LWN Weekly Edition
Front pageSecurity
Kernel development
Distributions
Development
Linux in the news
Announcements
->One big page
This page
Previous weekFollowing week
| |||||||||||
Linux in the newsRecommended Reading Knowing Their Politics by the Software They Use (New York Times) The New York Times has an article (registration required) trying to figure out the politics of the free software community. "But the politics surrounding open-source software do not always fit neatly into party categories. The people who work on software like the Linux operating system, the Apache Web server and others are an eclectic bunch of technologists. 'You'll find gun nuts along with total lefties,' Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux, said in an e-mail message."
Europe's software patent policy under siege (Herald Tribune) The International Herald Tribune has taken a lengthy look at the ongoing European software patent debate. "The political storm, which has spread to national parliaments in Germany and Denmark and provoked questions about the EU directive in Poland and Portugal, is the latest twist in a bitter fight between large corporations with significant research investments and scores of patents and small and midsize software companies, academic institutions and supporters of open source software, who oppose software patents."
The SCO Problem SCO Sees Vindication in OSDL Validation Plan (SD Times) SD Times looks at some interesting comments by Darl McBride concerning the OSDL's Linux Developer’s Certificate of Origin program. "“We believe this unchecked process has allowed SCO code to be entered into Linux,” McBride said. He called the OSDL decision “an admission of errors in the Linux review process.” McBride added that the Certificate of Origin program does not make the past issue of alleged intellectual property infringement go away."
Microsoft, DRM, David Boies, and the US Constitution (Groklaw) Here's a long Groklaw article on the application of copyrights to public-domain information (such as the U.S. Constitution or legal information). "Naturally, there has been a case about this, actually two, but with just one company, Jurisline, losing both. David Boies was the attorney for Jurisline, along with Robert Silver, now on the SCO case also, which unsuccessfully argued that copyright law trumped state laws regarding contracts. Small world, isn't it?"
Companies Apple Seeks Rendezvous with Windows, Linux Developers Apple has released the source code for Rendezvous under the Apple Public Source license. "Rendezvous is a zero-configuration technology designed to be compatible with the requirements of the Internet Engineering Task Force's Zeroconf Working Group, and is used to enable automatic discovery and configuration of compatible devices on a network."
Rendezvous with the Desktop (OfB.biz) Open for Business likes Apple's Rendezvous technology on the Linux desktop. "This week, Apple brought Rendezvous back to the forefront with updated libraries for POSIX systems, as well as support for Java. Unfortunately, despite the fact that these libraries are out there for distributions and developers to use, few in the Free Software community have taken the time to adopt Zeroconf technology (Mandrakesoft's Mandrakelinux being the sole exception that I am aware of). It is time for this to change."
Dell ships first Euro Linux business PCs (Register) The Register covers the launch of Linspire 4.5 Linux laptops from Dell and Questar. "The Linux version is actually sold by Dell partner Questar, an Italian system builder which favours the open source operating system. Purchases are made through Questar's website."
Fujitsu foots the bill for new PostgreSQL database features (NewsForge) Fujitsu has announced that it will be funding the development of new PostgreSQL functions, according to this article on NewsForge. "The Japanese company, folding Windows as well as Linux and other open source into its mix of strategy, will support the BSD-based PostgreSQL database with code contributions and underwriting development that will be a part of version 7.5 of the database, PostgreSQL core team member Josh Berkus said. It is expected to be available before the end of the year."
Novell adds $600 million to war chest (News.com) News.com reports that Novell has raised $600 million in a bond offering. "About $125 million of the money Novell raised will be used to buy back stock that outside investors sold short, the software maker said."
A suggestion for Sun Java Department... (nekita.no-ip.com) Here's an editorial at nekita.no-ip.com, examining the pros and cons of open source Java. "I think that we should basically try to get the software into the Open Source community, but regulate Java by using existing tools we have for that. I think that there could be a "commission" setup within the RFC community that would comprise of members of Sun and the Open Source who would create RFC's that set standards for the Java platform."
Linux Adoption Indian president calls for open source in defense (News.com) News.com covers Indian president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam's remarks on the use of free software in defense applications. "Even though the required software for the equipment could be developed by the private industry, it is essential that the technical know-how and the architecture is fully available with these services for ensuring provision of lifetime support for the software which may or may not be forthcoming from the trade." Evidently Mr. Kalam found how "not forthcoming" support can be when the U.S. imposed an embargo after India's nuclear test.
Linux at Work Two Clinics Choose Open Source EMR - OpenEMR (LinuxMedNews) LinuxMedNews covers two recent deployments of OpenEMR. "Pennington Firm, an open source software development company, is chosen by two clinics to implement the open source electronic medical record (EMR) application OpenEMR. Clinics choosing OpenEMR in June 2004 are: West Marion Family Medicine in Florida; and Operation Samahan in California. Pennington Firm is assisting both with electronic billing using a clearinghouse."
