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The debate over the General Public License version 3 begins as the Free Software Foundation's founder says anti-patent provisions are "not a placeholder."

Jon "DVD Jon" Johansen, who popularized the means to crack the CSS system protecting DVDs, has committed to launching a tool to crach the Advanced Access Content System (AACS) used in next-generation DVDs. In a blog posting earlier this month, Johansen announced that he had registered the Deaacs.com site, which cites a "winter 2006/2007" release date for the software.

What happens when you cannot find a search engine? South Africa's newest search engine, Jonga, disappeared from Google's index last week without a trace. Jonga's owner, Alistair Carruthers, is wondering why.

Since the summer 2004 news that Internet Explorer saw its first-ever drop in market share, keeping tabs on web browser market share has become a popular pastime for some. Since Firefox 1.0 was released in the fall of 2004, we've seen its market share inch upwards, breaking the 10 percent barrier last November. Apparently, it's doing even better in Europe.

Welcome to this year's 3rd issue of DWN, the weekly newsletter for the Debian community.

Three-Year Research Project Produces Computer Class Textbooks Based on Pictures, Not Words

Linux Format has an interview with Jeremy Allison, the lead developer of the Samba Windows interoperability software. Allison discusses the trials and tribulations in coding Samba 4, and how it works with multiple back-ends.

Tuesday, January 17, 2006: LinuxAsia 2006, one of the most important events concerning Linux and open source software in Asia, will witness many luminaries of the Linux/OSS world. Many key icons of the Linux revolution will register their presence and interact with the audience and enthusiasts at the event including Mark Shuttleworth, Klaus Knopper, Danese Cooper, Brian Behlendorf and David Axmark.

If this Project is met with even a luke-warm reaction, this very well may be the day Microsoft dreaded to see.

Digg Story

At the National Retail Federation Conference in New York City this week, Sun Microsystems announced the availability of two new solutions designed specifically for retailers: the Sun Retail Store Processor and Sun Retail Integration Architecture software.

"Today, in Part 3, this tutorial shows you how to chain Knoppix cheat codes so that you can use several of them in the same Knoppix session. It also shows you how to find lots more Knoppix cheats . . . You can chain as many Knoppix cheats as you like." For example, you can force "Knoppix to use its default kernel and to use the ALSA sound drivers . . . [and] to use your USB key to read its live CD image and files from the USB key rather then from the CD drive . . . [and] to set your screen resolution to 1280x1024" all in one chained Knoppix cheats command.

Byron Miller is the founder and owner of Mozdex.com, an open search engine that uses Free Software/Open Source technology and aims to provide full transparency about the operation of the engine and generation of search results. As a Free Software/Open Source advocate he also runs for congress in USA. Libervis interviewed him about Mozdex.com and his views on Free Software and Open Source.

Novell is Committed to Open Standards, Putting Customer Needs First, Ahead of Proprietary Agendas

Helsinki, 17 January, 2006 — According to the French market research company XiTi, Firefox Internet browser has a market share of 38.4% in Finland. This is the largest market share Firefox has in any country. In Slovenia, Firefox's market share is 35.6%, and in Germany 30.27%.

Red Hat announced the Red Hat Certified Engineer (RHCE) has been awarded the top spot on CertCities.com's "10 Hottest Certifications for 2006." RHCE was also named "Best Linux/Unix Certification" in the publication's Annual Readers' Choice Awards.

CertCities.com's annual "10 Hottest Certifications for 2006" is awarded to the certification programs deemed as "most influential in 2006," based on expectations around growth and demonstrating "the true future of IT certification."

Mozilla has become rather good at putting the wind up Microsoft and its antiquated IE browser. That said, to do this is the technological equivalent of a teenager beating up an arthritic old lady, though that hasn’t stopped Mozilla from putting on a pair of knuckledusters.

[Ed: You may see multiple article takes on this announcement -tadelste]

Europe's Internal Markets Commissioner Charlie McCreevy on Monday launched an initiative that could re-open the controversial software patents debate. As part of the initiative McCreevy has unveiled a public consultation on how future action in patent policy to create an EU-wide patent system can take account of "stakeholders' needs." The Commissioner is also looking for feedback as to how to improve the patent system in Europe.

[Ed: O.k. folks, wake up! Time to get rolling! If we don't speak, we cannot be heard! - dcparris]

One of the things that I love about Linux is that it has tools for everyone, including writers. Linux distributions come with word processors, text editors, spell checkers, typesetting, and publishing tools galore. Normally, you're using these tools with a standard desktop distribution in an environment like KDE or GNOME. Billy-Bob Ming, however, has taken a different tack and rolled his own Linux distro specifically aimed at writers.

Fifteen years since the release of the GNU Public Licence version 2, FSF founder Richard Stallman has updated the licence to deal with new threats to the free software movement such as software patents and digital rights management. The new GPL also looks to make the licence more applicable to countries around the world, although there are some potential problems. Tectonic spoke to local legal expert Pria Chetty to get some intitial thoughts in the draft.

Regardless of the critics, even in spite of them, the Linux Story remains one of the greatest in recorded history. You have protagonists and antagonoists, drama, plots and subplots and we have only made it through part of Act II. So much more remains for others to tell.

Perhaps, the heroics of this story makes Linux so easy to embrace.