Announcements
Non-Commercial announcements
John Backus dies
John Backus, the creator of the Fortran programming language, has passed on. There is an obituary in the New York Times. "In an interview several years ago, Ken Thompson, who developed the Unix operating system at Bell Labs in 1969, observed that '95 percent of the people who programmed in the early years would never have done it without Fortran.'"
Ardour joins the Google Summer of Code
The Ardour multi-track audio workstation project has joined the 2007 Google Summer of Code. "Last year we had several great projects, a great time and both got some work done and brought some new developers onto the team. Let's repeat that this year!"
Beagle participation in Summer of Code
The Beagle desktop search project will take place in the Google Summer of Code. "The application process has just begun, and students have until March 24th to submit their applications."
CLAM at the 2007 Google Summer of Code
The CLAM audio project will be participating in the 2007 Google's Summer of Code. "We are very excited to offer a number of ideas that would benefit CLAM now that it is about to reach its 1.0 release. We also encourage you to propose new ideas if you feel none of the ones offered by the CLAM team suits your profile or interests."
gEDA in the Google Summer of Code
The gEDA electronic design and analysis project will participate in the 2007 Google Summer of Code. "Now is the time for interested students to get their applications ready. Note that if you want to participate in the SoC, you must apply to Google, not to the gEDA Project. However, prior to making an application to Google, I suggest you contact one of us (Dan, Stuart) who can informally review your project proposal, and suggest a mentor for your project."
GNOME in Google Summer of Code 2007 (GnomeDesktop)
GnomeDesktop.org has announced the GNOME participation in the 2007 Google Summer of Code. "If you are a student and you want to apply, you can submit your project before March 24th. You can find some ideas for projects on our wiki."
KDE participating in Google Summer of Code 2007 (KDE.News)
KDE.News reminds KDE contributors to sign up for the 2007 Google Summer of Code. "As usual, we are looking for mentors and students to take us singing through the summer. Whether you have been part of the program in previous years or not, we need your help and fantastic ideas! If you're a developer: Make sure that your project ideas are listed on the ideas page. Consider applying as a mentor and guiding a student and help KDE budding programmers break into the development world. If you're a student: Get started on your ideas!"
OpenMRS to Participate in Google Summer of Code (LinuxMedNews)
LinuxMedNews has announced participation by the OpenMRS project in the 2007 Google Summer of Code. "Computer science students, need a summer job? Have you ever imagined that writing code could save lives? Why not apply to OpenMRS for the Google Summer of Code 2007?"
The PHP.net Google Summer of Code
The PHP project will join the Google Summer of Code. "The PHP team is once again proud to participate in the Google Summer of Code, and we are still looking for project ideas from interested students. In case you want to spend the summer with your favorite Open Source project, PHP, and get some money for adding an interesting project to it, you should contact us at internals@php.net. The deadline for submitting ideas is the 24th of March, 2007. Also, the current list of ideas includes suggested topics still looking for student participants."
Scribus participating in Google Summer of Code 2007
The Scribus project has announced its participation in the 2007 Google Summer of Code. Student participation is being requested.Sparse participating in Google Summer of Code
The Sparse semantic parser project will participate in the 2007 Google Summer of Code. "Google has accepted Sparse as a mentoring organization for Summer of Code 2007. Interested students can propose work on Sparse-related projects, work on those projects over the summer, and receive a stipend from Google for their work. Student application deadline: March 24th".
Zope Foundation participates in Google summer of code
The Zope Foundation has announced plans to participate in the Google Summer of Code. "We're very excited about this opportunity and we are looking for interested students who would like to participate."
GNOME Foundation Retains Software Freedom Law Center
The Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC) has announced the addition of a new client, the GNOME Foundation. "As a client of SFLC, the GNOME Foundation can receive advice regarding a variety of legal issues, including patent and trademark issues. "GNOME is one of the most important projects for everyday users of free software systems," said James Vasile, SFLC Counsel. "I am pleased to welcome the GNOME Foundation as SFLC's client.""
Commercial announcements
Collax announces software development kit
Collax has announced the release of its Software Development Kit product. "The SDK offers a comprehensive collection of development tools, interfaces (Application Programming Interfaces; APIs) and documentation enabling software manufacturers to either develop their applications on top of the Collax Solution Platform, or to integrate existing applications into the platform via the graphical maintenance user interface, the Collax GUI. Saving both development effort and time, Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) and software companies can now build and market their own Linux-based server solutions."
