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From time to time vendors in the application development space have claimed 5GL (5th generation language) capabilities. If you think about this for a moment you will realise that this can't be true. The idea of GLs is that each is an abstraction of the former, so we had machine code (on which I cut my teeth as a developer); assembler; third generation languages such as COBOL, Java, C++ and so forth; and finally 4GLs (now sometimes referred to as ABLs-advanced business languages-as 4GL seems to be out of fashion).

On Monday, Slashdot reported that legendary Linux kernel developer Alan Cox filed a patent application in June 2005 related to digital rights management technology. Cox's patent describes software that would automatically suspend operations if the user was found to be out of compliance with the software's licensing terms but that would save the user's data before suspending to prevent data loss.

This article introduce you to five web widgets that communicate with the server through Ajax and XML.

The Open Source Consortium (OSC) has thrown down the gauntlet to the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (Becta), urging the organisation to turn its talk of promoting open source software into action. The OSC claims that, despite overwhelming evidence that open source software saves schools money and enhances learning, Becta is taking no practical steps to help schools adopt open source.

The National E Prescribing Patient Safety Initiative, press release here is an e-prescribing juggernaut aimed at providing 'free' e-prescribing for all doctors. '...The challenge, according to the eHealth Initiative, is that fewer than 1 in 5 of the nation’s practicing physicians currently process prescriptions electronically. Studies indicate that most physicians have been reluctant to adopt electronic prescribing largely because of the cost of the systems, and a perception that the technology requires too much time to learn and install. NEPSI will help address those barriers by providing physicians simple, safe and secure electronic prescribing at no cost...' This initiative raises a number of questions currently not answered: Who gets the e-prescribing data? Is this really free? What is in it for Allscripts?

eHealth News Portal is presenting a news article named "Study finds open source key to European ICT competitiveness" which underline the economic impact of Free/Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) on the European information and communication technologies (ICT). The mentioned study report also says that increasing the use of FLOSS could provide a way for Europe to compensate for low ICT investment as a share of gross domestic product. "A growth and innovation simulation model shows that increasing the FLOSS share of software investment from 20% to 40% would lead to a 0.1% increase in annual EU GDP growth excluding benefits within the ICT industry itself - over €10 billion annually," it states.

For independent software vendors (ISV), one of the major problems in supporting GNU/Linux is the variety of package management systems. However, if the Free Standards Group has its way, the next version of the Linux Standard Base (LSB) will solve that problem by providing an application programming interface (API) that acts as a bridge between the major package systems and software installers. Ian Murdock, CTO of the Free Standards Group, says the solution could be included in the most widely used distributions by early 2008.

Despite fears that Linux may have been left out of the Flash agenda, Adobe today release Flash Player 9 for Linux.

This article describes how to install the new native Linux Flash Player 9 from Adobe on an Ubuntu Edgy Eft desktop so that it can be used within Firefox. The procedure works for other Ubuntu versions and Debian as well.

The aim of this installer is to provide an easier way for a Windows user to install Ubuntu without having to know how to burn a CD .iso, set the BIOS to boot from CD, repartition the disks, set up a multiboot system, etc. It will not replace any of the current Ubuntu installation options, and will not require that Windows is installed prior to the installation of Ubuntu. - OSNews. Screenshots of Ubuntu Windows Installer 3 are available at LinuxQuestions.org.

About 25% of enterprises will be running mission-critical business applications on the Linux open source operating system by 2009, according to a survey by Saugatuck Technology and BusinessWeek Research Services. By the end of 2007...the figure will be 18%. But this follows the revelation by IDC that after four years of double-digit growth, sales of Linux servers are slowing down. Although Linux servers now represent 11.8% of all server revenue, growth for the third quarter of 2006 was about 16% of that for the third quarter of 2005. Hewlett-Packard sells the most Linux servers, but it is less actively committed to Linux than IBM and, latterly, Sun.

Linux has the remarkable ability to be adapted and scaled to specific purposes. It can run corporate servers, personal computers and even small consumer electronics devices. Open source isn't a CE manufacturer's only choice for a micro OS -- among other options are WinCE and Wind River. Unlike other applications, however, a Linux system demands no royalties.

There are currently 7 FREE Courses available including: Ubuntu, SUSE, OpenOffice Writer, OpenOffice Impress, Gimp, Scribus and nmap.

The Zenwalk project over the past two weeks has released both installation and live CD editions of its "mini" Linux distribution. Both versions feature a 2.6.18 kernel, an Xfce default desktop environment, and support for GNOME as a desktop alternative.

LXer Feature: 17-Jan-2007

The LA Times wrote a great article about the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation. Since it is eight pages long, a short summary:
Though most people think the Bill and Melinda Gates is a charitable foundation, this can be doubted. The foundation invests in a lot of companies, and makes as much profits as it gives away. Because it gives away 5% of its money every year, it therefore is a charitable foundation, and therefore they don't have to pay most taxes.

Mountain View, CA – The Open Source Development Labs (OSDL), a global consortium dedicated to accelerating the adoption of Linux and open source software, today announced that its Carrier Grade Linux (CGL) Working Group has become the newest member of the Mountain View Alliance (MVA), a consortium of open specification organizations in the telecommunications industry.

"Sun Microsystems is set to license OpenSolaris under the upcoming GNU General Public License Version 3 in addition to the existing Common Development and Distribution License, sources close to the company have told eWEEK."

SAN JOSE, Calif.-(Business Wire)-January 17, 2007 - Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced the availability of Adobe(R) Flash(R) Player 9 for Linux, the next-generation client runtime for engaging with Flash content and applications on Linux open source operating systems. Adobe Flash Player 9 delivers a consistent cross-platform experience and extends unprecedented performance and advanced features to the broadest set of developers and users to date. Additionally, Linux developers can create, test and deploy rich Internet applications (RIAs) on the Linux platform using the free Adobe Flex(R) 2 Software Developers Kit (SDK), Adobe Flash Player 9 and the free Flex Data Services 2 Express.

Have you ever sat back and pondered why we don’t see more Linux OEMs distributing Linux over Windows? Most might find themselves running down the usual list of reasons, but I have one that you might not have considered - the GPL.

[I get it. Let's cave because everyone else is. Honestly Matt, what _are_ you saying? -dcparris]

I'd like to go on record and say that I really don't have anything against Apple whatsoever. Macs are a big part of this household these days and not just because of me either. My better half is a Mac fan times twenty and uses it with great joy each day. She uses a Mini and PowerBook of the PowerPC variety. I would never be able to get her to use Windows - ever.