Announcements
Non-Commercial announcements
An ACM policy statement on DRM
Ed Felten has posted a policy statement on DRM from the US public policy committee of the ACM. "DRM should not be used to interfere with the rights of consumers. Neither should DRM technologies interfere with any technology or use of consumer systems that are unrelated to the copyrighted items being managed." The statement is also available as a PDF file which, amusingly, causes evince to require a password on your editor's system (xpdf displays it fine).
FSF announces annual member meeting
The Free Software Foundation has announced its annual member meeting to be held at MIT, Cambridge MA, on Saturday April 1, 2006. This meeting has been subtitled "GPLv3 and the future of free software movement".English Wikipedia reaches 1 million articles
The Wikipedia online encyclopedia has reached its one million article mark. "Although its method of editing is new and controversial, Wikipedia has already won acclaim and awards for its detailed coverage of current events, popular culture, and scientific topics; its usability; and its international community of contributors. BBC News has called Wikipedia "One of the most reliably useful sources of information around, on or off-line." Daniel Pink, author and WIRED Magazine columnist, has described Wikipedia as "the self-organizing, self-repairing, hyperaddictive library of the future," and Tim Berners-Lee, father of the Web, has called it "The Font of All Knowledge.""
Commercial announcements
GWAVA Announces Release of Reload for GroupWise
GWAVA has announced the availability of a GroupWise backup solution for Linux. "Reload is a hot backup and restore solution for GroupWise administrators to rapidly and easily restore an entire GroupWise system or a single GroupWise email message. Organizations can now restore single messages, allow users to automatically recover deleted mail in minutes and dramatically improve the reliability and speed of backup and restore procedures."
Novell Reports Financial Results for First Fiscal Quarter 2006
Novell, Inc. has announced its financial results for its first fiscal quarter ended January 31, 2006. "Novell reported revenue of $274 million, compared to revenue of $290 million for the first fiscal quarter 2005. Net income available to common stockholders in the first fiscal quarter 2006 was $2 million or $0.00 per diluted common share."
The PolyServe Distributed Performance Management System
PolyServe, Inc. has announced the enhanced PolyServe File Serving Utility for Linux. "The updated software package features a powerful performance dashboard tool, adding to the solution's advantages over isolated network attached storage (NAS) appliances. Enabled by PolyServe's shared data clustering software, the performance dashboard tracks performance on individual servers and aggregates this information across the cluster to provide critical real-time performance statistics."
New version of Project Open
]project-open[, a provider of open-source based project management software, has announced the release of Version 3.1 of ]project-consulting[. The new version includes several new modules and more then 100 detail improvements from customer rollouts.Announcing the samba4WINS Replicating WINS Server
The samba4WINS Replicating WINS Server has been announced. "Initiated by SerNet and sponsored by Computacenter, Fujitsu Siemens Computers (FSC) and LiSoG e.V. it became possible to develop a free software needed by many users: the replicating WINS server - samba4WINS. Due to this solution WINS server running with Windows in a lot of environments can be migrated to Linux."
Terra Soft Releases Y-HPC v1.1, Initiates Switch Campaign
Terra Soft Solutions has announced the release of version 1.1 of its Y-HPC Cluster Construction and Management Suite for G5 Xservers. "New to Y-HPC v1.1 is XCPU, a process management system for clusters divided into control nodes and compute nodes. XCPU incorporates a set of simple tools for starting cluster-wide processes wherein the control nodes migrate execution to the compute nodes via the '9p' process management service. The XCPU server is 'mounted' in much the same way NFS is mounted. In this regard, services provided by XCPU are available as files in a file system."
TimeSys Introduces Global Authorized Support and Service Partner Program
TimeSys has announced its new Global Authorized Support and Service Partner Program. "LinuxLink is the first commercial offering to support the majority of embedded Linux developers who build and assemble their own commercial-grade custom Linux platform. The ASSP program delivers comprehensive, native-language sales, support and value added-services to LinuxLink subscribers. ASSP program members participate in the Developer Exchange, which provides LinuxLink subscribers with access to interactive support from TimeSys, semiconductor companies and industry experts."
LinuxLink by TimeSys Gains Traction in Embedded Linux Market
TimeSys has sent out a status report on their LinuxLink Web-based resource for embedded Linux development. LinuxLink "..has achieved significant growth since its introduction in August, 2005. LinuxLink is an industry-changing delivery model, and the first commercial offering to support the majority of embedded developers who build and assemble their own commercial-grade custom Linux platform. The LinuxLink approach has been validated by embedded developers, semiconductor manufacturers and embedded solutions providers."
