See also: last week's Commerce page.

Linux and Business

'Business Ethics' in the Open Source Community?. KDE developers Kurt Granroth and Andreas Pour were searching for KDE links on Google when they encountered a sponsored link to Ximian, a developer of "that other desktop", GNOME. That prompted this open letter on Ximian's tactic of buying KDE-oriented keywords on the Google search engine. "Tactics like this are considered 'legal risks' in the cut-throat proprietary business world. They almost always result in lawsuits due to trademark infringement. Is that what what the open source community has devolved into? Has the old fraternity based on integrity, pride and 'settling it with code' been replaced by greed, deception and 'we'll see you in court'?"

Ximian then posted this response to complaints about its sponsored links on Google, and to the open letter from Kurt Granroth and Andreas Pour in particular. "Ximian designed its advertising strategy in good faith, and had no intention to offend or deceive anyone. Pour and Granroth, too, had sought in good faith to avoid confusion between the KDE and GNOME products, rather than to sow controversy." Among other things, the sponsored links have been removed.

This particular dispute has been resolved successfully and it is nice to see that the open source community can resolve issues without lawsuits and recriminations. It provides a happy contrast to the patent and trade-mark issues discussed on both the Front page and on the Security page this week.

Conflict Emerges among St. Louis-Area Free Software Companies (St. Louis Post-Dispatch). The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has put up an article on the dispute between SAIR and LinuxGruven. "Meanwhile, a Wave subsidiary, Sair Linux of Oxford, Miss., has suspended Linuxgruven as one of its accredited centers for learning Linux. Sair Linux says Linuxgruven failed to hire instructors that have passed Sair's tests on using its teaching materials. In addition, critics have lodged complaints on the Internet and with the Better Business Bureau, charging Linuxgruven with deceptive advertising. Linuxgruven recently advertised a $45,009-a-year job that appeared to be a come-on for its training courses."

O'Reilly releases new CatB. O'Reilly has announced the release of a revised and expanded version of Eric Raymond's The Cathedral and the Bazaar. Among other things, it has new essays on "the economics of open source" and "open source as a competitive weapon."

O'Reilly 2001 P2P Industry Overview. O'Reilly is getting into the fancy research report business. The company has just announced the availability of the '2001 P2P Industry Overview', describing where they think the peer-to-peer industry is going. Introductory price: $895.

Opera 5.02b6 for Linux available. Opera Software has announced the availability of the Opera 5.02 browser (6th beta version) for Linux. The "ad-supported version" can be downloaded for free, or one can pay $39 for a version without ads.

Caldera and SCO change acquisition agreement. Caldera Systems and SCO have announced some changes in the terms of their acquisition deal. Caldera now gets complete ownership of the OpenServer line, and will be paying more: $23 million in cash up front, $8 million more later on, and 16 million shares in stock. They expect to close in the second quarter of this year.

Caldera OpenLinux eServer now preloaded on Compaq servers. Caldera Systems has announced that Compaq will be selling OpenLinux eServer preloaded on some of its ProLiant servers.

Teaching Penguins to Fly (IT Forecaster). IDC's IT Forecaster has put up an article on the future of Linux support services. They expect the market to grow in a big way. "Members of open source communities are used to freely helping one another to solve technical problems. This distributed model of self-help breaks down as Linux slips into user organizations, where IT managers may have few connections to the corps of coders and may have little input beyond bug reports to give back to the movement."

For your amusement: Windows 2000 clusters. Found on the Microsoft site: this page on "Industry-Standard Clusters from Microsoft and Intel." "Now anyone with massive computing needs can create clusters using commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) PCs and a shrink-wrapped version of Windows 2000. This is a first in computing history and means that inexpensive industry-standard components can now scale to the highest levels of performance." A "first in computing history" indeed...

Linux Stock Index for February 08 to February 14, 2001.

LSI at closing on February 08, 2001 ... 40.44
LSI at closing on February 14, 2001 ... 38.31

The high for the week was 40.44
The low for the week was 37.95

Press Releases:

Open Source Products

• Nevrax (Nevrax France) has released a new version of the game NeL. NeL is available under the terms of the GNU General Public License.

• Oki Data (MOUNT LAUREL, N.J.) announced it worked with IBM to develop the new open source Omni Linux Drivers that are compatible with more than two-dozen OKI Impact Printers.

Distributions and Bundled Products

• Knox Software (Carlsbad, California) announced that the Free Version of its flagship product, Arkeia, is included with SuSE's 2nd Generation eMail Server II.

• Linux2order (PROVO, UT) announced it will donate 20% of its CD-ROM sales, gross revenues, from the new co-branded site kde.Linux2order.com to the KDE project.

Proprietary Products for Linux

• AccuSoft Corporation announced that its imaging toolkit, ImageGear, is now available for UNIX platforms: AIX, Sun Solaris and Linux.

• Beta Computronics Pvt. Ltd. announced that IVRS, Interactive Voice Response System, can built around a voice modem and Linux. The perl module to implement the various IVRS functions like Voice Mail, Tele banking, Product information, Fax on demand and Call center is available at http://search.cpan.org/search?mode=module&query=ivrs.

• Enhanced Software Technologies Inc. (PHOENIX) announced its newest data protection product for Linux-centric networks, BRU-Pro.

• FineGround Networks, Inc. (PHOENIX, DEMO 2001) unveiled its patent-pending Condensation technology for accelerating dynamic web content. The FineGround Condenser is available immediately on Linux platforms. Pricing starts at $50,000.

