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The news and entertainment we consume, and thus our thoughts and opinions, are shaped not just by the media and entertainment corporations but by governments, their agencies and the military-industrial complex.

The Open Source and Industry Alliance (OSAIA) have just posted their amicus curiae brief, supporting Internet Gateway (bnetd).

At first glance, there's nothing all that special about linuxcompatible.org -- unless you count the fact that it has an Emperor penguin as part of its logo instead of some funkified version of Tux. But if you can look past the clunky page design, you'll find a lot of useful information here: links to the latest Linux news, busy forums, plus a great big hardware compatibility database with scads of new entries each week (hence the name of the site).

It just isn't fair that Windows users get all the viruses. I mean really, shouldn't Linux users be in on the fun as well? Well... thanks to the folks running the Wine project, Linux users can "catch the virus bug" too -- sort of.

MS's nightmares: the sale of IBM'S PC unit could result in it switching from Windows to Linux in what is projected to be the world's largest market for PC's. Moreover, Intel could become a victim too if the new company switches over to the PPC, which runs Linux quite nicely. Furthermore long term there could be a general lessening of any need for MS software. One should note, however, there are already noises about "Home Land Security" and DOD vetoing the sale.

All SCO got was the right to look through an insanely large amount of IBM code on what may be the world's largest code-fishing expedition.

I have good news. If you're interested in tracing your roots -- I'm speaking ancestry here, not super user accounts -- you're in luck. Linux is blessed with a number of free software tools for doing just that. I've been learning my way around one of them the past couple of weeks. GRAMPS is easy to use, produces a variety of reports, handles GED files with ease, and allows you to add notes, photos, and other data to individuals in your database.

For the first time, a major Internet service provider is adopting Firefox for its customers.

This is a hot topic, and like religion and sport there seems to be as many opinions as there are people. But we can all agree on the real purpose of certification. It is a way to measure something -- competence. It turns out that this is very very hard to do properly. Firstly because competence is an ability, not an object, so you have to measure the end result instead of the thing itself. And secondly because of the human factor and all the variables involved.

In the world of Linux servers, 2004 was not so much about revolutionary breakthroughs as it was about consolidation, growing maturity, and "corporatization." In many ways it's like the booming renewable energy industry. The age of hippies sitting on hillsides dreaming of windmills replacing coal and nuclear plants has passed. In their place are Fortune 500 suits — a less idealistic phase but a necessary one that propelled wind power from the far fringes into the energy mainstream.

According to the survey, more than 60% of developers revealed that they would use open source software (OSS); however, in a press release issued by BEA, this number was immediately tempered by a slew of reasons why OSS adoption might be risky and how strong support for commercial software remains.

Lack of coherent policy on open source hinders uptake in UK public sector. Local authorities in the UK are far less likely to use open-source software than those of some other European countries, according to findings from a Dutch study. The study has so far found that 32 percent of local authorities in Britain use open-source software, compared with 71 percent in France, 68 percent in Germany and 55 percent in the Netherlands.

Here, dear readers, is my advice for you if you're done with the spyware and the adware that keeps creeping in from new directions. Here's the plan if you want to leave your virus scanner behind and grab most (perhaps all) of the software you'll ever need off the Internet. This is the road to a new relationship with your computer, brought about by software that is built by a community, not a monopoly. It is a road less traveled, and it makes all the difference.

So how is Sun going to instantly attract hundreds or thousands of developers to Solaris when they have never had the opportunity to work with the source code before? Red Hat has experienced this before with some of the companies we have acquired

Novel has reinforced its senior management team with several internal promotions and external appointments, aiming to drive its Linux strategy while strengthening partner relationships. The team will focus on the government and telecoms sectors.

It seems that IBM might be toning down its bold resolution that it will have Linux running on all its desktops by, er, about now.

Now that the open source initiative has approved Sun Microsystems' Common Development and Distribution License officials are looking at using the license to open its Java Enterprise System as well.

IBM, HP, Intel, and Nortel Networks have joined together to promote open-sourced-based systems for grid computing.

Apart from large businesses and government agencies which are looking at Linux as an alternative to the various flavours of Unix, many SMEs (small and medium enterprises) are also keen on going the Linux way, says a new study by New York-based Access Markets International (AMI) Partners Inc.

Gov. Ted Kulongoski joined Beaverton Mayor Rob Drake to welcome entrepreneurs to the new Open Technology Business Center with hopes they can take advantage of Linux software that is taking over an increasing share of the multibillion-dollar market once dominated by rival Microsoft Corp. to the north in suburban Seattle.