January, 2001

The long-awaited 2.4.0 kernel was released on January 4 (announcement).

Technocrat.net, a technology policy site run by Bruce Perens, shut down. It's still missed.

The first NSA Security Enhanced Linux release came out.

SourceForge claimed 100,000 developers and 13,000 projects after one year in operation (announcement).

EBIZ Enterprises completed its acquisition of Jones Business Systems. It must have seemed like a good idea at the time.

Richard Stallman becomes CEO of FreeDevelopers.Net. CEO, of course, means "Chief Ethics Officer." (announcement).

Once you realize that documentation should be laughed at, peed upon, put on fire, and just ridiculed in general, THEN, and only then, have you reached the level where you can safely read it and try to use it to actually implement a driver. -- Linus on documentation.

The Ramen Worm attacks Linux systems, at least, those with very old security vulnerabilities. Regardless, Ramen proves that it can happen to us too.

Linuxcare and Turbolinux agree to a merger. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Lineo withdraws its IPO filing, realizing that it wasn't going to happen anytime soon.

VA Linux Systems issues a revenue warning, noting that the money isn't coming in like it used to (press release). VA is also named in several class action lawsuits alleging improprieties in its IPO.

Ximian and Conectiva announce equity investments. Ximian's haul is $15 million; Conectiva remains silent about what it was able to get.

Tuxtops bails out of the Linux laptop business (announcement). This business is eventually picked up by QliTech.

A back door is found in InterBase. It had been present for years, but remained undiscovered until InterBase was released under an open source license.

Linus merges ReiserFS into 2.4.1, despite a statement that only serious bug fixes would be accepted.

The first Debian IA-64 system boots (announcement).

Stocks are back on the rise after bottoming out at New Year's. The 2.4 kernel stream has been released, which means that we should start seeing production-quality versions seeping into the enterprise before summertime. Necessary consolidations are taking place, such as the planned merger of Linuxcare and Turbolinux. -- Evan Leibovitch in ZDNet, not exactly batting 1000.

The first release of Caldera's "Volution," its network administration package, is announced.

Julien Stern and Julien Boeuf break the SDMI watermarking scheme, and publish their results.

We're not blind to this problem. We don't want to be a chokepoint; it's in VA's interest for the community to know it's protected against accident or malfeasance. This is why we're developing a network of active mirror sites -- not just to improve performance, but so one of them could take the baton if the SourceForge primary site had to shut down for some reason. -- Eric Raymond on why we shouldn't worry about SourceForge. Mirror sites coming any day now...

LinuxPPC states its intent to become a non-profit corporation, but the transition apparently never happens.

LWN celebrated its third anniversary.

The Open Source Development Lab opens its doors.

Corel announces that it will sell its Linux division, though the actual transaction was long in coming.

The Atlanta Linux Showcase became the Annual Linux Showcase and announced a move to Oakland.

Cray announced a Linux cluster product, with claimed pre-orders and everything. That product has never materialized, however.

Stormix Technologies files for bankruptcy and vanishes, along with its "Storm Linux" distribution.

SuSE 7.1 is released and becomes the first major distribution to feature the 2.4 kernel.

MandrakeSoft announces the acquisition of Coursemetric and starts to recast itself as an education company. This one didn't necessarily seem like a good idea even at the time.

linux.conf.au was held in Sydney; see Marc Merlin's writeup.

The LinuxWorld Conference and Expo began in New York (LWN coverage), as did Linux Expo in Paris.

February, 2001

Ximian bought sponsored links on KDE searches on Google, leading to a substantial outcry. The links were withdrawn.

SuSE lays off most of its U.S. staff in a cost cutting move.

Lineo acquires Embedded Power Corporation (announcement).

HP adopts Ximian GNOME as the standard HP-UX desktop (announcement).

Brian Paul wins the Free Software Foundation Award for his work with the Mesa 3D library.

