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

Linux in the news


Recommended Reading:

It must be that time of year again ... Eric Raymond has released Halloween VI, taking a look at the universe one year after his first round of Halloween documents and more recent Microsoft fiascos in the form of the Mindcraft and Gartner reports. "...Microsoft has been trying to sandbag Linux with supposedly `objective' studies by third parties that turn out to have been bought and paid for by the boys in Redmond. Fortunately, these tactics have been pursued with the same slap-happy level of incompetence that made Sheriff Ed's antics so amusing."

Corel:

InfoWorld ran a brief article on the Corel/PC Chips deal. "In an ongoing efforts [sic] to break into the top tier of Linux distributors, Corel has signed an OEM deal with hardware maker PC Chips, which will bundle Corel Linux with all of its motherboards."

E-Commerce Times covers Corel's deal with PC Chips. "The Corel LINUX distribution is seen by some industry analysts as a serious challenge to mainstream Linux vendors. Based upon the Debian GNU distribution that has gained universal respect, Corel's OS package will carry some 1,440 open-source software programs and the collective creative support of an army of international volunteer developers that make up the Debian Project."

PC World covers the Corel/PC Chips deal. "Corel's deal with PC Chips is also important because it gives PC manufacturers that buy the motherboards an easy, cost-efficient alternative to more expensive operating systems..."

The Irish Times reviews the Corel Linux beta. "If the ease of use shown in this beta can be extended to the full release then Corel will have made Linux much more accessible to users."

One we missed last week: this Forbes article about Corel's upcoming Linux launch. "But Corel's initiative in the Linux market is built on more than just hype. The company is poised to build a solid niche position in the desktop PC market by bundling its productivity software--some of which, like its WordPerfect 8 word processor, has already been tailored to Linux--with the operating system to pedal a complete solution."

Linux Vendors (Distributions and Hardware):

News.com ran this article about the steps the Linux distributors are taking to differentiate their products. "The changes come during a critical time for Linux, a product on which many companies have staked their businesses. The operating system has gained a foothold in the product lines in many of the world's biggest computing companies, several of which have taken equity investments in Linux companies. Meanwhile, Red Hat has gone public, and others likely will follow, bringing the advantage of funding to finance growth but also the pressure of expectant stockholders."

ZDNet reports on the Linux thin server market. "There are only a handful of companies making Linux server appliances, but analysts believe this sort of device has the potential to become an entry-level Internet access, e-mail and file server for millions of small businesses -- that is, if the companies can remove some of the complexity of working with Linux..."

Inter@ctive Week ran this article about low-cost, Linux-based server appliance systems. "Cobalt Networks carved out the segment two years ago and has gathered a faithful following among Internet service providers (ISPs). Now, other companies are marching into the thin Linux server space, including the just-launched Netmachines and another start-up, Network Engines."

Open Source:

News.com covers the forming of Red Hat's Center for Open Source. "The effort won't compete with other open-source efforts such as those from Linux International, the Free Software Foundation, or the Open Source Institute, because those groups are focused primarily on just software issues..."

ZDNet looks at the study of open source developers released by the UNC Open Source Research Team. "...the vast majority of Linux developers only work on one or two programs. There are only four developers with more than 20 contributions and only 13 have more than 10. In other words, open-source development is broad based."

How-To and Review:

LinuxPower has put up a tutorial article on setting up IP masquerading.

Here's a couple of reviews from Network Computing. The first reviews PHP4 beta 2. "...to me, the most important addition is the object-overloading support, which puts PHP4 on a par with Active Server Pages (ASP) and Java Server Pages (JSP), if not way ahead of them."

The second reviews Rebel.com's NetWinder OfficeServer. "The rest of the setup was handled through the Web browser. I set up DNS, PPP dialup, routing, firewall and other services. I changed the server's IP address and name without having to reboot the server. The Windows NT system managers in my office were watching with their mouths hanging open."

A bit more upbeat word on Red Hat 6.1 in this review over at open source IT. "The release's integration of RAID in the installer promises significant progress in targeting the professional workstation and server market. This is one of the last frontiers for Linux in the competition with the big Unix vendors."

Statmarket reviews the numbers on Linux usage and asks what the fuss is all about. Then they focus on the numbers just in the commercial server market and pull out the reason: "According to IDC, Linux owns 17.2% of the commercial server OS market, up from 6.8% the year before. Microsoft NT, meanwhile, maintained approximately a 36% market share for both 1997 and 1998." (Thanks to Mark O 'Sullivan)

Business:

Linux at the BBC is an article that takes a look at how the BBC is using Linux and why. They mention several applications and many reasons, but one that they point out fairly succintly is one that businesses are just beginning to realize. "It uses standards. When you are working with broadcast media you must always have an eye for standards. The material we send out has to be received by millions of people so it has to be compatible with whatever equipment those people have. Because this is part of our core business we have a respect for standards in other areas and the transparency they bring to understanding the internal workings of the complex systems we run."

The Boulder County Business Report ran this introductory article which includes conversations with people from eSoft and Eklektix. "eSoft is so high on Linux that early this year President and Chief Executive Officer Jeff Finn made the decision to only use Linux for the entire eSoft product line."

