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Linux in the news


KDE League

.comment: Weaseling a Good Idea (LinuxPlanet). Here's an opinion piece on LinuxPlanet on the KDE League. "The fact that many of the backers of the Gnome Foundation are also involved in the KDE League suggests that after their two decades with a Microsoft monopoly they do not wish to be stuck with a single desktop now that they see Linux as the key to the iron-clad-locked chains of Redmond. And it couldn't come at a better time."

IBM, KDE Relationship Deepens (LinuxNews). The IBM, KDE and ViaVoice partnership is getting more deeply entwined. LinuxNews interviews Sheila Harnett, the Technical Lead in IBM's Linux Technology Center. "The choice to enter the KDE League and encourage development on that desktop does not indicate exclusivity, Harnett said. 'We are also a part of the GNOME Foundation, and the intent of both of those organizations is to help promote each of those desktops,' she explained."

KDE League looks much like Gnome Foundation (Upside). Upside has posted a look at the KDE League. "If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Gnome developers must be feeling pretty flattered right now."

Open Source Applications

Free Radical: Ian Clarke has Big Plans for the Internet (O'Reilly Net). The O'Reilly Network talks with Freenet founder Ian Clarke. "You could look at [Freenet] like an ant colony where instead of food you have pieces of information, and instead of ants you have requests, which travel around this network."

The coders' collective (ZDNet). ZDNet comments on FreeDevelopers.net. "It's hard enough to make a buck from Linux and free software the old fashioned way. Yet FreeDevelopers.net seeks to reinvent the way companies produce software, and to bring to development models the same kind of ethical imperatives and innovation that drive the FSF in its efforts to create and advocate its GPL license."

Customizing vim (LinuxNewbie). Vim is an updated version of vi, the long time Unix text editor. In this article from LinuxNewbie, configuration options are examined in depth for customizing vim from an experienced users perspective. "First of all, there is one file whose place is not at all optional. This is your .vimrc file. This MUST be in your home directory. This file will also pretty much be the key to all of our customizations."

Open source garners WebTechniques WebTools Awards. While the value of awards and honors are best judged by the individual, it is nice to note when open source projects are recognized by the world at large. This time around, WebTecniques magazine presented their Editors' and Readers' Choice awards for 2000. Open source winners included Apache (Editors' Choice, Infrastructure), Debian GNU/Linux (Readers' Choice, Infrastructure), PHP4 (Honorable Mention, Programming) and GIMP (Honorable Mention, Design).

Business

SCO-Caldera deal brings high-end features to Linux (News.com). News.com looks at the Caldera/SCO merger. "SCO's clustering software is a respected package that analysts say is ahead of competing products from established server giants such as Sun Microsystems, and as such, is a considerable boost to efforts to make Linux a more serious operating system. But the high-end Linux situation is complex. For one thing, Caldera Systems and SCO won't bring the full suite of clustering software to Linux, at least initially. For another, Caldera Systems' competitors, such as Red Hat, Turbolinux and Mission Critical Linux, are working on clustering software of their own. And Caldera Systems, with slim revenue and a bruised stock price, has left analysts cautious about its prospects."

Linux server maker finds European partner (News.com). News.com covers Penguin Computing's deal with Bull. "The alliance elevates the Linux prospects of two companies striving to deal with larger or better-known competitors. San Francisco-based Penguin Computing plays second fiddle to Linux specialist VA Linux Systems, and Penguin Computing and Bull both face competition from big-name companies such as IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Compaq Computer and Dell Computer."

VA Linux vs. the big guys (ZDNet). VA Linux has to move from the dying dot.com world to the enterprise market, a segment dominated by big name harware players like Dell, Compaq, IBM, and HP who have recently begun to entrench their Linux strategies. "But those sales from the business-to-consumer dot-coms aren't coming back. That means VA Linux has to take on the big guys to complement its booming sales to the likes of Akamai."

There's Plenty of Life Left in VA Linux (Business Week). Business Week thinks VA Linux Systems has potential despite its ravaged stock price. "But don't toss VA Linux onto the ever-growing trash pile of Net stocks that were once mighty. This company still has a good business plan, an admirable market niche, and a big pile of cash to keep it running until it reaches profitability, which should be sometime before the end of 2001. Despite that first-quarter sales hiccup, this company's revenues are still impressive."

Linux at a Crossroads (SmartMoney.com). Smart Money takes a look at the business climate and Linux, likening the market for open source to selling water. "In a nutshell, companies attempting to profit off the Linux operating system are having the same problems as those looking to make a buck off selling water: How do you make money when your product is ubiquitous and free? Furthermore, now that the hype surrounding these stocks has past, investors are paying attention to what they really knew all along - slaying the beast in Redmond will take much more than just angry talk and good intentions."

