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A couple of weeks ago, I quoted a reader as saying ""It is frustrating, to say the least, to see Novell gleefully decide that we (others with my experience) all need to embrace an OS that we have no familiarity with and that few of our software vendors support. If Novell were willing to make an initial investment in helping us retrain (for free, or at least at a greatly reduced price), it would make it easier for us to justify staying with Novell products."

Military, weapons, and national defense are certainly not synonymous with open source software, but developers and companies that provide Linux and other open source software for such applications indicate the ideals of open source communities are not contrary to its use in defense.

Following this week's unveiling of the proposed GNU General Public License Version 3 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Free Software Foundation President and Founder Richard Stallman discussed his work on GPLv3 and other free software issues with CRN Senior Writer Paula Rooney.

[Ed: If you are new to the FOSS community, this is classic Richard M. Stallman. Once you get past the history lesson, you learn about Tivo's role in GPLv3. - dcparris]

Opinion: It's debatable whether the open-source program that allows Windows programs to run on Linux is faster than native Windows, but it has its place. (Linux-Watch)

Not often thought of as radio stars, Linux developers are now able to steal the limelight thanks to Dapto couple James and Karin Purser who produce the Linux Australia Update and the LUG Roundup podcasts from their lounge room. Linux Australia has this week donated $1500 to the Purser's to help them upgrade their equipment.

SourceForge.net has said that it will provide support for the Subversion Software Configuration Management (SCM) system in addition to the CVS (Concurrent Versions System) SCM (Source Control Management) services currently provided. Subversion is an Open Source version control system designed to serve as a compelling alternative for CVS by providing directories, renames and file meta-data, plus other improved key features.

If you are looking for cool useful Linux tips and tricks collection then this book is necessary read for you. It covers everything from authentication to recovering data from Linux servers. Both William von Hagen and Brian Jones (and contributors) have done a remarkable work to put together Linux Tips & Tools for Connecting, Monitoring, and Troubleshooting system. I am dam sure most new Linux (and experienced) sys admin find the stuff to improve your skills that result into a better productivity at the end of day.

MSN searchers looking for ISPs or other services that support phpBB are out of luck. MSN search forbids it. Same applied to Google until Monday. Developers claim to get different results, depending on browser and the phrasing of the search query. phpBB users and their vendors just want to know when the blockade will end.

[ED: Uncertain the author listed is correct, could not confirm on the article - HC]

A Practical Guide to Basic Security in Linux Production Environments

A company specializing in carrier-class WiFi network management software is shipping an appliance version of its flagship product. The Sputnik Server 1100 offers a way for wireless service providers, carriers, and businesses to buy Sputnik Control Center software pre-installed on a standard Intel-based server appliance.

A survey conducted by IT consulting firm Optaros and InformationWeek magazine shows that American companies and government organizations are saving millions of dollars with open source software. Conducted in September 2005, the survey is based on responses collected from over 500 companies, government agencies, and organizations. According to the collected data, approximately 87 percent of American organizations use open source software within their technology infrastructure.

The five-day course is a full-scale presentation of information that covers principal themes in succinct lectures immediately followed by hands-on exercises that put new concepts into practical use. While a background in database administration or PostgreSQL is not required, it is recommended that students have a command of basic Unix administration, the Unix command line, simple SQL statements, and basic programming concepts.

OpenVZ wants to see its virtualisation technology in the heart of the open source operating system. OpenVZ divides a single copy of Linux so it appears to be several independent instances of the operating system, from the perspective of higher-level software. Separate domains, called virtual private servers, can be independently rebooted — though in reality, the underlying operating system stays up and running.

Industry experts have predicted that Novell’s recent decision to open up the source code of its AppArmor Linux security offering will only have a “meaningful result” if the firm succeeds in developing a true open-source community around the technology.

[Ed: I quite agree. Most (all?) of the successful projects have a solid community behind them. - dcparris]

IBM's ATF Project will contain features for developing, deploying, debugging and testing AJAX applications. The AJAX Toolkit Framework will provide extensible frameworks and exemplary tools for building IDEs for the many different AJAX runtime offerings, such as Dojo, Zimbra, etc. in the market.

Irrespective of their size, businesses are always looking for robust systems that do not crash, have reliable backup facilities, and utilise technology that is not complicated for the end-user. Net Integration Technologies (NITI) says it has a solution for this. The company’s product, Nitix, a Linux-based OS, offers users an operating system with self-healing and self-maintaining capabilities. Due to its automatic capabilities, it can eliminate the added cost of having a Linux expert oversee its operation. The company recently obtained the ‘Ready for IBM DB2 software for Linux’ designation for Nitix Application Edition (AE).

I work as a senior sysadmin for the University of Seville in Spain, where we use a myriad of operating systems. Here are the top 10 utilities I use in my daily basic admin activities.

We've gone from official to announced, captain

[Ed: The interesting part is the comment about this being part of HP's Sun Attack Program. Let's see if I have this right. HP is going to attack Sun by putting Sun's software on their boxes? Perhaps the Bush Administration should try this approach with Al-Qa'ida? Or maybe our law enforcement agencies should fight crack dealers by selling crack! - dcparris]

IP management software firm Palamida is working on a number of fronts to make it easier -- and safer -- to bring Open Source into the IT enterprise. Palamida CEO Mark Tolliver told OET that improving visibility will be a key to improving adoption in 2006. “The real-world situation here is that Open Source is a done deal with Linux, Apache and even more and more with the Firefox browser. Enterprise IT has seen the benefits in huge cost-savings, and without a lot of problems with maintenance, security or other issues,” Palamida CEO Mark Tolliver told OET.

On September 27, Sun released StarOffice 8, their cross-platform office suite, which they believe to be the best alternative to the business standard, Microsoft Office. This new product release along with the release of OpenOffice.org 2.0, on October 20, was a watershed event for open source office suites. With a host of new features and increased functionality, both suites have never before offered such a robust and feasible alternative to the undisputed productivity suite leader, Microsoft Office. Sun Microsystems has been developing the product since their acquisition of Star Division, the previous maker of StarOffice, in August of 1999. For the first time in its history, StarOffice (and OpenOffice.org) has the best chance to convert millions of Microsoft Office users as a result of the latest crop of improvements.