Announcements

Non-Commercial announcements

FSFE engages in the EU browser case

Free Software Foundation Europe has announced that it will support the European Commission's antitrust investigation against Microsoft and to this effect it has formally requested to be admitted as an interested third party. "The investigation began on the 16th of January when the European Commission DG Competition reported that it had issued a statement of objections regarding Microsoft's abuse of web standards and the tying of Internet Explorer (IE) to the Windows Operating System product family. It is based on a complaint submitted by Opera, a European company involved in web browser development, which FSFE publicly supported in 2007."

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The Linux Foundation acquires Linux.com

What became of Linux.com has finally been announced: it has been sold to the Linux Foundation. "The new Linux.com site will transform in the months ahead from solely being a news source to a collaborative site that will be 'for the community, by the community.' Much like Linux itself, Linux.com will rely on the community to create and drive the content and conversation. While the Linux Foundation will host the collaboration forum, the site will feature the real Linux experts - users and developers - and give them the tools needed to connect with each other and with Linux."

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Draft OpenStreetMap license and implementation plan

Back in October, LWN looked at the licensing discussion happening within the OpenStreetMap project. That project has now, finally, posted a draft version of the Open Database License Agreement which would cover access to OpenStreetMap data in the future. There is also an implementation plan which calls for comments through March, followed by a vote by OpenStreetMap contributors. See the announcement (click below) for details and links.

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Commercial announcements

MontaVista introduces Meld embedded Linux community

MontaVista has announced the launch of the Meld embedded Linux community. "Meld provides a forum for developers of all skill levels to connect and share information, ideas, and software around embedded Linux designs, accelerating their development efforts and delivery of commercial products."

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wxDesigner 2.19 is available

Version 2.19 of wxDesigner, a commercial dialog editor and RAD tool for wxWidgets, is out: "New release wxDesigner 2.19, based on the upcoming wxWidgets 3.0".

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New Books

Scott Meyers New C++ eBook Collection

Three new electronic books on C++ have been released by Addison-Wesley. "The eBook versions of best-selling books by Scott Meyers include Effective C++, More Effective C++, and Effective STL. The books have been immensely helpful to hundreds of thousands of C++ programmers. All three are finally available as PDF eBooks."

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Resources

EFF Releases How-To Guide to Fight Government Spying

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has released an online How-To Guide to Fight Government Spying. "EFF created the Surveillance Self-Defense site to educate Americans about the law and technology of communications surveillance and computer searches and seizures, and to provide the information and tools necessary to keep their private data out of the government's hands. The guide includes tips on assessing the security risks to your personal computer files and communications, strategies for interacting with law enforcement, and articles on specific defensive technologies such as encryption that can help protect the privacy of your data."

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Linux Gazette #160

Issue #160 of the Linux Gazette has been announced. Contents include: "* Mailbag * Talkback * 2-Cent Tips * News Bytes, by Deividson Luiz Okopnik and Howard Dyckoff * Away Mission - 2008 in Review - part 2, by Howard Dyckoff * The Unbearable Lightness of Desktops: IceWM and idesk, by Ben Okopnik * Joey's Notes: Bash shell basics, by Joey Prestia Our monthly column of basic Linux advice and education * SCaLE 7 Speed-through, by Kat Tanaka Okopnik A brief con report for the Southern California Linux Expo (SCaLE) * Development Builds Layered on Top of a Stable System by Means of Unionfs, by Dirk Wallenstein * XKCD, by Randall Munroe * The Linux Launderette"

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Contests and Awards

Announcing the first programming competition for Openmoko phones

An Openmoko programming contest has been launched. "We're announcing the first programming competition for Openmoko phones. You're all invited to participate in the competition to code an audiobook / podcast player."

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Education and Certification

Linux Foundation announces training program

The Linux Foundation (LF) has announced new training courses for Linux developers. The courses will be offered at LF events, starting with the Collaboration Summit in early April, as well as in various cities in the US. "While the Linux server market is predicted to reach $50 billion dollars in three years, and the embedded and mobile Linux markets continue to explode, the picture is less rosy in other corners of the IT market. Developers are being laid off, and many are looking to careers in the Linux and open source sector. The freelance marketplace Odesk (www.odesk.org) recently reported that the number of Linux-related jobs posted on its boards has increased more than 1400% since 2006. The Linux Foundation’s Training Program will help meet this demand for industry, and provide the tools for a new generation of programmers."

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LPI launches Enterprise-level "Security" exam

The Linux Professional Institute has announced a new enterprise-level Security Exam. "The Linux Professional Institute (LPI), the world's premier Linux certification organization, launched their new "Security" exam elective for their LPIC-3 certification program effective March 1, 2009. The LPI-303 "Security" exam is the second elective available in the organization's enterprise-level LPIC-3 certification program for Linux professionals."

