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Linux in the news

Recommended Reading

Governments push open-source software (News.com). Here's a worthwhile News.com article on the growth of laws requiring governments to use free software when possible. "Beyond the issue of source-code access, analysts say, concerns about autonomy and national security are likely to drive passage of more laws discouraging use of proprietary software."

Why Doesn't The Government Back Open Source? (IT-Director). IT-Director argues for government support of open source software. "Where there are clear economies to be gained, governments could and should lead the way in the use of open source. They also might like to consider trying to provoke open source developments for some of the software that they need, for example, in the local government area or for charities or for education."

UK out of step with European Freedom March (IT-Director). IT-Director looks at the use of free software in European governments. "Accordingly, governments across Europe are beginning to wonder why they should pay high fees to tie themselves into proprietary software system to run online public services which are supposed to be predicated on fundamental principles of efficiency and openness."

Penguin Enrolls in U.S. Schools (Wired). Ft. Collins, Colorado is another in a long line of school systems looking to save money by using Linux in the classroom instead of Windows. "Today, there are many development projects for educational and administrative software out there. Tux4Kids has already released a typing tutor for children, starring Tux the penguin. Sites like K-12 Linux and Simple End User Linux contain links to dozens of math, chemistry, word processing and administrative applications that can be downloaded for free -- and they promote the worldwide adoption of Linux in schools."

Make Way For The Little OS That Could (ZDNet). ZDNet looks at the advantages of Linux. "The fact that Linux was free didn't impress me, but here was a value proposition that money couldn't buy - an increasingly stable operating system (OS) that was less prone to security vulnerabilities in the first place, because so many interested parties were examining it continuously, and that now seemed easier for developers to secure."

A Peek At The Car Of The Future (TechWeb). TechWeb reports that IBM's alphaWorks research facility has implemented a number of emerging technologies in a 2002 Ford Explorer. "E-mail via the Web using IBM's ViaVoice technology. It also has its own Web server and handheld Linux PC. Both employ IBM technology called TSpaces that lets Java-enabled devices exchange data with little programming required. The idea behind the technology is to bring network services such as database access and file transfer to devices that have limited memory."

Fight the GNU/Future (Linux.com). Linux.com has an editorial stating that there are major differences between the "open source" and "free software" camps. "Yet, in our haste to find allies in the very real struggle against the ever-more-powerful (and ever-encroaching) Corporate Powers That Be, we in the Open Source movement have taken strange bedfellows with those in the Free Software movement, and we've done so in a way that at times has been rather confusing for the community at large." (Thanks to David Lang).

The time of the penguin (News.com). C|Net does a multipart story on Linux: why it succeeds where others fail and how IPO's haven't saved the fortunes of some Linux companies. "...despite the large number of companies and individuals backing Linux, the software project has largely retained its cooperative nature. That's been key in avoiding Unix's fate of "fragmentation," in which several companies work independently on different versions."

Will Microsoft Mono-polize open source? (ZDNet). ZDNet looks at the Mono case for Linux. "GNOME and KDE are the competing standards for user interfaces on UNIX, and more importantly, Linux. Mono, on the other hand, is aimed at making UNIX developers competitive in the Web services space by giving them a feature-rich implementation of the .NET development platform using existing open source technologies."

Ale, Ale, the Linux Gang's Here (Wired News). Wired looks around the globe at the celebrations for Linux's 10th birthday, and especially at the Linux Beer Hike. "But most of all, as the event has grown, it has become more than ever a way to mix different cultural perspectives. This year, more than 150 people from 15 different countries are expected, maybe more, depending on how many last-minute sign-ups there are."

Linux World Coverage

Compaq: Big business still leery of Linux (News.com). News.com reports on Shane Robison's LinuxWorld keynote. "'The No. 1 reason corporations are hesitant to deploy Linux in the enterprise surrounds the very nature of the open-source model,' Robison said at the opening keynote address at the LinuxWorld Conference and Expo. Specifically, corporations worry about the large number of companies and individuals responsible for various Linux components, he said. 'Linux lacks a one-stop point of contact.'"

Linux Might Be Too Big for Tux (Wired). Wired News reports from LinuxWorld. "Since the open-source people who usually flock to Linux events are more carefree than the marketing types who clog other Internet events, the conferences have been, at the very least, tolerable. This year the marketers have attacked. Now, it's virtually impossible to walk around LinuxWorld without hearing pitches from company reps extolling the benefits of Linux for 'mission-critical applications in the enterprise,' or some such drivel."

LinuxWorld San Francisco Coverage. Here is a sampling of the LinuxWorld articles and press releases that we have received:

• Who's who? Here's a press release with exhibitor profiles.

• Press release: AMD will host talks on porting to x86-64.

• News.com: Compaq Computer will announce a deal with Covalent Technology to jointly develop and market Covalent's Apache Web server software.

• News.com: MandrakeSoft will announce version 8 of its software for PowerPC-based computers.

• News.com: Mission Critical Linux will release a new high-end product for telecommunications companies and announce a partnership with Hewlett-Packard.

• Press release: The Open Source Development Lab will be giving out the OSDL Enterprise Achievement Award on Wednesday.

• Press release: PostgreSQL team members will host an interactive Q & A session (also on Wednesday).

• ZDNet: Ximian will announce a shrink-wrapped Linux PIM.

