Linux in the news

Recommended Reading

Peru mulls Free Software, Gates gives $550k to Peru Prez (Register)

The Register looks into issues behind a recent donation of $550,000 to Peru in money, software, and consulting by Microsoft. "Peru, you see, has been threatening to outlaw Windows by mandating Free Software in government departments. And seriously folks, it is not widely known (or at least, not widely enough) that when major Microsoft contracts or customers are in peril, Bill is frequently deployed as the Ultimate Weapon."

Comments (2 posted)

MS licensing deadline looms - buy or die (Register)

The Register covers the upcoming Microsoft Licensing 6 regime, which starts on August 1. "Gartner does not suggest never upgrading again and phasing in Linux systems instead as an alternative, but really that's a leap you should have been planning from the moment Licensing 6 was announced, rather than at this late stage."

Comments (none posted)

Copies, Webcasters tangled in draft bill (News.com)

News.com reports on a draft bill that two US House legislators have put together. "The first part of their proposal, which would limit backup copies, has already drawn objections from academics and nonprofit groups that have reviewed it. Under current copyright law, Americans who record a TV program or radio segment generally may "sell or otherwise dispose of" that analog recording or digital file as they wish. The proposed bill would end that exemption, handing copyright owners substantial new control over the distribution of their works by curtailing copying rights granted to consumers under a doctrine known as "fair use.""

Comments (none posted)

Why Are So Many Internet Radio Stations Still on the Air? (Linux Journal)

Here's a detailed Linux Journal article on the plight of online radio stations. "So why are the record labels taking such a hard line? My guess is that it's all about protecting their Internet-challenged business model. Their profit comes from blockbuster artists. If the industry moved to a more varied ecology, independent labels and artists would thrive--to the detriment of the labels, which would have trouble rustling up the rubes to root for the next Britney."

Comments (none posted)

Companies

30 lose jobs in RidgeRun closure

The Idaho Statesman covers the closure of RidgeRun, a company that was working on Linux-based smart phones. "“The board of directors unanimously agreed not to accept some funding terms presented to us and rather than encumber the company on what we saw as difficult terms, we decided to shut down,” Prince said. In the midst of the shutdown, however, Prince remained hopeful some part of the company could be resurrected in the future. “I think a fair number of people here are looking at regrouping and attacking the same markets,” said Prince, who blamed a soft technology market for the company´s troubles."

Comments (none posted)

Preinstalled Mandrake Linux PCs go live at Walmart (Register)

The Register reports on the new Microtel Linux PCs that are being sold by Wallmart. "Draw your own conclusions about that one, friends, but it'll be interesting to see how the respective offerings do at Walmart, or indeed if preinstalled Linux from a major consumer outlet will hit the spot."

Comments (none posted)

Walmart.Com Starts Offering Mandrake Boxes (Open for Business)

Open for Business covers the availability of pre-installed Mandrake Linux on computers from Walmart.com. "The PC's range in price from just below $400 for a 900 MHz AMD Duron-based system to $700 for a very nicely equipped Intel Pentium 4 2 GHz system. The systems also include 128 megabytes of RAM, a 40 GB hard disk, and either a CD-ROM or CD-RW drive. A monitor is not included in the package."

Comments (none posted)

WalMart puts more Linux PCs on shelves (ZDNet)

ZDNet reports on Wall Mart's continuing efforts to sell inexpensive Linux based PCs. "A Wal-Mart representative declined to provide sales figures for the Lindows PCs, citing company policy, but said sales have been above expectations. "We're very pleased with the response so far," the representative said."

Meanwhile, the Arizona Daily Star gives a fairly negative review of the Wall Mart/Lindows machine. "The resulting mess will make no one happy. Experienced Linux users, a savvy bunch, won't need the hand-holding provided by what the company calls LindowsOS. Ordinary non-technical consumers are likely to fall into one of the many holes in the LindowsOS structure, canceling out any benefit from the slightly lower cost of buying a personal computer without Microsoft's current Windows XP Home Edition." Thanks to Eric Bueschel.

Comments (2 posted)

Business

Norway government cancels Microsoft contract (ZDNet)

According to ZDNet, Norway has cancelled an exclusive software contract with Microsoft. "The government made the decision because it was unsatisified with the Microsoft procurement contract, which effectively handed Microsoft a monopoly on government office software, according to Victor Norman, Norway's minister of labour and government administration. The news was reported on Friday by the Norwegian daily Aftenposten."

