LXer Weekly Roundup for 09-Sept-2007
The big stories this week include Microsoft and the ISO vote saga, the countdown is on to Ontario Linux Fest, The French Ministry for Education has migrated 2,500 servers over to Linux and The Women of Tech. All this and more in the LXer Weekly Roundup. Howto display the number of processors in Linux: If you’ve just bought a new desktop, laptop or server and the box says the box is powered by 2 processors, you can actually verify that. My resolve to treat Microsoft like any another license submitter is being sorely tested.: There's been a lot of debate in the community about how OSI should properly handle Microsoft's planned submission of some of its licenses for OSD certification. That debate has been been going on within OSI, too. OSI's official position, from the beginning, which I helped formulate and have expressed to any number of reporters and analysts, is that OSI will treat any licenses submitted to Microsoft strictly on their merits, without fear or favor. That remains OSI's position. But...But I find that my resolve is being sorely tested. Switching from Windows to Linux: an app-centric view: Previously in ITWire we put forth the view that one reason people stick to Windows is because they have to run specific applications that only exist for that platform. We’d like to introduce you to two tremendous web sites which help find open source equivalents for proprietary Windows software. My math-fu tells me OOXML has not passed JTC-1: If my math-fu is anything to go by, it looks like Microsoft's Office Open XML will not become an ISO standard today. Various websites around the world are all busy tallying the votes as the news is dripping in. If their tally is correct then OOXML has been turned down by a very narrow margin. OOXML needed 2/3 of the P members to vote "yes", after subtracting abstains. With 5 abstains out of 41 P members, that means 24 "yes" votes. With 13 "no" votes already cast that means only 23 possible "yes" votes remain. Talk about a narrow margin. Expert: Open XML loses standards battle: Standards expert and attorney Andrew Updegrove has predicted that on Sept. 4 the International Organization for Standards will announce that the draft ISO specification based on Microsoft's Office Open XML formats failed to make the standardization grade. Microwulf: Breaking the $100/GFLOP Barrier: In January 2007, two of us (professor Joel Adams and student Tim Brom) decided to build a personal, portable Beowulf cluster. Like a personal computer, the cost had to be low -- our budget was $2500 -- and its size had to be small enough to sit on a person's desk. Joel and Tim named their system Microwulf, which has broken the $100/GFLOP barrier for double precision, and is remarkably efficient by several measures. You may also want to take a look at the Value Cluster project for more information on $2500 clusters. Going Microsoft free, like Mike: The real question Linux advocates need to answer is this. Can you go Microsoft-free and still get your work done? Mike Kavis is trying to find out. Back in May he dumped his Windows desktop for Ubuntu and now he has launched a pilot program to take his employer in the same direction. This type of experiment is going on in lots of places. As I noted previously, I’m engaged in the same process. Step by step, application by application, I am weaning myself away from Microsoft. I’m not Microsoft-free yet but if I can do it, you can too. If Mike can do it, so can your enterprise. I want to be like Mike. Do you? Women of Tech: Hear Us Roar, A Special Series from O'Reilly: There's no doubt that women coders, developers, designers, and programmers are a powerful force in the modern tech industry, despite their smaller numbers compared to men. At the same time many of the major impacts and innovations of women at every level of the development and evolution of technology--from the first female coders to today's Web 2.0 pioneers--aren't all that well known. Microsoft releases Silverlight, supports Linux: Microsoft today released version 1.0 of Silverlight, the cross-browser, cross-platform multimedia plugin, to the Web. The company also confirmed that it is working to make Silverlight available for Linux users. Ontario Linux Fest: The countdown is on to Ontario Linux Fest and we couldn't be more excited. Here's some news from inside the organizing committee. Since our last note we've added some speakers and topics, and a couple of prominent sponsors. And a bunch more of you have registered in advance from our registration page at http://onlinux.ca/olfreg The problems of counting Linux desktops: Here's what we know beyond doubt. First, the Linux desktop is gaining in popularity. Second, it's doing so at the expense of the Windows desktop. After that, things get muddy. For example, our recent DesktopLinux survey results, clearly show that there is simply more interest in Linux desktop. After all, more than twice as many people filled out our survey this year when compared to the 2006 survey. French education authorities migrate to Linux: The French Ministry for Education has migrated 2,500 servers across its 30 local education authorities to Red Hat Enterprise Linux, as part of a strategy to invest in open-source solutions and avoid proprietary software lock-ins. Tattersalls dumps Linux 'complexity' for Microsoft: Gaming giant Tattersalls has decided to dump four Linux operating systems in favour of a Microsoft counterpart across its Maxgaming business. Interesting way to word the title, don' you think? Mobile Linux Needs a "Microsoft" to Prosper: In our FUD article we have an author who think the mobile Linux market needs Microsoft to succeed. "In a move which may raise eyebrows amongst the Linux developer community, Pieter Knook the CEO of the smartphone vendor, HTC has said that mobile Linux will face difficulties unless it gets support from a major long term partner - and named the company's own long term partnership with Microsoft as an example to follow." |
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