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Press Release - Februar 2006
*Krusader v1.70.0 - The Twin-Panel File Manager for Linux*
Contact: Frank Schoolmeesters - Krusader Marketing Coordinator
Krusader Website - target="_1140263665">http://www.krusader.org

I administer servers and networking equipment in a small to mid-size heterogeneous (but 99.44% *nix) environment. I've worked on projects ranging from NIS-to-LDAP migration for authentication, to the deployment of a 164-CPU Beowulf cluster, to writing an extension to a large OO-PHP application. I'm a generalist, but my favorite areas are LDAP (and authentication in general), database design and administration, and automation (a broad category that includes writing tools and code to glue services together). Here are my favorite tools.

Oracle has been on a buying spree recently, and if the rumors are true it's not quite finished yet. This isn't unusual for companies of Oracle's size, but Oracle's appetite for open source companies may have repercussions for MySQL and the rest of the open source community.

Advisories were released this week for Libtasn1, kdegraphics, OpenSSH, PostgreSQL, ImageMagick, Xpdf, and several other packages. Distributors releasing advisories include Debian, Fedora, Gentoo, Mandriva, Red Hat, SUSE, and Ubuntu. FreeBSD did not issue advisories this week.

"Microsoft recently made a change to the licence agreement saying that a new motherboard is equal to a new computer, hence you need to purchase a new Windows licence. Here is what Microsoft has to say: "An upgrade of the motherboard is considered to result in a 'new personal computer' to which Microsoft OEM operating system software cannot be transferred from another computer. If the motherboard is upgraded or replaced for reasons other than a defect, then a new computer has been created and the license of new operating system software is required." Please note that this does not go for retail copies of Windows, but only for OEM versions.

A new search engine for programmers promises to make it easier to find and share code. That in turn could increase programmers' productivity and give a fresh boost to the open-source movement.

It's not often that the top standards folks at IBM, Sun and Microsoft sit together to debate open standards and open source (but it's always interesting when they do).

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), in looking for ways to improve the quality of the patents it issues, has turned to the biggest patent holder in the country, which also happens to be one of the biggest supporters of open source software (OSS). IBM's 2,941 patents from 2005 make it far and away the top patentee for the thirteenth consecutive year, but Big Blue -- with the help of the USPTO, Open Source Development Labs (OSDL), Novell, Red Hat, and SourceForge -- is now aiming for quality over quantity, and is enlisting the OSS community to do it.

Will independent movie production grow in the garden fertilized by lousy broadband service? That's the question on the floor.

Founder of Debian Linux project and of company called Progeny to commercialize it takes job trying to standardize elements of OS.

NEW DELHI: Red Hat today announced its intent to certify Red Hat Enterprise Linux on HP's new Advanced Telecommunications Computing Architecture (ATCA) bh5700 Blade Server. The new server will feature Red Hat Enterprise Linux as its preferred operating system.

Forum on Risks to the Public in Computers and Related Systems.

The Big Brother is coming to Germany. You'd better re-read George Orwell's "1984" to make sure you know what's coming.

Oracle's eaten the only two companies that make transactional database back-ends for MySQL: InnoDB last year, and now Sleepycat Software. The purchases send a message that MySQL won't achieve high-end database features without being beholden to Oracle. But the message is hollow.

Registrations have picked up for the Durban LPI exam event on March 3, allaying earlier fears that the event would be cancelled due to low turnout. The event is likely to attract between 30 and 40 examinees.

Programmer reaches early milestone in adapting the open-source operating system to Sun's 32-thread processor.

Recently we posted news about VMWare renaming its GSX product to VMWare server and releasing it for free. Well they did do that, and it is free for now, at least what you can download. It pays to read the fine print, though as I found out from this article

Asterisk is free software that lets you create a fully functional, easily customizable, private branch exchange (PBX). Businesses like Asterisk because they can save money by using it, and because it is open source, they can add functionality to it easily and inexpensively. Asterisk is also becoming popular with home office users -- so much so that it spawned a new project called Asterisk@Home, which released its 1.0 version last year. Now there's even a version of Asterisk that runs on OpenWrt, a Linux distribution designed to run on your wireless router (see "OpenWrt nears prime time"). I found it to be worthwhile, but I wouldn't depend on it for my home office.

The Geek Freedom League – a Go Open Source initiative that aims to fight for "PC liberation" in South Africa through open source "conversions" – has drawn up its battleplan for the year. Richard Frank caught up with league manager, Thomas Black.

South Africa's biggest open source tender has jumped its final hurdle, with the State Information Technology Agency taking a decision on the award of the tender. But it may take weeks before the award is officially announced.