Gadgetopia

GNU/Linux naming controversy: A good look at a topic that I knew was out there, but only marginally understood. GNU/Linux is the term promoted by the Free Software Foundation (FSF), its founder Richard Stallman, and its supporters, for what is commonly called "Linux" [...] For historical and other reasons, most ...

Desktop Linux Believers Speak Out: Some good ideas on desktop Linux adoption from the Desktop Linux Conference. Interesting what IBM is doing. IBM's Global Services team is getting behind Linux on the desktop, starting within IBM itself, according to Sam Docknevich, Linux and grid services executive for IBM. About 14,000 ...

Linux vs. Windows: Choice vs. Usability: Yes, yes, yes. The lack of standard operation with Linux GUIs (and perhaps more importantly individual Linux applications) is a huge barrier to desktop acceptance. "The multiple-GUI problem illustrates a basic difference in Windows and Linux. Windows has one general GUI interface ...

I think that we're rapidly approaching the point at which hardware vendors will no longer be able to ignore Linux. My wireless router has been misbehaving badly lately. When using my (wired) desktop or (wireless) laptop, you occasionally get no signal and no response from it. Trudging down to the ...

Linux Mark Institute: Interesting. The Linux Mark Institute ("LMI") is an organization established "to protect the public and Linux users of the world from unauthorized and confusing use of the Linux mark and to issue proper licenses to authorized users of the Linux mark." LMI is not designed to generate ...

Damn Small Linux, 50 megabytes of penguin power: The size of those Linux distros got you down? Is 50MB small enough? Damn Small Linux is a business card size (50MB) bootable Live CD Linux distribution. Despite its minuscule size it strives to have a functional and easy to use desktop. ...

The Linux Documentation Project: Lots of good resources here.

Linux weighs in: With all the hype about Linux on the desktop, and the presumption that Linux runs servers, a lot of people forget that pure Unix is its competitor in the server room. This article is talking about 500 or 1000-processor Linux installs not your everyday workgroup server. ...

2004: The Year Linux Grows Up (or Blows Up): Here's an enormously positive opinion piece about Linux in 2004. The author says that 2004 is the tipping point for the Penguin, and by the time I was done reading, I had a huge smile on my face. 2004 will be ...

GameCube-Linux - Run Linux on your GameCube!: Because Linux doesn't run on enough platforms. Linux can be used to use a GameCube as a thin client, to use a GameCube as a multimedia terminal, to use a GameCube as a small PowerPC-based server, [or] as a runtime environment for homebrew ...

Linux 2.6 Arrives: Linux kernel 2.6 has finally been released. This new version of Linux brings several improvements for enterprise users. It now supports up to 32 processors, 64GB of memory with 32-bit processors, and new file systems such as IBM's Journaling File System (JFS) and Silicon Graphics Inc.'s XFS. ...

Free Standards Group Announces General Availability Of Linux Standard Base 2.0: I believe that one of the true keys of Linux success is standardization between distributions. There was an attempt some time ago with United Linux to create a standard file system, but Red Hat never signed on so it ...

SLUG | Siouxland Linux Users Group: To all my Sioux Falls readers: "SLUG (Siouxland Linux Users Group) was formed to intoduce new ideas, information, and to answer questions that others may have about GNU/Linux. GNU/Linux is free software avaibale to you no matter what "computer level" you are on. Plus ...

The real cost of switching to Linux: Here's a well-written, well-researched article considering when it makes sense to migrate to Linux and when it doesn't. No easy answers here, but it's very balanced. "The simple answer is this: The more fully an enterprise adopts Linux across its infrastructure, the more ...

Linux training to enhance membership in global it arena : Ten Linux sysadmins have been trained in Afghanistan by the United Nations in an attempt to rebuild the nation's infrastructure. Cool.

USATODAY.com - Linux took on Microsoft, and won big in Munich: This is an in-depth look at why the German city of Munich blew off Microsoft and actually paid more money to the team of SuSE and IBM to put 14,000 Linux desktop machines into service. "The vote wasn't just ...

Paul Sladen: Howto pronounce Linux: In case you were still confused, this page has sound files in three formats of Linus Torvalds himself pronouncing "Linux," just so there's no further confusion...

Apparently, a couple of program managers at Microsoft have started shopping around a survey to Linux users and Linux User Groups asking what they like about Linux and what improvements they might suggest to Windows. My goal is to help us identify capabilities, improvements, and features that Microsoft should be ...

SCO to send out Linux invoices "...Tuesday, SCO spokesman Blake Stowell said the company will begin the more active approach of sending invoices requesting payment to commercial Linux users, 'probably some time this month.'"