Koders Professional Edition public beta program announced
Koders, Inc. has announced a public beta of Koders Professional Edition. "The beta program gives developers a free trial opportunity to experience the company's new code search tool firsthand. Koders Professional Edition allows developers to instantly search local source code to more efficiently create new applications. Participation in the public beta program, which includes a download of the newly-developed code search application, is free with registration at the Koders website."
Linspire to Deliver CrossOver Linux 6.0 via CNR
Linspire, Inc. has announced the availability of CrossOver Linux 6.0 via the CNR one-click digital software delivery service. "CrossOver Linux has become an essential productivity utility for millions of Linux users around the world by supporting the seamless, dependable installation and operation of scores of top-name Windows applications natively within Linux."
The Linux Foundation needs a new CTO
The Linux Foundation is looking for a new chief technology officer to replace the recently-departed Ian Murdock. "This is a hands-on role with high visibility in both the community of interest and the IT industry. The CTO is expected to not only lead the engineering teams , but also constructively contribute to resolving standards issues, including me diating between interested parties to broker widely accepted solutions." Click below for the full job description.
Mandriva and Seanodes sign a partnership agreement
Mandriva has announced a partnership with Seanodes. "Mandriva has become a strategic partner for Seanodes, with two main areas of co-operation: - availability of Seanodes' Shared Internal Storage (SIS) solution in Mandriva Corporate Server 4; - global technical partnership between Mandriva and Seanodes on virtualization solutions. This new partnership will provide a low cost storage solution both for high performance computing and virtualized environments."
Open Sound System 4.0 released
Version 4.0 of the Open Sound System (OSS) is out with a number of new features. "Open Sound System is a cross platform audio architecture that provides drivers for most consumer and professional audio devices and comes with an API that allows applications to be simply recompiled on any of the supported operating systems."
Postbank Selects Novell
Novell, Inc. has announced a planned switch to Novell Open Enterprise Server by Deutsche Postbank AG. "Postbank will replace all of BHW Holding's Microsoft* Windows* 2000 servers with Novell Open Enterprise Server in 2007. In addition, 3,500 BHW office staff and 4,500 field staff will switch to Novell GroupWise(R) from Microsoft Exchange, joining 9,000 Postbank employees who are using GroupWise for secure e-mail and collaboration. Novell ZENworks(R) will also take over desktop management for BHW office staff, replacing CA* Unicenter*. Novell Consulting(R) will support Postbank through the entire migration."
Novell launches ZENworks Configuration Management
Novell, Inc. has announced the launch of the Novell ZENworks Configuration Management system. "Novell today introduced a new solution to significantly ease desktop management of Windows operating systems, including Vista, for customers who need streamlined management in their Microsoft and Novell environments. With native integration for both Microsoft* Active Directory* and Novell(R) eDirectory(TM), Novell ZENworks(R) Configuration Management is the first product on the market to enable real-time, identity-based systems management that speeds service delivery and ensures accurate desktop configuration."
SWsoft Virtuozzo Bundled with SUSE Linux
SWsoft will be packaging its virtualization solution with SUSE Linux Enterprise. "SWsoft will deliver Virtuozzo server virtualization software bundled with SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 from Novell as an integrated solution and one place to turn for support."
UndoDB gets smarter
Undo Ltd. has announced new features for the UndoDB smart debugger: "Reversible debugger for Linux gets support for threads and signals."
Virtual Bridges announces major update of Win4Lin Pro
Virtual Bridges has announced the release of a major upgrade to Win4Lin Pro. Win4Lin Pro Desktop allows Linux users to run Windows applications from the security of the Linux desktop.Xandros News From Cebit Germany
Xandros has made two announcements at the CEBIT conference: "New Xandros Linux Server to Provide Enterprise-Grade O3Spaces OpenDocument Collaboration and Xandros and O3Spaces Team Up to Deliver OpenDocument Collaboration, Management and Retention".
Resources
Quality Improvement in Free Software: Release Management
Martin Michlmayr is getting close to the completion of his PhD; his thesis, it seems, is on quality improvement in free software projects with an emphasis on release management. To that end, he studied seven projects to see what problems they encountered and how those problems have been addressed. Martin has now posted a summary of his findings for each project he studied: Debian, GCC, GNOME, the Linux kernel, OpenOffice.org, Plone, and X.org. "[GNOME's] six month schedule has been successful in the delivery of incremental updates. There are some concerns whether this release cycle makes the project less innovative and ambitious regarding major changes that would lead to GNOME 3.0."
