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SCO sues Big Blue over Unix, Linux (ZDNet)

Now we get to see where the "SCOSource" program is going: according to this ZDNet article, SCO has filed suit against IBM, claiming that IBM has moved SCO's intellectual property into Linux. "Linux's rapid maturity--for example, growing up to work on large multiprocessor servers--is evidence of the presence of Unix intellectual property, the SCO suit said. 'It is not possible for Linux to rapidly reach Unix performance standards for complete enterprise functionality without the misappropriation of Unix code, methods or concepts to achieve such performance, and coordination by a larger developer, such as IBM,' the suit said."

Comments (25 posted)

Developers Back IBM in Unix Suit (Wired)

Here's Wired's take on the SCO vs. IBM suit. "Open-source programmers are rallying behind IBM, and say SCO's lawsuit is "suicidal" and "an insult to open-source programmers.""

Comments (14 posted)

SCO vs. IBM

SCO's lawsuit against IBM continues to generate considerable press coverage. Interested LWN readers will have already read our analysis of the suit. For those who want to read more, here are just a few of the articles we've seen in the past couple of days.

Open for Business says SCO Needs to Go. "... the company seems to have decided the best course of action is to do the business equivalent of [a] suicidal person murdering those around him prior to taking his own life and attempt to take the GNU/Linux community with it as it goes down the tubes."

Joe Barr at LinuxWorld finds it funny, but not 'ha-ha' funny. "Having established early on in the complaint that they apparently know very little about the history of Unix and free software, SCO continues by trudging into new areas in which to display just how tenuous a grasp they have on computing in general."

News.com reports: IBM unfazed by SCO Unix threat. ""We've reviewed our contracts, and our Unix license is irrevocable and perpetual," Mike Fay, vice president of communications for IBM's systems group, said in an interview Monday. "We're completely committed to AIX and will continue to ship it.""

Comments (1 posted)

PCLinuxOnline initiates community boycott of SCO

PCLinuxOnline has responded to the SCO lawsuit against IBM by initiating a community boycott of the company and its products. They have set up several forums to collect evidence to use in the courtroom, and also to discuss possible community responses.

Comments (7 posted)

KDE & Gnome Usability Engineers Agree on 'Unity' (OSNews)

OSNews brings together KDE and Gnome usability engineers to talk about unifying the Linux desktop. "Some users want infinite number of options and preferences, while others prefer a non-bloated interface where the best options for them is already decided by the system. Now, we all know that there is no such thing as the "Perfect UI", but would it be acceptable to sacrifice certain configurability and... bloat --with the possible outcome of losing some users-- in order to provide a cleaner interface? Do you think such a move would simplify things for the user or do little but rob power from those who know enough to use it?"

Comments (4 posted)

Companies

Red Hat: An Appraisal and Outlook (ZDNet)

Here's a Gartner pronouncement on Red Hat's future. "Red Hat holds an enviable position as the leading Linux distributor, with a wide lead over its next competitor. However, market dominance in the Linux and open-source community has a different meaning, because the open-source paradigm operates by different principles than commercial software."

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Red Hat revamps premium Linux plan (News.com)

News.com looks at Red Hat's plans for a lower-cost version of the Advanced Server product. "Red Hat is becoming increasingly aggressive with its high-end Advanced Server software plans, but the company wasn't successful in persuading companies to pay $1,500 to $2,500 per year for a subscription to use the Linux version on low-end servers. The new Enterprise Linux ES product costs $349 or $800 per year, depending on support levels..."

Comments (21 posted)

Business

How Is the Linux Server Market Shaping Up? (Midrange Server)

MidrangeServer.com looks at the Linux server market. "According to statistics compiled by Gartner's Dataquest research unit, IBM captured 41.6 percent of the $385 million in Linux server sales in the U.S. market alone last year. IBM hasn't seen market share statistics like that in the server market--especially in a new market with lots of aggressive players and on an operating system platform that it does not control--since the 1970s." (Thanks to Martin Rowe)

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Linux Adoption

Linux continues to surge in Asia (ZDNet)

Here's a ZDNet article looking at Linux growth in Asia. "In a survey of IT managers in 12 countries in Asia-Pacific (except Japan), Linux is installed on a tiny six percent of servers, computers that organizations that use to run databases or hold data. But in 2003, this figure set to grow 24 per cent, more than double the rate of its closest competitor, Unix, which is expected to grow nine percent."

