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Linux in the newsRecommended Reading Patent problems plague Linux (ZDNet)Dan Ravicher justifies his Linux kernel patent survey in this ZDNet column. "A study that quantifies the potential risk eliminates the guessing game by supplying users with specific information they can use to determine whether they are sufficiently prepared. Studying a threat does not create the risk; it only makes that risk easier to more accurately address. You would not accuse a weatherman of spreading fear for profit by warning of a 25 percent chance of showers and saying 'tune in later for more information.'"
Open Sourcing Java (IT-Director)Robin Bloor suggests that Sun should free Java in this IT-Director article. He seems to have picked up the fragmentation fear, however. "The problem with programming languages is that they evolve. They dont get to be commodities. They evolve because they need to evolve. However there needs to be control in this, because it would do no-one any good for Java to turn into a 'thousand tongued hydra' - it could turn into 'write anyhow run nowhere else'. Actually Java has several different versions already anyway, due to the need to fit into small footprints."
Trade Shows and Conferences Adaptations (Linux Journal)Doc Searls presents his view of the common threads from O'Reilly's OSCON and the LinuxWorld Expo. "I see two fundamental divisions. The first is between noncommercial open-source infrastructure and commercial products and services that rely on it. The second is between traditional open-source development communities and the growing population of practitioners for which the main benefit of open-source is free (as in beer) building materials, rather than the deeper concerns (for example, freedom) of the original development communities. These are not opposed divisions but, rather, symbiotic roles in a maturing and proliferating marketplace in which large new species, all dependent on open source, are coming to dominate the commercial space."
EFF hosts 'fund- and consciousness-raising' party (NewsForge)NewsForge attends Freedom Fest 2004. "Freedom Fest is not a new idea. EFF has held these outdoor concerts annually for the last five years. The only new thing for 2004 was that it was the first one to be held during LWE."
More news from LinuxWorldHere's another round of announcements, press releases, and press coverage from the LinuxWorld Expo.
Linux for sale in San Francisco (ZDNet)ZDNet Australia looks at LinuxWorld. "The Free Software Foundation sits in its tiny little stand like a circus freak, while IBM and HP sales executives "work" potential customers drawn into their sales trap by the dazzling lighting, like flies to one of those buzzing bug zappers in a fish and chip shop. Smiling their toothy, American smiles and dispensing their business cards from gleaming card holders, Linux is the pitch. Linux is money. Bzzzzz CRACK!"
Impressions of LinuxWorld August 2004 (Linux Journal)Linux Journal provides another view of LinuxWorld. "The theme of last week's LinuxWorld Conference and Expo in San Francisco was Linux for the Enterprise, a fact made visually obvious the moment one stepped in to the exhibition hall at the Moscone Center. Full of huge booths and over 150 vendors, LinuxWorld attracted all the big names in computing. Buzz about Linux in a meaningful business sense was everywhere."
The SCO Problem The latest SCO/IBM documentsFor those following the details of the SCO/IBM fight, Groklaw has recently put up a couple of new filings. The first is IBM's memo in opposition to SCO's "renewed" motion to compel discovery. "Renewed" is quoted in the original title; IBM portrays the whole thing as being another exercise in delay on SCO's part.Also available is a motion to strike Chris Sontag's declaration. IBM seems to think that Mr. Sontag, the person in charge of SCOsource, is not in a position to be an expert on IBM's revision control system.
Companies Linspire - aka Lindows - cuts IPO price (Silicon.com)Silicon.com reports that Linspire has lowered its expected IPO value. "The company in July had set a price range of $9 to $11 for the 4.4 million shares it planned to sell on the public market. But on Friday, Linspire lowered that range to $7 to $9 per share, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. That means the San Diego, Calif.-based company expects to raise between $30.8m and $39.6m rather than $39.6m and $48.4m."
Novell Planning Release Of Combination SuSE/Ximian Linux Desktop (LinuxWorld.com)LinuxWorld.com reports that Novell plans on releasing a new corporate desktop that merges SuSE Linux and Ximian. "Novell is still deciding what software will be included. Some companies and products, like RealNetworks and its popular media player, and Mono, the open-source clone of Microsoft's .Net infrastructure, have been confirmed; while other software integration - the Mozilla browser for example - is up in the air."
Linux Adoption French tax office takes up open source (News.com)News.com reports that the French internal revenue service has decided to use the JBoss open-source application server. "Jean-Marie Lapeyre, Copernic's technical director, said a "detailed evaluation" had been conducted during the tender process, and JBoss was chosen because of its reliability and performance. "The advantages of open source are already well-known: very low-cost (or free of charge) and source-code opening that guarantees the reliability, durability and security of these solutions," Lapeyre said."
Linux at Work Open Supercomputing Hits Big 1-0 (Wired)Wired covers 10 years of Beowulf supercomputers. "Who's afraid of the big bad Beowulf?No one now, but 10 years ago the scientific community greeted the first Beowulf supercomputer cluster with fear and loathing. "The initial reaction of the supercomputer-oriented scientific community to the Beowulf project was very negative," says Donald Becker, co-founder of the original Beowulf project."
Interviews Matthias Ettrich talks about KDE and aKademy (KDE.News)KDE.News talks with Matthias Ettrich about the status of the KDE project, its achievements, and what he is looking forward to in aKademy. "Matthias Ettrich: Today I am very much focused on KDE's underlying technology, the Qt toolkit. This pretty much is a full-time job, so I'm no longer feeling bad about not actively contributing code to other parts of KDE anymore. When you take a step back and recognize how much the KDE team achieves in relation to its financial backup and the number of developers, you'll clearly see how important a solid foundation is. We are an insanely productive development community, and we achieve that by layering our software stack and investing into the foundation, instead of constantly reinventing the wheel."
Nils Magnus (of LinuxTag) on Security and aKademy (KDE.News)Here's a KDE.News interview with Nils Magnus of LinuxTag about security on the desktop. "Nils: I work with a Linux system that was set-up from an installed Knoppix with some adjustments for a more secure operation. I travel a lot, so I use computers in environments where I can not be sure about their integrity (e.g. my notebook). Important data is stored on a central, well-secured place that I can reach via an encrypted Internet connection. So any computer with a network connection is sufficient for me, because I always have a Knoppix DVD or a memory stick with me."
Resources Linux can save your data (NewsForge)Chris DiBona uses Linux for data recovery in this NewsForge article. "There are a lot of reasons to use Linux. You've seen people write or heard people speak about its use in clusters, offices, Web servers, and other common uses. One thing that hasn't been talked about enough is its utility as a superior tool for recovering data from other operating systems."
Miscellaneous Using Unicode to Power the World's Largest Democracy (Linux Journal)Linux Journal looks at efforts to convert voter lists to Unicode in India. "[Professor Jitendra Shah] explains that the voter list data already is computerized and available in local languages. But there is no provision in the system for a public interface in Indian languages. He believes that Linux and free software, localized in all Indian languages, and the Unicode standard alone can provide an affordable universal interface. "It will provide access to people who wish to work with proprietary software as well as those who wish to use free software", he says."
Page editor: Forrest Cook |
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