Archive for September, 2007
Wednesday, September 26th, 2007
How the Linux Foundation, users, developers, and member companies collaborate and intersect
Joe Alexander from Bull has a great “interview” up on Bull’s website that talks about how the Linux Foundation, users, developers, and the LF member companies all collaborate and intersect at varying levels. Joe covers hardening Linux for enterprise mission critical but moves to discuss how Linux has “crossed the chasm”. He also describes why and where the new LF “weather forecast” came from and how Linux requires a ‘forecast’ that is a bit different from other “roadmap driven” operating systems.
I found this to be a great viewpoint and even better to see it on Bull’s website giving testament to a foundation that in my opinion is kicking off some great working after the merger.
http://www.bull.com/opensource/enterpriselinux.html
One might wonder how proprietary OS vendors can compete over the long-term with the breath, depth, passion and quality of the Linux development community.
Wednesday, September 26th, 2007
ComputerWorld: “Novell’s Linux business climbs since its deal with Microsoft”
“The affect on sales year over year, for Novell’s first three quarters of our fiscal year, which ends Oct. 31 — our Linux business was up 243%,” said Justin Steinman, director of marketing at Novell, who, along with executives from both companies, spoke at a program hosted by the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council.
Oddly this comes out just the day after Red Hat’s earnings which seem to have impressed investors:
Shares of Red Hat Inc. rose more than 4% Wednesday, one day after the company reported that its second-quarter profit rose 59%, and sales slightly beat Wall Street analysts’
The bottom line conclusion I see in these datapoints is Linux is flying off the shelves (or is that off the wires with downloads…) and growing quite well no matter what other companies try to do to impede its growth. The state of Linux is strong.
Wednesday, September 26th, 2007
Ted Ts’o moved his blog to WordPress
Another great win for WordPress as Ted Ts’o has migrated to the platform. He has a very interesting theme in use too - I have not seen that one before (I must be behind on themes).
http://thunk.org/tytso/blog/2007/09/12/moving-to-wordpress/
Because I’ve been getting a little frustrated with the lack of trackback support, prohibition against Javascript, etc. I’ve decided to set up a Wordpress installation on my private machine.
Wednesday, September 26th, 2007
NYLUG Sept 27 (tomorrow): Jason Perlow gives a sneak peak at Gutsy Gibbon and OpenSuSE 10.3
Jason Perlow
- on -
Sneak Peeks at Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon and OpenSuSE 10.3
Please note important RSVP information about this meeting
Jason Perlow, Sr. Technology Editor, Linux Magazine, and Advisory Architect, IBM Global Technology Services, will be presenting a sneak peek at Ubuntu 7.10 “Gutsy Gibbon” and OpenSuSE 10.3, updated versions of two popular Linux distributions currently under development.
Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon 7.10, upon its release in the Fall of 2007, will be the latest incarnation of the world’s fastest growing Free Software Linux distribution. Built upon the technology in Debian, targeted towards a wide range of end users and sporting the lastest Linux Kernel 2.6.22, it will have the latest implementation of GNOME, FireFox, OpenOffice, and other useful Open Source applications, as well as support for a wide array of devices including wireless networking and 3D accelerated video drivers thru open source and “restricted” proprietary device drivers from 3rd parties. Ubuntu, which was first released in 2003 by South African billionaire Mark Shuttleworth, has quickly usurped Fedora as the most downloaded Linux distribution on the Internet.
OpenSUSE 10.3, also due in the fall, is the next version of Novell’s popular Open Source and community-based Linux Distribution. Derived from SuSE Linux Professional, which used to be a commercial product, OpenSUSE 10.3 is both a bleeding-edge technology demonstrator for Novell’s future enterprise products and an end-user Linux distribution for power users that is packed full of software applications, advanced desktop/workstation Linux technology as well as the very latest in Open Source development tools. Distributed on DVD media and engineered at Novell’s research facilities in Nuremburg, Germany, it is the literal Mercedes Benz of Linux distributions.
Further Information:
About Jason Perlow:
Jason Perlow is Senior Technology Editor for Linux Magazine. In the past, his works have been featured in ZDNet, Sm@rt Partner, Smart Business for the New Economy, Maximum Linux, Handheld PC and PalmPower.com. He has run his own integration firm, Argonaut Systems, and is the founder of eGullet.com, a food news and discussion web site. He lives in the New Jersey suburbs of New York City with his wife Rachel and two poodles, Truffle and Bailey. Jason maintains a blog, Off The Broiler where he talks about food, technology, and what’s on his mind. ( podcasts)
Meeting Location
Please note that this meeting will be held at Google, located at 76 9th Avenue, 4th floor, New York, NY. Between 15th and 16th Streets. Use the entrance near 16th Street, there will be people at a “Google table” there to give you your nametag/badge to go up. It is highly suggested that you RSVP for this meeting prior to 2:30 PM the day before the meeting to avoid delays getting in.
Tuesday, September 25th, 2007
Quicken 2008 for Ubuntu Linux?
I was configuring a Dell Ubuntu system just now and during the config process they now have a section for “Top Selling Software”. I was perplexed when I saw “Quicken Home and Business 2008″ as the only top selling software option to order with the Ubuntu Dell system. So I went over to Quicken.com and sure enough they don’t show any Linux supported versions. I also asked the “Live Chat” person and he said I cannot “buy the Quicken for your Linux”. Oh well..
Tuesday, September 25th, 2007
Ubuntu Developer Conference (Oct 29 - Nov 2)
Noticed today that the Ubuntu Developer Conference is open and in plan for Oct. 29 - Nov. 2. You can find out more here:
http://www.ubuntu.com/news/spotlight/uds
Who should Attend
We don’t restrict access and all are welcome but bear in mind this is a working summit. This is for developers and other contributors looking to propose and work on features they want to see in the next versions of Ubuntu. It’s not for end users, it’s not a time for free support, it’s not a time to meet and talk strategy. No suits, no tourists in short.
