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Linux in the newsRecommended Reading Seth Nickell on Replacing the Aging Init Procedure on Linux (OSNews)OSNews talks with Seth Nickell about his current projects. "Seth Nickell: I'm planning to fully replace the init system, not just bridge to it. I *am* providing full backward compatibility with initscripts (SystemServices can use them), but of course they will only offer as many features as initscripts already have written into them (not much :-)."
After Sun goes out (NewsForge)NewsForge has an essay by Eric S. Raymond on the Sun's future. "Nobody should cheer the prospect of Sun's demise. Sun screwed up some major decisions very badly, from wrecking Unix standardization efforts in the 1980s to throttling the dream of Java ubiquity by keeping the language proprietary. But nobody should forget that Sun was founded by Unix hackers for Unix hackers. For most of its lifespan Sun remained the archetype of an engineering-driven company. Sun was, mostly, among the good guys; to hackers and geeks, disputing with Sun was almost a family quarrel."
Open-Source, Closed Minds (CIO Insight)Lawrence Lessig wrote this article on CIO Insight. "The point in each case is not that we'd be better off without proprietary technology, or without property at all. The point, instead, is one that has been obvious since the birth of our republic--that a balance between proprietary and nonproprietary property is better than either extreme. As Bradford Smith, general counsel of Microsoft Corp. has written about software, "Both open-source and commercial software are integral parts of the broader software ecosystem." Either alone, I might add, would produce a weaker "software ecosystem.""
Trade Shows and Conferences Free software in Russia? Da! (NewsForge)NewsForge takes a look at Linux in Russia. "In July, more than 200 Linux enthusiasts from across the former Soviet Union met up in Borovsk in Russia's Kaluga region -- in other words, in the middle of nowhere -- for Linuxfest. Linux devotees from as far away as Kazakhstan and Ukraine showed up to pitch tents in the woods and share experiences and expertise. The informal weekend conference has become an important annual event for open sourcers here, underscoring how the movement remains as much about philosophy and community as about making money."
The SCO Problem SCO's case gets clearer (CNN)CNN looks at the SCO case from an investor's point of view. "SGI's code comparison gave observers their first glimpse of how much infringement there actually is. Granted, SGI's tests don't carry the same weight that a neutral party's might (SGI is due to lose its SCO Unix license on Oct. 14 unless the companies can reach an agreement), but the 200 lines of infringing code SGI found is a far cry from SCO's claim of 119,130 infringing lines. In SCO's suit against IBM, it claims 'over a million' lines of infringing code."
Companies AOL Lays Off Netscape/Mozilla Transition Team (MozillaZine)MozillaZine reports on the layoff of the last Netscape employees by AOL. "AOL has not completely ended its involvement with the Mozilla project yet - the transition is not entirely complete and the online giant has promised to give the Mozilla Foundation $1 million in addition to the $1 million donated so far. All the members of the transition team are expected to be hired by the Mozilla Foundation in the next few weeks."
VeriSign fends off critics at ICANN confab (News.com)News.com's Declan McCullagh went to the special ICANN meeting on VeriSign's "SiteFinder" service, and has written this report. "But VeriSign made clear during the open meeting convened by ICANN's Security and Stability Advisory Committee that it had no intention of turning Site Finder off for good. Executives from the company said they were considering turning on Site Finder again but disabling the 'wild card' service for e-mail deliveries to nonexistent domains..." Declan has also posted a set of photos from the meeting.
Linux Adoption Some like it cold (Economist)The Economist looks at technology spending trends. "The hottest 'cold' technology is Linux, an operating system that comes free, except for maintenance costs. In March, Forrester, an IT consultancy, found that 72% of corporate IT managers were intending to move their server-computers to Linux from Microsoft and Unix software."
