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In a change of heart, Novell has ceased distributing proprietary software modules such as 3D video drivers that plug into the Linux kernel.

[I looove it! Now if Novell will start banning its own non-free repertoire, or more accurately, freeing it up... - dcparris]

"Open source is not just a matter of altruism--it's also good economic sense," said Sun Microsystems' Simon Phipps (pictured) in a recent speech. "Sun has now contributed more lines of open source code than any other organization, including the University of California, Berkeley," he said.

[Interesting. Some will want to brush up on their reading comprehension skills before attempting this one. - dcparris]

My favorite non-IE based alternative browser has reached the 200 million download mark.

NEW YORK — Prudential analyst John McPeake initiated coverage of three software companies Tuesday, including Red Hat Inc., which makes a Linux-based operating system.

Microsoft security guru Jeff Jones is extending the meme that Windows is more secure than Linux. Ever curious, Email Battles decided to check out his assumptions and methodologies. Setting aside easy red herrings like the timing of fixes, they still came across judgment calls that less MS-centric researchers might have made differently.

A bill introduced by Rep. Michael Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) that aims to restrict social networking Web sites in schools and libraries passed the U.S. House of Representatives by a vote of 410-15. The Deleting Online Predators Act (DOPA) would require organizations that receive funds under the federal E-Rate program to install Internet filters that would block access to sites such as Facebook and MySpace.

[This strikes me as getting dangerously close to the Big Brother syndrome. Isn't there a better way to protect children? - dcparris-

Welcome to this year's 31st issue of DWN, the weekly newsletter for the Debian community. Christoph Berg [1]announced nine new members of the QA team who already work on outstanding issues in the [2]etch release. Gintautas Miliauskas [3]reported that he has been working on an integrated l10n infrastructure for Debian based on the framework used by the [4]WorldForge project.

Based on an XML standard developed by Microsoft called Systems Definition Model, SML promises to lower the cost of maintaining data centers by offering a common language for servers, networking equipment, and other computing devices to share information.

[So that leaves the _existing_ ODF standard...where? Bob-]

[From the article, "The goal of SML is to establish a lingua franca for computing resources--servers, networking gear, applications and the like--to exchange operating information, such as security requirements or performance problems."
Not exactly in the same realm as ODF - dcparris

A three-way collaboration among FileMaker customers well-versed in PHP, engineers and commercial PHP vendor Zend Technologies has enabled FileMaker to roll out the first public beta preview of a new Application Programming Interface (API) for the popular PHP open-source scripting language.

[Be wary of running your mouse over the MS banner ad. If MS ads annoy you, this one will really tick you off. But if you need to worry about Filemaker... - dcparris]

Part of proper power management is the ability to put your laptop to sleep. ACPI sleep is defined as a state where the system is still technically powered on, but the screen and hard disk are powered down and the computer is using just enough power to keep the contents of RAM alive. The Ubuntu development team has devoted an immense amount of effort toward getting ACPI power management working properly. As it stands, Ubuntu is power-management-friendly right out of the box, thanks to the recent addition of the gnome-power-manager package. It turns out there's not much required to get most modern laptops to sleep and wake up correctly.

ReviewLinux.Com takes a quick look at the latest beta release of Mandriva One 2007. Mandriva One is both a live cd as well as an install cd so if one likes this distro it is very easy to install to a hard drive. Mandriva strives on having a polished look and very professional Linux distribution. We hope you enjoy the quick screenshot tour.

Misquote won't keep them apartRed Hat today scrambled to repair its relationship with XenSource after areport fromZDNet Australia presented a major technological rift between the two companies.…

Coming off of a big week at OSCon it's time to announceRubyConf*MI, the first regional Ruby conference. It's being held in Grand Rapids Michigan on Aug 26th. It looks like a good conference,David Black will be speaking (the word is he'll be presenting a day of training throughRuby Power and Light ahead of the conference as well). I'm going to be speaking there too, along with several local Ruby hackers. You can see the speaker list or register for the conference at their website.

Health IT StrategistModern Healthcare's daily IT newsletter, revealed thatMedsphere is suing the Shreeve brothers From the article:A $50 million, 12-count lawsuit charging misappropriation of trade secrets, breach of contract, breach of duty of loyalty, violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act, commission of computer crimes, intentional interference with contract relations, unfair competition and other complaints has been filed by Aliso Viejo, Calif.-based Medsphere Systems Corp. against the company's co-founders, brothers Steve and Scott Shreeve. The suit seems to be over some code deposited on sourceforge against the companies wishes...Steve Shreeve announced that Jumps and Kickstand source codes were freely available on SourceForge.net, which"came as an unwelcome and startling surprise" to Kizer and other Medsphere executives. -Fred Trotter

Swiftly following the latest bugfix release for KOffice 1.5, the KDE Project today announced the release of KOffice 1.6 alpha. This is the first preview release for KOffice 1.6, scheduled for release this October. KOffice is an integrated office suite with more components than any other suite in existence. KOffice 1.6 is mainly a feature release for Krita and Kexi while the new revolutionary KOffice 2.0 is being developed, Read the full announcement and the changelog for more details or read on for the full article.

Bill Vass (pictured), formerly Sun's Chief Information Officer (CIO), was named President and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Sun Microsystems Federal, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Sun Microsystems, Inc., and Anthony Robbins was hired as Vice President of Federal Sales.

Midmarket CIOs who yearn for high-end functionality but can't foot the bill are turning to emerging open source vendors. Although there are risks, experts say it's an opportunity to get in on cutting-edge technology for a more reasonable price.

MUNICH - Florian Mueller, the founder of Europe's award-winning NoSoftwarePatents campaign, believes the Free Software Foundation's (FSF) should not soften the patent-related provisions in its draft GPLv3 license.

[I wholeheartedly agree with Mueller. - dcparris]

Symphony OS is a GNU/Linux distribution designed to innovate from the ground up. Although originally based on Knoppix and now on Debian stable, it quickly differentiates itself from the bulk of distros by implementing the ideas articulated in a so-called grey paper on user interface design by Jason Spisak, one of the co-founders of Lycoris. Often, Symphony's implementations challenge UI assumptions on any platform. At other times, the possible shortcomings of Symphony OS' solutions raise issues themselves. Either way, in putting the May 2006 beta through its paces, I found it impossible to stop thinking about UI design. Even when Symphony OS does not provide ultimate answers, it raises questions about usability that are too often ignored.

Most of the time, when someone who uses Windows wants to check out Linux, they don't know where to start. As Scott Morris wrote his 160-page book about Linux, this is the problem he sought to solve. This book is free of charge. It's perfect for that one person who you've always wanted to introduce to Linux, but never had the time. Well, now you can.