.
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AbsoluteValue Systems (MAITLAND, Fla.) the developers of
linux-wlan, a Linux Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) driver package,
announced the AVS Wireless LAN System Developers Kit. Intersil
announced that AVS is using the PRISM WLAN chip set in the SDK.
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Active Concepts (SAN FRANCISCO) announced it will test its
flagship product, Funnel Web on the integrated Linux software
and hardware distributed by VA Linux and will have direct access to
Linux-Mandrake open source code and beta versions for development
purposes.
- Emulex has announced
Fibre Channel drivers for Linux that are "tested and approved
for use with Caldera, RedHat and TurboLinux". The press release
mentions that the drivers will be provided on an "open source" basis
from their website. A quick scan of the site turned up the Windows,
Solaris, AIX and other drivers, but did not yet list the Linux
drivers.
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Enhanced Software Technologies, Inc. (PHOENIX) announced they will
be demonstrating their BRU 16.0 Backup & Restore Utility at the
"DVD-RAM-Defining Storage Convergence" press announcement activities
at PC Expo in New York City.
- Here is IBM's
big voice technology announcement, which includes the availability
of the ViaVoice dictation product for Linux.
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Inprise/Borland (SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif.) announced that Delphi
for Linux (Kylix) will be available later this year.
- LinuxPPC Inc. has released a new
version of Netscape Communicator.
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PortalSphere Inc. (OTTAWA) has made its PortalSphere
Application Server developers toolkit freely available to users
worldwide from
http://www.portalsphere.com/DevDownload.html.
- Proven Software, Inc. has announced the availability of their BestAcct suite of
corporate business accounting programs for Linux.
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SteelEye Technology Inc. (MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.) announced
immediate general availability of its LifeKeeper for Linux 3.0.
LifeKeeper is an automated high-availability clustering solution.
- Synergy Microsystems (SAN DIEGO,
CA) announced support for Linux with Symmetric Multiprocessing
(SMP) on all of its PowerPC-based multiprocessor boards.
- Total Impact (Camarillo,
CA) announced Linux support for its line of Total mPOWER PCI based
multiprocessor boards.
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Trustix AS (Trondheim, Norway) announced its release of
XPloy a graphical user interface for Linux operating system
administration and management.
Products Using Linux.
- Linux NetworX announced a new rack
mount chassis design to be officially unveiled in August.
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Neoware Systems, Inc. (NEW YORK) announced that it demonstrated
the newest version of its embedded NeoLinux operating system
software at PC Expo.
Products with Linux Versions.
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Ajuba Solutions, Inc. (MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.) introduced
Ajuba2, a platform for modeling, developing, operating and
managing B2B applications.
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Alliance Systems, Inc. (PLANO, Texas) introduced the I-Series
2000 Appliance Server, a high-density communications server.
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Brooktrout Technology (BIRMINGHAM, England) announced that its
TRxStream Series of media resource platforms are now available
in the CompactPCI (cPCI) form factor.
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Brooktrout Technology (NEEDHAM, Mass.) announced expanded Linux
support across its broad range of products, including the Vantage
Series, RDSP Series, RTNI Series, TRxStream Series and Netaccess
Series product families.
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Group 1 Software (LANHAM, Md.) announced the release of its
DataVerse suite of products. The DataVerse family of products
supports real-time address validation, correction, and/or formatting
for the US, Canada, and over 200 countries worldwide.
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LapLink.com Inc. (SEATTLE) announced that it will unveil its
newest Internet product releases, ExpressLoader and ExpressDrive
Accelerator, in tandem with the introduction of Internet File
Management (IFM) during PC Expo 2000.
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NetZero, Inc. (WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif.) announced that it will
offer a Linux version of its Z3 software.
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Omnis Technology Corporation (SAN CARLOS, Calif.) announced that
Omnis Software released the latest beta of Omnis Studio 3.0.
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Planet Intra (MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.) announced Planet Intra
2.4, the latest version of its Intranet solution.
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SGI (MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.) introduced the Silicon Graphics
Octane2 visual workstation, a new addition to its VPro graphics
family.
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UniPress Software, Inc. (EDISON, N.J.) announced the availability
of FootPrints v.4.3, the latest release of the company's
web-based issue tracking and help desk solution.
Java Products.
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Solant, Inc. (WASHINGTON, DC) announced that it has created the a
full Enterprise Java architecture for online billing and
customer care in the industry.
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Unify Corporation (SAN JOSE, Calif.) announced Unify eWave
Engine 2.0, an Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) 1.1 application server,
due out in July 2000.
Training.
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Learning Tree (RESTON, Va.) announced its plans to release
"Linux TCP/IP Networking and Services: Hands-On," a new course
on how to install and configure TCP/IP networking and services on
Linux.
Partnerships.
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Bluepoint Linux Software Corp. (LOS ANGELES) announced that it has
signed an agreement with China United Online. China United
Online will purchase search engine system and free-email server system
from Bluepoint, and Bluepoint will provide China United Online with
technical support and technical training.
- Loki Software, Inc. (Tustin, CA.)
announced an agreement with QLITech Linux Computers to bundle a
variety of Loki titles on the Advanced Multimedia Workstations.
-
Merlin Software Technologies International Inc. (ALTAMONTE
SPRINGS, FLORIDA) announced the pre-loading of PerfectBACKUP+ 6.2
on select models of IBM ThinkPad A series and T series notebooks.
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NonStopNet (OAKLAND, Calif.) announced a new alliance with VA
Linux Systems, Inc. This partnership enables NonStopNet to offer
VA Linux server solutions as part of its Internet Infrastructure
Management Services.
-
Perle Systems (WESTMONT, ILLINOIS) announced that SuSE Linux
AG, has included drivers for its complete range of Specialix and
Chase muilt-port serial cards in its latest release.
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Red-M (WEXHAM SPRINGS, United Kingdom) announced that it has been
accepted as an associate member of the Bluetooth Special Interest
Group. The wireless Internet server product solutions being
developed by Red-M are based on a combination of the Linux operating
system and Bluetooth technology.
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SteelEye Technology Inc. (SAN DIEGO) announced that it has
joined the Linux International organization as a Sponsoring
Corporate Member.
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SuSE Linux AG and MacTech Magazine (OAKLAND AND WESTLAKE VILLAGE,
CA) announced that a free distribution CD of SuSE Linux for the
Apple PowerPC is included in the June 2000 issue of MacTech
Magazine.
- TheLinuxStore.com (EBIZ) has
announced a deal with TurboLinux to offer a new line of servers
oriented toward e-commerce applications.
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TheLinuxStore.com (SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.) announced a partnership
agreement with 3ware Inc. to market and sell 3ware's Escalade line
of RAID storage controllers.
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XETA Technologies (BROKEN ARROW, Okla.) entered into a preliminary
agreement to form a strategic alliance with Elastic
Networks. The companies plan to offer the lodging industry a
single hardware platform that includes both XETA's Virtual XL Series
Call Accounting System and Elastic's Yesware Software solutions for
High-Speed Internet Access. Both software solutions are Linux-based.
Linux At Work.
Other.
- Linux NetworX Inc. (SANDY, UTAH)
opened an office in San Jose, Calif.
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Moonlight Systems, Inc. (SAN FRANCISCO) unveiled plans to deliver
enterprise-grade applications optimized for Linux server deployments
and the fast growing Application Service Provider (ASP) market.
"Moonlight Systems(TM) will employ an open source strategy in
developing and delivering its products, by providing source code to
customers and partners to maximize flexibility and to foster ongoing
innovation."
Section Editor: Rebecca Sobol.
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June 29, 2000
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