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31st Jul 2007
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News Alert


Linux and Open Source News for 30th July 2007

Mandriva Download

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Source: LinuxTracker.org

Category: Solaris Size: 3.20 GB Status: 3 seeders and 4 leechers Added: 2007-07-30 10:42:47


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Source: redhat

Red Hat has announced a beta release of its first minor update to Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 5: "Red Hat is pleased to announce the availability of the beta release of 5.1 (kernel 2.6.18-36.el5) for the Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 family of products. This beta release .


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Source: weekly

This week in DistroWatch Weekly: Report: Linux in Paradise News: Debian release update, OpenBSD Foundation, Fedora statistics, Red Hat's Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux, Ubuntu Live Released last week: SabayonLinux 3.4, 64 Studio 2.0, SME Server 7.2 Upcoming releases: Mandriva 2008 Beta 1, Fedora 8 Test1 DistroWatch news: .


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Source: lunar

Auke Kok has announced the first beta release of Lunar Linux 1.6.2, a source-based distribution designed for intermediate and advanced Linux users: "We're happy to announce the first beta release of a new series of Lunar linux installer ISOs. Our new ISOs will be as easy to install .


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Source: frugalware

Miklós Vajna has announced the availability of the second preview of Frugalware Linux 0.7: "The Frugalware Developer Team is pleased to announce the immediate availability of Frugalware 0.7pre2, the second technical preview of the upcoming 0.7 stable release. A short and incomplete list of changes since 0.7pre1: new .



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Source: Linux Today

ZDNet: "Projity, which has been selling its project management software in the form of Software as a Service (SaaS), will launch an open source version at LinuxWorld next week, under the name OpenProj "


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Source: Linux Today

Linux.com: "The Fedora Project offered a peek under its kimono recently with details about Fedora 7 adoption and other statistics "


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Source: Linux Today

Desktop Linux: "But, Woodford said, for MEPIS users this means that Ubuntu does not provide a foundation for long term incremental upgrades. "Ubuntu is almost a whole new distro each time it's released," he said. "By using the EXPERIMENTAL code, each and every time, the Ubuntu code tree is inherently less stable than the Debian code tree, which contains additional levels of testing and vetting and fixing of code.""


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Source: Linux Today

Lateral Opinion: "While one of the pillars of Unix is that each command should do one thing and do it well, we have here one of the most peculiar results. You have seven commands to do one or two things, and they do them rather badly."


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Source: Linux Today

SearchEnterpriseLinux: "In a heterogeneous data center, administering access and managing identity can be time-consuming any way you slice it "


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Source: Linux Today

Computer Business Review: "Do any of them stand a chance? Here's my (admittedly simplified) two-penneth "


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Source: Linux Today

Groklaw: "At least two years ago, folks began noticing the erosion of the meaning of "Open Source" by Microsoft. It moves like a glacier, but while it may be slow, it's hard to be in a glacier's path and win. But unless someone stands up, and soon, Open Source is dead as we know it, and Microsoft will take it over and remake it in its image. All that will be left standing will be GPLv3 and Free Software."


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Source: Linux Today

eWeek: "Sun Microsystems' ODF Plug-in for Microsoft Office won't usher in an era of universal document interoperability, but eWEEK Labs believes it is the best option currently available "


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Source: Linux Today

Join the Revolution!: "The article was cleverly packaged with an interesting looking title and introduction, but after reading on I was surprised to see the objectives offered - to let Thunderbird determine its own destiny !"


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Source: Linux Today

Funtoo: "There is a large interest among the Gentoo and larger Linux user community for me to come back as Chief Architect "


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Source: Linux Today

Raiden's Realm: "Vector Linux, a derivative of Slackware Linux, is an all in one Linux distribution targeted towards both beginners and the Windows refuge "


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Source: Linux Today

Techzone: "It appears that bashing Microsoft (commonly known as M$) has evolved as our, the so called open source lovers, common hobby "


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Source: Linux Today

Linux Devices: "In response to inquiries regarding a German court's ruling that Skype had breached the GPL, the company told LinuxDevices.com today that it "has not acted improperly." The alleged violation was associated with the method by which Skype "distributed" GPL-licensed source code with a Linux-powered VoIP handset."


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Source: Linux Today

The Register: "A splash of drama hit OSCON this morning, as the COO of software maker Fotango resigned from the company during his keynote, protesting a decision not to open source the Zimki utility computing platform."


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Source: Linux Today

LinuxWorld: "This year's most important Linux application may be a simple utility that helps users spot long-standing bugs that make systems waste power."


