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See also: last week's Linux in the news page.

Linux in the news


Lots of Linux press this week. Of course, now there's lots of Linux press every week. Sometime when you have some time, consider wandering into the archives and seeing what the press section looked like last winter. What a year.

Oracle OpenWorld coverage

Linus led a panel at Oracle's OpenWorld conference, and a certain amount of coverage came out of that. Oracle made no exciting announcements, but did express strong support for Linux there.

C|Net covers the Linux panel. "'What Oracle wants to do with Linux is help it dominate the world,' said Oracle's Miner." (Found in Slashdot).

InfoWorld ran a lengthy article about the panel.

But critics -- not least among them large software vendors such as Microsoft -- portray the freeware community as a semi-organized rabble of hobbyists, and question whether such a group can be trusted to act as caretakers for software used to run mission-critical applications.

"I would turn the question around, and ask, 'If it's a hobby for us and a job for you, then why are you doing such a shoddy job?' " retorted Torvalds...

(Found in LinuxToday).

ZDNet UK devotes some space to the call that went out for Sun to open-source Java. Quoting Oracle's Kevin Walsh: "Linux is in many ways a reaction to Java. Open source is a different development model then what Sun has been pursuing, but it still merits consideration." (Found in Linux Reviews).

LinuxWorld ran an article of their own. "Linux's days as upstart younger brother to the old guard commercial Unixes are over."

General and introductory articles

An interesting mix this week.

Jesse Berst thinks that Intel is scheming to overthrow Microsoft through its support of systems like Linux.

Dave Winer talks about the way forward for Linux. "Windows pretty much defines the market for customers who want things to work out of the box. If Linux wants this market, then it must do a better job of working out of the box."

Brief mention: Pundits wrestle with the future in PC World asks some folks where they think things will go. "Moritz and Dyson assert that the Linux operating system could prove to be one of the most important innovations of all as 'hordes of programmers' work to develop applications for the so-called open source operating system, which is more accessible than Microsoft Windows since its source code is freely available. 'Open source turns your customers into your developers,' says Dyson. 'It's a fundamental change.'" That's Esther Dyson, of course, along with Michael Moritz. (Found in OS News).

FUD of the week? Here's a good one in Network World Fusion. Rather than interpret this article as true FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt), one should probably see it as an attempt to look at the detractor's point of view. NW Fusion has been pretty supportive of Linux in the past. Nonetheless... "...the skeptics believe that only fools rush in to a bet-your-business relationship with an operating system that is still primarily controlled and supported by its user community - no matter how skilled and committed that community is - instead of going with a brand-name vendor with a proven track record." Exactly whose track record are we concerned with here? (Thanks to Marty Leisner). There is also a forum area associated with this article. Note that NW Fusion requires registration.

Robert Graziani sent us a pointer to this CNN article. It's of the basic introductory variety. "...expect to hear more about Linux, an OS that's gaining in popularity for several reasons that have at least one competitor on guard. It rarely crashes, it's not owned by anyone -- and it's free."

Sm@rt Reseller takes an ever more serious look at Linux as a business opportunity. In The Linux Preachers they look at resellers going with Linux and emphasizing services. "'I don't worry about margins,' says Paul A. Franz, owner of PAF Consulting Engineers, which targets the Linux market. In consulting, 'every dollar I bill is 100-percent margin.'" Then, in Money for Nothing? they look at the costs and benefits of maintaining Linux expertise. "...an informal salary survey conducted by Sm@rt Reseller found that Linux techies are paid similarly to other Unix professionals."

Will Linux be center stage in Las Vegas? asks PC World, referring to next week's Comdex. The bulk of the article is actually about BeOS. (Found in OS News).

Red Hat's Bob Young continues to become more of a media figure. Here's his appearances for this week:

  • CNNfn carried an interview Bob Young. "...I'm not going to argue that your mom should use Linux to run her recipes with." (Thanks to Paolo Sedrez).

  • Here is a profile of Bob Young in Internet World. "My concept originally around Linux was to build a customer base so that I could then sell them a real operating system..."

