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

Linux in the news

• This Mac Opinion column delves into the problems of operating system development, starting with The Mythical Man Month and heading forward from there. The conclusion: "The only way to deal with this problem is to follow the lead of Linus Torvalds and Linux.... he proved that only open source code, subject to the review of anyone, can produce an OS without shenanigans, backdoors, but with high a quality implementation of security and great stability."

• Here is an Internet World column predicting many more gains for open source software. Some interesting things, including the idea that Microsoft will get out of its Java difficulties by adopting Kaffe. "Both IBM and Compaq's Digital division will contribute vast amounts of source code to the Linux project in 1999. Given that neither company really makes money on OS sales, each one has more to gain in hardware and consulting revenues from endorsing Linux and providing customers with the smoothest possible migration path."

• The LA Times has a lengthy article about free software and Linux, and how they relate to the rest of the world. "What seems to be shaping up is a fascinating duel between two models of Net culture, both of them gaining strength in the last year: the commercial culture of big corporations and the 'gift economy' developing among thousands of computer programmers who are contributing to 'open source' software such as the operating system Linux." (Thanks to Eric Potter and Mark Brady).

• Inter@ctive Week reports on the "delay" in shipping the 2.2 kernel. As if a release date had ever been given out....

• When you've got some time, Tim O'Reilly's article in Release 1.0 about open source is worth a read.

• ZDNet ran a lengthy comparison between BeOS and Linux. "The most important difference, though, is the potential that BeOS has to offer as a result of its 'fresh start' approach. Linux is awesome in many ways, but no matter how you slice it, it's still basically an evolved port of a 20+ year-old operating system, and with that age comes a certain amount of baggage."

• PC Week reviewed S.u.S.E. Office Suite 99. "S.u.S.E. Inc.'s Linux Office Suite 99 comes up short in usability when compared with other Linux productivity packages, including Corel Corp.'s WordPerfect 7 for Linux and Star Division Corp.'s StarOffice."

  They also reviewed Red Hat 5.2, and weren't entirely happy with that either. "Red Hat's desktop interface looks like CDE (Common Desktop Environment) and Windows after a nasty car accident."

• ZDNet UK has announced their Technical Innovation Awards for 1998. The winner of the editorial fellows' award was Red Hat 5.1, which also was a runner up for the "best operating system" and "best network operating system" categories. No other distributions seem to have been considered. (Thanks to Chris Lewis).

• InfoWorld reviews Sybase ASE. "... this database manager is the real deal. Highly optimized, extraordinarily powerful, thoroughly documented, mature, and bulletproof. I expect this to be, in the server realm at least, Linux's killer application." (Thanks to Didier Legein).

• Computer Reseller News put out a review of sorts of Caldera's OpenLinux.

  This Computer Currents article compares Red Hat's and Caldera's offerings. "Both products are similar, but Red Hat continues to focus on simplifying installation--a boon for new users. Caldera, though easy enough to set up, is really geared for Linux power users." (Thanks to Alex Shnitman).

• This Wired News article discusses the new Java license and why not everybody is entirely thrilled with it. "But according to leaders of the open source movement -- most notably Eric Raymond's site, Opensource.org -- there's more to open source than just access to a particular source code." (Thanks to Stuart Ballard).

• InfoWorld has an article on the Jay Jacobs Linux deployment. "Now the company is on the verge of implementing one of the most cutting-edge and cost-effective systems around: Linux as the operating system in the stores, running Apropos retail software with an Informix back-end database." (Found in Linux Reviews).

• VARBusiness ran an article on how the Linux value added reseller (VAR) business is growing.

• The (Raleigh, NC) News and Observer has a story about Red Hat and its commercial success. "The company has grown from 50 to 85 employees in just a few months. And Young expects sales -- projected to be $10 million in 1998 -- and employment to double annually in the coming years." (Thanks to John Thacker).

• Here's a TechWeb story about Sendmail going commercial. "...questions remain that are unique to a company attempting to convert an OSS customer base to a commercial one."

  News.com also has an article about Sendmail, Inc..

  Wired News has an article about Star Division and the new Star Office offering. "...the company is profitable and revenues should exceed $100 million in 1999. An IPO is planned for the second or third quarter of next year."

  Novell is denying reports that they will release their NDS product under an open source license, according to this ComputerWorld article.

• Here is the Computer Reseller News article about Sun's support of Linux on the UltraSparc processor. "Sun expects Linux support to be most critical for its entry-level Ultra 5 and 10 workstations, particularly in vertical markets such as education..."

  CRN also has an introductory article on the business of Linux, and the obligatory interview with Linus.

• Internet Week talks about the increasing amounts of middleware available for Linux. Middleware applications, of course, are another crucial component for many types of corporate adoption of Linux. "A Linux port is on the to-do list of most of the major application server vendors, though few commitments exist so far."

• ZDNet UK talks to some corporate Linux users about the system. "Frankly the Linux community has provided answers to my questions more readily than Novell or Microsoft ever have."

• Lenz Grimmer pointed out this article (in German) in Rheinische Post. It is evidently a positive article about Linux applications. Unfortunately Babelfishdoesn't seem to want to translate this one.

  This article in Computer Sweden (in Swedish, of course) is entitled "Linux will beat NT on Servers." It is accompanied by a brief article under the headline "Support for Linux is growing fast". That's about all we are able to say about them... (Thanks to Inge Wallin and Torbjörn Gard).

And here is a remaining mixture of introductory articles, etc.

• Instrumentation and Control Systems Magazine ran an introductory column on our favorite system. "There also is a lack of drivers for the more esoteric printers, scanners, and other hardware, but this, too, is changing as more requests come in. For example, in the industrial market Opto 22 has taken the lead by releasing a set of PAMUX drivers for Linux. I asked Bob Sheffres, Opto?s vp of marketing, what led Opto to release these. He told me Opto had enough demand from customers to make it worthwhile. "

• Open source gathering steam uncovers ZDNet. It also gathers another chunk of "no support" FUD in this article.

• ZDTV broadcast a Linux installation, evidently a daunting thing for them to do: "We don't even know how long it will take. We had to clear out half the show to make room for this daring stunt. Install an operating system on live TV? We must be craaaazy!" See this Screen Savers page for more information. ZDTV has also put out an interview with Linus. Both are available in RealPlayer format. (Thanks to Jonathan Day).

• Here's a ZDNet column about Linus: another personality piece. "That's why I say Torvalds ... is such an unlikely giant killer. There is a decided normalcy to his demeanor. He displays no aggressive instincts." (Grazie a Alberto Schiavon).

• Nicholas Petreley looks at free software licenses. "There's no better way to ignite the flamethrowers than to discuss the relative merits of the GNU General Public License (GPL), the Berkeley-style license, or any variations of these two licenses. Why? I haven't a clue."

• ZDNet covers the Linux beer hike that Electric Lichen is putting together for next August in Bavaria. (Thanks to John Villalovos).

• Wired News covers the open source petition.

• Lessons to be learned from Linux in Sm@rt Reseller tries to make some suggestions to Microsoft on how they could try to get Linux's good press. Included are things like "open up the NT source." Seems unlikely. "The open-source community is where the action is these days. The Linux hackers of today have the fervor sported by the Visual Basic developers of a decade ago. A little imitation could take Microsoft a long way. What's Microsoft got to lose, other than its perceived arrogance?"

• Eric Raymond is featured on the front page of the Washington Post. "... Eric Raymond has evolved from a childhood pariah to a hacker cult figure to an unlikely industry player who is being consulted by some of Wall Street's biggest investors." (Thanks to Scott Crittenden and Chris Kagy).

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