The RTLinux patent license is issued, stating the terms under which one may use real time Linux technology (license text).

It's been an era of belt-tightening as the evaporation of Linux hype forces Linux companies to adopt more down-to-earth plans for capitalizing from the software's popularity. -- News.com.

SSH Communications asserts that "ssh" is a trademark, and that projects like OpenSSH should cease to use it.

We, therefore, the representatives of Free Software Developers, in FreeDevelopers.net assembled, do, in the name of Developers of GPL Software everywhere, solemnly publish and declare, that Free Software Developers of the world are, and of right ought to be, Independent Software Developers; and that all commercial connection between them and the projects of Proprietary Software is, and ought to be, totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent Developers, FreeDevelopers.net has full power to levy Philosophical War over the software development paradigm, develop Free and Independent GPL Software, contract commercial alliances, establish e-commerce and communications, and to do all other acts and things which Independent Software Developers may of right do to protect themselves and citizens everywhere from software predation and monopolization. -- FreeDevelopers.net declares independence.

Computer Science (and economics) pioneer Herbert Simon dies.

Turbolinux lays off a third of its staff.

Microsoft's Jim Allchin says that free software is 'un-American'. Millions of free software users worldwide remain unconcerned.

The O'Reilly Peer-to-Peer conference is held; software freedom issues permeate the event.

After the 9th Circuit Court decision, I feel that the only way to deal with law in cyberspace is to ignore it, wildly, flagrantly. I want everyone in this room to consider themselves a revolutionary and go out and develop whatever you damn well please. -- John Perry Barlow, at the P2P conference

Phil Zimmermann leaves NAI in response to the company's decision to close the PGP source code.

The first Open Media System release from LiViD is announced. DVDs can finally be watched on Linux systems. The project later goes dormant, surpassed by other free DVD players.

VA Linux loses even more money than expected, and states that things will not get better anytime soon. A 25% layoff is announced. Eric Raymond tells us not to panic.

Maximum Linux magazine shuts down.

Turbolinux states its plan to cancel its IPO, and announces a "definitive agreement" for the acquisition of Linuxcare.

So this number is, once again, the player key: (trade secret haiku?) "Eighty-one; and then one hundred three -- two times; then two hundred (less three); two hundred twenty four; and last (of course not least) the humble zero." -- DeCSS haiku

KDE 2.1 is released (announcement).

The Ogg Vorbis libraries are changed to the BSD license and even Richard Stallman agrees.

Red Hat acquires Planning Technologies (announcement).

EBIZ Enterprises announces an almost $5 million loss (press release). "We are very secure with the rising and continued future of EBIZ and its significant role in the future of new generation solutions. Most importantly, for our shareholders and our customers, our expectation is that EBIZ will become cash flow positive by year-end June 30, 2001"

The first Free Software and Open Source Developers Meeting is held in Brussels (web site).

March, 2001

The Python Software Foundation is launched. Its purpose is to own the copyright on Python and aid its future development. The web site shows no activity beyond the initial meeting, however.

Lineo acquires Convergence Integrated Media (announcement).

No license can stop Microsoft from practicing "embrace and extend" if they are determined to do so at all costs. If they write their own program from scratch, and use none of our code, the license on our code does not affect them. But a total rewrite is costly and hard, and even Microsoft can't do it all the time. Hence their campaign to persuade us to abandon the license that protects our community, the license that won't let them say, "What's yours is mine, and what's mine is mine." They want us to let them take whatever they want, without ever giving anything back. They want us to abandon our defenses. -- Richard Stallman on ZDNet.

Borland Kylix for Linux is released at last.

IBM's "Peace, Love, and Linux" ad campaign takes off.

Microsoft launches "shared source."

George Kraft becomes leader of the Linux Standard Base project as it works toward its 1.0 release (announcement).

Transmeta launches Midori Linux, its mobile distribution (announcement).

Eazel releases Nautilus 1.0 (announcement).

