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The fourth issue of (IN)SECURE, a free digital security magazine published in PDF format, has been released.

Eric Nathanson, enterprise architect for Oakwood corporate housing, was working in an environment where management had a "certain level of suspicion" about using open source software. But Nathanson convinced his superiors that a GPLed portal package was more secure, more efficient, and much better on the budget than proprietary alternatives. "We convinced by delivering," Nathanson says.

DistroWatch reports - A new test CD image of PCLinuxOS has been released: "PCLinuxOS .92 Test 01 is available. PCLinuxOS .92 features an updated 2.6.12 kernel, hotplug has been moved to udev to provide faster boot times. The fabulous KDE has been updated to version 3.4.3. KOffice replaces Openoffice on the live CD. OpenOffice 2.0 can be installed after a hard drive install. X.Org has been updated to X.Org 6.9cvs. Approximately 400 package update brings PCLinuxOS .92 up to date with the latest open source applications....

OSDir has some nice shots of the slick PCLinuxOS .92 Test 1.

Microsoft's business practices get it in trouble again, as the S. Korea Fair Trade Commission continues its investigation of Microsoft. Faced with the possibility of unbundling some trinkets, Microsoft is threatening to pull Windows from the S. Korean market. Sure they will. Linux news? Not strictly, but useful knowledge for Linux consultants or others who may sell against Microsoft.

[Ed - Slashdot picked up on our survey. Thanks to everyone who participate - tadelste]

tadelste writes "During the last month, Lxer.com conducted a survey of readers who use Linux. They asked readers why they switched to Linux and received a plethora of answers. Surprisingly, anti-Microsoft sentiment had less to do with the choice than one might imagine. Linux stands on its own merits.

OSBC is designed for IT business executives (buyers and vendors), venture capitalists, attorneys, and other decision-makers tasked with developing businesses that leverage open source software. It explores the legal, investment, vendor and customer risks, rewards, and opportunities presented by open source software.

[Hey, Eben Moglen will be there to deliver a keynote address, and Microsoft's own Jason Matusow will surely be an entertaining speaker. Hopefully he'll explain why Microsoft is so unwilling to meet their customers needs by supporting OpenDocument. - Ed]

"Ninety-five percent of e-mail users fear identity theft, and nearly 30 percent categorically refuse to open messages from financial institutions," he said. "Goodmail CertifiedEmail will be distinctly labeled both in the inbox list view and when the message is opened so the user can quickly recognize that the message is certified and thus authentic and safe to open."

The OpenDocument Fellowship has launched a web-based petition to encourage Microsoft to support the OpenDocument standard. As of today, just over a week after the initiative was launched, the petition has over 5500 signatures representing well over 168,500 computers.

DistroWatch reports - Nonux is a Dutch live and installation CD based on Slackware Linux. Incorporating the Dropline GNOME desktop with several key applications localised into Dutch, the product is designed specifically for business use in the Netherlands. Version 1.6 was released earlier today...

OSDir has some nice shots of Nonux CD 1.6.

At some time during the child-raising process, you put away the pampers, baby powder and hand the young 'un a pair of knickers. Well Newbies...here's your knickers. Tag goes in the back.

Con Zymaris is a man on a mission, and that is to educate both the local IT community and government to the benefits of Linux and open source technology.

Now you’re in on the secret. Sick of sendmail’s security bug of the week? Exchange crashed again and took everyone’s calendar with it? Microsoft Outbreak let another virus into the intranet again? Want your email and calendaring to Just Work? With a nice web interface for the road warrior executive types? It’s time to take a good look at Citadel.

Goldman Sachs has invited Open Source Consulting principal Tony Hansmann to speak at the Software & IT Services Retreat, November 7-9 in New York City.

Our client, ClearSpeed Technologies, have a vacancy for a senior software engineer to join their team developing compiler, linker and assembler libraries for high performance, massively parallel SIMD architectures. The role entails the development of fast highly optimised development products that extract performance from the processor and solutions.

LINUX is driving innovation in technology, says IBM’s regional Linux point man, Ivan Kladnig, who tells Louis van Wyk why Big Blue continues to throw its sizeable weight behind open standards.

A South African relief agency, Gift of the Givers, is using open source software to power its humanitarian aid effort in earthquake-stricken Pakistan. The organisation says open source technology has had a "tremendous effect" on its ability to rally volunteers and respond quickly to disasters.

One form of communication gaining popularity today is the wiki, which enables users -- not just administrators -- to make changes to a Web site directly through the Web interface, automatically adding features, such as formatting and outgoing links. In this two-part series, you use the ability to embed Apache Derby in a Web application server to create a simple wiki system.

Essentially a reality check, i.e. since it is realitively easy to switch from IE to Firefox with little effort yet so few have done so it must be recognized that the hoped for switch from Windows to the Mac will be much less than the current high hopes some hold.

[ED: The logic of his argument is hard to counter. A switch from Windows to Mac even on Intel requires significant investment in cash and effort to convert files from Windows to the Mac. While the gains are worth the effort as is the change from IE to Firefox only the most committed will follow that path. - HC]

Jason writes: "I downloaded the drivers for iBurst from Sourceforge -- just think about that for a second. Imagine how enraged Windows users would be if they got their new iBurst modem and were told that iBurst doesn't provide drivers -- they'd have to download them from the Web from some third party that bothered to create them. How, exactly, are you meant to do that with no Internet connection?"
[He's got a point there. He goes on to suggest that hardware vendors ought to be embarrassed by their own unwillingness to be responsible for supporting all their customers. - Ed]

Using the built-in programming language you can write macros that expand OpenOffice.org's capabilities and automate repetitive tasks. But before you venture into the world of variables, loops, and procedures, check out some existing macros; someone already may have written a macro that fits your needs. And since many good macros are released under GPL, you can also learn a thing or two by examining the code as well as adapt it to your needs.