Linux in the news

Meta-cycles: 2-3 year major cycles for free software? (Here Be Dragons)

It is well known that Mark Shuttleworth is a proponent of six-month development cycles. However, in this blog post he considers the larger changes which cannot be done in six months. "Six-month cycles are great. Now let's talk about meta-cycles: broader release cycles for major work. I'm very interested in a cross-community conversation about this, so will sketch out some ideas and then encourage people from as many different free software communities as possible to comment here. I'll summarise those comments in a follow-up post, which will no doubt be a lot wiser and more insightful than this one :-)"

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Alcatel-Lucent Networking Embraces Linux, NAC (internetnews.com)

internetnews.com reports that Alcatel-Lucent will switch its networking products' operating system from VxWorks to Linux. "AOS itself sits on top of an embedded operating system that Alcatel-Lucent uses on its switching gear. Currently, that operating system is VxWorks from Wind River, though that's set to change. Minka Nikolova, senior product manager at Alcatel-Lucent, told InternetNews.com that the plan is to shift from VxWorks to Linux by early next year. Nikolova argued that from a user point of view, customers won't know the difference, as the operating system underneath AOS will be transparent. That said, she did note that Linux will bring some new opportunities to AOS."

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Android destined for a set-top box? (LinuxDevices)

LinuxDevices looks at the expansion of Android into set-top boxes. "The Android version of the Au Box is destined for an October launch by Japanese carrier KDDI, and is supported by a new Japan-based Open Embedded Software Foundation (OESF) organization, according to a story in EETimes. The Au Box STB "will allow users to take their music and video content with them on the go by connecting to a handset or portable player," says the story. EETimes also reports that JVC is considering the development of a TV set based on the open-source, Linux/Java-based Android distribution."

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Running Linux Under Windows (LinuxLinks)

LinuxLinks takes a look at applications which let users run Linux and Windows at the same time on a single Windows machine. "Virtualization is the current boom in the software field. Each virtual machine has its own share of CPU, memory, network interfaces etc which is isolated from other virtual machines. This article selects the best no-charge virtualization software." (Thanks to Steve Emms)

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Burning the Ships: A Review (Linux Journal)

Linux Journal has a review of the book Burning the Ships: Intellectual Property and the Transformation of Microsoft by David Kline. "In a world where distinctions between open source and proprietary software are becoming increasingly irrelevant, what role can IP [Intellectual Property] play in facilitating greater collaboration with the industry for the benefit of business and customers alike? (167) While this quote appears near the end of Marshall Phelps and David Kline’s new book Burning the Ships: Intellectual Property and the Transformation of Microsoft, it does sum up nicely the thread that weaves through the book, a case study of how Microsoft reinvented itself and began leveraging its Intellectual Property for good (collaboration) instead of evil (punishment). Putting aside the rah rah Microsoft tone of the book for a moment, it is a good case study of how a company can leverage its IP successfully."

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OLPC XO 1.5 Laptop gets a new VIA processor (The H)

The H takes a look at the XO 1.5 laptop from the One Laptop Per Child project. "The current OLPC, the XO-1, uses an x86 Geode chip from Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). The XO-1.5 is based on the design of the XO-1, but will use a new VIA C7-M processor with clock ranges from 400MHz to 1GHz. The OLPC Tech Team's goal with the re-design is to match the XO-1 power consumption. The refreshed model will use the new VIA VX855 chipset that includes the memory interface, 3D graphics engine, USB, SDIO and video decoder on a single chip. The memory in the XO-1.5 has been increased to 1 GB of RAM and 4GB of flash storage, with an option for 8 GB."

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rBuilder Aims Cloud Computing Tool At Enterprise (InformationWeek)

InformationWeek covers the release of rBuilder v5. "RBuilder combines an application with an optimized version of its operating system and converts them into a set of virtual files. RBuilder has been used as a free online tool at the rPath site to build many Amazon Machine Images, the virtual file formats that run in Amazon's EC2 cloud, which uses the Xen open source hypervisor."

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Real-Time Messaging Middleware Integrated with Secure Linux (Embedded.com)

Embedded.com takes a look at Real-Time Innovations' RTI Data Distribution Service, real-time messaging middleware with Security-Enhanced Linux (SELinux). "According to Karl MacMillan, director of Core Technology at Tresys, this combination provides real-time and high-performance distributed applications with the ability to securely distribute data by combining RTI's high-performance network communications with the extremely flexible Mandatory Access Control (MAC) facilities of SELinux."

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Health Check: openSUSE - Then and now

The H looks at the health of the openSUSE distribution. "Through all these vicissitudes the openSUSE community has continued to produce a high class Linux distribution, which continues to receive plaudits, and appears to support a thriving and enthusiastic community, with busy forums and its own weekly news bulletin, which is widely read. The traditions of SuSE continue against the tide."

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