Non-Commercial announcements
EFF: Don't Let Europe Turn Its Citizens into Copycriminals
The Electronic Frontier Foundation has sent out
an alert concerning the upcoming (April 24) vote on the "intellectual property enforcement directive." "
If IPRED2 passes in its current form, "aiding, abetting, or inciting" copyright infringement 'on a commercial scale' in the EU will become a crime.
The entertainment industry has made it clear that it sees sites like YouTube, P2P software, and even ISPs as 'inciting' infringement." It is not hard to imagine free software developers being affected by this kind of law.
Comments (3 posted)
Gaim becomes Pidgin
The Gaim messaging client has been renamed
Pidgin. The
announcement says that the
name change is the result of a painfully-achieved settlement with AOL
which should also unblock the delayed 2.0 release.
Comments (13 posted)
Harmony sends Sun a letter
The Apache Harmony project, which is working toward the development of a
free Java SE implementation, has sent
an open letter to
Sun Microsystems asking for a license to Sun's Java Compatibility Kit which
does not impose field of use restrictions on Harmony users. "
As I
explain below, these restrictions are contrary to the terms of the Java
Specification Participation Agreement (JSPA) - the governing rules of the
JCP - to which Sun is contractually bound to comply as a signatory. The
ASF has a proud history of support for open software ecosystems in which
commercial software can flourish. However, Sun's JCK license protects
portions of Sun's commercial Java business at the expense of ASF's open
software." There is also
an associated
FAQ with more information.
Comments (1 posted)
LinuxChix announces new leader
The women's technical group LinuxChix has appointed a new international
co-ordinator, Mary Gardiner, replacing previous coordinator Jenn Vesperman,
who resigned after six years running the organization. "
Mary
Gardiner's primary focus as coordinator will be on forming a closer
relationship with the regional chapters, enabling the LinuxChix community
to better reach potential and existing women Free Software users
worldwide. Gardiner will also be investigating other ways that LinuxChix
can reach a larger audience and help its members engage with the Free
Software community. She intends to be coordinator of LinuxChix for two
years. Gardiner, a resident of Sydney, Australia and a postgraduate student
in computing, has been active as a volunteer in LinuxChix since
2000."
Full Story (comments: none)
Python opportunities at the Google Summer of Code
A list of Python projects involved in the Google Summer of Code
has been announced.
"
Google recently published the list of mentoring organizations participating in Google Summer of Code 2007. They have accepted Python Software Foundation into Google Summer of Code."
Comments (none posted)
Single-vendor software purchase stopped in Italy
The Associazione per il Software Libero has sent out
a press release proclaiming a "historic victory" in its battle to ensure that free software alternatives are considered in Italian government purchases. A request for tenders for €4.5 million in Microsoft licenses has been withdrawn after the Associazione went to court with a challenge. "
The most important result is that Associazione per il Software Libero succeeded in monitoring actions of public institutions in a domain -information technologies - that too often responds to pressures of some
companies and to mere 'technical' reasons instead of focusing on public benefit: free access to information (free format), adoption of trustworthy technologies (free software) and use of public money for the benefit of the citizens."
Comments (2 posted)
Zope Foundation in the Google Summer of Code
The Zope Foundation
will participate in the 2007 Google Summer of Code.
"
This means we're looking for students and more mentors who would like to take on projects, as well as good projects. We have a wiki page about it with project suggestions and prospective mentors; if you're interested in this project, please check it out."
Comments (none posted)
Commercial announcements
Over 100 Post-production facilities Adopt Autodesk's Visual Effects Systems
Autodesk, Inc. has
announced new market gains for its video post-production software.
"
During the past
six months, more than 100 additional post-production facilities around the
globe have adopted Autodesk, Inc.'s film and television
solutions running on the Linux operating system. The Autodesk Linux-based
systems provide digital artists and editors with increased speed and
interactivity. In April 2006, Autodesk transitioned its visual effects and
editing/finishing systems from SGI-based workstations to workstations
running the Linux operating system. The Linux-based Autodesk Flame visual
effects system renders complex 3D composites more than 20 times faster than
on previous SGI-based workstations."
Comments (none posted)
The newly updated 1994-2006 Linux Journal Archive CD-ROM
Linux Journal
has announced
the availability of a new archive CD-ROM for $26.95.
"
In easy-to-use HTML format, this space-saving archive CD-ROM offers users the advantage of immediate access to the essential Linux resource: Linux Journal. The Archive CD-ROM contains every issue of Linux Journal, from the premiere March 1994 issue through December 2006."
