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IBM trumpets not blowing

DB2 is the most respectable and most powerful database engine in the world: it’s the pinnacle of database development. IBM makes a claim (undisputed to my knowledge) that more structured data is stored in DB2 than in any other database engine.

Technically, this is nothing but good news – a superb database engine is available no matter what platform you use. The problem is that IBM seems to have forgotten to tell anyone about it. Why? My impression is that IBM has become complacent ...

[ED: I wonder if this is the guy we should have interviewed (see link below) in our IBM interview - HC]

Interview with IBM: DB2 in the Mid-Range Market

Last week's newsletter about Linux/Unix vs. Windows vulnerability statistics generated plenty of reader feedback - as such reports often do. The newsletter reported on a year-end vulnerability summary from the quasi-governmental United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (U.S. CERT), which said that there were significantly fewer vulnerabilities reported for Windows than the number of warnings issued for the combined category of Linux/Unix operating systems.

Free and open source software (FOSS) is not a major issue in the Canadian election scheduled for January 23. None of the major political parties -- the Liberals, Conservatives, New Democratic Party (NDP), or Bloc Québécois -- has taken a position on FOSS. The only candidate for a major party who is openly advocating FOSS is Mathieu Allard, the young NDP candidate for the Francophone riding of Saint Boniface in Manitoba. Recently, I talked to him about his advocacy and the role that FOSS plays in his campaign.

DistroWatch states - Dreamlinux is a new desktop-oriented Brazilian distribution based on Debian GNU/Linux and Morphix. Dreamlinux 1.2.1 has been released.

LinShots has some nice shots of Dreamlinux 1.2.1.

A debate sprang up on the Ubuntu developers' mailing list shortly following Fluendo's release of a licensed MP3 plugin for the GStreamer multimedia framework used by Rhythmbox and other media player applications. At issue is whether Ubuntu -- or any distributor -- can ship both the MP3 plugin and a GPL-licensed player that uses it.

Free Software Foundation's Eben Moglen says the updated GPL may put open-source products in conflict with movie studios and Tivo.

Open-Xchange Extends Sales, Services and Training into Eastern Europe and Russia

Splunk (www.splunk.com), creators of the first search software for fast moving IT data, today announced the success of Camp Sys Admin -- the first ever camp for IT system administrators. The first in a series of gatherings to confront the challenges that face systems administrators, Camp Sys Admin was co-sponsored by Splunk and leading IT community ...

According to a recent report by Gartner 10% of companies require employees to purchase their own notebooks by 2008.

Free Software is about freedom. Most people get that, but it is frustrating that most people think it is about cost or about getting a free lunch...and a large number of those people are the supporters!! I believe that the use of language is to blame. The right language can change the way a person thinks about an issue. An example would be the use of the word "commercial" to describe non-Free software. If you accept that use of the word, you assume that Free Software can't be commercial software, which is a wrong assumption. Now you've changed the argument to commercial vs Free, which only serves to confuse.

Head teachers from across the country are visiting a school in Essex to see its IT infrastructure, which includes a fully open source computer suite that was built for under £1,000

An Essex junior school that has used open source software to cut the cost of setting up and running its computer room was showing off its IT infrastructure to a group of UK head teachers on Wednesday.

...According to Attorneys

Wasabi Systems Releases a New Study Analyzing Sarbanes-Oxley Risks Associated with Linux

NORFOLK, Va.--Jan. 18, 2006--Many companies using Linux for embedded applications may be unwittingly violating the Linux license and even breaking federal securities laws, according to a white paper released today by Wasabi Systems, a leading embedded operating systems provider. The white paper, When GPL Violations are Sarbanes-Oxley Violations, is the first in a series of legal studies analyzing the common misperceptions and risks associated with Linux and its license, the GNU General Public License (GPL). Future white papers will look at the GPL implications of Loadable Kernel Modules (LKM) and how upstream GPL violations impact VARs and end users.

PALO ALTO, Calif., Jan. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- WCC Services U.S. Inc., a software company dedicated to delivering faster, more meaningful match results, today unveiled an important upgrade of its high-performance search and match system -- ELISE. Now available for the Linux environment, ELISE 5.2 enables businesses to perform complex searches and find the most meaningful information. The product is used primarily in the staffing, e-commerce and security industries to find the people, products, or services that best match the user's requirements.

Expect to see a lot more interoperability work between Microsoft Corp. and some of its open-source competitors over the next year—like the agreement struck with JBoss Inc. last year—as well as more participation by the Redmond, Wash., software maker in preventing interoperability problems earlier in its product cycle and providing potential fixes when issues arise.

[Ed: QAIX is a new developer community aimed at providing a sensible balance between "gurus" and "newbies". - dcparris]

QAIX: Questions. Answers. Insights. EXamples.

Traditionally, graphics applications have been divided into raster image and vector image editors, based on the primitives that each category uses. By that logic, the open source world needs only one of each, or it gets accused of wasting "resources" through duplication. But there's another way to look at graphics applications -- by usage. The painting program Krita takes a different approach to working with pixels, which can lead to a very different raster imaging experience.

Edubuntu.org states - The Edubuntu Linux distribution brings the spirit of Ubuntu to schools, through its customised school environment. Edubuntu Linux 6.04 Flight 3 is now available for testing.

LinShots took a look at the latest Alpha.

Unix vendor SCO Group Inc has begun shipping MySQL AB's Network database update service with its OpenServer 6 Unix operating system, following up on an agreement struck between the two companies in September 2005.

A new South African eSecurity policy - currently in draft form - will contain a set of guidelines and minimum standards that Government departments will have to adhere to in order to secure their information systems.

For small businesses, the move to a free desktop is hampered by the lack of viable accounting software. Whatever the benefits of switching away from Windows, most businesses can't ignore the convenience, management information, and reduced accountants' fees they enjoy by using the likes of Sage or QuickBooks. While free software fans are able to restrict their software choices in the pursuit of ideological purity, the typical small business owner has to be more pragmatic.