Savannah.gnu.org hits the net, being a SourceForge-derived free software development site.

Linuxgruven's training scam falls apart; the company founders vow to try again.

Lineo begins construction of its new headquarters, with room for 450 people (announcement).

As with the Internet boom, the Linux market has shown itself to be subject to the basic reality of capitalism--to survive, sooner or later a company must turn a profit. Some Linux distributors will likely fail. Some will merge. Others will likely be acquired by the bigger server companies. -- The Gartner Group, in News.com

Eazel lays off over half its staff.

SuSE claims 48% of the U.S. retail market, using data from a PC Data report.

The Stanford Checker surfaces, using a detailed analysis to find hundreds of potential bugs in the Linux kernel. The checker remains unreleased, however.

To date, Eazel has come up with exactly zero ways for potential customers to give them money. Along with the software, they give away 25MB of online backup storage to anyone who registers. Is this company just too idealistic, too good to lower itself to capitalism? The company has talked up a lot of interesting service models over the last year -- everything from remote backups to full remote system administration -- but so far none have materialized. -- ZDNet

EBIZ announces an agreement to acquire Linux NetworX (announcement).

Turbolinux officially withdraws its IPO, citing market conditions (withdrawal letter).

Red Hat starts charging for Red Hat Network services.

The kernel janitors project launches as a rallying point for those working for cleaner kernel source (announcement).

The request to change the name of the ssh protocol was denied by the IETF, disappointing SSH Communications.

The Lion Worm breaks loose, attacking Linux systems with ancient security vulnerabilities.

Given the revenue slowdown and efforts to cut essential investments, however, it looks as if the company is engaging in defensive tactics to achieve profitability, perhaps leaving bottom-line-minded investors with better places to put their money. -- Motley Fool on Red Hat.

KDE 2.1.1 is released (announcement).

Red Hat announces its 4th quarter results and claims to have broken even - despite a $24.2 million reported loss (announcement).

The Linux 2.5 kernel summit is held in San Jose, California; it is, perhaps, the most complete gathering of Linux kernel hackers in history (LWN coverage).

EnGarde Secure Linux, a secure distribution, is released (announcement).

Ben Collins is elected Debian Project Leader (announcement).

Libranet Linux 1.9.0 is released (announcement).

April, 2001

The Adore worm attacks Linux systems, once again, only systems with ancient vulnerabilities are threatened. The unrelated Adore kernel module, which can hide a worm's tracks, also turns up.

GNOME 1.4 is released (announcement).

Atipa sells its Linux hardware division to Microtech (announcement).

This is completely unprecedented. A company launching and aggressive marketing campaign for a product that it has no claim over and for which it cannot obtain even one cent in direct revenues. -- IT-Director on IBM.

Libranet starts charging for Linux downloads.

The SourceXchange shuts down ending another experiment in funding free software development.

Progeny Linux, first edition, ships. Unfortunately it was the last edition as well.

Hard Hat Linux 2.0 is released by MontaVista Software (announcement).

The GNOME User and Developer User Conference is held in Copenhagen (summary).

Eazel announces "Reef", a "next-generation architecture for delivering online services" (announcement).

Apache 2.0 beta is released (announcement).

Slackware has always made money (who else producing a commercial distribution can say that?) but with BSDi, we ended up strapped to a sinking ship. -- Patrick Volkerding

Loki Software loses much of its technical staff.

Zero-copy networking is merged into the "stable" 2.4.4 kernel.

Wind River Systems lays off the Slackware developers it acquired with BSDi.

Python 2.1 is released (announcement).

MandrakeSoft sets up a donations page, in the hope of getting revenue from its users (donate here).

Red Hat Linux 7.1 is released (announcement).

VA Linux Systems hires Andrew Tridgell and Jeremy Allison as part of its NAS group (announcement).