Comments (none posted)
Nokia Announces Open C SDK Plug-In for S60 Devices
Nokia has
announced:
"
the Open C Plug-In extension
for the S60 3rd Edition Software Development Kit, enabling easier
porting of Linux-targeted open source projects to Symbian OS- based S60
smartphones and increased productivity for developers of mobile
applications running on S60 devices."
Comments (none posted)
Novell Joins The Green Grid
Novell has
announced
that it has joined The Green Grid, a consortium of information technology
companies and professionals committed to improving energy efficiency in the
data center. "
Novell will help customers reduce the power
consumption in their data center through the operating system
virtualization built into the SUSE(R) Linux Enterprise platform and the
management tools that comprise the Novell(R) ZENworks(R) product suite. As
a result, customers can lower the cost of managing their data centers while
also helping the environment."
Comments (none posted)
SGI Announces New CEO
SGI has
announced
that Robert H. "Bo" Ewald, formerly Chairman and CEO of Linux Networx, has
been named Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. Bo replaces
Dennis McKenna who has served as SGI's Chief Executive Officer since
January 31, 2006. In addition to his role as CEO, Bo will serve on SGI's
Board of Directors.
Comments (none posted)
SourceForge.net and Krugle bring code search to open-source repository
Krugle, Inc. has
announced a partnership with SourceForge.net.
"
SourceForge.net and Krugle, Inc. today
announced that SourceForge.net has embedded Krugle's search engine into the
world's largest repository of open source software. The search engine gives
developers direct, contextual access to the underlying code of the site's
145,000 open source projects. The announcement addresses the growing
importance of specialized search engines as valuable tools to help
developers deal with increasing software complexity."
Comments (none posted)
Sun Microsystems donates storage technologies to OpenSolaris
Sun Microsystems, Inc. has
announced the donation the source code to the
Storage Community
to the OpenSolaris project.
"
Sun Microsystems, Inc. today announced it is donating storage
technologies for storage developers within the OpenSolaris community. This
will enable community members to combine OpenSolaris with hardware from any
source to create compelling storage solutions at a fraction of the price of
traditional proprietary storage vendors. This combination of open source
and commodity hardware heralds a new stage in the storage industry."
Comments (none posted)
TransGaming announces Cedega 6.0
TransGaming Inc. has announced Cedega 6.0.
"
Rich with new features and
functionality, ranging from improved graphics and performance to support for
many new games, Cedega 6.0 remains the only commercial solution in the world
that allows hundreds of triple A games to be played on the rapidly growing
Linux operating system."
Full Story (comments: none)
New Books
Designing BSD Rootkits - No Starch Press's Latest Release
No Starch Press has published the book
Designing BSD Rootkits: An Introduction to Kernel Hacking
by Joseph Kong.
Full Story (comments: none)
Linux Appliance Design - New from No Starch Press
No Starch Press has published the book
Linux Appliance Design
by Bob Smith, John Hardin, Graham Phillips, and Bill Pierce.
Full Story (comments: none)
Resources
The Linux Foundation Announces Linux Standard Base Update and New Testing Tools
The Linux Foundation has
announced
an update of the Linux Standard Base (LSB) and the release of a new testing
toolkit. "
"All the moving parts are coming together to give the
Linux ecosystem its first testing framework that will coordinate
development of upstream code to standards and downstream implementations,"
said Jim Zemlin, executive director of the Linux Foundation. "In order for
a standard to be effective, it needs to have a powerful -- and usable --
testing infrastructure. Our testing framework will deliver that
functionality and allow the Linux ecosystem to collaborate and test code
while it's being developed, improving quality and allowing ISVs to reduce
their costs and get their feedback into the Linux ecosystem more
effectively.""
Comments (none posted)
Education and Certification
Linux Professional Institute and VCampus launch training portal
The Linux Professional Institute and VCampus have announced a new
training portal site.
"
VCampus Corporation,
a leader in certification and professional development training and
services, together with the Linux Professional Institute (LPI), today
announced the launch of the LPI North America Online Learning Portal.
Based on LPI's globally-recognized certification objectives, this portal
is poised to meet growing demand for sophisticated, professional Linux
programmers, consultants and systems administrators. You can log on to
the VCampus LPI Online Learning Portal at http://www.vcampus.com/lpinama."
Full Story (comments: none)
LPI Offers Certification Exams at Intel Developer Forum
The Linux Professional Institute will hold discounted certification exams
at the Intel Developer Forum in Beijing, China on April 17 and 18, 2007.
Full Story (comments: none)
Calls for Presentations
DEFCON One Five CfP in effect
A call for papers has gone out for DEFCON 15. The event takes place in
Las Vegas, NV on August 3-5, 2007. Submissions are due by June 15.
