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

Linux in the news

• ZDNet UK interviews Tim O'Reilly. "The challenge for Open Source is to become the 'Intel Inside' of software apps, for the Amazons of this world. People are now buying a computer so they can use Amazon -- now that's a killer app. That's a market Open Source has to lose."

• Here's a PC Week editorial arguing for the continued success of open source software. "We fear that Intel, because of its investment in Red Hat, will give that vendor favored treatment with regard to confidential information. This would be a mistake, fanning the smoldering factionalism in the Linux community and thwarting key open-source aims." Worth a read. (Thanks to Jon Lasser).

• In Salon Magazine: a review of Bill Gates' new book that touches on Linux for a while. "To anyone with a reasonably long memory, Gates' pooh-poohing of Linux offers an overpowering whiff of déjà vu: The last time Microsoft dismissed a popular new technology as being good only for 'the student and hobbyist market,' as Gates is now describing Linux, it was the early '90s, and the technology in question was the Internet itself -- which, like Linux today, was 'too hard to use,' 'didn't have a good graphic interface' and just didn't fit into Microsoft's vision."

• Here's an article (in German) in PC Praxis which discusses a cracking competition hosted by IBM at CeBIT. They put up two machines, one running NT, one running Linux. The Linux system came out on top. English text available via Babelfish. (Thanks to Richard Jones).

• An in-depth review of KDE 1.1 has been posted on the ArsTechnica site, providing pages worth of information about the system. When the day is done, KDE smashes the myth that Linux can't be friendly. A Linux box running kdm is so Windows-ish that the old "I'm afraid of the CLI" excuse just doesn't hold anymore. Give KDE a try if you're adventurous but don't want to stumble around in a dark cave. (Thanks to Matthew P. Anderson)

There were a few moderately technical articles out there:

• Data Communications Magazine has a lengthy article on the use of Linux in network server environments. "Getting involved with open-source software is a bit like getting married. Network architects don't just get the code, they get a family to go with it." (Thanks to Flemming S. Johansen).

• Network Computing has a lengthy Samba article which dwells on the challenges of configuration. "SMB solutions for Unix have a dirty little secret: User management will make you want to swerve into a bridge abutment."

• Sm@rt Reseller reviews Samba 2.0.2. "Even if your customers seem to have dug their heels into the Microsoft camp, Samba's one-two punch of far faster SMB file and print services without Microsoft licensing fees makes it an option that must be considered."

"The business of Linux" was the subject of a number of articles, in one way or another.

• Here's an article in News.com about Compaq's new Linux-based Alpha server systems. "Compaq has launched a plan to use the popularity of Linux to give a boost to Alpha sales, which have historically lagged below expectations. To accomplish that, however, Compaq has begun offering help to a variety of Linux distributors, not just Red Hat, with their Linux-Alpha editions."

• Computer Reseller News ran this article about Red Hat's success. "A keenly focused management team attracts first-class Linux kernel developers and world-class financial backers..."

• InfoWorld interviews IBM's Steve Mills. "I don't think commercial customers are going to put a lot of stock in dealing with a loosely affiliated organization of part-time developers. There's got to be some underlying strength brought to this environment. Linux has been in what I would characterize as 'early adopter mode' for years now. The next step is to get it into the IT mainstream. We think we can be a catalyst for that."

• Here's an article in the Irish Times about how Corel plans to do some of their Linux graphical interface work in Dublin. "'You're going to see Linux dominate in five years' time,' Dr Cowpland said."

• This La Repubblica article is a brief one about Siemens and Linux. Siemens, they say, is "the most important sponsor" of Linux. (English available via Babelfish). (Thanks to Arrigo Triulzi).

• EE Times has an article about the upcoming release of Synopsys's Verilog simulator for Linux. "VCS for Linux will ship in July starting at $40,000, the same price Synopsys charges for Unix and Windows NT."

• MSNBC has an article about VMWare- the "virtual platform" system which allows running multiple operating systems concurrently on a PC. "...some industry executives see VMWare as enabling the kind of free choice of operating systems that will ease the grip that Microsoft has on PC software."

• This Inter@ctive Week article suggests that VA Research may become the next Compaq. "Augustin said he intends to take his privately held company out for an initial public offering - but not until next year, after the company gets through some growing pains."

• Corporate developers are showing increasing amounts of interest in Linux, according to this InfoWorld article. "Particularly when mixed with the Java programming language, Linux is emerging as a contender to win over the corporate developers as a stable platform for building serious applications that can run on multiple operating systems." (Thanks to Christof Damian).