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Source: Linux Today

Newsforge: "Do you know what happens to your used computer equipment after it has been discarded? The answer may surprise you. Even if you have tried to recycle it, your old hardware often gets shipped to a developing nation in direct violation of international law. Useful components are then extracted -- without safety precautions -- by locals earning pennies a day and who are exposed to a range of hazardous toxins that include lead, beryllium, mercury, cadmium, and brominated flame retardants."


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Source: Linux Today

PC World: "The city of Madera, Calif., has spent the last year successfully running an open-source-based network as a replacement for one based on Cisco Systems Inc. gear "


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Source: Linux Today

Wolfmanz Bytes: "The big question is how much stuff will get screwed up if I hit the upgrade button?"


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Source: Linux Today

derStandard: "During this years GUADEC Red Hat developer Havoc Pennington proposed his idea of an "Online Desktop" to the developers of the GNOME project. Through deep integration with web services and "zero-maintenance" the Open Source client aims to get the "perfect window to the Internet"."


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Source: Linux Today

DaniWeb: "Put through my patented BS translator this produced 'Thunderbird brings us no revenue, gets a bad press whether compared to Outlook or Gmail, and anyway Firefox is our future '"


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Source: Linux Today

ZDNet: "Let us now praise Michael Tiemann "


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Source: Linux Today

Red Herring: "If a recent report is any indication, Novell may be in for a case of the blues "


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Source: Linux Today

DaniWeb: "Current market share statistics are revealing, with Windows XP hogging the limelight on some 81.94% of the OS market, and Vista with its 4.52% share sitting between Mac OS with 6% and Linux on a rather disappointing 0.71%."


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Source: Linux Today

Groklaw: "The question the appeals court was asked to answer, in its own words, was:
'We consider whether a service provider may change the terms of its service contract by merely posting a revised contract on its website.'
It's a significant ruling, in that it's the first time this issue has reached a federal appeals court."


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Source: Linux Today

ONLamp: "A fast-spreading story out of Europe asserts that VoIP leader Skype has been found in violation of the GPL by a German court "


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Source: Linux Today

Groklaw: "I find the ruling infuriatingly clueless about the tech. The "expert" advising the court obviously did not understand Google cache. Nor does the court comprehend that a robot can't do anything that a human hasn't told it to do. Nor does the court understand the difference between an information portal and a bunch of search engine results, which is all Google News is."


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Source: Linux Today

Desktop Linux: " the real reason why Microsoft is "winning" in China and has won elsewhere is that Microsoft is willing to break the law, pay the fines, dump products on the market at far below cost, and continue on in the belief that in the long run the costs of doing business the Microsoft way will win out over the higher quality, security and features of Mac OS X and the Linux desktop."


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Source: Linux Today

Groklaw: "Now, he has the skills to set up whatever he wants, really, but even when you know how, it's so pleasant when it just works. And if all your grandpa wants to do is surf, he can do this "


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Source: Linux Today

CNews: "CNews found out a pilot open source software project was to be launched in the educational institutions in Tomsk Region and Tatarstan "


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Source: Linux Today

TechNewsWorld: "Five years ago, the only engineering or computer science majors setting their sights on a career in writing software code for an open source company were the most hardcore of computer nerds "


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Source: Linux Today

Kahvipapu: "Massive Multiplayer Online Games are hugely popular nowadays, especially thanks to the World of Warcraft which brought online gaming to the mainstream. So what's the state of online games on Linux ?"


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Source: Linux Today

Raider's Realm: "Given all this versatility, and its roots as a server OS, some may be lead to ask the question, 'Does it make a good desktop distribution?' We're about to find out "



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Source: Slashdot: Linux

eldavojohn writes "We've heard a bit about the completely fair scheduler previously, but now Kernel Trap looks at the implications this new scheduler has for 3D games in Linux. Linus Torvalds noted, 'I don't think any scheduler is perfect, and almost all of the time, the RightAnswer(tm) ends up being not one or the other, but somewhere in between. But at the same time, no technical decision is ever written in stone. It's all a balancing act. I've replaced the scheduler before, I'm 100% sure we'll replace it again. Schedulers are actually not at all that important in the end: they are a very very small detail in the kernel.' The posts that follow the brief article, reveal that Linus seems quite confident that he made the right choice in his decision to merge CFS with the Linux kernel. One thing's for certain, gaming on Linux can't suffer any more setbacks or it may be many years before we see FOSS games rival the commercial world."Read more of this story at Slashdot.


