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Linux and business


Corel has announced a deal with the KDE project wherein KDE will be shipped on the Netwinder. "Corel Computer intends to participate with the KDE Project to bring new skills and technology to this phenomenal desktop environment. Corel Computer has shipped a number of NetWinder DM, or development machines, to KDE developers who are helping to port the desktop environment." There is also a TechWeb article about this announcement.

Caldera will be getting into the "black box" (or "blue cube?") server market, according to this TechWeb article. The "Vertical Business Server" will be another low-cost, web-administered server, available early in 1999.

IBM's Transarc subsidiary has released its AFS "enterprise filesystem" for Linux. See their press release for more. This amounts to another high-level recognition of Linux's potential role in the corporate world, and another small step by IBM in the Linux direction.

Those of you using the Ingres II beta edition from CAI may have noticed that it expired on December 2. If you've been bitten by that expiration, head on over to the Ingres beta page and you can get a new copy (Thanks to Jussi Torhonen).

According to this TechWeb article, Microstate has released their Java application server as open source.

D. H. Brown and associates have released their latest ranking of server operating systems. The results: AIX tops the list, and NT sits at the bottom. Linux is not yet part of the study, but the word (from Newsbytes) is that they will include Linux as of the first quarter of 1999.

It's been a while since we covered the progress of UCC 2B, the (U.S.) proposed "shrink wrap software" law which would dramatically increase the rights and protections of software publishers. Here is a summary of the latest moves on this law, and what they mean. It's interesting, scary stuff.

Under (c), if the publisher places language in the fine print of a mass-market license (which you aren't allowed to see until after the sale), the publisher can place a restraint (such as by encrypting your files) that affirmatively prevents your access to your own information on your own computer. Under (d), the publisher is not liable to you for any losses caused by that restraint.
If this thing becomes law, it will have the interesting effect of making proprietary software that much more expensive, difficult, and risky to deal with. The hollowness of "who do you sue?" will become ever more apparent. One wonders if the people behind this bill aren't free software advocates in disguise?

Press Releases:

  • Adaptec, having made available the necessary information to write a driver for their Ultra2 cards.
  • nStor, the "CR8F" Fiber channel RAID controller.
  • Transend, 112k (over two phone lines) modem which works with Linux.
  • Macromedia, flash player available for Linux.
  • Active Concepts, FunnelWeb 2.5 web traffic analysis software.
  • Real Networks, Real Producer G2 "media creation" software.
  • Zero G, InstallAnywhere installation system.
  • Ingram Micro, will be distributing Red Hat products.
  • Informix, bragging about Linux Journal Editor's Choice award.
  • Applix, a version of ApplixWare for the Alpha.
  • Bluestone Software, Sapphire/Web application server.
  • Signiform, announcing the release of ThoughtTreasure 0.00021
  • O'Reilly, announcing the release of the source code for Java/Perl Lingo (JPL)

December 3, 1998

 

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