AsiaBizTech looks at Linux business activity in Japan. "Fujitsu has adopted an aggressive strategy. It announced that it will offer customers a guarantee, limited to two of its low-end PC server models, that promises Linux will run without problems. Fujitsu's definition of 'guarantee' doesn't just mean that it will offer user support when customers encounter problems with their Linux systems. It also means that it will take full responsibility for its products and be proactive in solving problems."

This article in E-Commerce Times notes that a number of industry players - AOL, Compaq, and Dell, are all working toward the creation of Windows-free systems that can be sold cheaply. The author does not speculate on which operating system might be used instead, but LWN readers can certainly come up with a possiblity or two. "...I predict that e-commerce -- along with the strategic moves of Microsoft's competitors -- will soon catapult us into a Windows-less world."

EE Times ran this brief article about the availability of Model Technologies' simulator systems on Linux. "The Linux port resulted from a strong user demand, said John Lenyo, director of marketing at Model Technology. 'To gauge general demand, we mentioned it casually in our quarterly newsletter,' he said. 'You would have thought we were giving away free money. About two days after that newsletter went out we were bombarded with requests from customers.'"

Here's an Ottawa Citizen article about a company called Newlix, which plans to get into the server appliance market. "...they offer an interesting departure from the tactics of competitors like Rebel.com and Cobalt Networks Inc. of Mountain View, California, which recently filed for an $86 million U.S. initial public offering. Newlix has decided to focus on developing the software, then bundling it with hardware from partners such as IPC Direct. Rebel.com and Cobalt Networks have each opted to build products that include software and hardware in an integrated package."

Here's a News.com article about SGI's possible deployment of a Linux-based cluster for Los Alamos National Laboratory. "If Linux gets the job, it will be a key component in the effort to keep U.S. nuclear weapons working as designed, the main function of this new supercomputer."

ComputerWorld writes about the TurboLinux cluster solution with a heavy emphasis on the fact that TurboLinux wrote some of its own code. "Joel Sloan, a systems administrator at Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc. in Torrance, Calif., said TurboLinux has dim prospects. 'I would hesitate to jump on board the TurboLinux bandwagon, since we know that (Red Hat Software Inc.) will have the same sort of clustering solution in a few months' time and the community at large will gravitate toward the more open, more mainstream solution.'"

The Electronic Telegraph ran this introductory article. "None of that makes Linux a real threat to Microsoft; everyone agrees it's harder to install, and that the documentation is typically written by geeks for the edification of other geeks. But everyone also agrees that it's more reliable, and, because it's a lot cheaper, Linux is finding a niche in small businesses, particularly those that rely on Net connections." (Thanks to Jimmy Aitken).

GIS:

LinuxPower ran an article about the release of the GRASS Geographical Information System under the GPL. "With its release under the GPL, GRASS will surely benefit from the pace and size of the Linux community as well as the momentum of Linux in general. And it gives you yet another reason to choose Linux."

Other:

This article mentioned that Microsoft Austria borrowed mailing addresses from the databases at the Linux Counter and used them to spam people with questionnaires. "This was in breach of the Linux Counter's copyright and terms of use, which specifically bar use of the data for mass mailings. It's also, as the Linux Counter is hosted in Norway, a crime under Norwegian privacy legislation. The execs from Microsoft Austria don't seem to have been extradited by vengeful nordics, but after an outcry they were forced to destroy the data they'd gathered. " It also garnered them an Austrian Big Brother Award. (Thanks to Sven Wallman.)

Here's an Irish Times article about the upcoming Linux Awareness in Ireland Day, happening November 6 in Cork. "Aimed at anyone with an interest in Linux, it will feature beginners' sessions, talks on business issues surrounding Linux, technical discussions and a keynote talk by Linux developer Alan Cox. Participants will see this radical computing environment take one more step into the mainstream."

Linux Planet looks at Linux and the year 2000 problem. "The good news is that by and large, Linux and all other members of the Unix family tree are immune to the Y2K problem..."

Performance Computing has announced its 1999 "Outstanding Product Awards" - two months before the end of the year. The "Editor's Award" (scroll to the bottom) goes to "the legion of Linux contributors." "With Richard, Linus, and others leading the charge, Linux contributors have made the movement appear more like a Hollywood epic, at a scale not equalled since Ben Hur."

Network Computing ran an opinion piece on open source software. "Sun, Netscape, Apple, Microsoft: Forget about opening up your source code. No one gives a damn about seeing how your applications were built. You won't even offer any assurances that modifications made to any particular version or source code will even be possible in the next version, so why bother? Instead, take the time to talk to the people who love Open Source and figure out why they do."

Upside prints a bunch of comments about the Sun Community Source License (SCSL). "Sun's license is unacceptable simply because it places a tax on the infrastructure. The size of the tax is not the issue. Any tax is detrimental to the entire business process. They can mince words any way they want, but their actions prove they are just trying to place themselves into a position where everyone must pay them in order to enter the game. We should throw their software into the Boston harbor."

Section Editor: Rebecca Sobol


November 4, 1999

 

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