New Books
No Starch Press Releases "Write Great Code, Volume 2"
No Starch Press has published the book Write Great Code, Volume 2 by Randall Hyde.
Resources
Get to know Firebird in 2 minutes
Carlos H. Cantu has written a multilingual quick start document about the Firebird database, entitled "Get to know Firebird in 2 minutes". "If you are reading this paper, this is probably your first encounter with the Firebird RDBMS. This paper will present to you the main features of the Firebird database. At the end, I am sure you will be anxious to download its lightweight installer and try it out yourself."
Grid Computing Pros Weigh in on Security Issues
The Globus Consortium Journal for March 2006 features Grid security perspectives from a range of experts from both the open source and vendor community. Click below for the press release.Linux Gazette #124
The March edition of Linux Gazette is out. This edition has articles on Interfacing with the ISA Bus, by Abhishek Dutta, PyCon 2006 Dallas, by Mike Orr, Migrating a Mail Server to Postfix/Cyrus/OpenLDAP, by René Pfeiffer, Build a Six-headed, Six-user Linux System, by Bob Smith, plus the usual features.Absolute Basics For Setting Up Your Printing Network
The CUPS project has a new tutorial on setting up the cupsd.conf file for remote printing.Moglen and company on Sarbanes-Oxley
Recently, there have been allegations that violating the GPL could put a U.S. company (and its management) in violation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act - which was intended to address corporate governance issues. The Software Freedom Law Center has just put out a paper refuting these allegations. "The SFLC paper defines the realistic impact of a GPL violation as it could be applied under SOX. The SFLC paper points out that SOX generally applies only to public companies and that disclosure in a company's SEC reports is not necessary if a companys use of the license is immaterial to its business. It also states that companies that must comply with SOX bear the full cost of SOX compliance regardless of the licenses of the software they choose." Click below for the press release, or head over to the SFLC site for the full paper.
Contests and Awards
Extend Firefox Contest Winners Announced (MozillaZine)
MozillaZine mentions the winners of the Extend Firefox Contest. "The finalists were announced last month. Grand Prize Winners include Reveal, Web Developer and Firefox Showcase."
2005 LinuxQuestions.org Members Choice Award Winners
LinuxQuestions.org has announced the winners of its 2005 Members Choice Awards. Winners include Ubuntu, MySQL, OpenOffice.org, Firefox, and many more.
Education and Certification
LPI announces new affiliate for greater China region
The Linux Professional Institute will be offering its certification program in China. "The Linux Professional Institute (LPI), the world's premier Linux certification organization announced that it was making an additional investment in the Chinese market and surrounding region through the development of a "Master" affiliate for the region. This new organization will work closely with Chinese Linux professionals, the Open Source community and local software/hardware vendors and developers to increase the professional use of Linux and Open Source software through LPI's internationally-recognized certification programs."
Upcoming Events
BEA to Kick Off Fourth Annual Global Dev2Dev Days Seminar Series
BEA Systems, Inc. has announced the lineup for the fourth annual Dev2Dev Days seminar series. "This year's global seminars are slated to focus on the blending of commercial software and open source frameworks. The program, which is scheduled to kick off on March 21 in Washington D.C. and to conclude in Mexico City on May 4, is designed to provide an ideal forum for developers and some of the industry's best "liquid thinkers" to network and share the latest technology information and best practices to help them transform and optimize their business from the ground up."
Google, Oracle, Open Source Academy join FOSS Means Business
Google, Oracle and the Open Source Academy will be present at the FOSS Means Business conference in Belfast, Northern Ireland on March 16, 2006.Call for Papers - hack.lu 2006
A call for papers has gone out for hack.lu 2006. The event will take place in Luxembourg on October 19-21, 2006, abstracts are due by May 1. "The purpose of the hack.lu convention is to give an open and free playground where people can discuss the implication of new technologies in society. hack.lu is a balanced mix convention where technical and non-technical people can meet each others and share freely all kind of information."
