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A regular reader of this site, MattD, has taken a look at Novell’s FAQ about the Microsoft deal. His analysis is worth extra attention. The FAQ is by no means new, but knowing what we know 9 months later, the intents are transparent. MattD’s words are highlighted in red.

The most recognizable name in the open source community talks about why he didn't go the proprietary route for Linux and how it could easily have been just another of his 'random small projects'. Linus Torvalds was only 22 when he decided in 1991 to share with friends and colleagues the code of Linux, the new OS he had created. The computer science student at the University of Helsinki could not imagine the revolution his decision would cause through the IT industry in the years to come. In this interview, he talks about why he released the code, offers his views on Microsoft Corp. and says the future belongs to open source.

X.Org 7.3 will be released later this month, and now Daniel Stone has updated the X.Org Wiki with a page for the X.Org 7.4 release. With the six month release cycle, X.Org 7.4 is planned for release in February of 2008. Some of the features so far on their planning page includes Multi-Pointer X which provides multiple cursor support, support for UnixWare, SELinux security module, and a Solaris Trusted Extensions security module.

Rename multiple files to another extension in Linux

This tutorial provides step-by-step instructions about how to create a highly available VMware Server environment on a Debian Etch system. With this tutorial, you will be able to create Virtual Machines that will be available on multiple systems with failover/failback capabilities.

Carla Schroder blogs for the O'ReillyNet Linux Dev Center, as I do. Over the past three days she has posted twice. The first post told of and linked to details and a photo of a truly sexist and offensive ad which appeared in Linux Journal. The second post linked directly to a Linux Journal article from earlier this year filled with more gender stereotyping demonstrating that this is an ongoing issue at Linux Journal. The reactions to Carla's posts were entirely predictable.

Remember the good old days when to change a screen resolution or driver, you had to edit xorg.conf or reconfigure X.org? Those fine times are now over, or they will be, with the release of Ubuntu 7.10. As of an update from a few days ago, users are now able to access a graphical user interface for editing xorg.conf, though only for graphic and display settings. This tool has support for dual monitors at the moment, and with the release of X.org 7.3 it will be possible to add even more.

The current debate about whether the open source community should trust Microsoft as the Redmond company continues to make friendlier overtures towards open source practices is, to me, a very interesting discussion. So what is it I think the Linux and open source community should do regarding Microsoft.

A new update to the latest stable version of Debian 4.0 includes security updates and other important problem fixes. Historically, Debian is an extremely popular community-based Linux distribution. It's also known, however, for arriving later than expected. This time, though, the Debian Foundation has relatively quickly released a set of security and other patches to the recently released Debian GNU/Linux 4.0.

The OSI License-Discuss mailing list has been ablaze for the past few days since Microsoft submitted its Permissive License (MS-PL) to the OSI [Open Source Initiative] for official open source license approval. Jon Rosenberg, source program director for Microsoft, posted,"Microsoft believes that this license provides unique value to the open source community by delivering simplicity, brevity, and permissive terms combined with intellectual property protection."

Dell and Lenovo are the first two companies to recently offer pre-installed open source Linux distribution on PCs and notebooks, but I highly doubt they will be the last manufacturers to take the plunge. According to both Dell and Ubuntu, the customer response over Linux products has been "overwhelming." Maybe it is due to Dell being the first to take a chance, or maybe Ubuntu's popularity is translating to better interest in Ubuntu pre-loaded on Dell products. Although Lenovo and Novell SUSE aren't as popular as Dell and Ubuntu, I hope they see the same interest in their product line.

At last we reach the final installment of this series, the question & answer stage in which we'll consider some of the common problems encountered with audio and MIDI on Linux, along with some common and perhaps not-so-common solutions to those problems. We've looked at some indispensable items for your Linux system troubleshooting toolkit, now let's see how they are applied. We start with a list of some of the most often-heard laments, then we'll proceed to some extra tips and general advice. I'll end the series with some notes regarding the system configuration here at Studio Dave.

LXer Feature: 19-Aug-2007

Another big week in Open Source news including, 50 reasons to dump Windows, MySQL defends paid tarball decision, Part 3 of Carla Schroder's "Adventures in Digital Photography With Linux", Debian turns 14, The LXer Interview: Bob Sutor of IBM and Rob Enderle can't decide where Open Source is headed in the LXer Weekly Roundup.

The main concept the computer industry has tried to push on the public over the last few years is of the connected home, where all our PCs, TVs and other devices can talk to each other and share music, pictures and other documents. Sadly, it hasn't been borne out, largely because the industry can't agree on how exactly it should all fit together. That, and the fact that in order to watch downloaded films on a TV, for instance, it's necessary to have a computer on all the time. Which is where the Linux-powered Bubba home server comes in.

Sometimes, a little reminiscing is called for. Think back to March 7, 2003, when the SCO Group, once a Linux distributor named Caldera, filed its initial complaint against IBM:

"Prior to IBM's involvement, Linux was the software equivalent of a bicycle. UNIX was the software equivalent of a luxury car. To make Linux of necessary quality for use by enterprise customers, it must be re-designed so that Linux also becomes the software equivalent of a luxury car. This re-design is not technologically feasible or even possible at the enterprise level without (1) a high degree of design coordination, (2) access to expensive and sophisticated design and testing equipment; (3) access to UNIX code, methods and concepts; (4) UNIX architectural experience; and (5) a very significant financial investment."

Something I often hear from people that talk about Linux on the desktop is this: people want to be able to go to the store, buy hardware, and be confident that it will Just Work. I would like to point out that things are rarely this simple on Windows. And, in fact, things are often simpler on Linux these days. Here's the example that prompted this post.

How to install Tor with Vidalia GUI on Ubuntu

A little humor for the weekend.

I'm feeling confused so maybe Inquirer readers will be able to help me. In a week where much ink was expended over tumbling international markets and the parlous state of private equity, two funny things happened. One company, VMware reached a valuation of almost $20 billion within hours of it floating. Another, Xen Source, agreed a deal to sell out to Citrix for $500 million, despite being a minnow in commercial terms.

Sometimes events transpire in the software industry that, when tied with other events, take on a much bigger meaning. Such is the case with three different announcements in the last ten days. The first two got a good bit of press; IBM and Novell announced a new partnership on the desktop and in relation to IBM's Websphere Community Edition. And The Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council sent out their invite for upcoming events this week. One of those events is entitled: Microsoft & Novell - Building Bridges. Let's see how they connect.