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Event Reports

OSBF demos platform for secure cloud computing at CeBIT

OSBF demonstrated a platform for secure cloud computing at the CeBIT conference. "The Interoperability project group of Open Source Business Foundation e.V., the European business network for the open source sector, presented at CeBIT on March 3, 2009, a jointly developed platform for secure cloud computing. The Internet Service Bus (ISB) demonstrates how different applications can be combined to form platform-neutral services and be used securely."

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Calls for Presentations

FRHACK 2nd Call For Papers

The second call for papers has been posted for FRHACK. "FRHACK is the First International IT Security Conference, by hackers - for hackers, in France! FRHACK is not commercial - but - highly technical. Target Audience: Security Officers, Security Professionals and Product Vendors, IT Decision Makers, Policy Makers, Security-, Network-, and Firewall Administrators, Teachers, Academic Researchers and Software Developers." The event takes place on September 7-8, 2009, submissions are due by June 1.

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Liwoli 2009 - Call for projects

A call for projects has gone out for Liwoli 2009. The event takes place in Linz, Austria on April 23-27, submissions are due by March 25. "Liwoli 2009 is a three day long Hacklab and an open invitation to everyone who would like to participate in an active process of learning, producing and sharing ideas around the areas of Free/Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) and DIY practices in digital art and culture. FLOSS developers, software artists such as the collective GOTO10, activists from HAIP (Hack Act Interact Progress) and many others form the basis for the event and will share their knowledge in the form of workshops, presentations, installations and performances."

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OSPERT 2009 call for papers

A call for papers has gone out for OSPERT 2009, the Fifth International Workshop on Operating Systems Platforms for Embedded Real-Time Applications. The event takes place on July 2-4, 2009 in Dublin, Ireland, submissions are due by April 4. "This workshop is intended as a forum for researchers and practitioners of RTOS to discuss the recent advances in RTOS technology and the challenges that lie ahead."

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Pycon Tre Italy Call For Presentations

A call for presentations has gone out for Pycon Tre Italy, submissions are due by March 15. "For the third year Florence will host the Italian edition of PyCon starting from May 8th till May 10th."

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Upcoming Events

Registration open for ELC 2009 - Program announced

Registration is now open for the Embedded Linux Conference 2009, which will be held April 6-8, 2009 in San Francisco, CA. This year's edition will be co-located with the Linux Foundation's Collaboration Summit and attendees are invited to that event as well. There will be three days of presentations, tutorials, and the like, along with keynotes from Dirk Hohndel and David Woodhouse. Click below for the full announcement.

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EuroPython 2009 registration opens

Registration has opened for EuroPython 2009, an early bird rate is available until March 14. "EuroPython is the conference for the communities around Python, including the Django, Zope and Plone communities. This year's conference will be held in Birmingham, UK from Monday 30th June to Monday 2nd July 2009. Preceding the conference, on Saturday 28th June and Sunday 29th June, are the tutorial days, which can be attended separately."

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Announcing the International Techno Security Conference

The International Techno Security Conference has been announced. "Please plan to join us for our 2009 Techno Security Conference in beautiful Myrtle Beach, SC. May 31 - June 3 at the Marriott Grande Dunes Resort. Our Eleventh Annual International Techno Security Conference, promises to be THE international meeting place for IT Security professionals from around the world. We also have some great pre-conference and post-conference training from some of leading companies in training."

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Libre Graphics Meeting 2009 launches community fund raising campaign

The Libre Graphics Meeting 2009 is holding a community fund raising campaign. "The Libre Graphics Meeting (LGM) is an annual workshop for developers and users of free software graphics applications to collaborate and advance the cause of high-quality free graphics software. From now until April 22, you can help support this event by making a donation to the LGM 2009 community pledge drive. LGM is free to attend, so your support is critical to making this important event a success. The fourth annual LGM will be held May 6 - 9, 2009 in Montreal, Canada at Ecole Polytechnique."

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The OpenOffice.org annual Conference 2009 goes to Italy

The 2009 OpenOffice.org conference location has been chosen. "Members of the OpenOffice.org Community have selected Orvieto, Italy as the venue for their Annual Conference (OOoCon), to be held between November 3rd and November 5th 2009 (provisional dates)."

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Announcing php|tek 2009

The php|tek 2009 conference has been announced. "We are happy to invite you to this year's php|tek conference, to be held May 19-22, 2009 in Chicago, Illinois, and hosted (as always) by the folks at php|architect. Join us to hear talks and tutorials on a variety of PHP subjects from PHP experts such as Ed Finkler, Sara Golemon, Chris Shiflett, Sebastian Bergmann, Derick Rethans, Stefan Priebsch, Christian Wenz and our mid-conference keynote by Andrei Zmievski on PHP6."