This article appeared in the (NT-centric) ENT Magazine. It's a surprisingly positive piece about open source, but they just had to end it this way: "The religious fanaticism of Linux proponents may not be as effective as the billions of dollars Microsoft is investing in developing NT." (Thanks to Marty Leisner).

Forbes has a lengthy article entitled Bill doesn't live here any more. It motivates the use of Linux, then goes through the install in a fair amount of detail. "Running WINE on a Linux box is a contradiction. Linux makes the most of your hardware and runs extremely well on hardware with little horsepower. Trying to get Windows to run on the hardware that Linux typically runs on is like pushing an elephant through keyhole." Paul Griffith was the first of many folks to clue us into this one.

As a side bar to the above Forbes article: Linux + recycled 486PC = NC talks about what you can do with an old machine under Linux. "Nothing special has to be done to an application for it to serve multiple users--it's just the Linux way."

Also in Forbes: this article on thin servers. "These machines run thin web server software that needs less processing power, smaller hard drives and less memory. The software is based either on freeware programs like Linux..."

Internet Week covers the Jay Jacobs Linux deployment. "Analysts who have watched the nascent Linux market agree that the price of the open-source OS, which is available for free on the Internet or for $50 from packagers such as Caldera Inc. and Red Hat Software Inc., is probably less important to Linux's success than it would seem at first blush."

Also in Internet Week: an interview with Michael Dell. "We get some interest from customers and we do custom integration for Linux, as well as Solaris and OS/2 and SCO and Banyan. It seems to be a highly vocal group of users but not necessarily very large."

Computer Technology Review ran this article about NT 5.0, Unix, UDI, and, yes, Linux. "The popularity of Linus Torvalds' version of Unix seems to have exploded over the past year and next year promises to be the breakout year for the OS." (Thanks to Marty Leisner).

ABC News discusses how to set up Linux on a dual-boot system.

A good operating system is hard to find in High Technology Careers is a fairly standard introductory article. "As more people learn about and fall in love with Linux, the number of users will grow exponentially. Far from appealing only to hacker elitists, Linux truly offers a uniquely egalitarian platform." (Thanks to Eric Rahn Nolen).

This ComputerWorld articletalks about the coming availability of Netscape's servers on Linux.

Here's another article in C|Net, this one about the return of linux.org. "Michael McLagan, who operates the site, said today that he and his Internet service provider, US Net, have resolved their contractual differences, and that the site went back up Thursday evening."

Sm@rt Reseller discovers John Kirch's Unix vs. NT site. (Thanks to Paolo Sedrez).

Here's a Wired News article about the Mexican Scholar Net program.

Unix: full speed ahead in PC Magazine discusses the fact that Unix appears to be on the rebound. "So why isn't the increased deployment of Unix on the part of large corporations a given? ... it doesn't help that the most popular version of Unix of late, Linux, is free and doesn't come with technical support--a necessity for any corporation concerned about getting quick access to technical problems." Most of us have no trouble "getting quick access" to problems...it's the solution that can be hard...

Clipping the Penguin's Wings in Web Review continues the discussion of what Microsoft could do about Linux. "Clipping a bird's wings is a way to keep it from flying. But while you can clip a penguin's wings, to do so would be an exercise in futility."

Craig Goodrich and "Benji" both pointed us to this column in Intraware SubscribNews. "If Linux is to ever threaten Microsoft in a larger mainstream commercial sense, then it will have to become, well, mainstream and commercial. Corporations will look for higher levels of support, which cost money, and will drive up the selling price."

PC Plus Magazine has published a review of Word Perfect 8. They seem to like it.

Here is an interesting MSNBC article by an author who went out and bought one of those cheap Alpha-based systems that we mentioned in this week's newsletter. "Speedwise, Linux runs much faster than NT on this machine with the same 64MB of memory."

Linux operating system drawing rave reviews is an introductory article in the Edmonton Journal. "After all, unless your next-door neighbour is a information technology guru, he or she isn't likely to be running Linux on a home computer. And Tux, the penguin, isn't dancing on television to catch your attention. As well, the kids aren't lobbying for a Linux machine under the tree next Christmas because of all the neat games."

