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SAN FRANCISCO--Thin is in again, at least for a spell, as hardware makers use Linux to sell companies on the idea of forsaking full-fledged PCs in favor of stripped-down "thin clients."

Two weeks back was the Linux Kernel Developers Summit.The Kernel Summit is a two day, developer-to-developer, invite-only conferencewhere the kernel hackers sit down and talk about our feelings. It is not,unfortunately, a hack fest. Instead, the big arguments too heated or otherwiseinvolved for the mailing lists are discussed. An attempt is made to reachconsensus on the future direction of the kernel. A cabal at its best.

The French internal revenue service announced on Thursday that it has chosen JBoss's open-source application server to run the next version of its tax applications.

Six vulnerabilities in an open-source image format could allow intruders to compromise computers running Linux and may allow attacks against Windows PCs.

Overall, the Fedora II distribution provides ease of use and a user-friendly, automated install process. We give it four and one-half stars!

The Wavebend Scalable Access System is, essentially, a Linux-based, high-performance wireless server, running server-side, hard-coded Wavebend software. It is a not only a replacement for 802.11 access points / base stations, but it can be used most importantly in the replacement of 3G, GPRS and related technologies in terms of technology, cost-effectiveness, robustness, scalability and zero-deployment time.

SAN FRANCISCO--Intel has convinced two Linux companies to give a fair shake to a crucial programming tool called a compiler, a significant step given the historic preference for an open-source alternative called GCC.

Red Hat and HP are taking Linux intellectual property concerns seriously.

LINUXWORLD -- The main theme of this show ought to be, "We now offer Linux support!" Most of the companies making this boast -- often in press releases with all-caps headlines -- are proprietary software vendors, and most of their products are utilities of some sort aimed at enterprise users, not at consumer-level desktop users.

Computer Associates (CA) issued a million dollar challenge to the open source community today, aimed at fostering the development of migration toolkits for its newly open-sourced Ingres r3 database. The cash will be distributed to developers who create solutions that enable users of Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, Sybase Adaptive Enterprise Server, IBM DB2 Universal Database, Informix, and/or MySQL to migrate to the Ingres r3 database platform. Qualifying solutions will be eligible for cash awards of up to $400,000 per developer, the company says.

Any laptop user who has ever used or tried to use Linux on a laptop has experienced at least some level of frustration. Older notebooks aren't such an issue, but bring in wireless technologies, DVD playback (legally), and power management and you're in a bit of a quandary. While you can find a notebook that maybe some of those features work on, it's been impossible to find one that's completely supported -- until now.

Linux is the fastest growing OS in the mobile device market, but currently accounts for less than 2 percent of total shipments, according to this research report from Canalys. Canalys operates a continuous information service on the mobile device and wireless handset markets, which it says are growing rapidly.

SAN FRANCISCO--MySQL has created a version of its popular open-source database software for Linux on IBM's Power processors, the company said Tuesday.