LXer Weekly Roundup for 9-Mar-2008

LXer Feature: 9-Mar-2008 This week in the LXer Weekly Roundup we have, a Linux Powered Mini PC, What is your favorite scripting language?, The latest Mandriva release, Red Hat calls strike one against Microsoft, WaSP gives browsers "fail" grade and How to create a Linux box for your Mom. Plus,Amazon's Linux answer to iTunes is a winner, Linux clocks double-digit growth and real results on the power of the OLPC computers in Astounded in Arahuay

This week in the LXer Weekly Roundup we have, a Linux Powered Mini PC, What is your favorite scripting language?, The latest Mandriva release, Red Hat calls strike one against Microsoft, WaSP gives browsers "fail" grade and How to create a Linux box for your Mom. Plus,Amazon's Linux answer to iTunes is a winner, Linux clocks double-digit growth and real results on the power of the OLPC computers in Astounded in Arahuay

A Perception of Lack of Support for Open Source Should Not Stop Adoption of Linux: I have written several posts about Linux and whether it is ready for the solo and small law office, listing the pros and cons as I have seen them. However, there is one “con” that people have in their minds when they think of Linux that should not be there: that Open Source Software (OSS) does not have the support that commercial products do. This has contributed somewhat to a resistance to adopt Linux in the business world. The shame of it is, it is a false perception.

What is your favorite scripting language?: Which language reigns supreme? This is the question that seemed to create the most controversy in our Readers' Choice poll this year so we thought we'd have some fun and open it up to the public to discuss. (This is better than a vi vs. emacs war!) Cast your vote.

Linux Powered Mini PC: The Everex Mini come with a 1.86GHZ Intel Pentium Dual Core Mobile Processor, 512MB of RAM, a 120GB hard drive, a built in DVDRW and Intel GMA950 graphics.

Mandriva Linux 2008 release candidate debuts: The Mandriva development team yesterday announced the first release candidate for Mandriva Linux 2008 Spring. Codenamed Serapias, this release includes all-new artwork, improvements to the software management tools, WPA-EAP support in the network configuration tools and the latest pre-release of OpenOffice.org 2.4

KDE gets new Vista, Mac bling: The long-awaited KDE4 is finally out the door after an extended gestation and a rescheduled launch date. In this inside look at KDE4, we see what all the fuss is about.

Full Circle mag reviews Xubuntu on Asus EEE PC: Ubuntu fans will be pleased to hear that issue 10 of Full Circle, the Ubuntu community magazine has been released. Highlights in this issue include an easy guide to installing Linux Mint, tips on compiling from source code, creating your own server and ripping a DVD with Acidrip. But the one you don’t want to miss is Ronnie Tucker’s review of the ultra-small Asus EEE PC.

Strike One Against Microsoft: In our last blog posted on February 21, I proposed three test pitches for Microsoft to help judge the meaningfulness of its latest efforts to turn over a new leaf on interoperability. The first of these was to embrace the extant, multi-vendor ISO standard, ODF (Open Document Format) in lieu of its single vendor dominated efforts to create a new standard, OOXML (Office Open XML). The first pitch was thrown in Geneva last week at the ISO ballot resolution meetings on OOXML. And we can safely say: strike one!

Linux Server Administration: Basic Linux Firewalls: In this article Mark Rais shares some of the basics of setting up a Linux firewall using the iptables tool. It includes a review of some firewall options, basics of getting started, details of the iptables syntax and some example configurations.

Shuttle Teams with Foresight Linux on $199 KPC: Shuttle today announced that the newly launched $199 KPC will feature the Foresight Linux operating system. With an intuitive interface and user focused design, Foresight does away with the need for users to be familiar with Linux.

WaSP gives browsers "fail" grade: Just when Microsoft thought it was on target with its forthcoming Internet Explorer 8 browser, the goalposts have moved. The Web Standards Project (WaSP) has released its latest browser standards compliance test - Acid 3 - and every browser that WaSP tested failed. IE 8 is, of course, not available for test yet. But given the abysmal performance of IE 7, Microsoft developers have a lot of work to do.

Support ending for Debian Sarge: I've heard of quite a few people still running Debian Sarge -- the stable version of Debian before Etch went stable in April 2007. As per Debian policy, support for what is referred to as "old stable," in this case Sarge, is slated to last for a year after the next Debian release is declared "stable" (Etch). So now we're bumping up on March 31, 2008, and Debian is telling users about the end of updates for Sarge.

Want a peek at a non-Windows operating system from Microsoft?: Want to see what a non-Windows-based operating system developed by Microsoft looks like? If you are willing and able to sign a non-commercial, academic Shared Source license, look no further. Microsoft on March 4 made the few hundred thousand lines of source code for Singularity Version 1 available for download from its CodePlex site. Microsoft made the announcement at its Microsoft Research TechFest 2008 event in Redmond, Wash.

Linux clocks double-digit growth. Fear and loathing in Redmond: IDC is reporting that Windows server growth hit 6.9 percent in Q4 2007, bringing it to 36.6 percent market share. Linux trounced Windows' growth at 11.6 percent to hit 12.7 percent market share. Microsoft owns the market, but Linux owns the future. Therein lies the rub of the tale behind much of Microsoft's fear and loathing of open source.

Microsoft indemnifies Novell Moonlight users: The Novell-sponsored project porting the Silverlight cross-browser plug to Linux is getting patent protection from Microsoft, indemnifying users from aggressive patent holders and litigators such as the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA)

How to: Create a Linux Box for Your Mom (50+ Resources): For most computer literate children, a request from mom to get her set up on “this web thing” is met with panic and a feeling of drudgery. Are you about to expose your sweet mother to spam, phishing, viruses, or worse? Or perhaps more frightening, sign your life away as a 24/7 tech support center? Perhaps, but there’s a better way. By setting your mom up on a Linux machine, you can give her a safe, lean computing experience that will let her do all of the things she wants to do without giving you a nervous breakdown.

Amazon's Linux answer to iTunes is a winner: Are you a Linux user suffering from iTunes store envy? If so, Amazon has a deal for you. While any good Linux media player, like my own personal favorite Banshee, will let you rip music from CDs, there hasn't been a good source to buy music online for Linux players ... until now.

Astounded in Arahuay: I recently returned from a grueling three-week stay in Peru, where I worked with the serious Ministry of Education team entrusted with the country’s 260-thousand laptop OLPC implementation. I wanted to know what the laptops had done for the kids. I told them I’m not a reporter, I don’t answer to the Ministry, and — an important disclaimer for an overpoliticized country like Peru — I don’t pander to bullshit politics. I wanted to hear if they thought the laptops were helping. After looking at me blankly for a good half-minute, Mr. Navarro shot back with “evidentemente”, “obviously”, and palpably left off “you idiot” from the end of the sentence. I appreciated the small courtesy and asked a more specific question: what changed in the 8 months since the laptops arrived?