Unfortunately, the disclosure that you are contemplating could result in significantly broader consequences and could directly lead to the illegal distribution of copyrighted material. Such disclosure is not authorized in the Agreement, would constitute a violation of the Agreement and would subject your research team to enforcement actions under the DMCA and possibly other federal laws. -- The SDMI gets nasty.

Samba 2.2.0 is released (announcement).

IDC predicts that the Linux multiuser system market will be $4.1 billion in 2004 - ten times its 1999 level (announcement).

The SDMI threatens Edward Felten with legal action if he reveals how he broke the SDMI watermarking scheme.

Mandrake Linux 8.0 is released (announcement).

Caldera lays off 17% of its staff (SEC filing).

IBM gets into trouble over its "Peace, Love, and Linux" graffiti in several cities.

Ximian launches its Red Carpet service (announcement).

VA Linux warns of another bad quarter - around $18 million, well below an (already lowered) estimate of $30 million (announcement).

Jason Haas resigns from LinuxPPC, and retires from the computer world (resignation letter).

Sony announces a Linux kit for the Playstation 2 to be shipped in Japan in May.

SAP releases its database as open source.

May, 2001

Turbolinux and Linuxcare cancel their merger agreement; it seems that the two could not agree on the relative valuations of their companies.

Banco Mercantil deploys Linux on an S/390 mainframe, replacing about 30 NT boxes.

SGI releases XFS 1.0 (announcement).

Caldera knows of no company that has built a profitable business based in whole or in part on open source software. -- Caldera SEC filing.

The Caldera/SCO deal completes, leaving Caldera the owner of UnixWare and OpenServer.

Immunix 7.0 is released with bundled proprietary software (announcement).

Microsoft's Craig Mundie attacks the GPL at a speech in New York.

The OSS development model leads to a strong possibility of unhealthy "forking" of a code base, resulting in the development of multiple incompatible versions of programs, weakened interoperability, product instability, and hindering businesses? ability to strategically plan for the future. Furthermore, it has inherent security risks and can force intellectual property into the public domain. -- Craig Mundie.

Sony's Playstation Linux kit sells out in eight minutes depite a doubling of the available stock.

The EBIZ/Linux NetworX merger is cancelled (announcement).

The Bergen Linux Users Group implements RFC 1149, the Carrier Pigeon Internet Protocol.

Eazel shuts down after failing to find ongoing financing (announcement).

Enhanced Software Technologies shuts down as part of Atipa's restructuring.

Caldera acquires WhatIfLinux, a software update service (announcement).

SGI sets a new TPC-H database benchmark record with a Linux system (announcement).

The first OpenWall Linux pre-release is made available.

And it will never ever get fixed, unless somebody says "No more!". Which I'm trying my best to say, except some people are so comfortable rolling around in the shit that they have re-defined shit to be the new standard. When Microsoft defines darkness to be standard, we laugh at them. When we do it, Alan Cox stands up for it and claims that it's the best thing since sliced bread. Double standards, anybody? -- Linus feels strongly about it.

And on that issue I'm so convinced you are wrong I'm prepared to maintain sensible Unix device behaviour in the -ac pretty much indefinitely. -- Alan feels differently.

Linus announces a moratorium on device number assignments, in the hope that it will help encourage the development of a better scheme.

HP selects Debian as its developent distribution, "first among equals" (announcement).

EBIZ announces a $9.9 million loss for the quarter, but claims that plans for reaching profitability are on track. "It will be necessary to resolve some significant challenges with regard to raising capital and satisfying our working capital needs over the next quarter."

MandrakeSoft lays off 25 employees, including CEO Henri Poole. The push into education services comes to an end.

VA Linux reports another large quarterly loss Says Larry Augustin: "We are balancing cost reductions and management structure improvements with the introduction of exciting new products and services. We have a strong cash position and are confident that we will successfully navigate the current business conditions."

Great Bridge lays off support employees, but claims there are no plans for further layoffs.

Insurer J.S. Wurzler Underwriting Managers offers lower rates to Linux users.