• Linux sells Alpha Chips is the lesson that Compaq has learned (after Maddog explained it to them enough times). This article talks about Compaq's plans in return, to encourage the use of Linux on the Alpha. Compaq will soon introduce new pricing geared to encourage Linux users to "step up" from Intel to Alpha chips, Berman said, targeting Alpha-Linux primarily at technical computer users who can fully appreciate the number-crunching abilities of the Alpha. Next on the list will be Internet service providers or companies wanting to set up internal Web sites. Third will be educational markets, according to Berman.

And here's a collection of the rest of the articles we found.

• Performance Computing has belatedly gotten around to covering LinuxWorld. "For those at the show who had been around during the early days of commercial UNIX, LinuxWorld was almost like a revival meeting."

• This week's Fairfax IT OpenLine column is about CeBIT. "From wearable computers running Linux, to Linux Alley inthe US pavilion and Cobalt's MicroQube Linux-based plug and play servers, the buzz was that OpenSource had arrived."

• David Kastrup, whose letters have occasionally appeared in LWN, got a letter published in Internet Week. His topic is the old "who do you sue?" charge which is frequently aimed at Linux. "When was the last time a company sued Microsoft for crashing software, late delivery or nonworking functionality?"

• Slate (Microsoft's e-magazine) has a feature on Linux. It consists of two long articles, each of which is a diary of the author's installation difficulties.

• Salon has an article (scroll down) about the Slate articles about Linux. "But there's a larger problem with Slate's coverage. Although it chose to run two separate pieces on Linux, both said essentially the same thing: Linux is hard to install, and isn't an adequate desktop substitute for the average user."

• The Italian newspaper La Repubblica has published an interview with Roberto di Cosmo, an Italian anti-Microsoft activist based in France. Much of the interview has to do with the evils of Microsoft, but they get into free software toward the end. "If Microsoft lost the source to Windows 98, what would we do? Yes we have a copy, but it's fixed and you can't fix anything, we can't evolve it, and all the money we have invested in this solution will be lost. It would, instead, be difficult to lose the source for Linux because there are hundreds of thousands of copies spread out over the world and the Internet. This summer Microsoft claimed...that it had lost part of the source for Windows 3.11, Windows 95, and DOS." (Translation by the editor; here's the Babelfish link, but the article is long and Babelfish quits long before it gets to the free software part). (Thanks to Massimo Marengo).

• Here's an AsiaBizTech article about the April 1 startup of the Japan Linux Association. "Starting as a voluntary group, the JLA is expected to contribute to spreading Linux across Japan." (Thanks to Conrad Sanderson).

• OS/2 Headquarters has an editorial (scroll down a page) claiming that Microsoft intends to Hijack Linux by porting Office. "Sooner or later, MS will have positioned Office as the 'Linux API' and developers will have to code to whatever 'standard' that the latest version of Office provides. Using Internet Explorer for Linux will become mandatory, too." They conclude with the suggestion that the only platform that truly can not be taken over is, surprisingly, OS/2.

• LinuxPower has put up a strongly-worded editorial against "Open Source" and the flurry of incompatible licenses that has come out under that name. "I implore the developers of the free software community to not let Eric Raymond lead the community down this road of self-destruction, but fight him with every fiber in your body. Software needs to be free, not just open."

• The Sunday Times has run a not entirely positive piece about Linux's increasing success. "...Linux is difficult to set up, fails to understand the difference between a desktop PC and a notebook, and lacks any kind of plug and play facility." (Thanks to Seán ó Ríordáin).

• This LinuxPower editorial addresses the topic of the "Re-unification of Unix". "The first and most important result, one which I feel strongly about, is that ANY Unix flavour which wishes to survive must open it's sources to the public. This is a profound statement I know, but to anyone who has read and generally agrees with Eric Raymond's "Homesteading the Noosphere" , this result is predicted by his explanation of why Open Source works."

• Richard Stallman and the GNOME press release at LinuxWorld are the topic of this ZDnet article by Charles Babcock. He speaks of the way in which Stallman's objections to the use of the term "Linux", rather than "GNU/Linux" eventually turned all attention at the press release away from Gnome. "There were no further references to plain "Linux." There were hardly any references to Gnome, either, as the discussion got sidetracked. There was no airing, for example, of Gnome's chief visual characteristic: its ability to be configured into four distinct desktops of the user's choice. That wasn't what was important at this press conference. "

• Hiawatha Bray's latest column talks concretely about both KDE and Gnome ... and specifically where the two still fall short of their goals. That's okay. We know they are works in progress and will continue to improve rapidly. I've got the two most popular Linux GUIs running on my home machines, and both of them are just good enough to make me wish they were better. (Thanks to Donald Braman)

Section Editor: Jon Corbet

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