Corel falls as CEO says it may sell Linux business (The Globe and Mail). The Globe and Mail is reporting that Corel's drop in stock price on Monday was directly related to the possible sell off of it's Linux business. "A Corel spokesperson said selling the company's Linux unit is just one of many options. 'This is really nothing new,' said Anne Vis, who pointed to a range of possible examples. 'We could merge with someone.'" (Thanks to Michael Walma)

New Members For The Java Community Process (ZDNet). The election of members to the two boards of the Java community process has finally been completed, according to this ZDNet article. "For the Micro Edition Committee, the 10 Sun nominees were also all ratified, in the following order: Motorola and Nokia tied for top vote-getter, each garnering 98 percent. 3Com's Palm unit, maker of the Palm Pilot, was second with 95 percent; Philips, the Dutch electronics maker, was third with 92 percent; IBM was fourth with 90 percent."

DVD Piracy Judge Tells All (Wired). Wired News talks with the DVD case judge. "U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan doesn't truly dislike hackers and open-source programmers, not exactly. Kaplan, who sided with the motion picture industry in a landmark DVD-descrambling lawsuit this year, simply views them as lawless miscreants."

Commercial Products

Device profile: Gateway Connected Touch Pad (LinuxDevices.com). LinuxDevices.com profiles the Gateway Connected Touch Pad, which is a Crusoe-based device running Mobile Linux. It doesn't seem aimed at the typical Linux user, though. "The device is preconfigured to offer instant-on access to a suite of AOL services including email, instant messaging, calendar, address book, chat, and full Internet access. The AOL service will also provide easy access to content of particular interest to users in the kitchen or family room -- for example: recipes, grocery and gift ideas, TV and movie listings, online music, etc."

Will Cube copy bring Apple's wrath? (ZDNet). A G4 Cube-like Linux server made it's way to Comdex this week. ZDNet wonders whether Apple will let this box play on. "Apple watchers across the Web are speculating whether the latest apparent homage to the Mac maker's industrial design will draw a legal response from Cupertino."

Linux in Use

NZ Army targets Linux simulation (Stuff). A New Zealand site called "Stuff" has an article about Linux usage down under. "The New Zealand Army is among a growing band turning to open source operating system Linux, using it to stage virtual combats." (Thanks to Ian McDonald).

Resources

Freeware Port Scanners: Plug the Holes (ZDNet). ZDNet describes the use of port scanners for the security conscious. "If a port lets data flow out, it also lets data flow in. A port is essentially an opening into your computer, and it can be hacked. Someone can infect your machine with a Trojan horse in this way, and that's only one of a host of distressing possibilities."

Comdex

Users: Interface problems hold back Linux (CNN). CNN covers Linux user interface issues through the eyes of Miguel de Icaza, who gave the keynote at the Linux Business Expo Conference, one of the special programs at Comdex Fall 2000. "de Icaza bemoaned the fact that systems administrators still struggle to install applications on Linux and that antiquated versions of Gnome, a graphical-oriented user interface for the operating system, continue to ship with different distributions of Linux."

World Domination? Heh. (Linux Journal). Linux Journal senior editor Doc Searls covers the girth of platforms supporting Linux at the Linux Business Expo during last week's COMDEX. "I stopped [at the Internet Appliance booth] to check the place out because I was sure that anything called a 'server appliance' probably had to run on Linux. And sure 'nuff, it does. So, it seems, does nearly everything else that's called 'thin' or an 'appliance'." (Thanks to Jay Ashworth)

Linux inside (MSNBC). MSNBC reports from Comdex. "It was nice to see all the companies that have become well known in the Linux field: Red Hat, SuSE, Corel, Caldera, Slackware, Best, Storm -- you name them, they were there, showing of their wares and telling attendees how their version of the open software operating system was better than all the rest."

Reviews

Cobalt RaQ 4r Review (LinuxLookup). The Cobalt RaQ 4r is reviewed in depth in this LinuxLookup article. "The Raq4 comes pre-configured with Apache web server, ProFTPd FTP server, Sendmail, DNS, FrontPage 2000 server extensions, Arkeia backup client, 128-bit SSL, web-publishing (ASP, CGI, Perl and PHP) options, Virtual-domain support, and Cobalt's bandwidth management service."

Interviews

People Behind KDE: Lars Knoll. In its latest interview, the People Behind KDE series talks with Lars Knoll, the author of the HTML rendering widget found in the KDE web browser Konqueror.

Section Editor: Rebecca Sobol


November 23, 2000

 

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