Linux in the news

Gaim-Encryption: Simple encryption for instant messages (NewsForge)

NewsForge looks at securing chat sessions. "Gaim-Encryption uses a public/private key mechanism similar to the one that PGP uses. When you first run Gaim-Encryption, it generates a set of keys -- essentially secret codes that others can use to communicate with you. By default, the settings for automatically finding out if another Gaim user has Gaim-Encryption is enabled, so when you first IM a person who uses Gaim-Encryption, the public keys are exchanged. From then on, the conversation between the two parties is encrypted during transport; though a snooper could see you're IMing, the message contents will be encrypted."

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Desktop Linux is Windows piracy aide (Silicon.com)

Silicon.com covers an interesting and somewhat unbelievable Gartner study. "PCs running Linux are growing in popularity in part because they can be loaded with a pirated copy of Windows, according to a study from analyst Gartner. The consulting firm has issued a report stating that about 40 per cent of Linux PCs will be modified to run an illegal copy of Windows, a bait-and-switch manoeuvre that lowers the cost of obtaining a Windows PC. In emerging markets, where desktop Linux enjoys wider popularity, the trend is even starker. Around 80 per cent of the time, Linux will be removed for a pirated copy of Windows."

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OSIA to Gartner: Get A Clue over Desktop Linux

Open Source Industry Australia (OSIA) responds (click below) to a Gartner study on Desktop Linux and piracy. "If Gartner's conclusion that pre-installing Linux encourages people to steal copies of Windows were correct, then we can extend this tenuous logic by stating that pre-installing Windows in turn must clearly encourage people to pirate application-level software; if there was no Windows OS on the PC, then users couldn't pirate other products like Photoshop, Microsoft Office or Dreamweaver which need Windows in order to be used. One can quickly see how this process of thought leads to ridiculous conclusions and we are surprised that Gartner started down this path."

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Linux: Millennium Momentum (LXer)

LXer provides a wrap-up of the Ohio Linux Fest. "A smashingly successful Ohio LinuxFest has just finished, and our on-the-scene (and anonymous) reporter has written an excellent (and at times hilarious) roundup of the event. Congratulations go out to the organizers of the OLF, and a special thanks to maddog for helping them with last minute needs. Well done all!"

Comments (1 posted)

SCO Asks to File Another Overlength Memo (Groklaw)

Groklaw covers the latest move in the SCO vs IBM case. "So, we get to read more legalese from the SCO team. zzzzzz First, the Ex Parte Motion. Then I will put up the order. I believe I have discerned their real strategy. Yes, it's "anywhere but here", as IBM attorney Evan Chesler put it at the September 15th hearing. But I detect a water-torture strategy as well. Drip, drip, drip, more memoranda, more motions, more words until we all waive our little white flags from the parapet and beg them to stop at any cost. One thing is for sure. They can't appeal on the grounds that they didn't get to tell the court every last thought they could possibly dream up."

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Judge Kimball Denies SCO's 2 Motions (Groklaw)

Groklaw has a ruling from Judge Kimball in SCO v. IBM regarding SCO's scheduling motions. SCO loses all the way. "However, there is nothing in the Amended Scheduling Order that precludes IBM from filing motions for summary judgment, and there is nothing in the Scheduling Order that relieves SCO from responding to such motions. Thus, it is puzzling that SCO seeks to 'enforce' the Amended Scheduling Order when there is nothing in that Order to justify SCO's request for a significant delay in filing its responses." This is a minor and expected setback for SCO; the ruling on the first of IBM's summary judgment motions is still pending.

Comments (2 posted)

Ballmer calls for horse-based attack on Star Office (Register)

Here's the latest set of Steve Ballmer quotes, courtesy of The Register. "He blamed the success of Linux in the public sector on influential academics, who favour it because universities are Unix environments, and politicians reacting to 'noisy constituents - and those Linux people are noisy.'"

Comments (24 posted)

Red Hat acquires AOL's Netscape server software (News.com)

Red Hat has purchased AOL's Netscape server software. "In a move to add more open-source arrows to its quiver, Linux seller Red Hat has acquired the Netscape server software products of AOL Time Warner, the companies plan to announce Thursday. Red Hat plans to release the Netscape Enterprise Suite as open-source software, meaning that anyone will be able to use, modify and redistribute the products, News.com has learned."

Comments (9 posted)

Sun pushes OpenOffice standard (News.com)

News.com reports that Sun Microsystems is backing European Union efforts to standardize office document formats. "In a recent letter to the European Commission, Sun President Jonathan Schwartz said he agrees with a recommendation by the EC's Interchange of Data between Administrations unit to establish the format used by OpenOffice.org, an open-source productivity suite based on Sun's StarOffice, as an international standard."