Tuesday, September 25th, 2007
WordPress 2.3 “Dexter” is officially here
I haven’t updated just yet, but I will likely in the next 24 hrs.
http://wordpress.org/development/2007/09/wordpress-23/
Monday, September 24th, 2007
EU Globalization Institute: “Unbundling Windows”
I haven’t had time to read the full report yet, but if the report is as good as the abstract, I like what I see.
Computers in the European Union should be sold without a bundled operating system, according to this submission to the European Commission. It says that the bundling of Microsoft Windows with computers is not in the public interest, and prevents meaningful competition in the operating system market.
The submission comes after the Commission won a ruling supporting its existing antitrust action against Microsoft in the European Court of First Instance. The Institute argues that cheaper competitors are unable to benefit from their lower cost because consumers have already been forced to buy Windows. Windows’ dominant position both has slowed technical improvements and prevented new alternatives entering from the marketplace.
Operating systems, it says, are not a natural monopoly, requiring just one supplier. Instead, in a competitive market, there would be a broad compatibility between different supplier’s products. “Competition would encourage open standards and interoperability as vendors would, for competitive reasons, want their products to interact with other vendors’ products,” the submission says.
Monday, September 24th, 2007
It’s official - the Indians take the AL Central
Unfortunately the Cleveland Indians clinched the top spot the day after I was in attendance, but they did win on Sunday and that’s good news for everyone. Saturday’s game which I painfully sat through was lackluster, but the Tribe pulled out the arsenal on Sunday. This is a great triumph for the Indians and I can’t wait to see how the Series plays out. Cleveland now has the Indians and Cavs on track - it’s time to get the Browns going again… they did not win yesterday with the Raiders blocking a last second field goal.
You can catch the final out of the Indians game (a nice K) and the post-celebration here: http://cleveland.indians.mlb.com/index.jsp?c_id=cle
Thursday, September 20th, 2007
SFLC Sues to Enforce GPLv2
Interesting news with the SFLC going out proactively on behalf of BusyBox. This case seems almost “too easy” for getting a precedent but it looks like a good call. Luis covers it here.
SFLC notice: http://www.softwarefreedom.org/news/2007/sep/20/busybox/
“Free software licenses such as the GPL exist to protect the freedom of computer users. If we don’t ensure that these licenses are respected, then they will not be able to achieve their goal,” said Eben Moglen, Founding Director of SFLC. “Our goal is simply to ensure that Monsoon Multimedia complies with the terms of the GPL.”
Wednesday, September 19th, 2007
Get ready for Ohio LinuxFest 2007 - I’ll be there; how about you?
I didn’t think I’d be able to make it this year, but things worked out and I’ll be at Ohio LinuxFest 2007 in Columbus, Ohio on the 29th. If you’re planning to attend, let me know - I’d like to meet up. The speaker sessions look quite interesting and there looks to be quite a few “notables” attending. I am making the complete trip with car and hotel for under $300 so take advantage of the low cost!
You can learn all about this conference here: http://www.ohiolinux.org/
Wednesday, September 19th, 2007
ComputerWorld: “SCO says there is ’substantial doubt’ it will survive”
“As a result of both the court’s August 10, 2007 ruling and the company’s entry into Chapter 11, there is substantial doubt about the company’s ability to continue as a growing concern,” SCO said in the filing.
Tuesday, September 18th, 2007
John Cherry covers latest announcements around collaboration and office suites
John Cherry summed up the recent “big” announcements around collaboration and offices suites over on his LF blog:
http://www.linux-foundation.org/weblogs/cherry/2007/09/18/piling-on-office-and-collaboration/
Any of these announcements by themselves would be significant, but the combination of these is really sounding the starting pistol for competition in the multi-billion dollar office productivity race. And this time around, it is not a one horse race.
Tuesday, September 18th, 2007
IBM breaks open the Office lock on customers, offers a path to and open standard with new, no charge Lotus Symphony
Lots of news since I left for Europe. The trip was amazing (photos and maybe videos coming soon). But since I left, OOXML failed in ISO, the EU rejected Microsoft’s appeal, SCO filed for Chapter 11, and IBM joined OpenOffice.org as a significant contributor (35 developers).
Today, though, IBM also announced Lotus Symphony - a no charge set of office productivity editors (you may be familiar with Microsoft Office’s Excel, Powerpoint, and Word - they’re very similar). IBM’s Symphony suite, like OpenOffice allows users to also start transitioning to OpenDocument Format (ODF). The new suite is NO CHARGE (yes, the nice way of saying “free” without implying “cheap” or “dumbed down”). These are the real deal, the same editors that come bundled with Lotus Notes 8 and the work on Linux or Windows (although I prefer Linux). The URL to download them is here:
www.ibm.com/software/lotus/symphony
The interesting thing now is that Microsoft Office costs what… $X00 and you can get the IBM Symphony suite for $0. Symphony handles Word, ODF, and many other formats (including PDF output)… Microsoft Office… well… not so much. Symphony is even cheaper than StarOffice (unless you go through GooglePack)
Take Symphony for a test run - there’s no charge - and keep an eye out because I can absolutely feel OpenOffice and by proxy Symphony are going to see great advances in their evolution going forward.
A nice quote from Steve Mills with a relation back to Linux:
“IBM is committed to opening office desktop productivity applications just as we helped open enterprise computing with Linux,” said Steve Mills, senior vice president and group executive, IBM Software Group. “The lifeblood of any organization is contained in thousands of documents. With the Open Document Format, businesses can unlock their information, making it universally accessible on any platform and on the Web in highly flexible ways.”
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