Comments (none posted)

German Government Agency Rolls Out KGX

KDE.News reports on the roll-out of 50 Linux-based desktop systems by the German government. "The test 50-seat rollout was spear-headed by the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) in conjunction with several small German IT companies. The thin-client setup reportedly includes KOffice as the office suite."

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Legal

Oregon considers Open Source software legislation (Register)

The Register covers a bill introduced in the Oregon State Legislature on March 5 by Rep. Phil Barnhart that will require the state government to consider using open source software when acquiring new software. "Rep. Barnhart says, "I am a long-time lurker on Slashdot, so I have been aware of the [open source] issue for some time. I've been convinced for a long time that Windows is a difficult program -- wasteful and expensive." And, he adds, "The little experience I've had with open source has been very positive.""

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Tech plays both sides on DMCA (ZDNet)

This ZDNet article looks at the DMCA and how HP and Intel seem to both revile and support the act. "Last week, Intel and HP's names appeared on a press release circulated by the Business Software Alliance (BSA) opposing crucial changes to section 1201 of the DMCA. Specifically, the BSA lashed out at a bill that would make it legal to bypass copy-protection mechanisms--as long as you're not planning to circulate the resulting file to tens of thousands of your closest friends."

Comments (3 posted)

Interviews

Red Hat heading off UnitedLinux (ZDNet)

ZDNet Germany talks with Red Hat chief executive Matthew Szulik about Sun, UnitedLinux and the battle for the desktop. "Our biggest task is educating the marketplace that open-source software is more reliable, more secure and more affordable. The large proprietary OS software companies will struggle with the economics and value of the open-source/Red Hat model. We continue to make significant progress in corporate environments and businesses that want the reliability and value associated with Red Hat products and services in comparison to the expensive proprietary alternatives."

Comments (none posted)

Resources

Buffer Overflow Attacks and Their Countermeasures (Linux Journal)

Here's a security conscious Linux Journal article examining buffer overflows. "Buffer overflow problems always have been associated with security vulnerabilities. In the past, lots of security breaches have occurred due to buffer overflow. This article attempts to explain what buffer overflow is, how it can be exploited and what countermeasures can be taken to avoid it."

Comments (4 posted)

Testing SMP Kernel Modules with UML (O'Reillynet)

Here's an article on the O'Reilly Network on how to test kernel modules in a multiprocessing environment - even if you do not have an SMP system. "Fortunately there is now a method of simulating a SMP system with a single CPU Linux system. Fantastically, it requires no financial investment. The tool is Jeff Dike's User Mode Linux (UML)."

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The Contenders (LinuxMedNews)

LinuxMedNews has published a list of popular open-source software projects for medicine. "Newcomers to the Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) in medicine scene have commented that it is difficult to discern which FOSS projects are the most advanced. At the risk of upsetting many worthy projects and hard-working people I bring the following short list of what I consider to be The Contenders: a United States centric view of those projects and resources that have achieved or are most likely to achieve a critical mass of users, developers and clinical ability. The criteria includes a Free license, a shipping product that is in actual use in real-world situations."

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Reviews

Six/Four: The Internet Under Cover (eWeek)

eWeek runs a beta version of the Six/Four System, new peer-to-peer technology from Hactivismo. "An offshoot of the Cult of the Dead Cow hacker group, Hacktivismo is dedicated to preventing state-sponsored censorship of the Internet. It created the Six/Four System, which is named for the June 4, 1989, date of the Tiananmen Square massacre, to make it possible to access information anywhere on the Internet and put a big hole in things like China's Internet firewall."

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What Can Ruby Do for the Enterprise? (NewsFactor)

The E-Commerce Times covers Ruby. "Although Ruby documentation is still in progress, the language offers many benefits that might be reason enough for IT managers to consider using it. Chromatic said that as the new kid on the block, relatively speaking, Ruby has been able to learn from other languages. "It's had the chance to borrow the good features and polish some of the yuckier features. In particular, it's a lot nicer to embed Ruby than it is Perl.""

Comments (none posted)

Miscellaneous

Open source apps attacked (vnunet)

Vnunet looks at recent security vulnerabilities in Sendmail and Snort. "Last week showed how quickly news of vulnerabilities can be exploited to produce software that wreaks havoc on the Net. Within 24 hours of the problems being made public, an easy-to-use exploit program for the Sendmail vulnerability was posted on the Bugtraq mailing list. According to Bugtraq, default installations of Sendmail and Red Hat Linux are not vulnerable to this particular exploit, but firms that have compiled Sendmail for use with Red Hat 7.1, 72 or 7.3 are vulnerable."

Comments (none posted)

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