Interviews Microsoft: 'Drug-Dealing Methods' (Linux Journal) Linux Journal interviews Brazilian government member Sérgio Amadeu da Silveira, the target of a Microsoft suit concerning comments he made about the use of drug-dealing methods in the promotion of Windows.Question: "Has this episode changed the government's opinion of Microsoft?" Silveira: "I cannot answer on behalf of the entire administration. What I can say is that Microsoft made a huge mistake. The captive market they enjoyed within our government is a thing of the past, and I'm sure they are well aware of that. We live in a democracy where there is competition. They made a big mistake, they appear to have an attitude problem. What they did was unprecedented. We're working for a free-software implementation policy, not against this or that company."
Resources Professor gives Cisco manual away for free (News.com) News.com takes a look at a free Cisco manual. "[Matt] Basham, a professor of information technology and IT security at St. Petersburg College in Clearwater, Fla., wrote his own 800-page Cisco networking textbook and last week made it available for download over the Internet free of charge."
Building a Web Cluster with FreeSBIE (O'ReillyNet) O'ReillyNet uses a FreeBSD-based live CD to build a cluster. "Suppose that we need to build a cluster of web servers to serve HTTP and HTTPS connections. Why do we need a cluster? First of all, our web services are heavily loaded and having one or two CPU systems and a lot of RAM is not enough anymore. Secondly, our services need 24x7 availability and this requires an excellent fail-over backup system, which should be completely transparent for customers and normal web surfers. Nobody cares how many servers and sites we have; everyone only wants to see the requested web page."
Customizing GNOME (NewsForge) Jem Matzan walks through the process of customizing the GNOME desktop in a NewsForge article. "Red Hat and Sun have showed us that GNOME can be both nice to look at and fun to use. However, GNOME is horribly bland in its natural state, and fixing it so that it's more palatable seems like such a daunting task. But what if you could do your own Bluecurve-like customizations and turn a boring and annoying default GNOME installation into a thing of beauty and productivity in about 20 minutes?"
Setting Up Subversion for One or Multiple Projects (Linux Journal) Linux Journal presents a HOWTO for setting up Subversion. "Subversion is receiving the attention of many open-source developers due to its robustness, similarity to CVS and innovative architecture. Having recently marked its 1.0 version release, Subversion is being used in many open-source projects, including SpamAssassin, the Linux 1394 FireWire support project and the SILO Sparc Boot loader."
A parent's guide to Linux Web filtering (NewsForge) Joe Bolin explains how to set up web filtering on a Linux box in a NewsForge article. "Having converted quite a few people to the world of GNU/Linux, I am often asked by parents, "Can I set up parental Web filters for my children using Linux?" The answer is yes, and here's how."
Reviews Installing MPlayer (linux.com) Linux.com installs MPlayer. "The best way to install MPlayer is by compiling it from source code. Though pre-compiled binary packages (.deb and .rpm) are available, a source-based installation gives you a fully customised player, optimised for maximum performance in terms of your system's processor type, video drivers, and other features."
OpenIB Alliance: Broad range of companies have broader hopes for InfiniBand (NewsForge) NewsForge looks at the OpenIB Alliance, aimed at unifying efforts to build on InfiniBand technology. ""Linux is basically where we see most of the demand," said Mellanox director of product marketing Thad Omura. "That's why our charter is a bulletproof stack for Linux.""
At the Sounding Edge: LilyPond, Part 1 (Linux Journal) Dave Phillips reviews the LilyPond musical typesetting system in the Linux Journal. "Its Web page refers to LilyPond as an automated engraving system, a software music typesetter designed to create beautiful readable output. Set to its defaults, LilyPond automatically formats most music for excellent printed output, at the same time permitting highly detailed customizations to accommodate virtually any music scoring requirement, including unusual and idiosyncratic notations."
Miscellaneous Browser Wars to recommence? (Netcraft) Netcraft looks at the latest round of browser wars, and recommends Firefox. "This experience of the professional quality of free software might even lead some into the ultimate temptation: GNU/Linux itself. That option has been made as convenient as possible by the creation of Knoppix, another image file that can be downloaded, burnt to CDs and passed around. Remarkably, this 2 Gbyte package of GNU/Linux plus applications can be run from any Windows PC without changing a single file on the hard disc simply by booting from the CD drive. The automatic configuration allows users to experience GNU/Linux in a completely risk-free way." (Thanks to Jonathan Lucas)
Page editor: Forrest Cook |
|||||||||||