LWN: 2001 Linux timeline

August, 2001

But today penguins are hanging their heads in shame: One of their own stands accused of breaking the unwritten code of conduct, of attacking fellow Linux community members under the cover of anonymity.
-- Wired overstates things a bit.

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

[LT] 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). [Liz in Singapore]

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

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]

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] 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."

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