Mandrake, Red Hat, SuSE, and Turbolinux announce support for Itanium systems. The world manages to restrain its excitement.

Yellow Dog Linux 2.0 ships (announcement).

MontaVista lays off 20% of its staff.

June, 2001

XFree86 4.1.0 is released (release notes).

Prof. Edward Felten files suit against the RIAA and others for their attempted suppression of his SDMI cracking work (EFF announcement).

The tenth anniversary of the PGP 1.0 release is celebrated (note from Phil).

SuSE Linux 7.2 is released (announcement).

The TV Linux Alliance is formed to promote set-top Linux deployments (web site).

Welcome to CML2 Adventure, version 1.6.1. You are in a maze of twisty little Linux kernel options menus, all different. -- kernel configuration should be fun.

Red Hat claims to make a profit in its first fiscal quarter despite reporting a loss of $27.6 million (announcement).

Linux boots on a VAX, thanks to the (perhaps misdirected) efforts of the Linux/VAX project (announcement).

Linux contains over $1 billion worth of software according to this study by David A. Wheeler.

The GNU Compiler Collection (gcc) 3.0 is released (announcement).

What if the VM were your little Tuxigachi. A little critter that lived in your computer, handling all the memory, swap, and cache management. What would be the positive and negative feedback you'd give him to tell him how well he's doing VM? -- New approaches to the 2.4 VM problems

Caldera releases OpenLinux 3.1, which includes per-seat licensing.

Linus says that the 2.5 kernel will open up "in a week or two" (posting).

The LNX-BBC (bootable business card) distribution launches (announcement).

VA Linux Systems exits the hardware business, choosing to concentrate on SourceForge instead (announcement). The company also lays off 150 people.

In a press release issued Wednesday afternoon, VA Linux CEO Larry M. Augustin called the shift in strategy a logical move. "Our differentiating strength has always been our software expertise," Augustin said. -- Wired. You only thought VA was a hardware company.

LynuxWorks withdraws its IPO filing (withdrawal letter).

MandrakeSoft states that it will go public on the EuroNext Marché Libre.

Red Hat launches new consulting services oriented toward companies migrating to Linux (announcement).

IBM releases JFS 1.0, adding another journaling filesystem for Linux (announcement).

There are over 2300 commercial Linux applications, according to a press release from IBM.

Red Hat Database launches, built around PostgreSQL.

July, 2001

The Linux Standard Base specification v1.0 is released (announcement).

Slackware 8.0 is released (announcement).

The Debian Woody freeze begins (announcement).

Ximian launches the 'Mono' project which seeks to create a free .NET platform (announcement).

The TOLIS group acquires BRU, thus ensuring that it will remain available for Linux (announcement).

e-smith is acquired by Mitel Networks (announcement).

Debian Conference 1 is held in Bordeaux, France.

MySQL AB and NuSphere get in a fight over NuSphere's MySQL.org site (and other matters). MySQL AB now runs that site.

Dmitry Sklyarov is arrested in Las Vegas after Adobe complains about the Advanced eBook Processor.

Linux NetworX picks up a $5 million investment (announcement).

Atipa closes its doors, with its (few) remaining staff absorbed into a company called Oculan.

Scyld Beowulf Professional Edition is released (announcement).

The University of Tokyo makes a Linux-powered humanoid robot (home page).

Usenix by its choice of a US location is encouraging other programmers, many from eastern european states hated by the US government to take the same risks. That is something I cannot morally be part of. Who will be the next conference speaker slammed into a US jail for years for committing no crime? Are usenix prepared to take the chance it will be their speakers? -- Alan Cox quits the ALS committee

The DotGNU project launches as another challenge to .NET (announcement).

The PhpNuke project forks with PostNuke going off in a different direction.

Transvirtual gets $4 million in funding.

The Code Red virus ravages the net, Linux users smile smugly.

Slackware discontinues its Sparc port.