Interviews Interview: SCO sets out its defence (PC Pro)PC Pro interviews SCO PR director Blake Stowell. "Linux users need to respect the copyrights that SCO has that they are infringing upon.... Can the community replace the code in question? They can certainly try, but programs like NUMA, RCU, JFS, XFS and others have taken multiple years to develop and would be very difficult to replace overnight." Of course, SCO has no copyrights over the subsystems ("programs") listed by Mr. Stowell...
Interview with Jeroen Wijnhout of Kile (KDE.News)KDE.News interviews Jeroen Wijnhout, maintainer of the TeX/LaTeX editor and GnuPlot frontend Kile: "programming is alot of fun and even more so if you can work on a program that is used by many people all over the world. Editing TeX/LaTeX source files can be a pain sometimes and, since I love KDE so much, it would be a pity if there wouldn't be a tool available for KDE."
Building an open source-based business in Jordan (NewsForge)NewsForge talks with Kefah Issa about building an open source business in Amman, Jordan. "Your desktop looks slick. Is it Arabic-only, or something I should look at/test/review in English? (It looks a lot like Lycoris. Or is that just the background image and icons?) And are many individual or corporate customers using it yet?It is not Arabic only, but it targets the Arab corporate users specifically. freeDESKTOP introduces Arabic enhancements (fonts, Arabic-supporting software, and several fixes). The look and feel is important to minimize the learning curve. We also have plans to certify freeDESKTOP against ICDL (International Computer Driver's License), a common education certification in Jordan."
Interview with the Master Chef of Linux Cuisine, Marcel Gagne (Tinyminds)Tinyminds.org interviews Marcel Gagne about his new book, which is about moving to Linux. "MG: I've been using Linux for so long, and before Linux I was a Unix user. I have to admit that if I'm going to be moving a number of files from one directory to another, I'm not going to bring up a graphical interface and click on this and that. It is so much easier for me to just type in "mv blah blah". I had to train myself, in the course of writing "Moving to Linux", to think like a Windows user."
Resources Quickly Create Graphical Applications with SashXB (Linux Journal)Here's a Linux Journal how-to on using SashXB to create graphical applications. "You can't write ultra-complex code or fast embedded applications with SashXB. SashXB is a good choice, however, for any small networked graphical programming project."
Reviews Mozile: What You See is What You Edit (O'ReillyNet)Conor Dowling reviews Mozile on O'Reilly. "Today, developers compose most of the Web in stand-alone web editing applications or in simple text editors. Modern browsers render, but they don't allow users to edit what they see. There is no fundamental reason for this gulf between editing and viewing. After all, the Web is about interaction, not dumb page flipping, so you should be able to hit "edit" in your favorite browser and manipulate content as easily as you view it, WYSIWYG-style. Mozile, which stands for Mozilla Inline Editor, is a new Mozilla plug-in for in-browser editing. This article provides an overview of Mozile and what in-browser editing means today."
An introduction to Mozilla Firebird (Nidelven IT)Kay Frode reviews the Mozilla Firebird on Nidelven IT. See part one and part two in the series.
Mad Hatter Preview (Linux Voodoo)Linux Voodoo reviews the Mad Hatter desktop preview. "This Sun Java Desktop System is a good product overall, built on the well-established SuSE system with integration from Sun. It delivers what appears to be a very useful desktop OS and it has the chance to make a dent in the Windows monopoly. The same holds true for all of the key Linux players though, so Sun will have to differentiate itself on its quality, hardware, services and reputation."
pcHDTV: for the Linux geek on your shopping list (NewsForge)NewsForge looks at the HD-2000 High definition TV card for Linux. "HDTV, in case you haven't kept up, is to regular TV what the monster mega-pixel digital cameras available today are to the first digital cameras made a few years ago. More mega-pixels means a picture that is bigger, sharper, and clearer. Oh, and HDTV includes 5.1 channel Dolby digital sound as well. There is a wonderful article about how HDTV differs from regular TV on howstuffworks.com if you're interested in learning more."
Page editor: Forrest Cook |
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