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Linux in the newsRecommended Reading Internet Radio on Death Row (Linux Journal)Doc Searls looks at Internet Radio. "Internet Radio has been sentenced to death. In a move that recalls the Vogons' decision to destroy Earth to clear the way for a highway bypass through space (a thankfully fictional premise of Douglas Adams' Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy), the judges comprising the Copyright Royalty Board have decided to destroy the Internet radio industry so the Recording Industry won't be inconvenienced by something it doesn't know, like or understand."
FSFE reaches out with new Freedom Task Force (NewsForge)NewsForge looks into the Free Software Foundation Europe's Freedom Task Force. "In the United States, the Free Software Foundation (FSF) has reached out to the community with advocacy campaigns and the consultation process on the next version of the GNU General Public License. By contrast, the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) is focusing much of its community outreach on the creation of a group it calls the Freedom Task Force (FTF). Although relatively new, the FTF is already starting to make its mark on free software in Europe in the fields of education and compliance, and with its unique approach to the problems of copyright."
Trade Shows and Conferences FSF looks to 2007 as the year of GPLv3 (Linux-Watch)Linux-Watch looks forward to the Free Software Foundation's annual associate member and activist meeting. "The Free Software Foundation (FSF) holds its annual associate member and activist meeting at MIT in Cambridge, Mass., on March 24. This year's conference theme is the "Year of the Update." The update in question is the upcoming GPLv3, the latest version of the GNU General Public License."
PyCon 2007 Wrapup (O'ReillyNet)Jeremy Jones reports on PyCon 2007. "I recently attended PyCon 2007. It's interesting to look back on the previous year when trying to figure out where to focus my attention in the next year. In organizing my thoughts, I hope to give you some useful information on what's coming. I also had the pleasure of sitting down with Guido van Rossum, Python's creator and benevolent dictator for life. This is the first time that backward compatibility is an issue, and Guido addresses what you need to do to prepare, discusses the strengths and weaknesses of the new conversion tool, and points out the benefits of several new language features (for example, full support for Unicode strings). He also discusses the controversy and misunderstanding some of these changes have caused in the Python community, and how they're being resolved."
Companies If you think selling Linux is easy, why not beat Dell to it? (Guardian)This Guardian article argues that selling Linux-installed systems is not as easy a thing for Dell to do as one might expect. "Cost savings also come directly from Microsoft and Intel in the form of discounts and cooperative advertising support for the use of logos, and so on. These schemes don't exist for Linux. But will the tens of thousands of Linux supporters 'Digging' the idea on IdeaStorm ever turn into paying customers? I can't speak for Dell on this, but I suspect very few will. Worse, those few are mostly the sort of buyer no-one really wants."
Psst. Wanna hear about Novell's secretive virtualization company buyout? (LinuxWorld)LinuxWorld covers Novell's acquisition of RedMojo. "Novell in November quietly acquired a company whose resource virtualization software is being used to bolster the data center automation capabilities of Novell's ZENworks management package. The company acquired RedMojo for $9.72 million, though chose not to make an official announcement at the time."
Red Hat hopes to solidify lead with new Linux (ZDNet)ZDNet looks forward to the release of RHEL 5. "Red Hat will permit up to four virtual machines to run atop RHEL 5 Server, but it's adding a new product called RHEL Advanced Platform that supports unlimited virtual machines and includes the company's Global File System software."
Linux Adoption FAA May Ditch Microsoft's Windows Vista (InformationWeek)InformationWeek reports that the US Federal Aviation Administration is not planning to make the move to Windows Vista. "March is coming in like a lion for Microsoft's public sector business. Days after InformationWeek reported that the Department of Transportation has placed a moratorium on upgrades to Windows Vista, Office 2007, and Internet Explorer 7, the top technology official at the Federal Aviation Administration revealed that he is considering a permanent ban on the Microsoft software in favor of a combination of Google's new online business applications running on Linux-based hardware."
Japan may migrate 400,000 Windows school desktops to Linux (DesktopLinux.com)DesktopLinux.com reports on a possible large-scale Linux migration effort in Japan. "Japan's public broadcasting network, NHK, reported late last week that the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry plans to introduce Linux for use within classrooms across the country in the near future, according to Japanese non-profit educational website Gyaku. Japan has been considering Linux for use in its schools since 2004, Gyaku noted. An investigation conducted in Spring 2006 found that more than 400,000 computers at schools in Japan were running on Windows 98 or Windows ME -- systems no longer supported by Microsoft."
Tories want open source Whitehall (BBC News)BBC News reports on an effort to use more open-source software in the UK government. "The government could save more than £600 million a year if it used more open source software, the shadow chancellor has estimated. George Osborne said the savings would cut 5% off Whitehall's annual IT bill. He called for a more "level playing field" for all software companies, and urged "cultural change" in government." (Thanks to Richard Stevens).