The Debian Multimedia Distribution launches (web page).

Zope 2.4 is released, and Digital Creations changes its name to Zope Corp.

Microsoft's Craig Mundie speaks at the O'Reilly Open Source Convention.

Chuck Mead becomes President of the Linux Professional Institute (announcement).

Johannes Nussbickel becomes CEO of SuSE (announcement). The company also lays off 10% of its workforce.

Yet Mr. Sklyarov still languishes in jail, puzzled, no doubt, about how a free society can jail someone for writing code that was legal where written, just because he comes to the United States and gives a report on encryption weaknesses. -- Lawrence Lessig in the New York Times.

Lineo lays of 13% of its workers.

The Ottawa Linux Symposium is held (LWN coverage).

Adobe backs down and calls for Dmitry Sklyarov to be free. Too little, too late.

O'Reilly editor-in-chief Frank Willison dies of a heart attack (memorial page).

Conectiva Linux 7.0 is released (announcement).

MandrakeSoft goes public, raising 4.3 million Euros (announcement).

The reasons to use open source software are quantified in this lengthy study by David A. Wheeler.

August, 2001

Dmitry Sklyarov is released on bail, but confined to northern California.

LinuxToday editor Kevin Reichard admits to 'astroturfing' the site and moves on to other internet.com properties (confession).

LynuxWorks lays off 15% of its staff.

The Red Hat E-Commerce Suite launches (announcement).

LWN.net co-founder Liz Coolbaugh goes on medical leave, we still miss her (message from Liz).

Loki Entertainment Software files for bankruptcy, but is still operating.

Mission Critical Linux lays off staff.

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. -- Lineo's Dave Beal

Lineo agrees to license the RTLinux patent, reversing its earlier position (announcement).

KDE 2.2 is released (announcement).

I'm doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won't be big and professional like gnu) for 386(486) AT clones. This has been brewing since april, and is starting to get ready. -- Linux turns 10

AirSnort is released, being an 802.11b sniffing tool which can recover network encryption keys.

Linus redefines min() and max() in the 2.4.9 stable release, then flees the country. Many people object to the new, nonstandard interface.

Trustix Secure Linux 1.5 is released (announcement).

Stallman recently tried what I would call a hostile takeover of the glibc development. He tried to conspire behind my back and persuade the other main developers to take control so that in the end he is in control and can dictate whatever pleases him... -- Fun with release notes

The Embedded Linux Consortium elects a new board of directors (results).

Lineo receives $20 million in investments (announcement).

Penguin Computing lays off a quarter of its workforce.

Dmitry Sklyarov is charged with DMCA violations and conspiracy; the potential penalties add up to 25 years in prison.

VA Linux Systems loses $267 million in its fourth quarter, mostly as a result of the exit from the hardware business (announcement).

What VA is doing instead is throwing a sop to those instincts by hanging some proprietary tinsel off the product. This makes it psychologically easier for Mr. Middle Manager to sign the check; he can think "I'm buying something real" -- as if bits on a disk are more real than the people-hours in the service contract that goes with it. But there it is; most sales and marketing is founded on the reality that people aren't very rational. -- The Raymond Spin

VA also states that it will offer proprietary versions of SourceForge

Securities Industry Automation Corporation deploys Linux as part of its stock trading operation (announcement).

SuSE CTO Dirk Hohndel leaves the company.

SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 7 is released (announcement).

KOffice 1.1 is released (announcement).

HP releases the Linux Security Extension, and Chai-LX, its embedded Linux offering (announcement).

Ximian releases its 'Ximian Desktop' box products, along with subscription services based on Red Carpet.

Although Adobe withdrew its support for the criminal complaint against Dmitry Sklyarov, we respect the grand jury's and federal government's role in prosecuting this case. However, we are in complete agreement with the government's decision to prosecute the company, ElcomSoft and, as a law-abiding corporate citizen, Adobe intends to cooperate fully with the government as required by law. -- Adobe's position

AppWatch is shut down by CNet, which had acquired it a year before.

