The LWN.net 2002 Linux Timeline

MandrakeSoft would gain nothing by joining United Linux, and doing so would damage our reputation. Joining United Linux could destroy many of the features that have made Mandrake Linux so widely popular, such as our 'easy to install, easy to use' approach. It should be noted that several recent polls indicate that the four United Linux companies currently rank lower than Mandrake Linux in market share.

-- MandrakeSoft declines

The European Commission concludes that software sharing between EU governments would be a good thing, though openness beyond government agencies would be limited (press release).

Continued troubles with IDE in the 2.5 kernel lead to a "foreport" of the 2.4 code (patch). Criticism of the IDE development process reaches a new high.

The Kondara Linux project (a Japanese distribution) dissolves. Some of its developers go on to form Momonga Linux.

VA Software founder Larry Augustin steps aside and no longer runs the company he founded (which no longer does what he founded it to do). (Press release here). [Linux NetworX]

The "largest and most powerful Linux supercomputer" is sold to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory by Linux NetworX (announcement).

MandrakeSoft signs a deal to sell Mandrake-installed systems through Walmart (announcement).

One issue we have now, a unique competitor, is Linux. We haven't figured out how to be lower priced than Linux. For us as a company, we're going through a whole new world of thinking.

-- Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer

RealNetworks announces it will open its "Helix" platform, though some codecs are to remain proprietary (announcement). [Ogg Vorbis]

Debian GNU/Linux 3.0 ("Woody") is released (announcement).

Ogg Vorbis 1.0 is released.

A bill to legalize attacks on peer-to-peer networks is introduced by U.S. representatives Howard Berman and Howard Coble.

Unable to sell advertising, LWN.net announces it will shut down on August 1 (announcement + 127 comments). You may have noticed we're still here, though.

But if you don't do something now, this freedom that you built, that you spend your life coding, this freedom will be taken away. Either by those who see you as a threat, who then invoke the system of law we call patents, or by those who take advantage of the extraordinary expansion of control that the law of copyright now gives them over innovation. Either of these two changes through law will produce a world where your freedom has been taken away. And, If You Can't Fight For Your Freedom . . . You Don't Deserve It.

-- Lawrence Lessig at OSCON

The 2.5.27 kernel contains a new IDE bug which causes lockups and filesystem corruption. Kernel hackers are not impressed. 2.5.27 also includes the new, reverse-mapping VM implementation.

Perl 5.8.0 hits the net (announcement).

The EuroZope Foundation is launched to promote Zope in Europe (announcement).

NaN says it will free the Blender source if $100,000 can be raised by Blender supporters. In October, they pulled it off.

Secure Computing Corporation puts out a statement of assurance on its SELinux patents that does not actually assure too many people (LWN coverage).

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The LWN.net 2002 Linux Timeline - July