Showing headlines posted by Scott_Ruecker

Like any large organisation, the GNOME Project faces a formidable challenge in maintaining an effective Web site. Trying the balance the demands of promotion, documentation, and community coordination is made all the more difficult when you only have volunteers to do the work. But over the past year the GNOME community has developed and begun to execute a well-defined process to refocus and rejuvenate its much-neglected Web presence.

Software in the Public Interest (SPI) is a non-profit organization dedicated to further the interests of free hardware and software. It is best-known as the public face of Debian. However, after several years of relative inactivity, SPI is getting its affairs in order and expanding to include other projects. At its November meeting yesterday, the SPI board of directors discussed a wide range of topics, from the status of talks with potential member projects, the removal of an apparently defunct project, and the issue of the Debian trademark in Spain.

It is with regret that I urge all FOSS developers to treat anything Novell has contributed to the community as suspect, scrutinize any Novell contributions and purge them as deemed appropriate.This threat is real, and it is not necessarily contingent upon whether or not Microsoft would actually sue customers for patent infringements. This is a classic case of posturing. Novell is now in a position to leverage its agreement with Microsoft in a way that harms all other Linux distributions and other FOSS projects. It is actively exploiting its unique position in ways that seem beneficial, but will pose risks to anyone but its own customers.

An uncompromising advocate of Java compatibility, Dr Graham Hamilton - Sun Fellow and VP - has parted company with the new "age of participation" Sun in the wake of its decision, announced last week, to open-source its implementation of Java.

Microsoft's cunning plan to be the ruler of Linux has hit a slight snag. Its Linux ally Novell is not going along with its plans to force Linux distributors to join its approved partners, pay up or be sued and the Open Sauce community has a counter attack planned. According to ZD Net, Eben Moglen, who is designing the next version of the GNU Public License GPL v3, says that the Free Software Foundation's next draft includes a new clause where those agreeing to it will not sue anyone else.

Gentoo is one of the most difficult distributions to learn, though veteran Gentoo users might point out that its friendly community and extensive documentation can help new users. Here are some tips that might make Gentoo easier for anyone who wants to give it a try.

Walking on thin ice? The terms of Microsoft's End User License Agreement (EULA) for its upcoming Vista operating system raises the conflict between two fundamental principles of contract law. The first, and more familiar, is that parties to a contract can generally agree to just about anything, as long as what they agree to doesn't violate the law and isn't "unconscionable".

CCS Infotech, a Chennai based manufacturer of desktops, laptops, servers and peripherals, announced that it has been awarded Linux certification by Red Hat Enterprise, the corporate Linux standard for its range of advanced PCs.

Red Hat has laid out more plans on how it will use its JBoss acquisition as a jemmy to compete with enterprise stack providers such as IBM, Oracle and Microsoft.

There was a time some years ago when Red Hat used to be contemptuously referred to as "the Microsoft of the Linux industry." How the times have changed!

In my last article, I looked at one of the differences between the C++ and Java communities; the availability of application development frameworks that have a profound effect on programmer productivity. I mentioned specifically the Java example of Hibernate and tried to identify reasons why the Java community is more innovative with this type of code reuse.

There are a lot of great new programs and innovations expected in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5. The Novell-led Mono project isn't one of them.

As if MP3, OGG, WMA, AAC, DivX, and FM radio support wasn't enough, this Turbolinux Wizpy player comes pre-installed with Linux. The OS, Turbolinux FUJI, has Firefox, Thunderbird, and Skype, which makes it easy to just plug the player into any machine and boot directly to Linux.

SSV Embedded Systems is shipping a tiny, chip-like, Linux-based SBC (single-board computer) that targets "wireless sensor networks" (WSNs). The DIL/NetPC ADNP/9200 is based on an Atmel ARM9 microcontroller, and integrates Ethernet, UART, SPI, SSI/I2C, and USB controllers, among other functions, according to the company.

After a week of saber rattling to seed the marketplace with FUD about the dangers of moving away from Microsoft to Linux, look for Microsoft to lodge a lawsuit against a medium sized user that's large enough to be noticed but too small to sustain a defence in court. That's the prediction of a Linux specialist who has been watching Microsoft's actions of the past week.

MySQL AB, today announced that Toto-Lotto Niedersachsen GmbH has standardized on MySQL for all its appropriate future IT needs. The German lottery company based its selection on the success it has had using MySQL Cluster to run its online business applications.

Developed with security and speed in mind, Postfix has become a popular alternative to Sendmail. The Book of Postfix published by No Starch Press is a complete guide to Postfix whether used by the home user, as a mailrelay or virus scanning gateway, or as a company mailserver. Practical examples show how to deal with daily challenges like protecting mail users from SPAM and viruses, managing multiple domains, and offering roaming access. The following is chapter 5 from "The Book of Postfix". Reprinted with permission from No Starch Press, all rights reserved.

LinuxBasic.org, an online community devoted to helping people learn to install and run Linux, has announced its second free Linux class. "An Introduction to Linux Basics" aims to instill a basic understanding about Linux for beginners who want to know more about how the system works, according to the site.

Advocates of free and open source software, myself included, like to talk about the "democratizing" effect of free software. Others, especially non-programmers, are quick to point out that the only technical people can take advantage of half of the enumerated freedoms in FOSS. The freedoms to modify and collaborate mean little if you don't know to program. Over time, I have come to the conclusion that the only good solution to this problem -- and one that I was initially quite opposed to -- is to teach everyone to program.

IBM says that its open source WebSphere Java application server is grabbing support from developers faster than any of its rivals. In a survey of Eclipse developers by US research firm Evans Data, 16 per cent said they used IBM's WebSphere Application Server Community Edition to deploy their apps, up from almost nothing a year ago.