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Linux in the news
Recommended Reading
Guest Commentary: The converter hoax (Heise Open)
The Free Software Foundation Europe speaks out on the promise of a converter for Microsoft's Office OpenXML and the vendor-independent Open Document Format. "When the standardisation effort around Open Document Format (ODF) began, Microsoft was invited to participate, and chose to remain silent. Although people implore them until today to join the global standardisation effort, Microsoft does not contribute its ideas and suggestions to the multi-vendor Open Document Format. Instead Microsoft focus[]es on MS-OOXML, which it promotes on the grounds of technical superiority and wider range of features. But if Microsoft's claims to technical superiority of MS-OOXML over ODF are true, how could one ever be converted perfectly into the other?" (Thanks to Bernhard Reiter).
It's official: OLPC and Intel become friends, collaborate (ars technica)
ars technica reports on two former rivals joining forces. "The new 'peace' between Intel and OLPC will also involve the project receiving some funding from Intel, and according to a statement, 'Intel and OLPC will explore collaborations involving technology and educational content.'"
Trade Shows and Conferences
Finding a Linux Job at LinuxWorld (Linux-Watch)
Linux-Watch takes a look at the career fair at LinuxWorld Conference & Expo next month. "During the career fair, attendees can meet with recruiters and representatives from leading Linux and open-source companies. Attendees can pre-register for the Dice Technology and Engineering Career Fair by visiting the LinuxWorld Job Fair site."
Linux Professional Institute to host events at LinuxWorld (DesktopLinux)
DesktopLinux takes a look at what the Linux Professional Institute (LPI) is planning for this year's LinuxWorld Conference & Expo in San Francisco. There are several events planned beyond the usual certification exams.
The SCO Problem
Where Things Stand in IBM, Novell, and Red Hat (Groklaw)
For those of us who have not been following closely in recent times: Groklaw has posted a summary of the current situation in the SCO cases. Trials start in September, so things are likely to get interesting soon. "Even if IBM wins every summary judgment motion it has filed, all of them now pending rulings from the court, their counterclaims against SCO will remain, so there will almost certainly be a trial, unless SCO were to go bankrupt and the bankruptcy trustees cry uncle and settle on terms acceptable to IBM. Bankruptcy trustees might not feel that the case is worth pursuing, because their job doesn't include FUD production, and they could even appoint new lawyers. All of this is conceivable in the context that Novell has asked the court in its Second Amended Complaint with Counterclaims, also in a motion for summary judgment awaiting a ruling by the court, to compel SCO to pay Novell what it says SCO owes them contractually, which is a sum greater than what SCO has."
Companies
CUPS Purchased by Apple Inc.
The Common UNIX Printing System (CUPS) project has announced its purchase by Apple, Inc. last February. "In February of 2007, Apple Inc. acquired ownership the CUPS source code and hired me (Michael R Sweet), the creator of CUPS. CUPS will still be released under the existing GPL2/LGPL2 licensing terms, and I will continue to develop and support CUPS at Apple." (Thanks to Zach Beane).
Apple now owns CUPS (Linux-Watch)
Linux-Watch digs deeper into the Apple/CUPS deal. "[CUPS' creator Michael R.] Sweet licensed CUPS under the open-source GPL2/LGPL2. In his announcement of Apple buying CUPS, he said, "CUPS will still be released under the existing GPL2/LGPL2 licensing terms, and I will continue to develop and support CUPS at Apple." In the past, Sweet also worked on other open-source programs such as Ghostscript and Samba."
Microsoft disses GPLv3 (Computerworld)
Computerworld's IT Blogwatch column follows a trail of articles on Microsoft's GPLv3 position. "It all began, when Microsoft last week "clarified" its position on the GPLv3: Microsoft is not a party to the GPLv3 license and none of its actions are to be misinterpreted as accepting status as a contracting party of GPLv3 or assuming any legal obligations under such license."
Linux Adoption
Newest FSF board member Hill discusses free software goals (Linux.com)
Linux.com profiles Benjamin Mako Hill, newest member of the Free Software Foundation board of directors. "According to Hill, free software advocates 'have tried to bring the philosophy to technical communities, to radicalize the technical communities. That's sort of the low-hanging fruit. I think there's a compelling reason to reach out to communities that are already politically aligned. There are a lot of nonprofit organizations, or people in the civil society space who believe that it's absolutely essential that people be able to control their communications environment. They are philosophically 100% aligned with free software, and, as soon as you can tell them about it, they're already on board.'"
Montecitorio hi-tech (Repubblica)
This article (in Italian) from La Repubblica reports on a just-approved plan to move the Italian parliament to Linux. Infrastructure will be converted, and any member who wants a Linux system will be able to have one. "According to Pietro Folena, president of the Cultural Commission, 'we are talking about an extraordinary and highly relevant decision. The country's central institution, the Parliament, has decided not only to save money - which is an important objective on its own - but above all to make itself independent on the technological plane, adopting an open source system and thus freeing itself from the bonds of proprietary software. In this way we are meeting the needs of transparency and security which are required for a public institution'" (editor's translation).