Full Story (comments: none)
CFP: Storage Security and Survivability Workshop
A call for papers has gone out for the 2007 Storage Security and
Survivability Workshop. Submissions are due by June 8.
"
The 3rd International Workshop on Storage Security and Survivability (StorageSS 2007) will be held on Monday, October 29, 2007, in conjunction with the 14th ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security (CCS 2007), which will meet October 30–November 2, 2007 in Alexandria, Virginia, USA."
Full Story (comments: none)
Upcoming Events
Sun Announces CommunityOne Event
Sun Microsystems, Inc. has
announced the new CommunityOne event, it will take place on May 7,
2007 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, CA.
"
CommunityOne is a free, one-day event designed for open source and web
developers to gain detailed technical information on free and open source
projects including, NetBeans(TM) Software, OpenSolaris (TM), GlassFish(TM),
OpenJDK and the Mobile & Embedded Community, as well as interact with other
participants to exchange ideas and best practices. In addition,
CommunityOne will host talks on topics relating to Web 2.0, James Governor
and Stephen O'Grady from the analyst firm RedMonk will moderate an
unconference, Ian Murdock will host a session on open operating systems and
Sun will host its second Startup Camp event."
Comments (none posted)
The FOSS Symposium (LinuxMedNews)
LinuxMedNews has
announced
the 2007 FOSS Symposium, which will take place in Houston, Texas on April 24.
"
IBM's Eishay Smith, Enfold Systems Alan Runyan and a few others will be
speaking at a one day symposium in Houston entitled 'Free and Open Source
Software (FOSS) for Healthcare: Progress and Promise' This will be held at:
School of Health Information Sciences, UT-Houston".
Comments (none posted)
The Workshop on GCC Internals
The Workshop on GCC Internals will be held in Bombay, India
on June 18-20, 2007. Pre-registration runs from April 9 to May 1.
Full Story (comments: none)
2007 JavaOne Conference opens more possibilities for attendees
Sun Microsystems, Inc. has
announced new JavaOne conference tracks.
"
Sun Microsystems, Inc., today announced that in addition to the
250 conference sessions, 117 BOFs and 15 Hands-on-Labs, the 2007 conference
will offer two special one-day tracks -- Java Technology Business Day and
Java Technology in TV: Blu-ray Disc and Cable Day."
The conference runs from May 8-11, 2007 and takes place
in San Francisco, CA.
Comments (none posted)
Linuxfest Northwest 2007
Linuxfest Northwest 2007
takes place at Bellingham Technical College in Washington State, April 28 -
29, 2007. There will be speakers from Red Hat, Google, Novell, OLPC
project, MySQL, the Software Freedom Law Center, Linden Labs (Second Life),
and many others. Admission and parking are free, and all ages are welcome.
Comments (none posted)
Power.org announces Software Summit
The first Power Architecture Software Summit will take place
in Austin, Texas on April 19, 2007.
"
Power.org will host the first Power Architecture Software Summit, a unique
opportunity for software developers and development managers to refine
Power.org's software strategy.
The Power.org Software Summit will focus on identifying solutions to
challenges associated with software development on Power Architecture.
Discussions will revolve around presentations that address a wide range of
topics ..."
Full Story (comments: none)
Events: April 19, 2007 to June 18, 2007
The following event listing is taken from the
LWN.net Calendar.
