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Theoretically, the ultimate goal for a system administrator, whether you're in a large data center or a small home network, is to script yourself out of a job. The more you can automate tasks, the more time you can spend researching new technologies, deploying new services, and playing Quake! Experienced administrators generally have at least three scripting languages under their belts for regular use, and probably have books that cover one or two more for occasional use. Beginners, however, sometimes have a hard time deciding which tools to devote their learning cycles to. This article aims to help those users come to grips with the many options available.

Foreword: This whitepaper from esteemed Linux author and TimeSys Product Manager William von Hagen discusses the productivity advantages that graphical development tools can bring to embedded Linux development. It uses TimeSys's Eclipse-based TimeStorm tools by way of example, but material presented is largely vendor-neutral. Enjoy! . . .

The problem is a question of interoperability. Let's say I need to create an organization chart. OK, I fire up Kivio (a flowcharting tool that is part of KOffice, the KDE Office suite). I painstakingly draw the org chart, complete with subtle relationship among different levels and what not. Now I'm ready to use it. I would like to include it in a report that I'm writing on OpenOffice.org Writer. I then select everything in Kivio, copy it, and then paste it in OpenOffice.org. Boink. Real ugly, folks. All I can see in OpenOffice.org is a sort of XML gibberish I don't understand.

Latest release of open source email app helps users reclaim their Inbox

Computer sleuths interested in running forensic PC operations on a Linux machines should take a look at an open source tool called Foremost.

Much has been made about the open source revolution, and with good reason. The open source development model produces superior software.

How one university department set up labs between campuses.

Linus Torvalds has released the Linux 2.6.7 stable kernel. It fixes a security bug that allowed users with shell access to a Linux host to bring down the system.

Lycoris has announced they are switching from Freetype to btX2 from Bitstream. A great interview with the technical staff regarding why fonts will look better in Lycoris' Desktop/LX 1.4.

A Powerful Mobile Replacement For Expensive UNIX Workstations.

Munich decides this week whether to remove the Windows operating system from 14,000 municipal computers. Following a one year of trial Munich may become the biggest Microsoft customer to switch to Linux personal-computer software.

Enterprise IT shops used to have a clear vision for Linux and Unix use, but the potential of the 2.6 kernel, better vendor support and a competitive commercial Linux market is clouding that demarcation. A recent Burton Group research report concluded that Linux is "good enough" to supplant Unix for some specific high-end tasks generally considered Unix's exclusive territory. Author Gary Hein cautions, however, that Linux is not ready for every enterprise role.

How committed is IBM to the open-source movement? Officially, IBM is the world's loudest promoter of open-source software, spending millions to run Linux advertisements and fund an open-source development lab, and devoting hundreds of its own programmers to cranking out open-source code. So it is strange, rivals say, that in the field, IBM's sales reps are battling to keep some customers from moving to Linux and other open-source programs--especially customers currently using AIX, IBM's pricey Unix-based operating system.