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NexentaOS Alpha 5 (Dapper Drake 6.06) Released!

Too long ago, when I was a sprog growing up, my elders and betters drummed into me in no uncertain terms that there was “no such thing as a free lunch”. At the time, I was going to school and my lunches were either provided by my parents or paid for by them, so as far as I was concerned my lunches were free. However, I soon appreciated what they meant as I approached adulthood. It is a very rare event, if it happens at all, that someone gives you something for free without some ulterior motive.

The open source process is marketing in its purest form.

If that horrifies you, perhaps you're unfamiliar with marketing.

Matthew Revell explains what marketing is and how free and open source software projects can use it to their advantage.

The Internet Storm Center has reported a mass e-mail currently spreading throughout Australia in particular. The e-mail is designed to lure recipients to a web page that exploits loopholes in browsers. What is interesting about it is that the masked JavaScript code on the web page contains a browser switch which slips Mozilla/Firefox users a loophole exploit tailored to older versions of the browsers. What this then does in detail cannot be gathered from the advisory; experience indicates, however, that such pages frequently install spy- and/or adware without the user's consent (see also Schädlingen auf der Spur [Tracking down Vermin] at heise Security).

Dreaming about a free software competitor for Skype? Maybe your wait is over

A new, full-featured free software application pops its head into the VoIP world, and it nominates itself as the most serious competitor of Skype. It’s name is Wengophone.

Managing your identity in the Internet of 2006 is a complex Web that requires multiple identities and passwords for multiple sites and services. Enter the open source Bandit project from Novell.

Debian has issued an update for horde3. This fixes some vulnerabilities, which can be exploited by malicious people to conduct cross-site scripting attacks.

The first version of a bilingual open source Persian-English Linux operating system, called Sharif Linux 2, has been released by Sharif FarsiWeb Inc. It has been developed for the requirements of the Persian language and is one of the results of the research made by the FarsiWeb Project and Sharif FarsiWeb Inc. since early 1999.

As Microsoft servers shuddered under the onslaught from anxious users downloading Windows Vista Beta 2, reviewers report that the corpulent code gobbles laptop batteries, hogs memory, and waddles through its chores. A Windows development team manager explains why this outcome for the "largest software project in history" was entirely predictable.

So there you are, dutifully wading through the documentation for whatever gnarly Linux application you're rassling into submission. You're running commands and editing configuration files and things are working and life is good. Until--yes, you knew the good times weren't going to last--until you hit the dreaded "send the process a SIGHUP" instruction.

GNOME is not just software, but also a community. But what’s this? A Community? Vincent Untz takes a closer look, starting with end users in this issue.

The Ubuntu team is proud to announce the release of Ubuntu 6.06 LTS server for SUN Sparc 64bit architecture.

The GNOME Foundation received 181 applications for the Google Summer of Code (SoC) program, but not a single application was from a female developer. The lack of women participating in GNOME, and free software in general, has spurred the GNOME foundation to start a summer program to reach out to female developers.

Lucas Rocha interviews Emmanuele Bassi, co-maintainer of gnome-utils and author of the GTK+ recently used resources support. Emmanuele talks about “desktop 2.0” and other GNOME things and shows his geek code to everyone.

Smart Trade Rolls Out Java Open Source FIX Engine, SunGard and TradingScreen Integrate OMS and EMS Offerings, Ryan Beck Selects Archive Systems to Boost Operational Efficiency

Securtex International is shipping a line of Linux-powered DVRs (digital video recorders) for security and surveillance applications. The Network Advanced Video Surveillance - Embedded (NAVS-E) DVRs support 4, 8, or 16 cameras, and offer simultaneous remote recording/playback/monitoring through Windows client and management software.

The State Ministry for Research and Technology is leading a national drive for government departments, local administrations and businesses to use legal, open-source programs on office computers instead of pirated software.

Opinion: Times of change are times of opportunity. Can Linux make the most of its shot?

Last year there had been much chatter about abandoning any format that did not comply with open-source document standards. This pretty much would have meant that Microsoft's Office wouldn't occupy any of the desktops in State offices.

[I think the author is a bit confused about what "open-source" and "open standards" are. -- grouch]

Red Hat Fedora 5 Unleashed, a new IT volume from Addison-Wesley Professional, includes new and additional material based on the latest release of Red Hat's Fedora Core Linux distribution, according to the book's publisher.