Comments (6 posted)

ATT Tests Linux to Replace Microsoft's Windows on 70,000 PCs

Bloomberg reports that AT&T is considering deploying Linux on tens of thousands of desktops - or is, perhaps, just trying to get a lower price out of Microsoft. "A surge in virus attacks on Windows spurred AT&T to consider using Linux, [AT&T CIO Hossein] Eslambolchi said. AT&T could also save 50 percent to 60 percent on the cost of desktop software by using Linux, he said."

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Open source lives on Mars with rover mission extension (NewsForge)

NewsForge talks with Jeff Norris, a senior computer scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory who headed development of the Martian rovers' Science Activity Planner. "Norris said open source software is not necessarily onboard the Martian rovers, but is instead here on Earth controlling them and communicating with them. He explained that during development, NASA engineers were able to focus on their mission rather than those components that were going to rely on open source."

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KOffice Interview (KDE.News)

KDE.News talks with David Faure about KOffice. "An office suite is a huge thing to develop. Work is needed in almost every part of it, and it's hard to simply follow users' demands as everyone's 'must have' feature is a different one. More specifically, I can see that the immediate future is going to be: finishing the OASIS file format implementation and working on the document converters to make them use the OASIS format, then looking at whether to rewrite our text engine (as well as KWord and KPresenter) to be based on Qt4's new text engine (dubbed 'Scribe'), which looks very promising."

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Neowin Interview : Ben Goodger, chief developer of Firefox (Neowin.net)

Neowin.net talks with Ben Goodger about the Firefox browser. "Firefox : 1.0. What's new since 0.9?
Lots of things - you can now read RSS feeds in Bookmarks with our new "Live Bookmarks" feature - Feed links become bookmarks inside dynamic folders. We've made a lot of improvements to Find in page to make it less annoying and make the "Find as you Type" highlighting feature more discoverable. Extension Update is now up and running, you can open blocked popups, sort Bookmarks in the menu, and a number of other things"

Comments (18 posted)

Windows PCs vs. X Terminals: A Cost Comparison (Linux Journal)

Salvador Peralta compares the long term price of Windows PCs to X terminals in a Linux Journal article. Here's his conclusion: "Excluding administrative costs, the 15-year cost of 25 Linux systems in a lab environment is estimated to be $41,359 versus a 15-year cost of $100,000 to $155,000 for Windows PCs serving the same function. Although these estimates are based on rough cost estimates, the overall cost of hardware and software deployment, coupled with the shorter overall time spent on administrative tasks, yields significant cost savings over long-term deployment cycles in our work environment."

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What to do if you're involved in code-dispute litigation (NewsForge)

NewsForge advises a calm approach to code disputes. "If you run a sloppy project, you're asking for trouble. If you don't know who contributed each piece of code, how to contact them, and when the code was contributed, then you are not properly documenting your work. In addition to having a written agreement with your contributors, you'll also want to form a committee to deal with potential infringement claims. Lastly, you should try to consolidate ownership of the entire code base for the project."

Comments (2 posted)

Programming Tools: Eclipse 3.0.1 (Linux Journal)

Linux Journal looks at Eclipse. "Although Eclipse was written in Java and has a well-developed Java IDE, I was curious to see how it would work with languages other than Java and C++. A feature currently in beta testing, pydev, provides a Python IDE within the Eclipse platform. Given the beta nature of pydev, incorporating it into the Eclipse platform went quite well. I tested pydev on some projects I am developing, and it worked adequately. In the future, the promise of Eclipse and its rich set of features makes it a viable contender for a Python IDE."

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The future of Linux multimedia (NewsForge)

NewsForge takes a look at multimedia on Linux. "Today the biggest Linux multimedia projects, like xine and MPlayer, are about to release full 1.0 versions, which means stable and powerful support. One of the net's biggest multimedia companies, Real Networks, has a brand new release of the ever-popular RealPlayer. Sound drivers via Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA) are well into 1.0 status, giving us fully functional surround sound and a stable API. As for visuals, The two biggest video card manufacturers, ATI and nVidia, officially support Linux."

Comments (22 posted)

SQLite 3.0.7 (Linux Journal)

Linux Journal reviews SQLite. "D. Richard Hipp's SQLite database engine has earned a well-respected place in the toolbox of many programmers. Its small size and simple distribution make it a natural choice for standalone and embedded applications. Wide support by many programming languages, including PHP, has made SQLite popular for Web applications that need persistent data storage but don't need the kind of multi-user scaling capabilities provided by server-based solutions."

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Coders win, winners code (NewsForge)

NewsForge covers coding contests by TopCoder. "TopCoder announced on September 29 the completion of the final elimination round in the Algorithm Competition portion of its 2004 annual TopCoder Open coding contest. But the real winner may be TopCoder's open source development model, which gives programmers a chance to build enterprise applications for cash prizes."

Comments (4 posted)