VeriSign Migrating 2,000 Unix Servers to Red Hat Linux: In the midst of the SCO battle, IBM releases new ads, and now Verisign goes and does this: "In the latest big win for Linux and open source, infrastructure service provider VeriSign has decided to migrate 2,000 of its high-performance Unix ...

Taking Aim at Linux: You've been warned: "In an aggressive move that could have a profound effect on open-source software and the Unix arena, The SCO Group which owns rights to Unix has issued a warning that Linux is an unauthorized derivative of Unix. The company also says ...

Linux 2.6 Set for Release: More processors, greater interoperability, 64-bit support what's not to love? After a multiyear development effort, the 2.6 version of the Linux kernel is set for release in the second half of December. This is the first major Linux kernel release since 2001, when version ...

Whizzkid develops Linux application for Windows: This apparently isn't a new thing, but it's making the rounds of the tech blogs this morning. The significance of the development is that Linux and Windows are able to work in parallel on the same computer or server. To now, the computer world ...

Munich set to approve Linux despite patent worries: On e of the biggest switches to Linux is finally getting underway. We've been talking about this one for a while. More than a year after the German city of Munich declared its landmark intention to abandon Microsoft Windows in favour of ...

Wired News: Sinbad Hears Linux's Siren Song: Watch out, SCO may sue for a cut of the box office. "Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, an animated movie from DreamWorks Animation Technology that hits theaters July 2, is the first Hollywood production created entirely on Linux. More than 250 Hewlett-Packard ...

Xbox-Linux - Run Linux on your Xbox!: I wait anxiously for the Xbox supercomputer cluster to put the G5 cluster to shame. An Xbox with Linux can be: a full desktop computer with mouse and keyboard, a web/email box connected to TV, a server or router, a node in a ...

The Grinch Who Stole Linux: "SCO hated Linux! The GNU Linux season! Now, please don't ask why. No one quite knows the reason. It could be that their heads weren't screwed on quite right. It could be, perhaps, that their shoes were too tight. But I think that the most ...

LinuxCommand.org: Learn the Linux command line. Write shell scripts.: This appears to be a great site to learn the Linux command shell. You have Linux installed and running. The GUI is working fine, but you are getting tired of changing your desktop themes. You keep seeing this "terminal" thing. The ...

I'm writing this entry from a Linux machine...but I never installed Linux. I've booted my PC off a Knoppix disc, which is a bootable Linux CD. I'm in Linux now, but I just need to pop the CD and reboot, and I'm back to Windows. You can get the CD ...

Red Hat Cans Linux Distribution: They're ditching the consumer oriented version to focus on their enterprise customers. We should have seen this coming after they announced they were going to stop selling in retail outlets. "Leading Linux distributor Red Hat Inc. on Monday made clear its intention to focus on ...

Open-source gets serious: A new window on Linux: USA Today reviews five Linux distros as Windows replacements. None proved to be the clear front-runner. Rather, three of the solutions the ones from Lindows.com, Lycoris and Xandros proved evenly matched and ideally suited to replace either Windows or Macintosh ...

Intel, IBM backing new fund to defend Linux users: The truth of SCO shows through when the mere forming of a legal defense fund to fight them off causes their shares to drop 9%. An industry group formed to promote Linux an operating system that provides an alternative to ...

The WINE configuration gurus over at Codeweavers have announced that their next version of Crossover Office will allow iTunes to play nicely on your Linux box. For those unfamiliar with the product, Crossover Office allows MS Office, Photoshop, and many other Windows programs to run quite nicely on your Linux ...

Linux tablet PC breaks $1,000 barrier: A tablet PC running Lycoris for $999. The device runs on a 1GHz Antaur processor from Via Technologies, includes a 30GB hard drive and uses a customized version of the open-source Linux operating system put together by Lycoris, a Seattle-area company that specializes in ...

Cheap Linux and BSD CDs: This guy has made a business out of downloading new Linux distributions, burning them to CD, and selling the CDs. We provide all the latest Linux and BSD distributions on CD for your convenience and enjoyment. Simple, but as bandwidth increases, I don't know how ...

Linux and Main - Red Hat to abandon retail channel "Red Hat, the leading American distributor of Linux, is abandoning the retail channel, the company is expected to announce Monday. ... The company's next major release, codenamed 'Cambridge,' will not be provided in boxed, retail form..."

IBM makes play for Linux lead in new ad campaign: In the midst of the SCO brouhaha, IBM apparently feels comfortable enough to unleash a new round of Linux ads. "He's nine years old, bright-eyed and hungry to learn. ... Meet Linux, a human embodiment of the computer operating system, ...