Comments (none posted)

Ballmer 'fesses up to Linux/Windows cost FUD (Register)

The Register reports that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has admitted that Linux is indeed less expensive to run than Microsoft products. "Windows is a lot more expensive to run than Linux, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has finally confessed. Despite Redmond's heroic efforts to defeat common knowledge with elaborately-rigged total cost of ownership 'studies', innuendo, FUD and outright distortions, the rhetorical power of common experience has become too powerful, even for a marketing behemoth like MS."

Comments (none posted)

Building the Linux business infrastructure (ZDNet)

ZDNet has an article on building infrastructure using products from IBM, Oracle and others. "...it should come as no surprise that of the more than 300 IBM middleware products available, more than 50 are now available on Linux on IBM's Intel-based xSeries servers and 20 are ready to go on the mainframe zSeries."

Comments (none posted)

Linux Not Just For Geeks Anymore (Forbes.com)

Forbes.com says Linux is here to stay, but still has some concerns. "There likely isn't a large company out there that isn't at least evaluating Linux, but the biggest independent suppliers and distributors are losing money and--after an initial boom--have largely turned out to be a dud for investors."

Comments (2 posted)

All the Pleasure of iSeries Linux, Without the OS/400 (midrangeserver.com)

Midrangeserver.com is running an article that details the reasons why YKK USA decided to go with the Linux platform for its web site. "eOneGroup also encouraged YKK USA to deploy its new application on Linux, although it wasn't the only software vendor YKK USA dealt with that has come out in support for Linux. "eOne was very fair in what they presented to us," Carnell said. eOne introduced YKK USA to Linux, Carnell said, but all the independent software vendors believed Linux was an attractive alternative. "More developers were more excited about Linux," she added." Thanks to Martin Rowe.

Comments (none posted)

Jamie Harrison: The age of aggressive Linux advocacy is upon us. (Linux Orbit)

Jamie Harrison has written an editorial on Linux Orbit that looks at the current state of Linux. "Whether we want to admit it or not, Linux has entered a critical period in its development - a period that may, in fact, determine in fate forever."

"Now that Linux is no longer a strange little niche Operating System, and has developed to the point where Microsoft actually feels threatened by its proliferation, the folks in Redmond are doing everything they can in the way of software design, legislation, regulation and control of the internet to snuff Linux out. The main reason that they have failed up to this point is that Linux has matured and grown in popularity, gaining public and private defenders in the consumer market and especially the corporate boardroom." Thanks to John Gowin.

Comments (2 posted)

Interviews

Marcelo Tosatti: The future is Linux (ZDNet)

ZDNet interviews Conectiva's Marcelo Tosatti. "Embedded is a really big market and I guess people don't realize how big it is. You could have Linux in a camera mounted on the wall over there. It's everywhere. So it's a really big market. And it's a really big challenge, because it's really hard and complex to work with this stuff in my opinion."

"And the enterprise is a big market, a big opportunity for us. Linux could be moving much more deeply into the enterprise and on the desktop. Linux is growing in the enterprise very quickly but not so quickly on the desktop."

Comments (none posted)

Interview with SuSE's and KDE's Waldo Bastian (OSNews)

OSNews is running an interview with KDE hacker Waldo Bastian. "I think [Linux] is very close to being viable, in fact I expect to see an increasing number of large deployments this year. I think the business desktop is viable right now, especially for organizations that have an IT department already. The consumer desktop is more difficult, partly because Linux still requires a certain level of expertise from its users, partly because the OEM market is under mob-rule from Redmond. I think Lindows is very bold in this regard by selling PCs through Walmart with a KDE-based desktop pre-installed. They will be a good test to see if Linux is ready for the consumer market."

Comments (none posted)

How a CTO faced his worst nightmare (News.com)

News.com talks with Roger Burkhardt, CTO of the New York Stock Exchange. "Our application servers are all off site at two data centers that run in active-active mode. They are always processing work, and either one is capable of taking the whole load, and the clients on the trading floor are very, very thin so you can boot them very fast. That is one of the things about Linux--you can recover very quickly."

Comments (none posted)

Resources

Embedded Linux Newsletter for July 11, 2002

The July 11, 2002 edition of the Linux Devices Embedded Linux Newsletter is out, with the latest Embedded Linux news.