• Hyperion Software announced its first games release for Linux. You can order the game now from Tux Games for $26.

• MUSICMATCH (SAN DIEGO) released the gold version of MUSICMATCH Jukebox Plus for Linux.

Products and Services Using Linux

• I-Logix Inc. (ANDOVER, Mass.) announced Rhapsody 3.0, with capabilities that allow developers to bridge the gap between design-level and code-level testing.

• Kreatel Communications (CAMPBELL, Calif.) is in full production with its Tornado/K5 digital set-top box which runs on a Linux operating system with Mozilla Web browser.

• Lexra (SAN JOSE, Calif.) introduced its new LX-PB20K Hardware/Software Development Board. Lexra has partnered with AMIRIX to provide embedded Linux for the LX-PB20K board.

• Rauch Medien (New York, USA) announced the release of their RM Internet Server Appliance. The RM Internet Server Appliance offers a complete Internet (HTTP, FTP, and EMAIL) server solution based on the Linux OS in a 1U chassis.

• Virata Corporation (SANTA CLARA, Calif.) announced that its Lithium communications processor, Magnesium DSP, and vCore voice software package have been selected by TGF Linux Communications, Inc. for use in its integrated Linux server designed to streamline voice and data applications.

Products with Linux Versions

• Insightful Corporation (CHICAGO), formerly MathSoft, Inc., announced the release of S-PLUS Analytic Server, software that delivers enterprise information to decision-makers using Java software or via the Web.

• Jungo announced the beta version of WinDriver and KernelDriver version 5.0, its driver development tools which offer hardware access and code generation capabilities, through a rich API.

• Platform Computing Corporation (TORONTO) introduced LSF (Load Sharing Facility) version 4.1 with new features that incorporate support for all Linux versions and expanded capabilities for parallel processing.

• Smart Storage Inc. (ANDOVER, Mass.) announced major upgrades to several products in their On-Line Archive product family. SmartStor Archive v. 4.0 and SmartStor Jukeman v. 3.0, offer significant new functionality over previous versions, including Linux support.

• WebPartner (CUPERTINO, CA) announced WebPartner Performance Suite, a comprehensive enterprise solution that includes both front-end and back-end IT performance monitoring and management.

• Willamette HDL, Inc. (BEAVERTON, Ore.) began shipping AccurateC, a language rule checker developed for C/C++-based electronic design and the system-level design modeling platform, SystemC.

Java Products

• HP (PALO ALTO, Calif.) introduced HP MicrochaiVM, the micro edition of HP ChaiVM, a Java application environment for intelligent appliances. The developer's release of HP MicrochaiVM with CLDC is available now. Linux, PalmOS, and PocketPC are the supported platforms.

• ONTOS, Inc. (ANDOVER, Mass.) released the Professional version of ObjectSpark 4.5, a software tool that automates the generation of high-performance, transactional data components.

Partnerships

• American Power Conversion (WEST KINGSTON, R.I.) announced that APC has been named the provider of power protection solutions for Penguin Computing Inc..

• Lineo and PointBase, Inc. (LINDON, Utah) announced that they will form a strategic partnership to target the embedded systems market. As part of the strategic agreement, the companies will integrate PointBase's 100% Pure Java object-relational database management software with the Lineo Embedix SDK.

• Macmillan Software (INDIANAPOLIS) announced its new partnership with NeTraverse, a developer of Windows application support software for the Linux operating system. Through this partnership, NeTraverse will gain the distribution capabilities of Macmillan Software, while Macmillan Software will enhance its menu of Linux operating systems, applications, and tools.

Investments and Acquisitions

• Google Inc. (MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.) announced that it has acquired Deja.com's Usenet Discussion Service. This acquisition provides Google with Deja's entire Usenet archive (dating back to 1995), software, domain names including deja.com and dejanews.com, company trademarks, and other intellectual property. Financial terms of this transaction were not released.

Personnel

• eOn Communications Corporation (ATLANTA) announced changes to its senior management team, the restructuring of operations and product lines to improve profitability, and measures to focus operating resources on its Linux-based communications systems and software business.

• Webb Interactive Services, Inc. (DENVER) announced the appointment of Rob Balgley as President and CEO of its Jabber.com, Inc. subsidiary.

Linux At Work

• ACTS Corporation (KINGSLAND, Texas) announced a cost effective, Web-based testing solution with the release of TestManager, an advanced Web-based examination, evaluation and administration tool. TestManager is hosted on an IBM S/390 platform running Linux.

• Blackstone Technology Group, Inc. (WORCESTER, Mass.) announced that it has built an introductory distributed supercomputing solution for Pfizer, Inc., a large pharmaceutical company. Blackstone's solution runs on the Linux operating system on Intel-based processors.

• Interface Concept (PARIS & SUNNYVALE, Calif.) has selected the Hard Hat Linux operating system from MontaVista Software to run the company's new high performance LAN-WAN remote access communications server and Ethernet switches.

• weather.com (ATLANTA) announced site enhancements. The new site uses Linux, ORACLE, IBM WebSphere and other technologies.

Other

• Linux Journal (NEW YORK, NY), the monthly print magazine, won the LinuxWorld Expo Show Favorite award for "Best Publication".

• VA Linux Systems, Inc. (FREMONT, Calif.) announced that SourceForge OnSite received top honors at last week's LinuxWorld Expo.

Section Editor: Rebecca Sobol.

Next: Linux in the news