Lycoris Desktop/LX: This is a Linux company that we mentioned once before. They've built a Linux distribution for the Tablet PC: "Desktop/LX Tablet Edition builds on the proven foundation of Desktop/LX and features enhancements tailored specifically fo the Tablet PC platform"

Hey dude, you're getting Linux on that Dell: Could it actually happen? They certainly sound serious. After collecting some 1,800 new product and service ideas from IT users and customers using an online "suggestion box," Dell Inc. has announced that it's taking the user suggestions seriously and will soon debut ...

Start-up launches low-cost Linux PCs | CNET News.com: With the advanced programming capabilities of Mozilla (check out XUL), I'd love to see a company unleash a couple hundred of these machines as thin clients. "The 30-person company, Linare, on Monday began selling systems for $199 with its own version of ...

Linux, Open Source Remain Thorns in Microsoft's Side: Microsoft says Linux and open-source are its second-biggest concern. Microsoft's chief financial officer John Connors outlined the five largest risks and drivers to Microsoft's business going forward. ... 'The general economic environment is risk and driver number one, Linux and non-commercial software ...

Desktop Linux Could Be Costly: I believe this. I will probably always run Windows on the desktop, though I make an effort to use non-Microsoft applications. "Using a Linux operating system might save you money on your servers, but most enterprises shouldn't expect to see the same cost saving if ...

At Web sites, Windows outpaces Linux: The survey was done by Netcraft, so it's independent. "A survey has found that use of Microsoft's latest server software is growing quickly in the Web site hosting market, and that much of the new business is at the expense of Linux. ... Microsoft ...

Microsoft slashes prices as Paris eyes Linux: First, Munich, now Paris? The Linux World Tour is gaining steam. Governments could be the beginning of the tidal wave. In another sign competition is heating up in the software industry, Microsoft has slashed prices by more than half for Paris City Hall ...

vs. Linux GUI: Owen found an interview that really, really hits the nail on the head about a big problem with Linux. Right now, the Linux community values "diversity" too highly to ever get a single, consistent GUI, let alone a good one. At the same time, it holds on ...

Motor giant Ford to move to Linux: Another nice kick in the face to SCO. "Motor giant Ford is switching to Linux for its sales systems, human resources, customer relations and infrastructure, according to a report in yesterday's Scotland on Sunday." So much for that whole intimindation plan, eh? I ...

Linux kernel swear counts: Someone grepped out all the bad words in the Linux kernel source. If I'm reading the graph right, "crap" appears to be the clear winner, appearing about once every 130 lines of code in the 2.6 kernel. Sadly, this method lacks the eloquence of the commenting ...

SCO Announces Intellectual Property License for Linux: According to SCO, Linux now costs $699. (NOTE: See comments, this is introductory price only.) "SCO will be offering an introductory license price of $699 for a single CPU system through October 15th, 2003. Pricing for multiple CPU systems, single CPU add-ons, desktop ...

Windows web server more secure than Linux, says unpublished study: I never would have picked this outcome. This is one study I might actually read. In a comparison of Windows Server 2003 and Red Hat Enterprise Server 3, two researches believe that they found Windows Server to be more secure ...

Gentoo Linux has announced the release of their first-quarter build, with some cutting-edge enhancements. Gentoo Linux is proud to announce the release of Gentoo Linux 2004.0 for the x86, AMD64, PowerPC, Sun SPARC, and SGI MIPS architectures. Additionally, the Gentoo Hardened team is announcing the inaugural release of a security-enhanced ...

Linux as a Publishing Platform: Here's a great little article about how an independent role-playing game publisher used about a dozen free Linux tools to publish and support his first role-playing game. Just a nice narrative of how all the pieces came together, and how they were mostly all free. ...

Lycoris: Here's a Linux distribution from a company out of Redmond, no less. It seems designed specifically to look like Windows XP as much as possible. "Lycoris is located in Redmond, Washington. The corporation was started in the year 2000 with a vision of making Linux easy enough for anyone ...

Welcome to DesktopLinux.com using Linux on enterprise and end user desktops: The domain name says it all. It's targeted at the lower-end user, rather than the Tux geek who probably doesn't need help anyway.

Picasa: Google has released a beta version of Picasa for Linux. Apparently they had to hack up Wine to make it go. To allow Picasa to run well on Linux, Google made a few improvements to Wine. Some of the changes were Picasa-specific and simply added a bit of polish. ...

