Linux in the news
Recommended Reading
Felten: RIAA on proposed DMCA exemptions
A couple of groups have asked the U.S. Copyright Office to make a DMCA exemption allowing the removal of DRM software which creates security problems. Now Ed Felten (one of the people involved in these requests) looks at the RIAA's response. "And here's the really amazing part. In order to protect their ability to deploy this dangerous DRM, they want the Copyright Office to withhold from users permission to uninstall DRM software that actually does threaten critical infrastructure and endanger lives. If past rulemakings are a good predictor, it's more likely than not that the Copyright Office will rule in their favor."
Will open spectrum be allowed? (ZDNet)
Dana Blankenhorn covers a report by the Progress & Freedom Foundation that seeks to hold back changes to the way radio frequencies are allocated. "The powerful Progress & Freedom Foundation, which is heavily funded by the Bell companies, Microsoft, and other members of the proprietary software and content space, has issued a report that says (surprise) unlicensed, open spectrum is dangerous and should be rejected, in favor of selling it all to the highest bidder."
See the Open Spectrum FAQ for more information on the Open Spectrum effort.
Trade Shows and Conferences
The Intention Economy (Linux Journal)
Linux Journal's Doc Searls covers discussions on the Attention Economy at the O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference. "Is "The Attention Economy" just another way for advertisers to skewer eyeballs? And why build an economy around Attention, when Intention is where the money comes from? That's the question at the front of my mind as I hear one speaker after another struggle to cast light on "The Attention Economy", which is the theme of this year's eTech conference, where I am sitting in an audience, writing this, right now."
For more eTech coverage, see Dan Farber's blog at ZDNet.
Red Hat enters state of Xen (Register)
The Register reports from Red Hat's Xen press conference. "Red Hat's conversion to virtualization comes as rival Novell prepares to release SuSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 10, which also features a Xen hypervisor. Novell, hosting its annual BrainShare jamboree next week in Utah's Salt Lake City, is expected to beat Red Hat out of the virtualization blocks by shipping SLES 10 this spring."
Companies
NSW Govt may move tens of thousands of desktops to Linux (IT Wire)
IT Wire covers a deal between Novell and the government of New South Wales, Australia that could put Linux on thousands of desktops. "Paul Kangro, a systems engineer and Linux specialist, is one of a team of three technologists worldwide at Novell who help customers understand the company's technology from an architectural perspective. He played a key role in helping Novell achieve the Linux deal, which will encourage NSW Government agencies to buy open source solutions."
Mandriva Fires Founder (Linux-Watch)
Linux Watch reports that Gaël Duval has been laid off by Mandriva in response to yet another cash crunch. Gaël is the person who created the original Mandrake Linux distribution. "Mandriva also announced that Jacques Le Marois has stepped down as chairman of the board, and that he has nominated current CEO Francois Bancilhon as chairman."
Legal
DUI Defense Lawyers Challenge Breath Test (Yahoo.com)
Associated Press Writer Curt Anderson reports that closed source alcohol breath analysis tests don't hold up in court. "The company that makes the Intoxilyzer refused to reveal the computer source code for its machine because it was a trade secret. A county judge tossed out Muldowny's alcohol breath test -- a crucial piece of evidence in a DUI case -- and the ruling was upheld by an appeals court in 2004." (Thanks to Philip Webb)
Interviews
Linux Licensing (Forbes)
Forbes talks with Linus Torvalds about GPLv3. "For example, the GPLv2 in no way limits your use of the software. If you're a mad scientist, you can use GPLv2'd software for your evil plans to take over the world ('Sharks with lasers on their heads!!'), and the GPLv2 just says that you have to give source code back. And that's OK by me. I like sharks with lasers. I just want the mad scientists of the world to pay me back in kind. I made source code available to them, they have to make their changes to it available to me. After that, they can fry me with their shark-mounted lasers all they want."
Alexander Neundorf (People Behind KDE)
The People Behind KDE have an interview with Alexander Neundorf. "In what ways do you make a contribution to KDE? Being booth staff on events, writing code and recently working on the build system. Back in the KDE 2 days I worked on the directory views of Konqueror, the first working samba ioslave (which has been replaced by a libsmb-based variant), a not-really-working nfs-ioslave (which needs a maintainer), LAN browsing (which will hopefully be replaced by the dnssd stuff) and bugfixing here and there. Recently I worked a bit on KDevelop and implemented a project file generator for KDevelop in cmake." (Found on KDE.News)
KDE and Business: Intevation Interview (KDE.News)
KDE.News presents an interview of Bernhard Reiter and Bernhard Herzog. "In the first in a series of articles, KDE Dot News will cover businesses with past and present involvement that are vital to KDE's ongoing success. Today, we interview Bernhard Reiter and Bernhard Herzog of Intevation, a company that has long been helpful with KDE application development and quality assurance."
