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Linux in the newsRecommended Reading Show Us the Code (Linux Journal)Glyn Moody examines some FUD. "As I've noted before, I am something of a connoisseur of Microsoft's FUD against open source, in part because I believe each successive FUD-flavour of the month gives important hints about the evolution of the thinking and strategy within the company. The latest development in this area, which revolves around patents, is no exception -- not least because I think people are drawing the wrong conclusions from it."
Apple sued over vague user interface patent (ars technica)ars technica covers this week's bad software patent - one which could well come to bite the free software community as well. "The patent in question was originally filed by Xerox back in 1991. It referenced that company's earlier patents, dating back to 1984, that dealt with graphical user interfaces. This specific patent describes a 'workplace' that consists of multiple windows and 'other display objects' on the screen, and describes each window as potentially containing a 'linking data structure.' If a user clicks on one of the links in each window, it can cause the contents of said window to change, reflecting a different 'workplace.'"
Trade Shows and Conferences National FOSS conference scheduled for Romania in May (Linux.com)Linux.com looks forward to eLiberatica. "eLiberatica, the first national Romanian conference on free and open source software (FOSS), is scheduled for May 18-19 in the city of Braşov. The conference is the result of 18 months of planning by Lucian Savlac, a Romanian immigrant to Canada, assisted by FOSS licensing consultant Zak Greant. The goal is nothing less than unifying FOSS promotion throughout Romania and encouraging its adoption by business through grassroots organization. The goal, says Greant, "is to help build a broad, sustainable, effective free and open source movement in Romania that includes programmers, university students, and business people.""
OIN to tour Indian cities to discuss Linux (ChannelsIndia)According to This Channels India article, the Open Invention Network has started a road show in India. "'Many Indian software development companies and customers have found it challenging to understand and adhere to intellectual property IP and patent rules and regulations,' said Jerry Rosenthal, chief executive officer of Open Invention Network. 'Because Linux is based on openness and sharing of the software code base, it is ideally suited for Indian software developers, vendors, resellers and customers that want access to powerful IT technology without worrying about IP and patent issues.'"
Linux Ready For Real Time on Wall Street? (InternetNews.com)InternetNews.com covers the recent Linux on Wall St. conference. "Tim Burke, director of emerging technologies at Red Hat, took the stage at the Linux on Wall St. conference and provided the suit-and-tie audience with a real business case for Real Time Linux, the next evolution of Linux."
Companies IBM will support x86 Linux apps on System p servers (Linux.com)Linux.com looks at an IBM announcement. "Today, IBM announced a public beta trial of a virtual Linux environment that will let x86 applications run on its System p Unix servers without modification. The new IBM System p Application Virtual Environment (AVE) technology will allow x86 binaries to run as well without modification, removing the biggest barrier against effective virtualization for some companies. As a result, customers will be able to consolidate dozens, if not hundreds, of servers into one virtual environment."
Red Hat tries spreading open-source idea (News.com)News.com covers Red Hat's promotion of open-source science. "Red Hat is taking a second crack at trying to spread its open-source philosophy beyond the realm of software development. On Wednesday, the Raleigh, N.C.-based Linux seller announced a partnership with the nearby University of North Carolina to try to encourage use of the open, collaborative model in the fields of health care research, biotechnology, bioinformatics and public policy. "The history of open source has taught us that the more broadly and transparently information is shared and re-used, the faster and stronger the results," Joanne Rohde, Red Hat's executive vice president of operations, said in a statement."
Red Hat buys data integration firm MetaMatrix (ZDNet)ZDNet reports that Red Hat has acquired MetaMatrix. " Red Hat has reached an agreement to acquire privately held data management firm MetaMatrix, the companies announced Tuesday. Red Hat executives said MetaMatrix's software will be bundled in with its JBoss middleware as part of a services-oriented architecture package."
Linux Adoption Michael Dell's Linux choice? Ubuntu (DesktopLinux.com)DesktopLinux.com reports that Michael Dell is using Ubuntu Linux on his laptop. "What operating system do the heads of Fortune 500 companies run on their personal laptops? In the case of Michael S. Dell, president and CEO of Dell, it's Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn. Yes, the head of Dell Inc., with a market-capitalization of just south of $56-billion, isn't just saying that Dell will be selling Linux-equipped PCs in the near future -- he's already running Linux at home."
Interviews People Behind KDE: Volker Krause (KDE.News)KDE.News has announced the latest interview in the People Behind KDE series. "For the next interview in the fortnightly People Behind KDE series we travel over to Germany to talk to the key to your personal information storage, a highly dedicated KDE-PIM developer (though hide any small animals when visiting his apartment!) - tonight's star of People Behind KDE is Volker Krause."
Bob Metcalfe re-evaluates open source (Linux.com)Linux.com talks briefly with Bob Metcalfe. "It's the sustainability long-term of the open source model that I worry about. Who will take care of the software after the novelty wears off and the volunteers lose interest and get real jobs?" Mr. Metcalfe appears not to have noticed that an awful lot of those "volunteers" already have real jobs.
Resources Understanding ActiveRecord: A Gentle Introduction to the Heart of Rails (O'ReillyNet)Gregory Brown introduces Rails' ActiveRecord on O'Reilly. "ActiveRecord is one of the key elements that makes up Ruby on Rails. It is the crucial link between Rails and the underlying databases that fuel it. Gregory Brown, lead developer of Ruby Reports, begins a two-part exploration of what makes ActiveRecord tick."
Reviews Recoll: A search engine for the Linux desktop (Linux.com)Linux.com looks at Recoll. "Desktop search engines are all the rage these days. While Beagle may be the most popular desktop search engine for Linux, there are alternatives. If you are looking for a lightweight and easy-to-use yet powerful desktop search engine, you might want to try Recoll. Unlike Beagle, Recoll doesn't require Mono, it's fast, and it's highly configurable. Recoll is based on Xapian, a mature open source search engine library that supports advanced features such as phrase and proximity search, relevance feedback, document categorization, boolean queries, and wildcard search."
Get things done with ThinkingRockJoe 'Zonker' Brockmeier reviews ThinkingRock on News.com. "ThinkingRock is not released under a free software license, but it is freely distributable, and the creators have indicated that it may be relicensed when the 2.0 version is released. ThinkingRock is not your everyday task manager. If you're not into the Getting Things Done method of task management, ThinkingRock will feel more than a little awkward."
Linux reports the weather to truckers, travelers (LinuxDevices)LinuxDevices.com takes a look at ViziFrame. "A company specializing in weather reporting has used Linux to build an inexpensive digital sign capable of delivering custom weather channels to truckstops, private airports, marinas, and golf courses. ItWorks's ViziFrame runs Slackware Linux on an x86 processor, and supports TVs or computer displays."
Miscellaneous The GNOME Mobile and Embedded Initiative (GnomeDesktop)GnomeDesktop.org looks at the recently announced GNOME Mobile & Embedded Initiative (GMAE). "The GNOME Mobile & Embedded Initiative will advance the use, development and commercialization of GNOME components as a mobile and embedded user experience platform. It brings together industry leaders, expert consultants, key developers and the community and industry organizations they represent."
Page editor: Forrest Cook |
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