Militant geeks are hurting the widespread adoption of Free software. CMP has an article on the subject, and Bruce Perens has written a message to the community condemning actions like cheering on the recent denial of service attacks on SCO. "Do not cheer on attacks on the SCO site. By ...

Here's something that oughta tweak the nose of the Linux crowd; a cnet article reports that according to research and consulting gurus at Gartner, the reason so many machines loaded with Linux are being sold today is that when they hit the field the drives are wiped and they're loaded ...

"He made the trains run on time...": I wrote this post three years ago today. I still believe that this is one of the biggest barriers to Linux adoption. There was a saying about Benito Mussolini back in the forties. He made have been a ruthless dictator, but he made ...

German city picks Linux over Microsoft: We've known about this deal for a while, but what's interesting is the lengths Microsoft went to win and was still rebuffed. Microsoft offered last-minute concessions that would have made Windows and Office cheaper than switching. USA TODAY obtained city records that revealed Microsoft: ...

SCO License Fees Would Hurt Linux Market: Gartner has issued a stronger warning on using Linux in the enterprise. They've warned about this before, but this time they even advised a certain segment to pay off SCO: "Don't ignore the problem by hoping IBM will win or settle its lawsuit ...

SCO has extended its campaign to squeeze blood from a Linux server to Linux users this week by suing Autozone for its use of the OS. The best part? The court they're filing the suit in will manage the case using Linux. However, the defence may take heart that the ...

Switching to Shrike: Brad Choate has some good comments about making Linux your primary desktop OS: While I find RedHat 9 to be a decent desktop OS for me, it’s certainly not for everyone. Yes, installation was a breeze, but general maintenance is not for the timid. For example: enabling ...

IBM memo advocates move to Linux on internal PCs: This is an awesome move for IBM. I commend them for doing this right in the middle of the SCO imbroglio. In an internal memo that reached the Internet, an IBM Corp. executive challenges company employees to abandon Microsoft operating systems ...

Opinion: Should UnitedLinux Boot SCO?: UnitedLinux was formed several years ago in an attempt to bring some continuity to Linux distributions unite file system structure, etc. One of the four founding members was Caldera...now SCO. Hilarity ensues. "...in March of 2003, the organization's unity appeared to be torn asunder ...

Ubuntu Linux now on my new Thinkpad T43p: Wow!: A glowing review of Ubuntu on the desktop. Like Mark Pilgrim, Jeremy is impressed (so is our very own Joe, for that matter). I cannot overstate how important this is: Ubuntu is the first real "desktop" Linux I've ever seen. There's ...

Migrating to Linux not easy for Windows users: Whatever happened to The Linux Desktop Experiment," you ask? Read this article. While I love Linux, it's still for servers in my mind. I could get it to work as a desktop OS, but not as well or as smoothly as Windows. ...

SCO irks just about everyone in tech except Microsoft: A fantastic summary of the SCO mess and who's sleeping with whom. If you just don't get it yet, this article is concise, accurate, and pretty funny to boot. "The topic du jour in technology is SCO Group — not just ...

SQLite Database Speed Comparison: If you ever wanted to know which Linux database option was the fastest, the guys over at SQLite have done some tests. No surprises: SQLite wins, MySQL is second, with PostgreSQL trailing the pack. Note to Access users: MySQL can do 25,000 inserts in two seconds. ...

Is Unix on Borrowed Time?: A star-studded panel agrees that Unix will fall in the face of Linux. "SuSE's Geck said Unix will eventually fade away to be replaced by Linux, while VA Software's Augustin said Linux to him is the next generation of Unix. He too said Unix will ...

Start-up launches Linux legal protection Open Source Risk Management plans on Monday to begin selling Linux users protection against copyright infringement claims such as those levied by the SCO Group. The New York-based company is launching the insurance-like offering after a six-month study that compared Linux with several versions of ...

Linux on iPod: Just like the name implies, you can run a Linux port on your iPod. It even has screenshots of the Linux bootloader running on the little iPod screen. "Unfortunately the iPod is considered a 'closed-platform' by Apple and technical info is virtually non-existant so this has involved ...

Why is it Catfight Thursday you ask? Well, for one, Apple's taking swipes at Microsoft's new MSN Music Service: "It's biggest problem may be that its downloaded songs can not play on the iPod," said Eddie Cue, Apple's vice president of applications. Gates fires back regarding Microsoft's focus on portable ...

Wal-Mart Adds SuSE-Based PCs As Linux Offerings Grow: They've sold Lindows machines for a while now, but this is good news for the Linux camp. "Walmart.com has added the SuSE distribution to its PC lineup, and PC consumers can now purchase the Linux-based machines for under $300. The Microtel-designed systems ...