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Events: March 12, 2009 to May 11, 2009

The following event listing is taken from the LWN.net Calendar.

Date(s)	Event	Location
March 9 March 13	Advanced Ruby on Rails Bootcamp with Charles B. Quinn	Atlanta, GA, USA
March 9 March 12	O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference	San Jose, CA, USA
March 12 March 15	Pingwinaria 2009 - Polish Linux User Group Conference	Spala, Poland
March 14	OpenNMS User Conference (Europe) 2009	Frankfurt Main, Germany
March 14 March 15	Chemnitzer Linux Tage 2009	Chemnitz, Germany
March 16 March 20	Android Bootcamp with Mark Murphy	Atlanta, USA
March 16 March 20	CanSecWest Vancouver 2009	Vancouver, BC, Canada
March 18	Linuxwochen Österreich - Klagenfurt	Klagenfurt, Austria
March 21 March 22	Libre Planet 2009	Cambridge, MA, USA
March 23 March 27	iPhone Bootcamp	Atlanta, Georgia, USA
March 23 April 3	Google Summer of Code '09 Student Application Period	online, USA
March 23 March 27	ApacheCon Europe 2009	Amsterdam, The Netherlands
March 24 March 26	UKUUG Spring 2009 Conference	London, England
March 25 March 29	PyCon 2009	Chicago, IL, USA
March 27 March 29	Free Software and Beyond The World of Peer Production	Manchester, UK
March 28	Open Knowledge Conference 2009	London, UK
March 31 April 2	Solutions Linux France	Paris, France
March 31 April 3	Web 2.0 Expo San Francisco	San Francisco, CA, USA
April 3 April 5	PostgreSQL Conference: East 09	Philadelphia, PA, USA
April 3 April 4	Flourish Conference	Chicago, IL, USA
April 6 April 8	CELF Embedded Linux Conference	San Francisco, CA, USA
April 6 April 7	Linux Storage and Filesystem Workshop	San Francisco, CA, USA
April 8 April 10	Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit	San Francisco, CA, USA
April 14	OpenClinica European Summit	Brussels, Belgium
April 15	Linuxwochen Österreich - Krems	Krems, Austria
April 16 April 17	Nordic Perl Workshop 2009	Oslo, Norway
April 16 April 19	Linux Audio Conference 2009	Parma, Italy
April 16 April 18	Linuxwochen Austria - Wien	Wien, Austria
April 20 April 24	samba eXPerience 2009	Göttingen, Germany
April 20 April 23	MySQL Conference and Expo	Santa Clara, CA, USA
April 20 April 24	Perl Bootcamp at the Big Nerd Ranch	Atlanta, GA, USA
April 20 April 24	Cloud Slam '09	Online, Online
April 22 April 25	ACCU 2009	Oxford, United Kingdom
April 23 April 26	Liwoli 2009	Linz, Austria
April 23	Linuxwochen Austria - Linz	Linz, Austria
April 23 April 24	European Licensing and Legal Workshop for Free Software	Amsterdam, The Netherlands
April 25 May 1	Ruby & Ruby on Rails Bootcamp	Atlanta, Georgia, USA
April 25 April 26	LinuxFest Northwest 2009 10th Anniversary	Bellingham, Washington, USA
April 25	Linuxwochen Austria - Graz	Graz, Austria
April 25	Festival Latinoamericano instalación de Software libre	All Latin America, All Latin America
April 25	Grazer Linux Tage 2009	Graz, Austria
April 27	OSDM 2009	Bangkok, Thailand
May 4 May 8	JavaScript/Ajax Bootcamp at the Big Nerd Ranch	Atlanta, Georgia, USA
May 4 May 7	RailsConf 2009	Las Vegas, NV, USA
May 4 May 6	EuroDjangoCon 2009	Prague, Czech Republic
May 4 May 6	SYSTOR 2009---The Israeli Experimental Systems Conference	Haifa, Israel
May 5	Linuxwochen Austria - Salzburg	Salzburg, Austria
May 6 May 9	Libre Graphics Meeting 2009	Montreal, Quebec, Canada
May 6 May 8	Embedded Linux training	Maynard, USA
May 7	NLUUG spring conference	Ede, The Netherlands
May 8 May 10	PyCon Italy 2009	Florence, Italy
May 8 May 9	Linuxwochen Austria - Eisenstadt	Eisenstadt, Austria
May 8 May 9	Erlanger Firebird Conference 2009	Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany

If your event does not appear here, please tell us about it.

Page editor: Forrest Cook