Linux in the news [LWN.net]

Recommended Reading

Is $200 the magic number for PCs? (ZDNet)

ZDNet looks at dirt-cheap computers, most of which run Linux. "But it's hard to find a $200 PC with Windows. Versions of Microtel PCs with Windows XP cost about $70 more than their Lindows counterparts, pushing them to $300 or more. Meanwhile, Linux has been catching up to Windows in compatibility. Lindows 3.0 lets PC owners view Windows files, while other applications such as StarOffice offer Linux PC users the ability to view and edit Microsoft files."

Comments (3 posted)

What's ahead? Take the annual quiz (SiliconValley)

Dan Gillmor has posted his annual predictions column. "Microsoft will ... file meritless but tactically useful patent lawsuits against open-source software developers in an effort to stop Linux and other products emerging from the volunteer community."

Comments (none posted)

Townhall.com is running a column on copyright by Phillis Schlafly - not somebody we would normally look to as an ally. "The purpose of copyright law is to provide incentives and protection to authors to create and publish original works, not give corporations the power to control the flow of information. We should not permit copyright extremists to exploit current laws for that goal, and we should reject their demands that Congress give them even broader power to control and license information."

Comments (14 posted)

Companies

Microsoft alters message to counter Linux (The Daily Camera)

LWN's local newspaper, the Daily Camera has an article on Microsoft's changing strategy for dealing with Linux. "Microsoft can tout potential savings and commission studies, but those efforts won't be any more effective in securing customers than its past tactics, Enderle said. "To make that argument it really needs to be made by practitioners, not by the vendor itself," the analyst said. "To make it stick you really need company (information technology) managers to stand up.""

Comments (1 posted)

Business

Matsushita, Sony developing Linux platform for consumer devices (LinuxDevices)

LinuxDevices covers the partnership between Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. (Panasonic) and Sony Corporation. "In what may well represent one of the most significant milestones of the rapidly emerging Embedded Linux market, Matsushita and Sony today jointly announced that the two companies are collaborating to create an embedded Linux operating system for consumer devices. To provide added perspective, LinuxDevices.com brings you this Special Report which includes the text of the Matsushita/Sony announcement, and also provides a roundup of some of the many international news stories surrounding this important development . . ."

Comments (none posted)

Seeing through the Linux-Windows TCO comparisons (LinuxWorld)

Joe Barr revisits IDC's Total Cost of Ownership study in this LinuxWorld article. "When you read about a TCO study in the press these days, you're not reading news. You're reading marketing material. More likely than not, you're reading a report sponsored by the vendor. If the comparison is against products from another vendor, the sponsor is the one whose ox was not gored. The recent IDC report proclaiming that Windows is cheaper (in some cases) than Linux is an excellent example."

Comments (none posted)

Linux Adoption

Businesses Leverage Mainframe Hardware, Software To Run Linux Apps (TechWeb)

TechWeb covers two businesses that have successfully moved their operations to Linux. "[Boscov's] had spent some time considering Linux as a potential alternative to client/server systems, but "got religion" when CIO Harry Roberts saw an IBM demonstration of Linux running on the mainframe first-hand at an industry conference."

Comments (4 posted)

Legal

Studios Sue Maker of DVD Copy Software (AP/Yahoo)

Here's an AP story on Yahoo about the 321 Studios DMCA case. "The movie studios say the software contains the power of digital piracy, and asked the court to enjoin 321 Studios from selling it or distributing it. The studios also seek damages from any proceeds derived from the company's software sales. 'It's like somebody selling a digital crowbar. It's like breaking into the castle if you will,' said Patricia Benson, an attorney for the studios." Of course, "analog" crowbars remain legal...

Comments (2 posted)

Supremes Intervene in DVD Case (Wired)

Wired is running an Associated Press article on the California DVD case. The Supreme Court, it seems, has decided to jump into the case and determine wither Matthew Pavlovich could be sued in California after all. "The California-based DVD Copy Control Association argued that California was the proper venue because of the movie industry's presence in that state. Lawyers for the association told the Supreme Court that the stay was needed to keep Pavlovich from reposting the decryption program on the Internet."