Xandros licenses Corel Linux, and hires Corel's developers (announcement). The Xandros distribution is due "early 2002."

SuSE receives $45 million in investments from IBM and others, and narrowly avoids bankruptcy.

Sistina relicenses the global filesystem (GFS); it is no longer free software. The OpenGFS project launches with the last free GFS release.

Progeny drops its Network of Workstations (NOW) project because funding can not be found (announcement).

HancomLinux and the Kompany agree to merge their product lines (announcement).

Libranet stops charging for downloads of its distribution.

Dmitry Sklyarov pleads "not guilty."

September, 2001

License tags are added to kernel modules, allowing kernel hackers to know if a closed-source module has been loaded into a running kernel.

It is unlawful to manufacture, import, offer to the public, provide or otherwise traffic in any interactive digital device that does not include and utilize certified security technologies that adhere to the security systems standards adopted under section 104. -- The SSSCA, for those who think the DMCA is not bad enough.

The one-billionth second since the beginning of the Unix epoch passes on September 9.

The Red Hat Embedded Linux Developer Suite launches (announcement).

Lineo lays off 60 people and begins selling off some of its acquisitions (announcement)

Great Bridge shuts down after failing to find financing (announcement).

Gartner recommends that businesses hit by both Code Red and Nimda immediately investigate alternatives to IIS, including moving Web applications to Web server software from other vendors such as iPlanet and Apache. -- The Gartner Group figures it out.

September 11. Sigh.

VA Linux Systems lays off more staff, including its operating systems group.

The Broadcast 2000 source is withdrawn due to liability concerns (announcement).

Based on the results of this latest functional evaluation, DHBA believes that the leading Linux distributions are now quite capable of serving as general-purpose operating systems for a broad range of departmental and workgroup applications. -- D.H. Brown

EBIZ Enterprises files for bankruptcy (announcement).

Red Hat reports a $55 million quarterly loss and announces a stock repurchase program.

Caldera International lays off 51 people (announcement). The company also plans a 1-for-6 reverse stock split.

Linus 2.4.10pre is definitely 2.5 in disguise -- Alan Cox

Stable kernel 2.4.10 is released with a completely new virtual memory implementation. Much complaining follows, but the new code stabilizes quickly.

Mandrake Linux 8.1 is released (announcement).

The W3C's plan to allow patented technology in web standards draws widespread protest (call for action).

StarOffice 6.0 beta is released (announcement).

October, 2001

LinuxDevices.com separates from CNet and becomes, again, an independent site (announcement).

LWN announces financial difficulties and a search for a sustainable future. We're still working on it.

LWN.net senior editor Michael Hammel leaves as part of the above-mentioned difficulties. We still miss him.

The Liberty Alliance launches as an alternative to Microsoft's HailStorm initiative (announcement).

Red Hat acquires VA Linux Systems's open source consulting group (announcement).

But regardless of whether the remediation takes the form of a patch or a workaround, an administrator doesn't need to know how a vulnerability works in order to understand how to protect against it, any more than a person needs to know how to cause a headache in order to take an aspirin. -- Microsoft's Scott Culp blames the messenger

The W3C backs off on allowing patented technology in web standards. Eben Moglen and Bruce Perens join its patent policy working group. A final determination has not happened, however.

Progeny Linux Systems ceases development on its Progeny Debian distribution (announcement).

Yellow Dog Linux 2.1 is released (announcement).

KDE turns five (initial call for developers).

Qt 3.0 is released (announcement).

The 2.2.20 changelog is censored due to Alan Cox's fear of DMCA problems if he documents security fixes (changelog).

Linux is being viewed as an opportunity to enable users to get out from under the yoke of proprietary platforms and high software license fees and into a much more flexible and evenhanded negotiating position. But vendors will always seek new opportunities to wedge users into proprietary solutions, so users must remain vigilant to avoid past mistakes that led to lock-in. -- The Gartner Group

GNU Emacs 21.1 is released, with more features than ever (announcement).