Surveys
Konsole Usage Survey (KDE.News)
KDE.News has announced the Konsole Usage Survey. "Robert Knight, lead maintainer of Konsole has launched a Konsole Usage Survey. 28 questions are waiting for your answers. Use this chance to give useful feedback about a vital and often-used base application of KDE to enable Robert to make Konsole the best console application for KDE 4."
Calls for Presentations
Call For Papers - IT Underground Dublin
A call For papers has gone out for the IT Underground security conference. The event will take place in Dublin, Ireland on June 20-22, 2007, submissions are due by April 28.
Upcoming Events
NLUUG springconference 2007
Registration has opened for the NLUUG springconference 2007. "On May 10th the NLUUG (formerly Unix Users Group the Netherlands) will organise a conference about virtualisation. The program has been finalised and is available at http://www.nluug.nl/events/vj07/. Some highlights of the program are Joanna Rutkowska (Blue Pill), Anil Madhavapeddy (Xensource) and Avi Kivity (Qumranet). Specifically for non-Dutch speakers there will always be at least one talk in English in each timeslot."
Join EFF at 16th Annual Pioneer Awards at ETech
The Electronic Frontier Foundation will be involved with the presentation of the Pioneer Awards at the 2007 O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference. "Please join the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) for the 16th Annual Pioneer Awards, presented in conjunction with the O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference in San Diego. The ceremony will be held at 7:30pm, March 27th, in the Douglas Room of the Manchester Grand Hyatt. The 2007 winners of EFF's Pioneer Awards are Professor Yochai Benkler of Yale Law School, writer and Boing Boing co-editor Cory Doctorow, and security technologist Bruce Schneier."
Spanish GUADEC to be held in Granada (GnomeDesktop)
GnomeDesktop.org has announced the Spanish GUADEC conference, it will take place on July 12-13, 2007 in Granada, Spain. "Next GUADEC-ES (Spanish GUADEC) will be held in Granada, the most beautiful city I've ever visited, with one of the wonders of the world, the palace of La Alhambra. And not only that, but going around Granada for tapas is one of the best (and cheapest) experience, since you just have to pay for the drinks, the food is for free (a tradition unfortunately lost in other cities of Spain)."
Events: March 29, 2007 to May 28, 2007
The following event listing is taken from the LWN.net Calendar.
| Date(s) | Event | Location |
|---|---|---|
| March 26 March 29 |
Emerging Technology Conference | San Diego, CA, USA |
| April 1 April 4 |
International Lisp Conference 2007 | Cambridge, England |
| April 1 April 5 |
Embedded Systems Conference | San Jose, CA, USA |
| April 1 | GPLv3: Improving a Great Licence (discussion draft 3) | Brussels, Belgium |
| April 2 April 6 |
DJango Bootcamp | Atlanta, Georgia, USA |
| April 2 April 5 |
Hack in The Box Security Conference 2007 | Dubai, United Arab Emirates |
| April 3 April 8 |
Make Art 2007 | Poitiers, France |
| April 12 April 14 |
International Free Software Forum (Forum Internacional Software Livre) | Porto Alegre, Brazil |
| April 14 April 15 |
Ruby and Python Conference 2007 | Poznan, Poland |
| April 15 April 18 |
Gelato ICE: Itanium® Conference & Expo | San Jose, California, USA |
| April 17 April 19 |
Embedded Linux Conference | San Jose, USA |
| April 18 April 20 |
CanSecWest Applied Security Conference 2007 | Vancouver, Canada |
| April 19 | Linux 2007 | Lisbon, Portugal |
| April 19 | Power Architecture Software Summit | Austin, TX, USA |
| April 20 April 22 |
International Conference on Availability, Reliability and Security Conference on Availability, Reliability and Security | Vienna, Austria |
| April 20 April 22 |
Penguicon 5.0 Open Source Software & Science Fiction Convention | Troy, Michigan, USA |
| April 21 | Romanian Open Source Development Meeting | Bucharest, Romania |
| April 23 April 25 |
Samba eXPerience 2007 | Göttingen, Germany |
| April 23 April 27 |
PostgreSQL Bootcamp at the Big Nerd Ranch | Atlanta, USA |
| April 23 April 26 |
