Linux in the news

Recommended Reading

Debunking Google's security vulnerability disclosure propaganda (CNet)

Chris Soghoian takes Google to task for its security policy in this CNet article. "Question: You're a multibillion dollar tech giant, and you've launched a new phone platform after much media fanfare. Then a security researcher finds a flaw in your product within days of its release. Worse, the vulnerability is due to the fact that you shipped old (and known to be flawed) software on the phones. What should you do? Issue an emergency update, warn users, or perhaps even issue a recall? If you're Google, the answer is simple. Attack the researcher."

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Trade Shows and Conferences

GNOME usability hackfest (here be dragons)

Mark Shuttleworth covers the GNOME usability hackfest. "The GNOME user experience hackfest in Boston was a great way to spend the worst week in Wall St history! Though there wasn't a lot of hacking, there was a LOT of discussion, and we covered a lot of ground. There were at least 7 Canonical folks there, so it was a bit of a mini-sprint and a nice opportunity to meet the team at the same time. We had great participation from a number of organisations and free spirits, there's a widespread desire to see GNOME stay on the forefront of usability."

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A year since Microsoft's EU appeal failed

Samba's Andrew Bartlett has written a report on recent Samba/Microsoft interoperability events. "Over the 2 weeks at the end of September 2008, I attended two interoperability events in the US, one in Santa Clara and another on Microsoft's campus in Redmond. This has been an amazing year of changes for those of us with an interest in interoperability with Microsoft, and these two events are an excellent example of the change in practice. In short, Microsoft organised an industry plug fest for CIFS and AD technologies and then invited the Samba Team to it's home campus for a week of hands on testing with their engineers. This follows up on documentation of over 100 protocols delivered, well over 100 requests for clarification answered, Samba code debugged and fortnightly conference calls held." (Thanks to Rahul Sundaram).

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Companies

Amazon's Linux cloud computing out of beta, joined by Windows (cnet)

cnet reports on the latest Elastic Compute Cloud developments from Amazon. "The Elastic Compute Cloud, a service that gives customers on-demand access to Linux servers, is now out of beta testing, said Jeff Barr, evangelist for the collection of online options collectively called Amazon Web Services. "Amazon EC2 is now in full production," Barr said in a blog post Thursday. And as promised, EC2 now offers Windows in a beta test, joining Sun Microsystems' OpenSolaris and Solaris Express Community Edition. Along with those moves, EC2 now comes with a service level agreement, a formal commitment that the service will be available at least 99.95 percent of the time."

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Mac Clone Maker Psystar Offers $299 Linux PC (Information Week)

Information Week reports that Psystar is now selling an Ubuntu-loaded PC. "Mac clone manufacturer Psystar, which has been sued by Apple for copyright violation, isn't putting all its eggs in the Mac OS market. The Miami-based system integrator has introduced a Linux-based personal computer that sells for just $299. Psystar's OpenLite system ships with the Ubuntu Linux desktop preinstalled, running on a 1.8-GHz Intel Celeron chip with integrated graphics support. Upgrading to a dual-core Pentium chip costs an additional $40. "With unparalleled affordability, this computer can bring Windows computing into every home and office," Psystar boasts on its Web site, even though the system runs Linux, not Microsoft Windows."

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Interviews

Fellowship interview with Rolf Camps (Fellowship of FSFE)

The Free Software Foundation Europe has an interview with Rolf Camps about translating, volunteering, and awareness of Free Software in Belgium. "COR: I see the homepage is in 25 languages, but most of the rest of the pages are in 5 or 10. So how can we get more translators involved? Rolf Camps: The visible banner is good. That's how I got the idea to volunteer. But one problem is that after I translate a page, the banner disappears. We're still looking for Dutch translators, but the more work I do, the less chance we have to find new translators. There's a mention in the left-hand menu, but maybe we can think of more ways to publicise this need."

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Resources

Shut down idle computers on your network automatically (IBM developerWorks)

Nathan Harrington discusses. automating remote shutdowns for power savings on IBM developerWorks. "Recent pushes for "green" technology focus mostly on talk, with little action for the typical home- or small-office environment. Many users leave their systems online continuously through laziness or ignorance, resulting in a significant source of power consumption, as well as an additional vector for malware propagation. The tools and code presented here allow you to find those inactive systems and securely start the shutdown process. With a Linux® box monitoring your network connections using Argus and some custom Perl code, any system that supports Perl can be set to be remotely shut down when a centralized set of inactivity rules are met."

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