The Annual Linux Showcase offers free admission in hopes of drawing more attendees.

Red Hat Linux 7.2 is released (announcement).

Linux saves millions for Amazon.com, according to the company's SEC filing.

SuSE Linux 7.3 is released (announcement).

The ghostscript project leaves SourceForge, citing concerns about the site's future (announcement).

Linux Game Publishing starts up, with promises of high-profile game ports for Linux (web site).

November, 2001

The Bunner DVD case takes a turn for the better when a state appeals court throws out the injunction prohibiting publication of the DeCSS source.

A settlement is reached in the Microsoft case that leaves many unsatisfied.

Marcelo Tosatti is named as the maintainer of the 2.4 kernel once 2.5 begins.

Debian 'woody' goes into hard freeze (announcement).

Sharp launches its Linux-based Zaurus PDA (announcement).

IBM gets into the Linux cluster business (announcement).

The ext3 and InterMezzo filesystems are merged into the 2.4.15-pre kernel.

LynuxWorks releases BlueCat Linux 4.0 (announcement).

Covalent releases its "Enterprise Ready Server,", built around the (otherwise unreleased) Apache 2.0 server (announcement).

Lineo founder Bryan Sparks steps down as CEO of the company.

GNU-Darwin for the x86 is released.

The fact that I've held on to 2.4.x for too long, mostly due to the VM problems, really doesn't help. That just makes me _less_ likely to be careful. Especially when the last known VM problem was fixed (ie the Oracle highmem deadlock), I had a very strong urge to just "get the d*mn thing out to Marcelo". -- Linus on the 2.4.15 mess

DesktopLinux.com launches as a site dedicated to Linux for end users (site).

Galeon 1.0 is released.

Dmitry Sklyarov announces a defense based on constitutional challenges to the DMCA, based on free speech and jurisdictional issues.

The 2.5.0 kernel is released, complete with a filesystem corruption bug (which also affects 2.4.15).

The Linux Professional Institute launches its Level 2 exams (announcement).

VA Linux Systems reports a $9 million loss for the quarter (announcement).

December, 2001

Posting or linking to the DeCSS code is illegal according to a U.S. district court.

The Felten case is thrown out of court; an appeal is in the works (EFF Archive).

Richard Stallman and Linus Torvalds win the 2001 Takeda award (FSF press release).

In fact it's probably easier to write a virus for Linux because it's open source and the code is available. So we will be seeing more Linux viruses as the OS becomes more common and popular. -- Wishful thinking from McAfee

Nine holdout states propose a new Microsoft remedy which includes open-sourcing Internet Exporer and, perhaps, an Office port to Linux.

VA Linux Systems changes its name to VA Software (announcement).

Caldera International announces a $7.1 million loss on revenue of $19 million (though the loss becomes $91 million when all is figured in).

Jack Valenti predicts that Congress will require copy-protection controls in nearly all consumer electronic devices and PCs. The lobbyist nonpareil for the Motion Picture Association of America delivered a stark warning to technology firms on Monday: Move quickly to choose standards for wrapping digital content in uncopyable layers of encryption or the federal government will do it for you. -- Wired

Charges against Dmitry Sklyarov are dropped conditional on one year of good behavior and testimony in the ElcomSoft trial (U.S. DoJ press release).

Red Hat announces a $1.3 million quarterly profit, but it's really a $15 million loss when all is figured in (announcement).

Dave Jones starts the -dj kernel tree, since 2.5 is unable to incorporate many bug fixes due to extensive block I/O work.

The UCITA drafting committee updates the much-maligned code; it's still bad news (Cem Kaner's comments).

Gnumeric 1.0 is released (announcement).

MandrakeSoft announces a 13.5 million Euro annual loss (shareholders' newsletter).