SCO Group reports quarterly loss amid legal battle against IBM: Here's a good status report on where the SCO battle stands right now. SCO is bleeding money, and IBM is standing firm. Both sides are lawyered up to the hilt, and neither is flinching. However, in a war of attrition, ...

Yahoo! News - Novell to Buy SuSE Linux for $210M: Wouldn't it be rich if Linux came back to take the desktop, thus letting Novell beat Microsoft in the end? There's such poetry there that fate just has to make it happen. "Novell Inc., a software pioneer that was badly ...

Part I: Corporate Desktop Linux - The Hard Truth: This is an excellent article from the retired CTO of World Bank. He wanted to figure out how much you would save on licensing by switching to Linux. The results ain't pretty if you want to stick with the big manufacturers. ...

Wired News: SCO: Buy License, Avoid Suit: SCO offers a licensing plan to all Linux end-users. "'While using pirated software is copyright infringement, our first choice in helping Linux customers is to give them an option that will not disrupt their IT infrastructures. We intend to provide them with choices ...

SCO Linux lawsuit > Linux Users Standing Fast Despite SCO Legal Threats, InternetWeek Readers Say > July 8, 2003">Linux Users Standing Fast Despite SCO Legal Threats: SCO's threats are met with a collective yawn. "SCO's Linux lawsuit and threats seem to be having little affect on IT managers except ...

An InfoWorld article by Chad Dickerson tells of his accidental conversion from Windows and Linux to Mac OS X. "On a recent Friday, weary from shopping for a new PC, I grabbed the 3-year-old G4 at my desk and took it home to see what all the Mac and OS ...

HP to indemnify Linux customers: A great strategy here by HP. "Hewlett-Packard plans to announce Wednesday that it will indemnify its Linux customers against potential legal actions by SCO Group. An HP representative confirmed late Tuesday that the company will announce plans to assume liability for its customers' use of ...

... or, "Hey, let's start a flame war!" Jason Kottke posted a little tidbit that the Linux evangelist in me will simple not leave lie: If you had a job scheduled to run between 2AM and 3AM Sunday morning on a Windows server, and you observe Daylight Savings Time, it ...

Gates: In Ten Years, it's a Windows and Linux Game: OS News has a good report on an interview Bill Gates gave at "a conference" (it's not specificed which). The quote of the title seems to indicate that Bill doesn't give Apple a fighting chance. He says some other interesting ...

The grumpy grandfather at the heart of the SCO-Linux mess: An interesting look at Ray Noorda, Novell, and how they play into the big debate. "It's a company that founder Ray Noorda wanted to take on Microsoft, while promoting open-source networks. So it's fitting that Novell, which kept for years ...

Judge orders SCO to show Linux infringement: Start the countdown, folks, SCO has 30 days to actually reveal the infringing code in Linux. IBM won a tactical victory Friday in a legal battle with SCO Group when a judge ordered SCO to show within 30 days the Linux software to ...

Seagate to ship drives with Lindows: Kinda handy: "Hard disc drive manufacturer Seagate Technology is to offer some models of its Barracuda drive family with the English version of the LindowsOS operating system preinstalled. ... The drives cost no more than Seagate's conventional drives and will mean personal computer makers ...

Here's a hilarious modern-day balad from DeadTroll.com about the state of computer operating systems. There's something for everybody in this song; it me laugh out loud a couple of times (much to my embarassment, as I sit here at work, almost alone.) This stanza was particularly funny to me: Now ...

Come on, Rob. You know you want to try this: Computer enthusiasts have worked out how to reprogram Apple's iPod music player with their own code using an ingenious acoustic trick. They adapted the component that generates clicks - or "squeaks" - as a user scrolls through the on-screen menu ...

Novell has announced in a press release that they will release the Exchange Connector for Ximian Evolution, previously a $75/seat plugin, as open source. Novell today announced its Connector for Microsoft* Exchange Server will be integrated into EvolutionTM 2.0 and made available as open source, beginning today with the current ...

Terra Soft Solutions have recently announced the sale of 260 Apple xServe units to Lockheed Martin for use in sonar imaging by the Navy. They'll be running a variant of Yellow Dog Linux instead of OS X. "This combination provides a solution twice as dense, less power consumptive, and higher ...

Microsoft claims software like Linux violates its patents: I thought Microsoft was trying to bridge the gap to the open-source world lately? This is a really horrific idea. Did the SCO fiasco not warn them off a plan like this? [ ] there s a shadow hanging over Linux and other free ...