MySQL Conference and Expo | Santa Clara, CA, USA |
| April 28 April 29 |
Linuxfest Northwest | Bellingham, WA, USA |
| May 3 May 4 |
Ubuntu Education Summit | Sevilla, Spain |
| May 3 May 5 |
SugarCRM Global Developer Conference | San Jose, CA, USA |
| May 4 May 6 |
Libre Graphics Meeting 2007 | Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
| May 5 May 6 |
LayerOne Security Conference | Pasadena, CA, USA |
| May 5 | Ubucon - Sevilla | Sevilla, Spain |
| May 6 May 11 |
Ubuntu Developer Summit | Sevilla, Spain |
| May 7 | CommunityOne | San Francisco, CA, USA |
| May 8 May 9 |
World Summit on Intrusion Prevention | Baltimore, MD, USA |
| May 8 May 11 |
Annual Java Technology Conference | San Francisco, CA, USA |
| May 8 May 11 |
OSHCA 2007 | Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia |
| May 9 May 11 |
Red Hat Summit | San Diego, CA, USA |
| May 10 May 11 |
IEEE International Workshop on Open Source Test Technology Tools | Berkeley, CA, USA |
| May 10 | NLUUG Spring Conference 2007 | Ede, The Netherlands |
| May 11 May 13 |
Conferenze Italiana sul Software Libero | Cosenza, Italy |
| May 12 May 13 |
KOffice ODF Weekend | Berlin, Germany |
| May 14 May 25 |
The Pure Data Spring School 2007 | Glasgow, Scotland |
| May 16 May 18 |
php|tek | Chicago, IL, USA |
| May 17 May 20 |
RailsConf 2007 | Portland, Oregon |
| May 18 May 19 |
eLiberatica Open Source and Free Software Conference | Brasov, Romania |
| May 18 May 19 |
FreedomHEC | Los Angeles, CA |
| May 18 May 19 |
BSDCan 2007 | Ottawa, Canada |
| May 19 May 20 |
The 3rd International Workshop on Software Engineering for Secure Systems | Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA |
| May 19 May 20 |
Rockbox International Developers Conference 2007 | Stockholm, Sweden |
| May 19 | Grazer LinuxDays 2007 | Graz, Austria |
| May 19 May 20 |
Make Magazine Maker Faire 2007 | San Mateo, CA, USA |
| May 19 | Linuxwochen Austria - Graz | Graz, Austria |
| May 21 May 23 |
International PHP 2007 Conference | Stuttgart, Germany |
| May 21 May 25 |
Python Bootcamp with David Beazley | Atlanta, USA |
| May 22 May 23 |
Open Source Business Conference | San Francisco, USA |
| May 22 May 24 |
Linux Days 2007, Geneva | Geneva, Switzerland |
| May 23 May 24 |
PGCon 2007 | Ottawa, ON, Canada |
| May 25 | Linuxwochen Austria - Krems | Krems, Austria |
| May 26 | PAKCON III | Karachi, Pakistan |
If your event does not appear here, please tell us about it.
Event Reports
Report from the 2007 O'Reilly Emerging Telephony Conference
O'Reilly has sent out a wrapup from the 2007 O'Reilly Emerging Telephony Conference (ETel). "A number of events took place during the conference including ETel Launch Pad, where seven companies demonstrated their groundbreaking start-ups and innovative technologies to the telephony community. Participating companies were GrandCentral Communications, Peerant, Flat Planet Phone Co., Cellcrypt, mySay, Jive Software, and Mig33. ETel Launch Pad was co-sponsored by GigaOm, Covad, and GrandCentral and hosted by Om Malik and Surj Patel. Another event of interest was the telephony mashup contest, co-sponsored by StrikeIron, Tellme, Sylantro, and O'Reilly."
Novell's BrainShare 2007 announcements
Novell's BrainShare 2007 conference is in full swing, bringing with it a stack of press releases. This press release contains an overview of the announcements, which can be found here.KDE at CeBIT 2007 This Week (KDE.News)
KDE.News covers the KDE project at CeBIT. "The KDE Project will present itself at CeBIT, the world's largest computer trade show, taking place in Hannover, Germany, from March 16th to March 21th. KDE will be presenting the latest release KDE 3.5 and give a preview of current developments for KDE 4, the next major KDE-version."
Audio and Video programs
Video: What's Wrong With My iPod?
Benjamin Mako Hill has put up an announcement of an 8-minute video called "What's Wrong With My iPod?" It discusses the problems with DRM and covers the "iRony" party held last year in Cambridge where iPods were liberated through the installation of iPodLinux or Rockbox. It's available in Ogg Theora format.
Page editor: Forrest Cook