Full Story (comments: none)

Building an Office Network from Spare Parts (Linux Journal)

A detailed account of a network revitalization has been posted on Linux Journal. "We've learned that by using open-source, it is possible to build office solutions with a minimum investment in software and hardware."

Comments (none posted)

Virtual Prototyping for Embedded Linux Product Development (Linux Journal)

Linux Journal looks at virtual prototyping for embedded Linux products. "As for the advantages of prototyping, the first and probably most significant benefit is involving other people early in the design process. As mentioned earlier, the virtual prototype presents your product plan to non-engineers in a way that they can understand and visualize, without having to wait until a hardware mock-up is available. You don't want the marketing department, product experts and management requesting specification changes when the product is nearly done. At that point, such changes may take months to implement. Often it is too late to make all the necessary revisions, so a less-than-perfect product goes on to market."

Comments (none posted)

Improving Network-Based Industrial Automation Data Protocols (Linux Journal)

Bryce Nakatani writes about issues involved with running industrial automation over TCP/IP connections. "TCP/IP breaks into industrial automation, but not without some problems. The industrial automation sector is rapidly advancing into the use of TCP/IP over Ethernet as a replacement for traditional data connectivity. Many of these devices implement application protocols that mirror their older cousins. With the implementation of IP, the operation, flexibility and reliability of these devices may be jeopardized due to oversights in the implementation of sockets as a new connection medium. In this article I will discuss many issues I've stumbled over while dealing with these issues. I'll also present solutions that future data protocols may improve on."

Comments (none posted)

The Game Theory of Open Code

Mikael Pawlo has written a paper that applies game theory to open and closed-source software models. "A company selling proprietary software to third parties will never open its code if the company has a competitor. It will never release its software under the GNU GPL. If you consider open code a benefit to society, you may want to propagate open code-legislation or otherwise try to stimulate new competition in the marketplace."

Comments (8 posted)

Reviews

Yopy brings Linux to wider audience (ZDNet)

Here's a ZDNet article about the Linux-based Yopy PDA,which is now gaining popularity in Europe. "Tuxmedia says it will offer French-language applications for Yopy directly from its Web site beginning this summer. Tuxmedia suggested it would be porting some desktop Linux applications to G.Mate's Linupy distribution of Linux. "Generic Linux applications can be easily ported to the Yopy within a couple of hours, sometimes less," the company said in a statement."

Comments (none posted)

Miscellaneous

Pakistan Government Looks to the Linux Users Group (Linux Journal)

Pakistan is looking at Linux. "The Government of Pakistan is committing itself to the reduction of piracy and the protection of intellectual property. Linux and open source technologies are the corner stone of this initiative."

Comments (none posted)

Sharp's Zaurus PDA suffers security holes (News.com)

News.com reports on some security vulnerabilities in Sharp's Linux based Zaurus PDAs. "Linux is an open-source operating system, giving developers equal access to the code. Many consider that an advantage in a situation like this, as security flaws are found quickly and fixes and other software improvements can be added by a whole community of programmers, not just those employed by a particular company. However, Sharp has not released the source code for the Zaurus' particular operating system to the open-source community, nor has it integrated any community updates to its OS, choosing instead to go a more proprietary route."

""Sharp committed to Linux and the open-source community, but they've realized that they don't want to live the lifestyle," said a source familiar with the company's plans."

Comments (none posted)

Microsoft claim shakes graphics world (ZDNet)

According to ZDNet, Microsoft is claiming ownership of several patents on technologies that are used in the OpenGL graphics standard. "Microsoft clarified its claims somewhat at this month's quarterly ARB meeting, according to the meeting's minutes, but its proposals still appear likely to throw a wrench in the works of OpenGL, according to legal experts. At the July meeting, Microsoft also added that it may have claims to a technology called fragment shading."

Comments (none posted)

Open source developers wary of MS graphics patent grab (Register)

The Register follows up on a previous article with comments from its readers. "We know from their other publications that "more effective in a corporate sense" means "proprietary", and especially "not GPL", in Microsoftese. The subtext is that they're offering a Devil's bargain - OpenGL can have this technology without fear of Microsoft's claims on it, provided OpenGL makes it and all the rest of OpenGL's own technology unavailable to those Godless commie open source loons."

Comments (1 posted)

Page editor: Forrest Cook
Next page: Announcements>>