Companies

Corel to sell Linux operating system unit-sources (Reuters). Once again, as seen in this Reuters article, the rumors are flying that Corel is about to sell its Linux group. "A source close to the negotiations told Reuters on Tuesday that a newly formed company called Xandros will pay $2 million for the Linux unit, a division that comprised about 14 percent of Corel's total business as of January 2001."

HP Linux evangelist opens doors to open source. At the end of last year Hewlett Packard hired well-known Linux developer Bruce Perens to help them define an open source policy. "Perens is key to shaping HP's Linux strategy. But his other role, that of liaison to the community of individual developers who create and constantly improve Linux and other open source software, is equally vital."

CSU, IBM deal to create Linux hub (Daily Camera). The Boulder Daily Camera, LWN's home town newspaper, has a brief article on the new system being provided to Colorado State University by IBM. "IBM will provide CSU with a mainframe computer that can be partitioned into thousands of virtual stand-alone Linux servers. The technology allows students to test and develop applications on individual servers and not affect other users on the system."

SuSE Linux President Hohndel steps down (Reuters). Reuters reports on the resignation of Dirk Hohndel from SuSE. "'When companies shift around senior executives, it's usually because they're planning to shift their business strategy,' said analyst Dan Kusnetzky, who covers Linux and other operating systems for research firm IDC."

SourceForge is the new ERP - VA Linux (Register). VA chief Larry Augustin thinks that the SourceForge code could be the next ERP or CRM revolution, according to The Register. "CEO Larry Augustin is bullish. He says there was no competition for the distributed code management system SourceForge. Current development processes and tools haven't kept pace with geographically dispersed or ad hoc teams, according Augustin, who predicts that the impact of SourceForge could be as great as ERP or CRM."

Linux supercomputer to be used for drug research (CNN). CNN reports on Vertex Pharmaceuticals use of Linux in a 112-processor, 110-gigaflop cluster for drug research. "Andy Fant, a Vertex senior systems engineer, said the new machine will replace a 4-year-old 45- to 50-megaflop Silicon Graphics Inc. computer system that is approaching the end of its lease."

Business

Linux support services: Like any other operating system? (ZDNet). ZDNet is carrying a lengthy pronouncement from the Gartner Group on the Linux support business. "Enterprises that plan to customize a Linux distribution or may require changes to a Linux distribution to resolve incidents in a complex environment should select a support provider that can guarantee inclusion of patches in the next distribution release. The Linux distribution vendors are the optimum source for this capability." The report also claims that, in 2005, Linux server sales will still be behind Solaris, HPUX, and AIX.

Hollywood Animators Increasingly Rely on Linux (Raleigh News & Observer). The Raleigh News & Observer looks at IBM and Red Hat's moves into the visual effects industry. "This summer, Red Hat gave a presentation at a symposium held by the Visual Effects Society, which represents the digital entertainment industry. Representatives met with technology leaders from all the major studios and talked about the standards Red Hat Linux would have to meet to become the dominant operating system in the industry."

Reviews

Kylix: Rapid Application Development on Linux (Linux Journal). Linux Journal takes a quick tour of Kylix, Borland's rapid application development tool for building graphical applications. "Although the IDE uses winelib, Kylix applications are not required to use winelib or wine. VisualCLX uses Qt, which is also used by KDE, but that doesn't mean you are tied to KDE. Kylix applications run under GNOME, too, and under any of the popular window managers."

Interviews

Interview: maddog on Linux (developerWorks). IBM's developerWorks site interviews Jon 'maddog' Hall. "And hey, what happens if every Linux company goes under? The Debian distribution has no commercial interests at all, but people are still using it and it's a fine distribution."

IBM's big thinker (News.com). IBM's head Linux honcho, Irvine Wladawsky-Berger, says that IBM embraced the Internet by embracing standards. And in turn, they embraced Linux. "Linus Torvalds wrote this wonderful article talking about how open source represented an evolution of the research culture. It's publishing papers and publishing results, and not just thinking of yourself in a profit-centric way, but as part of the community in the larger scientific field."

Interview with Dave Touretzky (Barrapunto). Barrapunto has posted an interview with Dave Touretzky, the creator of the Gallery of CSS Descramblers. Scroll down for the English version of the interview. "Patents must be publicly disclosed; they're not trade secrets. And it is legal to write about patented technology. The question is: does publishing source code that implements a patented technology count as 'writing' about the patent, or does it constitute an infringing USE of the technology covered by the patent? As someone who has argued that code should be treated no differently than any other form of speech, I don't believe in software patents in the first place. (You can't patent speech; that's what copyright is for.)"

How many Linux distributions does it take to make a profit? (IT-Director). IT-Director has published an interview with Caldera International's Ransom Love. Love says consolidation is necessary in the Linux distributor marketplace. "In essence Love believes that if Linux does not unite and build a single standard kernel then the future will include significant consolidation amongst the existing distributors."

Miscellaneous

Dutch Open Source Society, Industry Group Offer Software Patent Compromise (Linux Journal). A set of guidelines from two groups on excluding trivial patents have been presented, and now work begins on determining if software patents should be allowed. "An experiment is needed to prove that the proposed patent really covers an invention that justifies a patent. It still remains to be seen how this can be done practically."

Section Editor: Forrest Cook

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