PostgreSQL Anniversary Summit, Call for Contributions
A call for contributions has gone out for the PostgreSQL Anniversary Summit. The event will take place on July 8-9, 2006, in Toronto, Canada, submissions are due by March 31.Events: March 9 - May 4, 2006
| Date | Event | Location |
|---|---|---|
| March 9, 2006 | O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference(ETech) | (Manchester Grand Hyatt)San Diego, CA |
| March 9 - 10, 2006 | New Orleans Plone Symposium | (Astor Crowne Plaza)New Orleans, LA |
| March 16, 2006 | FOSS means Business | (Spires Conference Centre)Belfast, Northern Ireland |
| March 17 - 19, 2006 | Libre Graphics Meeting 2006 | (Ecole d'Ingénieurs CPE)Lyon, France |
| March 18 - 19, 2006 | Rockbox International Developers Conference 2006 | Stockholm, Sweden |
| March 19 - 24, 2006 | Novell BrainShare 2006 | (Salt Palace Convention Center)Salt Lake City, UT |
| March 21 - 23, 2006 | UKUUG Spring Conference 2006 | Durham, UK |
| March 25, 2006 | Penguin Day | Seattle, WA |
| March 25, 2006 | Bleepfest 06 | (Christchurch Spitalfields Crypt)London, England |
| March 29 - 31, 2006 | PHP Quebec 2006 | (Plaza Montreal Hotel)Montreal, Canada |
| April 3 - 6, 2006 | Embedded Systems Conference(ESC) | (McEnery Convention Center)San Jose, CA |
| April 3 - 7, 2006 | CanSecWest/core06 | (Marriott Renaissance Harbourside hotel)Vancouver, Canada |
| April 3 - 4, 2006 | Freedom To Connect 2006(FTC) | (AFI Silver Theater)Washington, DC |
| April 3 - 6, 2006 | LinuxWorld Conference and Expo | (Boston Convention and Exposition Center)Boston, MA |
| April 7 - 9, 2006 | Notocaon 3 | (Holiday Inn Select Cleveland)Cleveland, OH |
| April 11 - 12, 2006 | CELF Embedded Linux Conference | San Jose, California |
| April 15 - 16, 2006 | LayerOne 2006 | (Pasadena Hilton)Pasadena, California |
| April 19 - 22, 2006 | Forum Internacional Software Livre 7.0(FISL) | Porto Alegre, Brazil |
| April 19 - 20, 2006 | UK Python Conference | (Randolph Hotel)Oxford, England |
| April 20 - 22, 2006 | International Conference on Availability, Reliability and Security(AReS 2006) | Vienna, Austria |
| April 21 - 23, 2006 | Penguicon 4.0 | Livonia, Michigan |
| April 23 - 26, 2006 | ItaniumR Conference and Expo 2006(Gelato ICE) | San Jose, CA |
| April 24 - 26, 2006 | LinuxWorld & NetworkWorld Canada 2006 Conference & Expo | (Metro Toronto Convention Centre, North Bldg.)Toronto, Canada |
| April 24 - 27, 2006 | MySQL Users Conference | Santa Clara, CA |
| April 24 - 25, 2006 | 2006 Desktop Linux Summit | (Manchester Grand Hyatt)San Diego, CA |
| April 24 - 26, 2006 | SambaXP 2006 | (Clarion Parkhotel)Göttingen, Germany |
| April 26 - 28, 2006 | php|tek 2006 | (Orlando Airport Marriott Hotel)Orlando, FL |
| April 27 - 30, 2006 | Linux Audio Conference(LAC2006) | (ZKM)Karlsruhe, Germany |
| April 29, 2006 | Linuxfest Northwest 2006 | Bellingham, WA |
| April 29 - 30, 2006 | European Common Lisp Meeting 2006 | Hamburg, Germany |
| May 1 - 6, 2006 | DallasCon 2006 | (Richardson Hotel)Dallas, TX |
| May 3 - 6, 2006 | LinuxTag 2006 | (Rhein-Main-Hallen)Wiesbaden, Germany |
Web sites
LinuxMAO.org, a french Linux Audio Wiki
LinuxMAO.org is a new French language Wiki for Linux audio users. "In a rather humble than chauvinistic initiative, let's say it's a common wisdom french people do not speak english that fluently... ,-) Contributers are welcome!"
New Samba Wiki
A new Samba Wiki has been announced. "This new Samba wiki is available for both users and developers alike. The wiki provides a means for the Samba community to provide dynamic or temporary documentation or to provide other relevant information."
Audio and Video programs
Your GNOME Podcast (GnomeDesktop)
GnomeDesktop.org has announced the availability of the first GNOME Podcast. "The first episode of Your GNOME Podcast has been released! In this and future episodes, we'll be featuring current GNOME news, blasts from the past, interviews, reviews and feedback, as well as much more."
Page editor: Forrest Cook