Non-English press

Here is an introductory piece (in Portuguese) that is, evidently, tied into a TV segment about Linux that was run in Brazil. There are some serious accuracy problems in this one, but it's a positive thing anyway. (Babelfish translation available here). (Thanks to Augusto Campos).

The folks at MultiMédium have launched another one of those "try to work for a while using only Linux" experiments. Here is the page (in French) describing the experiment, and leading to articles on their experience so far and to a forum area. Non French-capable folks can make use of the Babelfish translation. (Found in NNL).

Here's an article (in French) in Le Monde Informatique about how the French National Science Research Center (CNRS) has gotten Dell to sell them computers without an operating system preinstalled. (Babelfish translation available here). (Found in NNL).

Jean-Louis Gassée discusses ancient Microsoft and Apple history in this Liberation column (in French). He talks about a (hypothetical) open-source Windows as "the Linux of the year 2000". Rick Moen was nice enough to send us a translation of this column.

Halloween articles

There were, of course, an awful lot of articles having to do with the Halloween leaks. Anybody who reads them all is nuts. This is the voice of experience speaking...
  • This lengthy article in Feed is worth reading. It's about Halloween, sort of, but wanders into Linux in general. "What Microsoft justly fears is that open-source will expose the illusion on which its revenues depend. Along with Apache and Perl and sendmail and the innumerable other achievements of the open-source community, Linux demonstrates that no one need pay for excellent software." (Thanks to Rachel Chalmers).

  • Also worth reading is Robert Cringely's take on the Halloween document. Worth reading, as is most of his stuff. "What a week ago was a discussion about the inroads Linux and Apache have made against commercial software has suddenly and instantly been redefined into a discussion of the threat Microsoft poses to Linux and Apache, and what those two development efforts have to do to survive. The very fact that we are talking this way means Microsoft is successful in redefining our way of looking at the whole subject. This is both dangerous and wrong. While Linux and Apache may be threats to Microsoft, the truth is that Microsoft in no way represents a threat to either Linux or Apache. No threat, none, zilch, nada." (Found in Slashdot).

  • Robert Brown's comments in LinuxToday are original, interesting, and amusing; worth a read.

  • The Guardian weighed in with a strongly worded piece. "The coming battle will be between closed shop versus Open Source, commercial paranoia versus altruism. The outcome is already predictable. Microsoft's difficulties with Windows NT show that some software is now too complex for even the richest, smartest company. Instead of trying to subvert Linux, what Gates should do is release the NT code and let the collective IQ of the Net fix it for him. He won't do it, of course, which is why his company has just peaked. If you have Microsoft shares, prepare to sell them now."

  • FUD and loathing in Redmond: Time covers the Halloween memos. "Even as Bill Gates pleaded ignorance in court last week of his smoking-gun e-mails, two fresh Microsoft memos mysteriously surfaced that give an inside glimpse into how the software giant responds to new ideas it finds threatening. It isn't a pretty sight." The coverage is pretty standard, but it is a high profile publication.

  • This TechWeb article explores Halloween II from the "copyright and patent" viewpoint. "'For Microsoft to accuse someone of stealing ideas is a little like the pot calling the kettle black,' said Bob Young, CEO of Red Hat Software, a Linux vendor." It is also possible to read this same article via the New York Times, but you have to register first (thanks to "Erik").

  • Mark Jeacocke pointed out this article in The Australian, mostly about Halloween but with some wandering into open source in general. "If using the OSS approach produces better software faster, it could become the main way to approach software development. We need to understand the implications for the commercialisation and support of software. We need to understand how to support programmers who invest their efforts in this way. We need to understand whether the OSS model can only produce free software or if it can be harnessed to produce commercial software. We have some of the answers to these questions, but there are still big gaps."

  • ZDNet UK ran an editorial entitle Analysis: MS Halloween a threat to 'every other standard'. "So why does Microsoft want to place itself outside this new mainstream? For a company which typically paints the Linux community as zealots, it's rich in irony. In effect, Microsoft is proposing committing commercial suicide to quash a free Unix."