Resources
An Introduction to awk (Linux Journal)
By Jos Nazario looks at awk in a Linux Journal article. "The awk programming language often gets overlooked for Perl, which is a more capable language. Out in the real world, however awk is found even more ubiquitously than Perl. It also has a smaller learning curve than Perl does, and awk can be used almost everywhere in system monitoring scripts, where efficiency is key. This brief tutorial is designed to help you get started in awk programming."
Fine-Tuning Kubuntu (O'ReillyNet)
O'ReillyNet tweaks a standard Kubuntu install. "There is no option during installation to configure a firewall, and Kubuntu includes no graphical firewall configurators. Kubuntu installs with no open ports, so strictly speaking it doesn't need one. A running service, like a web or mail server, creates an open port. No open ports means nothing to attack. While this viewpoint is valid, I think it's a bit shortsighted, because hardly any installation remains unmodified. Also, no matter how careful you are with application-level security and strong passwords and such, layered defenses are good and protect you from your own mistakes. About the only reasons not to set up a firewall are if your PC was not connected to any other networks, or you had an external firewall."
Implementing a Postfix mail server with spam and antivirus protection (Linux.com)
Linux.com presents a tutorial on setting up a complete Linux-based email system. "Building a complete email system with spam and antivirus protection is not as hard as you might think. This guide will walk you through installing and configuring everything you need for sending and receiving email, filtering spam, and scanning for viruses in email. For our system, we'll use the Postfix mail transport agent (MTA); Dovecot, a secure, open source IMAP and POP3 server for Linux/Unix-like systems; SquirrelMail, a standards-based Webmail package written in PHP 4; SpamAssassin, a powerful open source spam filter; and ClamAV, a GPLed virus scanner."
My sysadmin toolbox (Linux.com)
Brent Durksen covers his favorite tools in this edition. "I maintain a Web server using Apache 2, PHP, Perl, MySQL, and OpenSSL; an IMAP server running the up-and-coming RoundCube Webmail client; and a server for streaming MP3s. GNU Emacs, OpenSSH, TightVNC, and netstat are just a few of the tools I use to maintain my servers."
Reviews
Novell Offers Details on SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 (eWeek)
eWeek takes a look at Novell's upcoming SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop (SLED) 10. "In Novell's favor is the fact that the SUSE desktop will be out and in the market long before Windows Vista is released. It also has integrated search, good usability and rich technology solutions like its F-Spot photo-management tool, which will have more functionality than the photo-management tool in Windows, Mancusi-Ungaro said."
rPath Creates Malleable, Serviceable Linux Distribution (IT Jungle)
IT Jungle has published a look at rPath Linux and the business behind it. "Imagine if you could build your own Linux distribution, all the way up to the systems and applications software stack, and punish someone else with grabbing the current source code from the open source projects, testing it, and integrating it with your solution. This is what the founders of rPath have imagined, and what its rPath Linux and rBuilder tool do."
Second Life released for Linux (NewsForge)
NewsForge covers the release of a Linux version of Second Life. "Fans of the online virtual world Second Life can now connect from Linux machines. Linden Lab, creator of Second Life, recently launched a public test of the Linux client, sporting the same feature set and interface as the Windows and Mac OS X versions. The download and membership are free, so there is no excuse for not taking a look. If you were ever jealous of the exciting world your Sims live in, now you have the opportunity to get a taste of their experience firsthand."
Miscellaneous
Firefox to get phishing shield (ZDNet)
ZDNet reports that the Firefox browser is scheduled to get some new anti-phishing technology. "The phishing shield is a key new security feature planned for Firefox 2, slated for release in the third quarter of this year, Mozilla's Mike Shaver said in an interview Tuesday. "Everybody understands that phishing is a significant problem on the Web," said Shaver, a technology strategist at the company, which oversees Firefox development. "We are putting antiphishing into Firefox, and Google is working with us on that.""
Public broadcaster launches open source software portal (NewsForge)
NewsForge covers PubForge. "North Country Public Radio (NCPR), a 27-station network based in Canton, New York, launched PubForge on February 20. The site is to act as a center for free and open source software (FOSS) for public broadcasters. Dale Hobson, Web manager for NCPR, says bringing this information together in one place, and making it easily available, should help public broadcasters make better use of the Web through site automation."
Rewrite SUSE to Conform to Debian (LXer)
Tom Adelstein thinks SUSE should be more like Debian. "SUSE does almost everything differently than any other Linux distribution. Before Novell purchased SUSE, I had many opportunities to discuss SUSE's business model. They considered differentiation a market advantage. Market differentiation might make sense in a business school, but it makes no sense in the real world. Adherence to standards makes more sense in the free software world. Branding arises in Internet commerce as the result of communities of interest."
Page editor: Forrest Cook
Next page:
Announcements>>