Comments (none posted)

Greece, Denmark (and no-one else) make EC copyright deadline (Register)

The Register reports that Greece and Denmark have signed up for the European Union's controversial Copyright Directive (AKA Europe's DMCA). "It's best to see this as a delay -rather than a derailment - of the controversial measures, fiercely advocated by the film and music industry. The software industry, most notably the Business Software Alliance (BSA), has also lobbied hard for the introduction of the directive as an important means to fight piracy. It's unhappy that new-piracy fighting laws have failed to materialise by Christmas."

Comments (1 posted)

Interviews

Sklyarov reflects on DMCA travails (News.com)

News.com talks with Dmitry Sklyarov about the DMCA and the Elcomsoft trial. "The meeting took place here during a break in the trial at a restaurant across the street from the boxy, gray corporate apartment his company has kept since it became the target of U.S. prosecution 17 months ago. The interview was given with the understanding it would not run until the ElcomSoft trial ended and Sklyarov was no longer under the terms of the government agreement."

Comments (none posted)

Duval Clears Up MNF Controversy (OfB.biz)

Open for Business talks with Gaël Duval, about MandrakeSoft's new Multiple Network Firewall. "MandrakeSoft's new Multiple Network Firewall ("MNF") specialty Linux distribution has been on the forefront of the computer news for the last week, not so much because of its technical merits, but because of what appeared to be a reversal in the company's policy on licensing. The distribution's creator and company co-founder, Gaël Duval, was kind enough to return to our hot seat and discuss both the licensing controversy as well as some other points about MNF."

Comments (none posted)

Resources

LinuxDevices.com Newsletter for Dec. 19, 2002

The LinuxDevices.com's Embedded Linux Newsletter for December 19, 2002 is now available, with all the latest embedded Linux news.

Full Story (comments: none)

Reviews

GNU Bayonne 1.2 (Linux Journal)

Linux Journal looks at the GNU Bayonne project. "GNU Bayonne is the telecommunications application server of the GNU Project. With the introduction of embedded SQL support, we are now actually close to having what I hope will be a new stable Bayonne base release, 1.2. Ideally, I would like to introduce a 1.2 release in late January, around the time of LinuxWorld in NYC. However, there are a number of specific things that I think need to happen before we can do a 1.2 release."

Comments (5 posted)

Linux Becomes Accessible to Average Users (Saint Paul Pioneer Press)

Remember the installation nightmare stories that were so common only a couple of years ago? Well this newspaper article isn't one of them. "Frustrated with crashes on a borrowed Windows 98 laptop, I returned it and ditched Microsoft, installing Linux instead of Windows 95 on an old 133-megahertz Pentium PC (yes, original Pentium, not Pentium II or III)."

Comments (2 posted)

Linux Network Servers: A Book Review (Linux Journal)

Linux Journal reviews Linux Network Servers by Craig Hunt. "I have read very few books that target the intermediate level Linux user/administrator so well and so precisely. This book is a masterful effort at providing more depth and utility than a beginner's book, while at the same time, not getting bogged down with minutia, as a more comprehensive book covering a single topic might."

Comments (1 posted)

Miscellaneous

Free Software at Rosenzweig and Maffia (Linux Journal)

Linux Journal takes a look at what the New York Linux Scene (NYLXS) has been up to. "In July, we started to take more concrete action in trying to do something to stimulate business for Free Software in the NYC community. We had already established a jobs posting site which has helped hook up employers with candidates. But this hasn't been enough. A committee has been formed in NYLXS to try to take on first hand the task to driving sales for Free Software. We've dubbed this effort, 'The Free Software Chamber of Commerce'."

Comments (none posted)

Page editor: Forrest Cook
Next page: Announcements>>