  • The Raleigh News & Observer ran this article. It is Red Hat-centric, of course. "Microsoft wants to avoid losing customers to Red Hat and other companies making Linux-based systems that are cheaper and considered more stable than Windows systems..."

  • This one in ComputerWorld. "Michael Goulde, an analyst at Patricia Seybold Group in Boston, said Microsoft's best defense against open or free software is obvious: Produce good products with better support than free software's scant support and charge a reasonable price for the added value."

  • Salon (briefly) on Halloween II. "'Halloween II' tells how, last August, Microsoft engineers Vinod Valloppillil and Josh Cohen took an old Pentium 100 box, installed Linux on it and were blown away by its performance..."

  • Are the Halloween memos fake? asks ZDNet. "...some pundits and industry officials are wondering aloud whether Microsoft possibly might have leaked the memos in order to prove to the U. S. Department of Justice and the world at large that Microsoft isn't a monopolist."

  • C|Net reports on Microsoft's official response to the Halloween document leaks. "Microsoft today posted an official response to the now-notorious Halloween memos about Linux, spinning the leaked documents as proof of 'the vigorous competition that exists in the operating system industry.'"

  • Jerry Pournelle talks about the Halloween document in typical style. (Thanks to Didier Legein).

  • SunWorld discusses the memos, and goes into Microsoft France's "open letter" as well. "Industry analysts say the fear that Microsoft may be readying an all-out war on Linux may be premature."

  • This CNN article is about Halloween II, focusing on the one "patent and copyright" sentence in that document.

  • The Detroit News. "Microsoft wants to avoid losing customers to closely held Red Hat Software Inc. and other companies making Linux-based systems that are cheaper and considered more stable than Windows systems."

  • C|Net. "The author of the memo also writes that he believes consumers 'love' Linux."

  • Wired News. "'It's fairly mild, and I got the feeling that the person that wrote it actually liked Linux,' said Linux creator Linus Torvalds. 'But maybe I'm on drugs.'"

  • PC Week.

  • Inter@ctive Week. "In order to adopt these recommendations, Microsoft would need to enact a major change in strategy. While the company claims to be licensing more liberally its operating-system source code to educational institutions, it is curtailing sharply its corporate source licenses..."

  • ZDNet UK. "Predictably Microsoft attempted to downplay the memo, calling it a routine technology analysis. But the damage had been done. Microsoft's strategy to corrupt standards via its infamous 'embrace and extend' paradigm is out there, in black and white, for the whole world to read."

  • InfoWorld. "James Love, director of the consumer advocacy group Computer Project on Technology (CPT), in Washington, said the memos were proof that Microsoft, seeing a real threat to its Windows marketplace dominance, plans to crush Linux's development." (Thanks to Didier Legein).

  • The first Halloween II coverage appears to have come from news.com. "In what the memo's author considers the 'worst case' scenario for Microsoft, Linux will 'provide a mechanism for server OEMs to provide integrated, task-specific products and completely bypass Microsoft revenues in this space.'" (Thanks to Rahul Dave).

  • Another news.com article about the Halloween document, this one concentrating on the response from the free software community. (Thanks to Rahul Dave).

November 12, 1998

``That's one of my pet peeves; there's a lot of companies that use Linux and they won't come out of the closet yet''
Linus Torvalds, in InfoWorld

``Raymond was self-consciously working within the programming traditions he describes in his book, The New Hacker's Dictionary. Having gained access to the document source, he hacked it.''
Feed

``I can't prove it. But if you examine the evidence, it's easy to conclude that 1) Intel is up to something and 2) if it isn't scheming against Microsoft... maybe it should be.''
Jesse Berst, ZDNet

``The open source advocates are misled if they think that they 'get' something that other software developers don't.''
Dave Winer, DaveNet

``The motto of the Nemesis Racing Team is, 'Chase the dream, not the competition.' This is precisely what Linux and Apache should continue to do. And the completely inadvertent outcome of following this strategy will be the decommoditization of Microsoft.''
Robert Cringely

 

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