Linux in the news
Recommended Reading
The BBC seeks escape from patent minefield (InfoWorld)
Here's an InfoWorld article on the BBC's efforts to create an open-source, patent-free multimedia codec. "The obvious losers in that kind of deal are open source projects, which often are but loosely knit groups of individuals in no position to pay any kind of fee, no matter how 'reasonable.' But potential users of those projects lose, as well. Consider the growing number of people in the developing world who rely on open source for all their computing needs, and you'll see how patent-encumbered technologies do not pose a long-term solution for a media organization with a mission similar to the BBC's."
Vendors Team on Debian-Based Enterprise Linux (eWeek)
eWeek looks at plans for a new collaborative distribution effort that will be based on Debian. "Sources close to Mandriva, Progeny and Turbolinux say the trio of companies will be announcing a new enterprise Linux distribution based on Debian Linux at the LinuxWorld event in San Francisco in August. This new enterprise distribution, which may include other companies as well, will be built on the foundation of the Debian 3.1 "Sarge" Linux distribution."
Spammers Most Likely Users Of E-Mail Authentication (TechWeb)
TechWeb reports that, as expected by many, email authentication schemes have done little for the spam problem. "MX Logic tracked a sampling of 17.7 million messages that passed through its servers from June 19 through June 25, and found that of the 9 percent from domains with published SPF records, 84 percent was spam. Of the even smaller number of messages from domains with published Sender ID records (just 0.14 percent), 83 percent were spam."
The SCO Problem
New trial date in IBM-SCO case (News.com)
News.com covers the new trial date in the IBM vs. SCO case. "U.S. District Court Judge Dale Kimball reset the trial date to Feb. 26, 2007, in SCO's lengthy and contentious legal battle against IBM, which focuses on allegations that the computer maker infringed on SCO's intellectual property. Previously, the trial was scheduled to begin on Nov. 1."
Companies
LimeWire: Open source brings commercial success (NewsForge)
NewsForge looks at the business behind LimeWire, an open source Gnutella client. "On the development side, LimeWire LLC engages open source developers by paying bounties for features. Small bounties, listed as being 'good for beginners,' pay $50; medium bounties, 'good for learning the intricacies of the code,' pay $200; and large bounties, for projects that are 'difficult, but very useful,' pay $500."
Microsoft Surprises with Linux 'Hands-On Lab' (eWeek)
eWeek reports on a hands-on Linux lab conducted by Microsoft at its annual worldwide partner show. "Titled "Linux and Open Source: Understanding the Competitive Challenge," and run by Don Johnson, an electrical engineer from Techstream Inc., the lab let attendees, many of whom were not familiar with Linux, experiment with KDE (K Desktop Environment) as well as see the Apache Web server in action. In addition, Johnson, who has been a system administrator and is familiar with both Microsoft and open-source solutions, gave them an overview of some Linux concepts and what he believed were the key tradeoffs between Windows and Linux. However, it was clear that his bias lay firmly on the Windows side for the most part."
Business
Database vendors eye open-source effect (News.com)
News.com examines the effect of open source offerings on the database market. "But the effects of open-source pricing and products are already being felt, according to Noel Yuhanna, an analyst at Forrester Research. 'The pressure is on and is starting to build up,' Yuhanna said. Established database vendors 'will be lowering prices in large deals, probably offering more discounts just from the pressure of open source.'"
Legal
Re-grokking Grokster (Linux Journal)
Linux Journal's Doc Searls examines the effect of the MGM v. Grokster ruling on the spread of new technology. "Mark Cuban, for example, is an exceptionally innovative American individual who works on both sides of the Entertainment/Technology fence. From Broadcast.com to the Dallas Mavericks to HDnet to his own TV show, Mark knows how the games are played and has played them all very well. He's smart, shrewd and nobody's fool.* At the Web 2.0 conference last fall, he said, "When you're sitting around a table at a tough negotiation, you need to look around and see who the sucker is. If you don't find one, it's you.""
The coming Web security woes (News.com)
Here's a News.com article (from last week) on a proposed new U.S. data security law. "Anyone who runs a Web site with registered users and receives income from it (Blogads and Google Ads count) should be concerned. The Specter-Leahy bill says that if that site's list of user IDs or e-mail addresses is compromised, each registered user must be notified via U.S. mail or telephone. Refusal to do so can be punished with $55,000-a-day fines and prison time of up to five years." How many such sites even have postal mail addresses or phone numbers for their users?
Interviews
Ian Murdock on the Debian Core Consortium and Ubuntu Foundation (ZDNet)
ZDNet talks with Ian Murdock about the Debian Core Consortium and Ubuntu. "Debian is increasingly just another upstream source for [Ubuntu]. Personally, I think this is a huge mistake on their part-sure, they have lots of momentum, but that's largely because Debian seemed to be faltering for a little while. But now that sarge is out there, the real momentum is behind Debian again, though Ubuntu still has momentum on the desktop side. If I were them, I'd continue focusing on that. I certainly wouldn't be so eager to unhook from the Debian train just yet."