SCO actions prompt Linux warning | CNET News.com: This SCO thing is going to get worse before it gets better. "Analyst firm Gartner Group has recommended that customers minimize their use of Linux on important systems because of questions resulting from SCO Group's warnings about legal liability." Gartner is the ...

Wired has a fascinating article on how SCO went from being a small-time Linux vendor to a big-time pain in the can under the steerage of CEO Darl McBride. McBride has also received death threats, a challenge to a fistfight, and a flood of denial-of-service attacks targeting his company's email ...

SCO: Darl-ing for dollars | CNET News.com: This article sheds some more light on what, exactly, made it into Linux from Unix: "'I can see getting three, four, five, lines of code identical,' said Chris Sontag, senior vice president of [SCO], pointing to a nearly full page of allegedly copied ...

The whole SCO-IBM-Linux-Novell-MS mess explained: These are getting so commonplace, that I'm tempted to write a summary of the summaries. Still, some good information here. "Wall Street certainly hasn't written off SCO, which was trading above $10 per share on Thursday. That's up from $2.21 in March, the day before ...

Red Hat sews up Linux for hobbyists: We had talked before about Red Hat abandoning the consumer version of its product, but perhaps we jumped the gun. Red Hat will release the first version of its hobbyist edition of Linux on Thursday, a company executive said, as the software seller ...

On Sunday, responded to a comment about SCO, and it got me thinking. I finally dug down to the real thing about SCO that pisses me off. This may be obvious to a lot of people, but it had been lurking in the back of mind for a while until ...

A link I may come to regret showing Deane: DevX has an article on PHP-GTK, which provides PHP bindings to the GIMP Tool Kit, the foundation of the GNOME desktop environment. Now, PHP has begun to carve a space for itself in the standalone application arena as well with PHP-GTK. ...

"Hey SCO, Sue Me": What's Next?: John Everitt sent this email to SCO. "I am a Linux user. I feel that SCO's tactics toward an operating system of my choice are unjust, ill founded and bizarre. I am willing to be sued because I am confident that SCO's tactics toward ...

There was a saying about Benito Mussolini back in the forties. He made have been a ruthless dictator, but he made the trains run on time. (Actually, this is a myth, but I'm trying to make a point here...) After working with Linux for a few days, this is my ...

I thought this was interesting... I just wanted to tell you about a hack I experimented on my PC (I didn't really know what to do with it since I bought a Power Mac). It was surprisingly simple: I installed OSX86 and then Darwine. These are both simple operations. Now ...

Google at work on desktop Linux: Is it just me, or is this mega wicked huge news? Google + Desktop OS = ?? Google has confirmed it is working on a desktop linux project called Goobuntu, but declined to supply further details, including what the project is for.

I lost a disk on a server the other day, and as we're rebuilding it, I decided to replace the disk with two disks to reduce the likelihood of losing data. Because of this, I've been doing some reading on Linux support for Software RAID. It was a lot easier ...

CNet remarks on a study that pokes a little fun at the numerous MS-funded studies that suggest that Windows has a lower TCO, while Linux silently but surely gives you cancer. The study suggests that Windows also has a lower T0t4l c05t 0f 0wnz0rship, the cost a cracker has to ...

Tuxs.org lists 10 things you can do with a Linux Live CD. They left off my favorite: 11: Pop a LiveCD into the PCs of your Windows-loving friends, and tell them you wiped their drive and put Linux on there for them.

I may have mentioned before that I run Gentoo Linux as the primary OS on my laptop, where I do most of my work at home. The main bonus of Gentoo is its packaging system, Portage. I've frequently run in to dependency hell with RPM or DEB packaging systems, since ...

Dell to Offer Ubuntu 7.04: Is this the moment desktop Linux proponents have been waiting for all these years? As part of an overall effort to update our Linux program, today we are announcing a partnership with Canonical to offer Ubuntu on select consumer desktop and notebook products.

Given that Microsoft products appear to be full of security holes, more and more thought is being given to migrating to other platforms. However, this has problems of its own. Macs are expensive, and Linux isn't quite ready as a desktop platform. This leaves a lot of people in limbo ...

CinePaint: Here's another example of a software domain in which Linux holds an edge. This app was an fork of The Gimp. It certainly has some decent credentials. CinePaint is a free open source painting and image retouching program designed to work best with 35mm film and other high resolution ...

X.Org is set to release a new version of their X11 server tomorrow (X11 is the system that drives the GUI desktop on Linux and other UNIX systems). The notable part of this release will be extensions to the X protocol that will allow more flexibility in the compositing of ...