| Date(s) | Event | Location |
April 17 April 19 |
Embedded Linux Conference |
San Jose, USA |
April 18 April 20 |
CanSecWest Applied Security Conference 2007 |
Vancouver, Canada |
| April 19 |
Linux 2007 |
Lisbon, Portugal |
| April 19 |
Power Architecture Software Summit |
Austin, TX, USA |
April 20 April 22 |
International Conference on Availability, Reliability and Security
Conference on Availability, Reliability and Security |
Vienna, Austria, |
April 20 April 22 |
Penguicon 5.0 Open Source Software & Science Fiction Convention |
Troy, Michigan, USA |
| April 21 |
Romanian Open Source Development Meeting |
Bucharest, Romania |
April 23 April 25 |
Samba eXPerience 2007 |
Göttingen, Germany |
April 23 April 26 |
MySQL Conference and Expo |
Santa Clara, CA, USA |
April 23 April 27 |
PostgreSQL Bootcamp at the Big Nerd Ranch |
Atlanta, USA |
April 28 April 29 |
Linuxfest Northwest |
Bellingham, WA, USA |
May 3 May 4 |
Ubuntu Education Summit |
Sevilla, Spain |
May 3 May 5 |
SugarCRM Global Developer Conference |
San Jose, CA, USA |
May 4 May 6 |
Libre Graphics Meeting 2007 |
Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
| May 5 |
Ubucon - Sevilla |
Sevilla, Spain |
May 5 May 6 |
LayerOne Security Conference |
Pasadena, CA, USA |
May 6 May 11 |
Ubuntu Developer Summit |
Sevilla, Spain |
| May 7 |
CommunityOne |
San Francisco, CA, USA |
May 8 May 9 |
World Summit on Intrusion Prevention |
Baltimore, MD, USA |
May 8 May 11 |
Annual Java Technology Conference |
San Francisco, CA, USA |
May 8 May 11 |
OSHCA 2007 |
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia |
May 9 May 11 |
Red Hat Summit |
San Diego, CA, USA |
| May 10 |
NLUUG Spring Conference 2007 |
Ede, The Netherlands |
May 10 May 11 |
IEEE International Workshop on Open Source Test Technology Tools |
Berkeley, CA, USA |
May 11 May 13 |
Conferenze Italiana sul Software Libero |
Cosenza, Italy |
May 12 May 13 |
KOffice ODF Weekend |
Berlin, Germany |
May 14 May 25 |
The Pure Data Spring School 2007 |
Glasgow, Scotland |
May 16 May 18 |
php|tek |
Chicago, IL, USA |
May 17 May 20 |
RailsConf 2007 |
Portland, Oregon |
May 18 May 19 |
eLiberatica Open Source and Free Software Conference |
Brasov, Romania |
May 18 May 19 |
FreedomHEC |
Los Angeles, CA |
May 18 May 19 |
BSDCan 2007 |
Ottawa, Canada |
| May 19 |
Grazer LinuxDays 2007 |
Graz, Austria |
| May 19 |
Linuxwochen Austria - Graz |
Graz, Austria |
May 19 May 20 |
The 3rd International Workshop on Software Engineering for Secure Systems |
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA |
May 19 May 20 |
Rockbox International Developers Conference 2007 |
Stockholm, Sweden |
May 19 May 20 |
Make Magazine Maker Faire 2007 |
San Mateo, CA, USA |
May 21 May 23 |
International PHP 2007 Conference |
Stuttgart, Germany |
May 21 May 25 |
Python Bootcamp with David Beazley |
Atlanta, USA |
May 22 May 23 |
Open Source Business Conference |
San Francisco, USA |
May 22 May 24 |
Linux Days 2007, Geneva |
Geneva, Switzerland |
May 23 May 24 |
PGCon 2007 |
Ottawa, ON, Canada |
| May 25 |
Linuxwochen Austria - Krems |
Krems, Austria |
| May 26 |
PAKCON III |
Karachi, Pakistan |
May 29 May 30 |
Where 2.0 Conference |
San Jose, CA, USA |
May 29 May 30 |
I FLOSS CONFERENCE RESISTENCIA |
Resistencia, Argentina |
May 29 May 31 |
European ADempiere Developers Conference |
Berlin, Germany |
May 30 June 1 |
3rd UNIX Days Conference - Gdansk 2007 |
Gdansk, Poland |
May 30 June 1 |
Linuxwochen Austria - Wien |
Wien, Austria |
May 30 June 2 |
Linuxtag |
Berlin, Germany |
June 2 June 3 |
Journées Python Francophones |
Paris, France |
June 9 June 10 |
PyCon Uno - First Python Italian conference |
Florence, Italy |
| June 10 |
Pluto Meeting 2007 |
Padova, Italy |
June 10 June 15 |
DebCamp |
Edinburgh, Scotland |
June 11 June 14 |
Third International Conference on Open Source Systems |
Limerick, Ireland |
June 13 June 15 |
Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit |
Mountain View, CA, USA |
| June 16 |
DebianDay |
Edinburgh, Scotland |
| June 16 |
Firefox Developer Conference |
Tokyo, Japan |
June 17 June 22 |
2007 USENIX Annual Technical Conference |
Santa Clara, USA |
June 17 June 23 |
Debian Developer Conference |
Edinburgh, Scotland |
If your event does not appear here, please
tell us about it.
Miscellaneous
One time chance to order your own LAC'07 t-shirt!
Conference T-shirts for the 2007 Linux Audio Conference are available.
"
This is a one-time offer only, and be sure to put in your orders soon, as the
offer will only stand up until the 16th of April.
We want to have the payment in advance, as we need to pay the cost of
printing, packaging and postage."
Full Story (comments: none)
Page editor: Forrest Cook