Cornelius Schumacher on KConfig XT (KDE.News)
KDE.News interviews Cornelius Schumacher "C.S.: While KConfig is a powerful and efficient way to handle configuration settings it doesn't address two things: Type safety and GUI. KConfig is great as backend, but to address these two areas we had to put another layer on top of it. That's what KConfig XT is. The key feature of KConfig XT is that it provides a machine-readable description of the configuration settings, so that we can do all kind of fancy stuff like generating type-safe code to access the settings, associate the settings with a GUI or provide tools like Zack's KConfigEditor with the ability to give the user the needed context for editing configuration files."
Resources
Apache's eXtended Server Side Includes (O'ReillyNet)
Kostas Pentikousis explores Apache SSI on O'Reilly. "In the early days of web publishing, SSI was an easy way to include dynamic content in pages. Though large server-side application frameworks have more popularity, SSI lives on--especially in Apache XSSI. Kostas Pentikousis demonstrates how XSSI makes it possible to build powerful, clean, maintainable, and fast web sites."
The Daemon, the GNU and the Penguin - Ch. 15, by Dr. Peter Salus (Groklaw)
Groklaw has published chapter 15 of Peter Salus's The Daemon, the GNU and the Penguin. This chapter covers Commercial UNIXes and BSDI.Command-line animations using ImageMagick (NewsForge)
Shashank Sharma shows how to create animations with ImageMagick in a NewsForge article. "If the success of the "Shrek," "Toy Story," "Stuart Little," "The Incredibles," and many other Hollywood hits is any indication, animations add glitz to the mundane. While animation in the movies still requires professional animation packages like Blender, you can make simple animations using the command-line wizardry of ImageMagick."
Linux in the Classroom: a Look Back (Linux Journal)
Last April Dr. Mike LeVan designed a Course in Linux System Administration. Now Linux Journal has a follow up article. "Although we did not have a live Webcast, plenty of people went to the Web site to download the assignments and notes to try to keep up with the material. Several people also started discussions in our social forum to try to make the class more of a community. In a sense, it was a typical global community that you find with Linux. We had people from Argentina, Lebanon, Canada, Singapore, Austria, Finland and many other countries. It really turned into a good experience for my students, and I hope it was for those who signed up to follow the class on-line."
Reviews
db.* proves it's a database survivor (NewsForge)
NewsForge looks at the history of db.*, a proprietary database turned open-source. "db.* has been in the market for more than 20 years. Originally, it was a proprietary product called dbVista developed by a company called Raima. During the dot-com boom, it was acquired by a company called Centura and released into open source under a modified Mozilla license. Centura spent millions of dollars to bring the code base up to standards, including overhauling the documentation. However, in 2001, Centura dot-bombed and went belly up, leaving db.* orphaned. Unlike an orphaned proprietary product though, another company could -- and did -- step in."
Fundable.org helps open source projects find support (NewsForge)
NewsForge examines the use of the Fundable.org project for fueling open-source development. "Fundable.org is a new service that allows people who need funds to connect with those who are willing to contribute. Co-founder John Pratt isn't sure where the idea came from, but he and partner Louis Helm have been working on it day and night since the inspiration hit them in January, 2005. The concept, while unique, is quite simple. Anyone who has a product or service to sell, or needs monetary support for a charitable cause, or who wants to organize a group purchase, posts their requirement on Fundable.org."
Google map API transforms the Web (ZDNet)
ZDNet looks at new applications for the recently released Google Maps API. "We are getting a great demonstration right now of open source power, as applications using the Google Maps API begin to appear. Mapquest, owned by AOL, has been around for many years, but it's a proprietary offering. Yahoo Maps has been around for years, but it has been late to this party. It's Google, using the open source process, that has blown the field apart. The code has only been out a few weeks but already we're seeing several really great applications."
MythTV: Easy personal video recording with Linux (NewsForge)
NewsForge reviews MythTV, a video recording/time shifting system. "After trying MythTV on SUSE 9.1 Professional client, I found an even easier way to get everything running in less time. If you want to use your box exclusively as a media center, try KnoppMyth, a Linux distro based on Knoppix, aimed solely at providing an out-of-the-box system optimized for MythTV. The installation, although not graphical, is a no-brainer, and doesn't take much time. When it finishes, KnoppMyth helps you configure most of the options for MythTV to get it up and running".
Miscellaneous
Windows tipped for EDA standard (Electronics Weekly)
Electronics Weekly covers comments by John Tanner, CEO of Tanner EDA, on the future of EDA (Electronic Design Automation) applications. "Windows will become the de facto standard operating system for EDA applications, in the same way as the PC has superseded dedicated Unix boxes, and EDA firms currently migrating their software to Linux are running up a blind alley." Thanks to John Rigg.
Black Duck - But No SCO (IT-Director)
Robin Bloor looks at Black Duck and other topics on IT-Director. "What the technology does is analyze source code and 'finger print' it. (To be precise, it maps the pattern of the code, but it's easier to think of it as a fingerprint). It can then look at code and determine its origin, with some degree of certainty. Even code that is not identical or partly rewritten can be identified. This is a useful capability because companies can 'black duck' the applications they've written and make sure that no code has been pilfered from SourceForge and added in, in violation of some Open Source license. (Black Duck has some customers that have had to do a little recoding because they discovered such chunks of code)."
Page editor: Forrest Cook
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