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

Linux in the news

Recommended Reading

Sklyarov articles in Newsweek, Time. Newsweek has printed an article by Steven Levy called Busted by the Copyright Cops. "Actually, it was Congress that let private industry call the shots, particularly in certain passages of the DMCA that outlaw not only programs that circumvent copy protections, but dissemination of such information. When it comes to protecting the business plans of those who publish books and music, academic freedom and free speech are apparently expendable."

Throwing The E-Book At Him comes from Time. "As a rule, computer geeks might best be described as laid-back libertarians--they don't like laws encroaching on their territory, but they're usually too busy to care. Sklyarov's arrest changed all that."

Rallies Impress Cryptographer Held in E-Book Case (NY Times). The New York Times interviews Dmitry Sklyarov (registration required). "'I can't say I was depressed or panicked,' he said yesterday. 'I was curious that I was in such a situation, because I never considered I would be in jail in anytime of my life.'"

Sklyarov case shows business outweighs First Amendment (Register). The Register received an essay from noted security expert Bruce Schneier which is to be published on August 15th. "One of the main points Schneier makes is that provisions in the DMCA that allow for security research "which I and others fought hard to have included" are being ignored in the Sklyarov case and others, such as the DeCSS case against 2600 Magazine."

The End of Innovation? (OpenP2P). OpenP2P talks with Lawrence Lessig. "I'm actually quite surprised that the government would have picked [Dmitry Sklyarov] as their first criminal prosecution under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act because it's not a clear case of piracy or of somebody developing a technology to enable people to steal lots of content. This technology enabled owners of e-books to do things with the e-books that, in many cases, would clearly have been fair use of the e-book."

Expo Focus on Securing E-Books (Wired). At the BookTech West Expo this week publishers are expected to debate the issues of copyrights and e-books. As a director for acquisitions at one e-book manufacturer says, encryption doesn't guarantee secure copyrights, nor does it guarantee loss of income. "Have any book sales been lost because this Russian guy cracked the encryption and made the decryption software available? Doubt it."

Software Double Bind (NY Times). Here's a worthwhile article in the New York Times (registration required) on problems with the DMCA. "The law also makes it illegal for individuals to use such a program - even to make a back-up copy of a book or movie or song for themselves, the type of copies traditionally allowed under copyright law. That is where the double bind comes in. Actually making such copies for personal use is not illegal. But it is against the law to break through the copy-protection measure to make the legal copies."

Secretaries use Linux, taxpayers save millions (NewsForge). NewsForge has run an interesting case study of the use of Linux in the Largo, Florida city government. "One of the great anti-Linux screeds we hear is, 'The secretaries will never be able to figure it out.' If that is so, then Largo employee Judy Judt must be one of the world's smartest office workers. She is sitting at her desk, happily accessing an online city directory that lists all employees, vendors, and other important contacts, using a simple Rolodex-like program that is running on top of an attractively-themed KDE 2.1.1 desktop."

Companies

Borland creates a RAD tool for the rest of us (LinuxWorld). Kylix may spur faster application development, according to this story from LinuxWorld. "If you've had the urge to write some GPL'd code for Linux, but lacked the know-how to cope with X, Qt, or GTK, you lost your excuse. Kylix builds widgets quickly and easily, without getting widget grease under your fingernails."

Why we should hail IBM's ode to open source--the Purple Book (ZDNet). ZDNet explains why IBM's Purple Book - the technical reference manual detailing the original IBM PC - relates so well to the open source movement. "Nevertheless, it's close enough for the Purple Book to serve as an important historical validation for the all-for-one-and-one-for-all approach to software development and the mandated sharing required by the open-source General Public License."

IBM unveils slew of developer tools (ZDNet). At their Solutions technical developers conference, IBM announced a number of new developer tools, including the WebSphere Studio Workbench for Linux. "On the Linux/Unix front, [IBM's Senior Vice President of Software Steve] Mills told reporters in a question-and-answer session that Linux could become the eventual successor to its AIX Unix offering and many other Unix systems. "It has the potential to get there, but 'When?' is the question, as Linux just doesn't yet have all the functionality to do that just yet," Mills said."

IBM's own press announcement on their Software Evaluation Kit offers even stronger news for applications on Linux. "According to Evans Data Corp., more than 40 percent of developers surveyed are likely to write Linux-based applications in 2001."