I was browsing a Linux site when I saw an ad for this event: What is Penguicon? To those of you familiar with the Linux and Open Source community, think of a weekend long Linux Users Group meeting with hundreds of other geeks which also just happens to have nationally ...

I have the need for a new office router. We only have a couple of people, so a normal home router would be fine, except that we're geeks, so we need more than one external IP. Most home routers don't handle that. You can snag yourself a fancy Cisco PIX, ...

Well, I finally installed Ubuntu at home the other night. I had seen it and played with it before, but I figured it was time to live with it for a while, given all the hype. Here are some thoughts -- Installation was rock-simple. I burned the ISO to a ...

New Tool Searches and Replaces SCO Code: "Linux developer Aduva released a tool at this week's LinuxWorld that will allow companies looking over their shoulder for lawyers to replace offending Linux code with code that doesn't infringe on what SCO alleges is a violation of its intellectual property rights." Via ...

Xbox hackers attempt to blackmail Microsoft: This can't be a good idea: "A group of Xbox-security researchers say they have found a way to run Linux on the Xbox games console without a mod chip and will go public with the technique if Microsoft won't talk to them about releasing ...

Lindows, Getting There: A review of the latest Lindow release. The author notes one of the problems I've had with Linux all along. "Most of this built-in software does an admirable job of insulating Windows users from the tricky parts of Linux. But the interface isn't always consistent from one ...

Experts: Vicious worm 'Linux war' weapon: They just can't catch a break. Virus experts suggested MyDoom's author was a fan of the Linux open source community, because the bug, which targets computers running Microsoft Windows, launched a Denial of Service Attack on SCO's site. Goes back to my point about ...

Linus Torvalds leaves Transmeta: He's leaving to go to work full-time on the Linux kernel. (Because he really needs to re-write about 80 lines of code.) This came in later from eWeek: Linux founder and lead developer Linus Torvalds will join the Open Source Development Lab (OSDL) as its first ...

Essentials : Mark Pilgrim has listed his "essential" software tools for doing his job. I always like to see these the absolute, "can't live without" tools of people who do the same work as me. As the risk of being self-indulgent, here's mine: Email: Thunderbird or Mozilla Mail via ...

CNN.com - MySQL: A threat to bigwigs?: A good article on MySQL: "Yahoo's Zawodny makes a different analogy: 'MySQL is to Oracle as Linux is to Windows. It will slowly but steadily creep up the food chain, just like Linux has.' ... Mickos is already seeing real headway. 'I estimate ...

Calif. judge nixes online processing of Microsoft claims: Lindows put up the site, Microsoft sued, Lindows refused to remove it, and, well, here we are. Lindows.com's site, MSfreePC.com, promised to simplify the process and provide instant gratification. Users, after answering a few questions, were given Lindows' Linux operating system or ...

Singapore-made OS ready to launch: They re big into OSs over there the last couple of days. Two Singapore inventors who say they ve created an operating system that can run programs written for Windows, Linux and Palm will formally launch the product this month. The MXI OS apparently allows a ...

GROKLAW: A blog devoted solely to the SCO / IBM / Linux soap opera.

Sun exec sees opportunity in Chinese software shift: Sun is awfully happy with the recent developments in the Asian OS market. "John Gage, Sun's chief researcher, told Reuters a Chinese plan to develop operating systems using either local or alternative software like Linux spelt the end of dominance by rival ...

Hack Attack: Turn Your Old PC into a Webapp Monster with gOS: This is a review of the linux distro that comes with Wal-mart s ultra-cheap PC. The screenshots make it look pretty good. ince Wal-Mart began selling a $199 PC running a free Linux distribution—called gOS—with a hearty dose of ...

Microsoft, Lindows scrap over claims site: Microsoft is not happy about the site Lindows put up encouraging people to file recovery claims against Microsoft. "Microsoft has demanded that Linux seller Lindows.com take down a Web site that offers to process customer claims from the settlement of a California class-action suit ...

Why Won't Dell Promote Its Linux Desktops?: The first comment on this Slashdot post is rich.

Microsoft dominance of OS market grows, IDC study says: Everyone keeps saying that this or that will be "the thing that breaks the Microsoft monopoly." They've been saying it about Linux for years, and I heard the same things about the Apple X-Serve. Sadly, none of that seems to be ...

Wired 11.07: McNealy's Last Stand: A fascinating, albeit long, article about the fate of Sun. "...the story reduces down to this: McNealy spent the second half of the 1990s monomaniacally obsessed with everything having to do with Microsoft, from its monopoly-like practices to the general unreliability of the Windows operating ...

