Linux in the news

Kernel comparison: Web serving on 2.4 and 2.6 (developerWorks)

developerWorks reports on IBM's kernel benchmarking work. "We've shown that, using a typical test scenario -- Apache/WPT on an 8-way SMP IBM xSeries system -- the Apache server has better scalability and performance on the 2.6 kernel compared to the 2.4 kernel. On the same system under the same workload, the Apache server with 2.6.0-test5 kernel more effectively used system resources and served 5 times more Web pages than the 2.4.18 kernel did."

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Red Hat CTO: Can Eclipse End 'Java Apartheid'? (eWeek)

eWeek covers an EclipseCon keynote by Red Hat CTO Michael Tiemann. "Tiemann also spoke of the divisiveness between the Java community and the open-source community, claiming that to be one reason Sun Microsystems Inc.'s NetBeans open-source development platform has not taken off and been accepted by as many developers as has the Eclipse open-source development platform."

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On the ALSA Track (Linux Journal)

The Linux Journal has posted an introduction to the ALSA sound system by Dave Phillips. "Like Linux itself, ALSA began with rather modest goals: Jaroslav [Kysela] simply wanted more out of his Gravis UltraSound soundcard than the existing API could deliver, and he was willing and able to meet the demands of the task. Like Linus Torvalds, Jaroslav eventually found himself at the center of a group of talented developers, all dedicated to the development of a superior audio API for Linux."

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Sun explains open source at EclipseCon (NewsForge)

Here is Joe Barr's latest report from EclipseCon. "Simon Phipps, formerly an IBM employee and for the last two years Chief Technology Evangelist for Sun Microsystems, gave his EclipseCon keynote address Thursday. As you might expect, he took exception to a couple of remarks from Wednesday morning's keynoter, Michael Tiemann of Red Hat. Phipps's talk was on "The Business of Open Source." It was interesting, almost a through-the-looking-glass experience, to hear a suit from Sun stand on a stage and try to explain open source to an audience of mostly proprietary developers. It should be noted that the ballroom where the keynote was given was not far from Disney's Fantasyland."

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Leave poor SCO alone... the poor little lambs (Inquirer)

The Inquirer has a long and cynical article on SCO's legal and press campaigns. "Smart money says that SCO will walk out of the courtroom today clutching their backsides, unable to sit down for weeks because of the chewing out they get. Emergency rooms around the world will be filled with people if SCO produces what it claims to have, and people will be so stunned they fall over and hit their heads. Personally, I expect nothing, or at least nothing said, in volumes of obfuscation. With that background, imagine the odds of SCO taking today to launch what appears to be a very lucrative set of claims against IBM. Golly. I would say it is without precedent, but it isn't."

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Perth company gives SCO Australia deadline (The Age)

The Age covers Leon Brooks's ongoing challenge to SCO's claims. A new letter has been sent by registered mail: "'Take notice that such claims are fraudulent, and unless they are retracted as publicly as they were made, CyberKnights Pty Ltd will vigorously pursue a conviction of fraud against TSG-ANZ,' it said."

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Novell/SUSE Saga Part II (KDE.News)

KDE.News covers details from the recent Novell/SUSE deal. "As a followup to our previous Novell/SUSE article, we have further good news. Following the completion of the acquisition of SUSE by Novell, SUSE CEO Richard Seibt, who had previously expressed a strong commitment to KDE, has been promoted to president of Novell-EMEA and is now in a position to not only to maintain SUSE's strong KDE support but also to help deploy it more widely around the world."

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German finance unit chooses Linux (News.com)

News.com is carrying a Reuters article on another European governmental shift toward Linux. "IBM said that the finance ministry department, which is responsible for paying public sector employees and for managing certain taxes, installed two large IBM mainframe computers that run both IBM's operating system and Linux." Of course, the article also carries the obligatory SCO paragraph.

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Munich Open Source Plows Ahead (Wired)

Wired takes a look at the difficulties encountered by the Munich administration as it switches over to free software. "Reports in Computerwoche also stated that local vendors who currently code applications for the city were experiencing problems in developing applications for the open-source operating system, since they are more familiar with Windows than Linux. Munich may opt to install an emulation program on city workers' computers that will allow Windows applications to run on Linux."

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Lindows.com wins one

Here's another press release from Lindows.com on its ongoing trademark battle with Microsoft. The company states that it has won a ruling in U.S. District Court that "windows" is a generic term and that no amount of marketing can change that. The fight now moves up to the appeals court level.

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Another set of FOSDEM interviews

The FOSDEM organizers have posted three more interviews with people who will be speaking at the event. They are Bill Haneman (on GOK and accessibility), Matthias Brossard (Cryptonit), and Dave Cross (Perl).

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Automating Security with GNU cfengine (Linux Journal)

Linux Journal looks at the sysadmin tool, cfengine. "Once cfengine is installed (from www.cfengine.org) and running, making changes to your group of systems becomes almost as easy as changing a single system. This gives you more time to decide what to do and how to do it, something that remains the primary responsibility of an administrator to this day."

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Introduction to the Firebird Database (Linux Journal)

Linux Journal takes a look at the Firebird database. "Firebird originally started its life as the Borland InterBase database. As the product reached version 6.0, Borland decided Borland the product was going to be aged out, and so the code was released under an open-source license. Later on, however, Borland apparently had a change of mind about aging out the product. To this day, internally, Borland continues to develop the InterBase database, with the latest version being 7.1. Firebird 1.0 essentially was the open-source code behind InterBase 6.0. As of this writing, the first major development effort of the Firebird branch is Firebird 1.5."

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Review of Mozilla Firefox 0.8 from the Perspective of a Galeon User (MozillaZine)

MozillaZine points to this article by Dave Whitinger, reviewing Mozilla Firefox 0.8. "Has Mozilla Firefox finally broken the speed and stability barriers in order to bring about a browser change to this long-time Galeon user? After all this time, Firefox finally won me over and caused me to change my regular web browser."

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KDE is so cool because... (NewToLinux)

NewToLinux.org has a series of articles looking at different features in KDE. So far there are three complete articles: Managing Websites, Extending Konqueror with View Profiles, and Using KPrinter in Any App.

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