Interviews Three Minutes With IBM's Linux Leader (PC World)PC World talks with IBM VP Scott Handy. "Scott Handy started with IBM in 1983 as a systems engineer and went on to sales, marketing, and strategy positions covering large accounts, channels, small and medium business, and IBM products for Windows NT, Sun Solaris, and OS/2 Warp. Now, as vice president for Linux and open source, he is one of the main public faces articulating IBM's open-source strategy. IDG News Service Senior Writer Elizabeth Montalbano caught up with Handy at the sidelines of the recent LinuxWorld Open Solutions Summit in New York. He talked about how the industry giant manages to support a vast product portfolio for Linux and open-source initiatives."
Resources Debug your Web code with Firebug (Linux.com)Mayank Sharma explores Firebug on Linux.com. "Developing Web sites isn't as straightforward a task as it used to be at the turn of the century. With an influx of new tools, technologies, and development methodologies, a Web page is no longer a string of plain ol' HTML, but instead a complex mix of stylesheets, markup languages, and scripts. Debugging this complicated blend is no easy task. Firebug is an open source add-on to the Firefox Web browser that lets you edit and debug everything from simple CSS and JavaScript templates to complex AJAX applications."
Remote kernel debugging in FreeBSD using serial communication (developerWorks)IBM developerWorks takes a look at debugging a FreeBSD kernel. "Explore how to remotely debug a FreeBSD kernel that is running on a target machine without affecting system performance. In this article, examine setting up the debug environment using serial communication port, compiling modified kernel code, debugging, and troubleshooting tips."
A dozen tips for testing free software (Linux.com)Linux.com has some tips for software testers. "One of the best ways you can participate in the free and open source software (FOSS) revolution is by helping to test software and reporting bugs and issues to project developers to help them improve their code. Even in the wild and woolly, sometimes undisciplined approach to development that we see in FOSS projects, there are ways to test more effectively. Here are more than a dozen tips suggested by testing gurus and developers that can help you become a successful tester."
Reviews K3b enters new era with approaching 1.0 release (Linux.com)Linux.com reviews K3b. "One of free software's premier applications, KDE's CD and DVD burning suite K3b, is about to hit the big 1-0. This milestone touts rewritten DVD video ripping and a refocused interface design. The new release represents a level of feature-completeness and stability that surpasses all previous K3b releases and, perhaps, all free software competitors."
Thunar file manager - versatile and impressive (Linux On Desktop)Linux On Desktop reviews the Thunar file manager. "Thunar is a file manager that is shipped by default with XFCE and is a integral part of XFCE desktop environment. Thunar is developed by Benedikt Meurer and has been named after the god Thor of Norse mythology. It is similar to Nautilus but uses much less resource as compared to Nautilus, and in fact one of the goals of creating Thunar was to create a file manager that was fast, clean and easy to use." (Found on GnomeDesktop)
Tiny surveillance camera has Linux smarts (Linux Devices)Linux Devices takes a look at the Nuvation IP camera. "Nuvation is demonstrating an ultra-compact, Linux-powered, intelligent IP camera reference design, at the TI Developer Conference in Dallas this week. The engineering consultancy firm says its camera can encode and stream D1 (720x480) video over Ethernet at 30fps. The Nuvation design measures just 3.25 x 1.7 x 1.8 inches (79 x 43 x 47mm), yet it incorporates a full 300MHz ARM9 processor capable of running Linux or another embedded OS, according to the company."
Zabbix: State-of-the-art network monitoring (Linux.com)Linux.com looks at Zabbix. "Zabbix is a server-agent type of monitoring software, meaning you have a Zabbix server where all gathered data is collected, and a Zabbix agent running on each host. Note that you can have more than one Zabbix server installed, but you cannot consolidate data from multiple servers in one single central server. All Zabbix data, including configuration and performance data, is stored in a relational database -- MySQL, PostgreSQL, or Oracle -- on the server. Zabbix server can run on all Unix/Linux distributions, and Zabbix agents are available for Linux, Unix (AIX, HP-UX, Mac OS X, Solaris, FreeBSD), Netware, Windows, and network devices running SNMP v1, v2, and v3."
Miscellaneous Australia's LinuxChix unite to form AussieChix (Linux.com)Melissa Draper discusses the launch of the AussieChix group on Linux.com. "Following discussions at the Linux.Conf.Au conference in Sydney in January, members realised that a national group would better serve the country. Last month the groups united to form AussieChix, a new nationwide chapter that makes the group more accommodating to women from across Australia, whilst also improving the communications between the members of the previous chapters."
Page editor: Forrest Cook |
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