Under heavy pressure from Linux application server clusters, Microsoft is working on a version of Windows Server 2003 designed to support parallel computing. Microsoft plans to aim Windows Server 2003 HPC edition, at companies in life sciences, engineering, finance, and other industries where highly scalable systems built with relatively low-cost ...

Last year, on this date, we posted that Dell was going to start selling Ubuntu-powered machines. We said: Is this the moment desktop Linux proponents have been waiting for all these years? This story came up in the On This Day section in the sidebar this morning, and I got ...

Server Break-in Challenge: First one to break in, leave a file in the root, and take the machine offline wins the contest. Are you an Internet security expert at heart or by profession? Ever thought of trying your skill at a professionally set up server? If you are ready, enter. ...

I usually steer clear of the 'Linux vs. Windows' articles, since almost everything relevant has been beaten to the point of cliché, and what we're left with is endless flame wars. However, this article by Linux News provides a level of technobabble that would make Geordi from Star Trek proud: ...

Wired News reports on Transitive Computing, which is set to unveil a new software called QuickTransit, which claims to be the ultimate platform emulator. A Silicon Valley startup claims to have cracked one of most elusive goals of the software industry: a near-universal emulator that allows software developed for one ...

Lindows.com - Michael's Minutes: Apparently somone found a FrontPage meta tag on one of the pages on the Lindows site, and they contacted the company about it. This announcement was made shortly after. "...we're kicking off Nvu (pronounced N-view). This product will bring to Linux a solid WYSIWYG HTML editor ...

Triple Boot via BootCamp: Instructions on triple-booting the MacBookPro to Windows, Mac OS, and Gentoo Linux. Via Slashdot.

Torvalds Slams SCO: Linus gets all up in SCO's face about their "infringing code." On the subject of SCO's claim that it's not feasible to remove the offending code from Linux: "They are smoking crack. Their slides said there are [more than] 800,000 lines of SMP code that are 'infringing,' ...

SCO Needs to Put Up or Shut Up: It's tough to argue with this: The SCO Group has spent the past couple of months directing sensational allegations and vague threats toward Linux and any individual or company that develops, markets or runs the operating system all without presenting a ...

Robert Love points to an interesting article on Kernelthread.com on ten OS-level optimizations built in to OSX to improve performance. I'll bet even you Mac folks didn't know about most of this stuff. This document discusses ten things that Apple did (beyond initial/fundamental OS design and implementation) to improve Mac ...

Brazil Leans Away From Microsoft: First China, then Korea and Boston, now Brazil. "We have some islands in the federal government using open-source, but we want to create a continent," said Amadeu, a former economics professor who gained fame before joining Silva's team by launching a network of free computer ...

I rarely eat at McDonalds, but while on vacation last week our kids talked us into it as we drove across western Nebraska. My wife ordered a Big Mac, and unbeknownst to me, they had a Sony Connect promo going on where you get a free music download with every ...

SCO's next target: SGI? "Chris Sontag, the senior vice president in charge of SCO's effort to derive more revenue from its Unix intellectual property, has said two things that suggest SGI is a likely target. First, Sontag said in June that SCO is contemplating legal action against another major North ...

Forrester: Windows Platform Bests Linux For Application Development: Don't go jumping to conclusions Microsoft did commission this study. "On Tuesday, Forrester Research's Giga Information Group unit is expected to release the results of a study commissioned by Microsoft finding that applications developed and deployed on Windows are cheaper to ...

Mozilla FireFox has been awarded "Best In Show" at the LinuxWorld conference, which is taking place this week at the Moscone Center in 'Frisco. "The winners of the LinuxWorld Product Excellence Awards represent the best that open source has to offer,"� said Warwick Davies, group vice president, IDG World Expo. ...

A couple of interesting things about Google's GMail in this article: FIrst, and not all that surprising, is that GMail is running on Apple Xserve hardware, which is something I'd heard before (reported here earlier.) I'd be interested to find out if they're actually using OS X on them. Another ...

Stepping up to a giant: A very interesting interview with Michael Robertson, CEO of Lindows. I didn't know that he was the force behind MP3.com. It's interesting that he chose to do Lindows rather than just retire of the sale of that company. "...it goes back to the fact there ...

Password Gorilla: One of the problems we have around Blend is tracking login credentials. We have three people and probably 300 sets of credentials we have to manage, so it gets complicated. On our Linux boxes, we have a snazzy PKI system, but for everything else, we just have to ...

Danie