Legal
'Owning' a Trademark - The SugarCRM et al License Debate (Groklaw)
Groklaw looks at a debate going on at the SugarCRM forum page about the SugarCRM license and examines trademark law. "I keep reading sentences that OSI doesn't "own" the trademark to Open Source. I think such a sentence should be written instead that it doesn't have a *registered* trademark, but here's the thing: you don't have to register a trademark to have one. I think it's important to understand that, so let me show you some materials I've collected for you on this subject."
Interviews
An interview with Jeremy Allison (LinuxWorld)
LinuxWorld interviews Samba developer Jeremy Allison, covering mostly licensing issues. "Most of the comments about GPLv3 have been about the DRM issues. And to be honest, no one has ever really used Samba in that kind of way. So, I don't think this really concerned us very much. The other thing that I think we're happy about is the clarification on the patent protection."
Matthias Kretz (People Behind KDE)
The People Behind KDE have interviewed Matthias Kretz. "How and when did you get involved in KDE? ...when I tried to develop using GNOME/GTK/glib. That was at the start of 2000 and I was reading all those talks about freedom and Qt not being Free enough which I couldn't quite follow. But when I started the Qt (version 1.4 then) tutorial I was immediately set on the libs I wanted to use. Also the KDE2 alphas were just being released and I managed to compile and run it. Now KDE looked better than the alternatives for certain and I began to look at aRts." (Found on KDE.News)
The LXer Interview: Sebastian Kügler of KDE (LXer)
LXer's Scott Ruecker talks with Sebastian Kügler about his work on KDE. "If you ever want a glimpse of how much Sebastian Kügler does around KDE just subscribe to the kde-promo e-mail list which is as busy as it is effective, and that is just one of the many tasks that he is charged with. In his time with KDE, Sebastian has witnessed and helped facilitate some of the most sweeping changes the organization has ever seen. In our Interview we talk about those changes and more." (Found on KDE.News)
The Best Game in Town (Linux Journal)
Linux Journal talks with Kai Staats, CEO of Terra Soft, about a supercomputing cluster using the Sony PlayStation 3 and Yellow Dog Linux. "In October 2006, Terra Soft announced its plan to build the world's first supercomputing cluster using the Sony PlayStation 3 (PS3), which utilizes the IBM Cell Broadband Engine and the Linux operating system. The idea emerged when Sony Computer Entertainment came knocking on Terra Soft's door, interested in showing that the PS3 is more than merely a game box. After building a 3,000-sq-ft supercomputing facility, located at Terra Soft's headquarters, and adding a heavy dose of good old-fashioned tinkering, the cluster is well underway. Terra Soft's CEO Kai Staats called the building of the PS3 cluster a "highlight of [his] time in this industry". We caught up with Kai recently for an insider's view on the PS3 cluster."
Q&A: IBM Visionary Retires (eWeek)
eWeek talks with IBM's Irving Wladawsky-Berger. "In Part I of a two-part interview, Irving Wladawsky-Berger, IBM's visionary leader behind many of the company's moves into new technology and business areas, has retired to a part-time role with IBM and teaching. However, before scaling back his role last month, Wladawsky-Berger spoke with eWEEK Senior Editor Darryl K. Taft to share his thoughts on his career, the future of the industry and other issues including healthcare, energy and the war on terror." Here is part 2 of the interview.
Resources
A three-pronged attack on performance (Linux.com)
Federico Kereki discusses Linux performance tuning on Linux.com. "A computer running Linux can outperform the same computer running Windows XP or Vista. Even so, you may be able to make your Linux system even faster. Here are three optimizations, at different levels, that can make your Linux system perform better. As with all optimizations, you won't be able to tell whether you are really getting better results without doing some simple benchmarking."
The Power of Google Gears (Part 2) (O'ReillyNet)
O'Reilly has published part two of a series on Google Gears. "Google Gears is a framework for development browser-based applications that can be used offline. In the second part of Jack Herrington's introduction to Gears, you'll see how to use Gears for data entry and batching, and learn more about how to leverage SQLite."
Getting Started with MySQL Proxy (O'ReillyNet)
Giuseppe Maxia introduces MySQL Proxy on O'Reilly. "Imagine if you could make non-relational data looking like it came out of a database. Using MySQL Proxy, you can get access to such prosaic information as system uptime and virtual memory statistics, as well as being able to rewrite queries on the fly before they get to the database."
Reviews
Slim Linux laptop has potential (LinuxDevices)
LinuxDevices looks at the Foleo. "Palm's Linux-powered Foleo has potential, but only if Palm can stop denying that the device is actually laptop, reckons Sascha Segan of Gearlog. Palm has positioned the Foleo as a "mobile companion" for itinerant workers needing only email, document prep, and PowerPoint capabilities."
Even More Gaming In Ubuntu Feisty (Techy Stuff)
Techy Stuff follows up an article we mentioned on Feisty gaming by finding even more games (with screenshots). "After recently putting together a list of 11 great games in Ubuntu, a few concerned readers politely suggested games that should have been on that list. As a result, I discovered many games I hadn't even heard of, but turned out to be fun. Instead of changing the old list, I decided to create another one, containing only the games I recently discovered."
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