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AnnouncementsNon-Commercial announcements California Performance Review recommends open sourceThe California Performance Review is the result of a massive committee effort; it seeks to advise the state on how to become more efficient and responsive to its residents. One of the reports many recommendations is this suggestion that the state should use more free software. "In summary, open source is not just about cost savings. Since the code is open, it offers the flexibility for organizations to modify the code as needed for specific uses. Many also feel that open source is more reliable and secure than closed source. In closed source software, the code is hidden from the user so it is difficult to identify potential security risks in advance and to work proactively to make the system more secure. Also, bug fixes and patches must be distributed from the originating developer rather than originating from the users who have identified the problem. In this regard, open source can provide superior security than closed source."
Different way for donations from GB to FSFEIn an effort to circumvent excessive banking fees on donations, the Free Software Foundation Europe has set up a program that allows contributors in Great Britain to donate locally. "Due to substantial bank fees charged for international money transfers, small donations or standing orders are too expensive to be sent directly to the Free Software Foundation Europe bank account. To rectify this, FSFE in July 2004 entered into an agreement with UK based associate organisation AFFS to collect donations and transfer them in larger batches."
Introducing Wilhelm Tux, the new FSFE associateWilhelm Tux, a Swiss Free Software organization, has officially become an associate of the Free Software Foundation Europe. ""This is indeed great news for all members and friends of Wilhelm Tux, as this adds a new brick to the road ahead promoting Free Software in Switzerland. We are eager to continue raising the interest for Free Software in a Free Society, especially in Switzerland universally known as a land of Freedom", says Myriam Schweingruber, president of Wilhelm Tux."
ITTIA launches db.*, a free, open source embedded databaseITTIA has launched db.*, an open source, small footprint embedded database for open-source platforms. db.* is the open source version of a database engine that has been developed and tested for more than 20 years, and been used successfully in tens of thousands of applications. ITTIA is making it available to the public in order to promote its tech support and consulting business, and to promote Club ITTIA, its embedded database community.
Commercial announcements F-Secure And BlueCat Networks Debut Anti-Virus for LinuxF-Secure Corporation has announced that BlueCat Networks, Inc. has licensed F-Secure Anti-Virus for Linux to embed into their Meridius Security Gateway appliance.
F-Secure's RSS feed for virus notificationF-Secure has announced their new RSS feed with announcements of all of the latest virus reports. It looks like most of the viruses listed don't affect Linux systems.
Lindows gives up on IPOLindows has sent out a press release stating that it has put its initial public offering process on hold for now. "'Lindows won't be forced into a cut-rate IPO by a fickle stock market. We are fortunate to have cash in the bank, and we owe it to our stockholders to wait until market conditions and public company valuations improve before we proceed with a public offering,' said Michael Robertson, chairman and chief executive officer of Lindows, Inc." That $20 million from Microsoft sure came in at the right time.
New Linux Networx Computer Systems Help DoD Simulate BattlefieldLinux Networx has announced delivery of two 256-processor Evolocity Linux Networx cluster computing systems at US Department of Defense computing centers. "Joint Forces Command (J9) will utilize the clusters to simulate combat operations on a world-wide virtual battlefield. Military personnel at J9, and other distributed sites around the country, will interact directly with the computers at MHPCC and ASC as they participate in large scale, high resolution simulations not possible before the delivery of the new cluster computers."
Mandrakesoft: Shareholder meeting for a transfer to a regulated marketMandrakeSoft has announced a shareholder meeting that deals with transferring the company to a regulated market.
New Books "Enterprise JavaBeans, Fourth Edition" Released by O'ReillyO'Reilly has published the book Enterprise JavaBeans, Fourth Edition by Richard Monson-Haefel, Bill Burke, and Sacha Labourey.
"Mono: A Developer's Notebook" Released by O'ReillyO'Reilly has published the book Mono: A Developer's Notebook by Edd Dumbill and Niel M. Bornstein.
Resources The LDP Weekly NewsThe August 8, 2004 edition of the Linux Documentation Project Weekly News is online with the latest new documentation releases.
The User Guide to Using the Linux DesktopThe UNDP-APDIP International Open Source Network has put together an introductory book called the User Guide to Using the Linux Desktop. It is available as a series of PDF files, and is released under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license. "The main aim is to provide a self-learning guide on how to use a modern Linux desktop system. It assumes that the user has no prior knowledge of Linux or PC usage."
aKademy: Samba3, OpenLDAP und Kolab 2 Tutorials (KDE.News)Three tutorials from the KDE Community World Summit 2004 are available. Topics include Kolab 2, the OpenLDAP directory server and Samba 3.
Research and Markets: Defining The Market For Full-Feature HandsetsResearch and Markets has announced a new report on the mobile phone handset market. "Linux will Threaten Symbian Dominance. While Symbian will be the market share leader in the next 24 to 36 months, thanks to its endorsement by market makers Nokia and NTT DoCoMo, Linux will threaten for long-term dominance. Linux leads other platforms in openness and low cost - factors that are essentials to success in a market defined by tight margins, rapid innovation, and standards adherence."
SPECviewperf 8 Adds Four New ViewsetsVersion 8 of the SPECviewperf graphics performance benchmark has been announced. "SPEC/GPC's OpenGL Performance Characterization (SPECopc) project group has released SPECviewperf 8, a major new version of its software that measures graphics performance for systems running popular CAD/CAM, digital content creation, and visualization applications. Windows, Linux and Unix versions of SPECviewperf 8 can be downloaded without charge on the SPEC/GPC web site (www.spec.org/gpc)."
Bioinformatics Benchmark System version 3 released (Bioinformatics.org)Bioinformatics.org has an announcement for version 3 of the Bioinformatics Benchmark System "Many new features, bug fixes, and suggested changes have been made. New benchmarks have been added and updated for mpiBLAST, HMMer, NCBI BLAST, and others. Benchmarks are described by XML documents. Output is via an XML document, which is manipulated by various tools for display, output, analysis, and submission."
Upcoming Events OSCOM.4 registration opensRegistration has opened for the Open Source CMS Conference 4. The event will be held in Zurich, Switzerland on September 29 - October 1, 2004.
CFP: 7th German Perl Workshop '05 (use Perl)Use Perl has a Call for Participation for the The 7th German Perl workshop. The event is tentativley scheduled for February 8-11, 2005, proposals are due by October 31.
Software Freedom DayThe first international Software Freedom Day is being organized at the Menlyn Park Events Arena in Pretoria, South Africa on August 28, 2004. "The format of the event is still very flexible and will depend on the exhibitors and attendees, but I'd love to have a combination of exhibitions and technology showcases that will attract attention, n 'install fest', public addresses by roleplayers and live ntertainment offered by South Africa's best young talent. In short the idea is to blow people's hair back!"
Events: August 19 - October 14, 2004
Software announcements This week's software announcementsHere are the software announcements, courtesy of Freshmeat.net. They are available in two formats:
Miscellaneous Free DogThe Open Collector site has an announcement for a new group of open-source electronics enthusiasts at MIT, known as Free Dog. "Free Dog is an association of like-minded hackers and engineers interested in free and open EDA tools. We hold monthly meetings at MIT (Cambridge, MA, USA) featuring informal networking, speakers, and an after-hours gathering at a local watering hole. Our goals are to learn more about EDA software, share ideas about our current projects, and -- most importantly -- have fun with like-minded people."
Page editor: Forrest Cook |
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