A sneak preview of IBM's Linux/Java enabled TechMobile (LinuxDevices). The TechMobile is a modified Ford Explorer with a couple of Linux-based embedded Java PC's controlling it. "Drivers and passengers can use voice commands to "read" email, play music, and control vehicle functions such as the headlights, door locks, open or close the car's windows, sound the horn, etc. Commands can also be given from a console-mounted touch screen, or from Bluetooth-enabled mobile devices such as PDAs, laptops, and even IBM's Linux wristwatch."

IBM: Open standards hold key to dynamic e-business (ZDNet). ZDNet covers the keynotes at IBM's technical developer conference called `Solutions.' ``"We are embracing Linux across everything we do," [IBM's vice president of technology and strategy, Irving] Wladawsky-Berger said. "It is the only operating system that will run on architectures not yet invented."''

Lineo states continued commitment to RTAI (LinuxDevices). LinuxDevices.com has a statement from Lineo on its commitment to RTAI after having licensed the RTLinux patent (see this week's LWN front page). "Lineo established this license in response to an existing patent that presented fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) in the minds of some embedded developers who would otherwise utilize the robust RTAI open source technology."

Microsoft seeks Linux-bashing .NET evangelist (Register). Red(mond) headed behemoth with delusions of grandeur seeks (ev)angelic(al) follower to join battle of the ages. The Register says its really an external MS job posting, though. "The Developer Evangelist will be responsible for identifying and engaging J2EE and Linux focused developers in existing accounts..."

Netscape Releases Non-Beta Version 6.1 Browser Suite. It's official, Netscape 6.1 is golden. The download page no longer references a beta version, but downloads are probably pretty slow right now.

Red Hat moves beyond Linux with e-commerce suite (Reuters). Reuters reports on Red Hat's e-commerce move. "The individual pieces of Red Hat's suite, which includes the Apache Secure Webserver, an open-source database called PostgreSQL and Red Hat Linux itself, are thus available for free on the Internet. A central component of the suite, Akopia's Interchange e-commerce platform, came to Red Hat when it bought the open-source developer earlier this year."

Business

Study: IT Budgets Opening Up to Linux (osOpinion). IDC surveyed end-customers to find their spending on Linux-related hardware, software, services and staffing and found a lot of tire-kicking going on. "... with nearly half of 800 survey respondents reporting use or experimentation with Linux. IDC says the market share for Linux is expected to triple from 3 percent of the average IT budget in 1999 to 9 percent by 2002."

Linux has arrived. But where is it going? (IT-Director). In another evolution of Linux editorial, this IT-Director story tells us that Linux is in its troubled adolescence but maturing quickly. "Linux on the desktop is still a fairly rare sight, but is showing no signs of falling away. Indeed, as the GUI front ends become more user friendly and application availability increases there is now a reasonable chance that Linux may begin to move onto the desks of non-technical users."

Linux grows up in a hurry (News.com). C|Net's News.com celebrates the 10th anniversary of the birth of Linux. "Linux has become a worldwide phenomenon. By last year, less than a decade after its inception, Linux had 27 percent of the server market, according to researcher IDC. That compares to 41 percent of the market held by Microsoft's Windows."

Resources

Mob Software: The Erotic Life of Code. Here's a long essay on 'Mob Software' by Richard P. Gabriel & Ron Goldman. It calls for an integration of artistry and programming, in a way that free software hints at but has not yet achieved. "It is only when we forget the ideas behind building something wonderful that we can actually do the building that makes things wonderful. Time and again I've heard poets and musicians talk about the letting go required to make true art or music. The battle to let go is the battle with the duende. It leads us to the place where order meets chaos, where the phase transition between stability and flexibility makes things happen. Unfortunately, the open-source community is extremely conservative, focusing solely on the need to build up slowly a parallel open infrastructure next to the proprietary ones already in place."

Reviews

Embedded Linux Book. Linux Devices editor Rick Lehrbaum reviews Embedded Linux, a book by John Lombardo. "As far as I know, it's the first -- and, at the time of this writing, the only -- book published on this timely subject, thrusting it very much into the spotlight and making it a 'must read' for all developers (and many others) interested in exploring the subject of embedding Linux."

Section Editor: Forrest Cook

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