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Source: Slashdot: Linux

I have the urge to commit my 24" Core 2 Duo iMac to a single Linux operating system, thus giving up the goodness of my beloved Mac OS X. I am not a stranger to Linux, but I am a stranger to running Mac apps on Linux. On my PowerPC I can use SheepShaver to run Classic apps. The Mac-on-Linux project can run OS X apps, but it requires a PowerPC, not an x86. Virtualizing and emulating are inefficient, especially given the wonderful results the WINE project has had in getting Windows apps to run on Linux. What I would like is an equivalent: a software compatibility layer that will allow Linux to run Mac OS X apps at native performance. I believe there is some additional complexity in accomplishing this. Mac OS X apps aren't just Mac OS X apps. They are Carbon. They are Cocoa. They are universal binaries. They are PPC code with Altivec. Does such a project exist yet? If not, why not?Read more of this story at Slashdot.



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Source: ONLamp.com

A Perl demographic survey is now open. From perlsurvey.og:

Take part in the 2007 Perl Survey!
The Perl Survey is an attempt to capture a picture of the Perl community in all its diversity. No matter what sort of Perl programmer you are, we’d love to hear from you.
The survey can be found at: http://perlsurvey.org
It only takes about 5 minutes to complete.
The survey will be open until September 30th, 2007. After that, we’ll be reporting on the results and making the data freely available.
Please feel free to forward this email to any other Perl programmers you know.
Thanks for your help!
Yours,
Kirrily “Skud” Robert
The Perl Survey
info@perlsurvey.org

In the words of Andy Lester:

Software communities can often be an echo chamber where people only hear from like-minded people. The Perl Survey is an attempt to break out of that echo chamber and hear from all Perl users around the world, regardless of skill level, not just the core users most active in vocal communities.

So you cordially invited to complete the survey if you use Perl at all.
You’ll need a valid e-mail address to complete the signup process. If you’re sensitive to the exposure of the data provided in the survey, don’t forget to read the Privacy Policy.
I know the survey has already reached varied places such as Australia (Kirrily’s home), China, Netherlands, Brazil, North America. In about a day and a half, a thousand responses were collected. And is still propagating through the networks of Perl developers and other IT professionals (like Linux users, sysadmins, etc.) Some of the information (like salary ranges) can be quite hard to find in terms of world coverage, which makes a good chance to understand the situation of Perl users everywhere.
It is a pity that the survey is not available in other languages but English. In my case, I would love to have a more accurate view of the usage of Perl in Brazil. I believe that, though people do not admit often, the language intimidates in many non-English-speaking countries and may hurt overall participation. But I may be wrong.


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Source: ONLamp.com

Scott Walters recently ranted on how Perl programmers tend not to perform OO analysis and design, at least when compared to Java programmers.

Setting aside issues of language design–though they’re important, I think there are other insights available–it does seem as if there’s much more literature available for developers who want to design large systems in Java than there is for developers who want to design large systems in Perl. (I operate from the assumption that the number of people who could write a program in Perl is probably the same as the number of people who could write a program in Java, if not greater, so I set aside questions of market size as well.)

Aristotle Pagaltzis suggested I repost my analysis here. In short, it’s all about the teachers.

Java ended up as the de facto teaching language because Pascal was the teaching language of the previous generation, C++ was too baroque, Smalltalk was too much unlike Pascal, and when “How to Use Excel” is a CS class, there’s no way you can think about teaching undergraduates Scheme.

Though there were still a few books written about Smalltalk or Lisp in this era, non-theoretical CS programs moved to Java in the late ’90s, hence Design Patterns mixed C++ and Java examples (and thus many of the more severe problems of that book). A lot of the great Smalltalk programmers I know moved to Java because it had momentum. You can go to OOPSLA (or more likely the POPL track) and hear about Haskell, ML, Ocaml, Smalltalk once in a while, and lately Ruby, but even a lot of academic research uses Java and the JVM. (.Net and the CLR have grown as you might expect in the past few years.)

I can’t entirely account for the fact that the dominant development environment of the dominant desktop platform was Visual C++, but I do think the academic adoption of Java has led to a focus among newly-minted Java programmers that There Is One Right Way To Do Things. It helps that the language design encourages One Right Way, though I remain unconvinced that that principle is useful.

Maybe calling this all one trend is conflation, but it seems a mixture of 1) deliberate design choices to funnel all code down certain paths 2) academic adoption and dogmatic teaching styles and 3) plenty of supporting literature.



Updated: Tue Jul 31 23:55:02 2007


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