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The U.K. government is supporting a project to create a secure centrally managed desktop system based on Linux.

Linux distributor Red Hat is adding directory and security functions to its product range. Due to be formally announced on Wednesday, the Red Hat Directory Server and Red Hat Certificate Management System plug two obvious gaps in the Red Hat portfolio. Both are based around technology that Red Hat acquired from AOL's Netscape division last year.

Foreword: This guest editorial by Richard M. Stallman (rms) takes a critical view of Nokia's announcement last week that it would exempt existing Linux kernels from patent litigation. Stallman founded the GNU Free Software project in 1984, and remains among its most idealistic and fervent supporters.

Provides Key Linux and Identity Technologies to Enhance HHS's Ability to Secure and Manage IT Resources

Developers of the Debian GNU/Linux distribution are frantically squashing software bugs in an effort to get version 3.1 out by the scheduled 6 June release date.

Welcome to this year's 22nd issue of DWN, the weekly newsletter for the Debian community. Andreas Barth prepares for after the release already and tried to optimise the LDAP gateway to the bugtracking system. Nokia has released an Internet tablet PC that uses Debian as operating system.

In the beginning of things, open source was about open everything. I remember joining an irc channel # on efnet back in 1993 and chatting with people who could make things happen with computers...really make things happen. Coders, managers, hackers...they were all there and a tight nit core of about 6 of us stayed in touch for about 7 years until we went our separate ways and began to use irc less and less. The thing that I remember the most is the fact that when I joined their little group, I was a complete and total n00b. Not just a n00b to Open Source...but to computers altogether.

"Organizations are finding that Linux lowers TCO (total cost of ownership) on both the desktop and server sides, but specific results vary according to the situation, said John Dobbs, principal strategist for Novell, speaking at LinuxWorld Summit in New York City..."

Despite vendors' best efforts, the perception of network and systems management products is that many are high-priced, require lengthy deployment cycles, entail multiple integration efforts and necessitate time-consuming customisation. But open source vendors and developers are bringing a new breed of products to market that could shatter that perception...

In this group of interviews, conducted before the May 6 appellate court decision squashing the broadcast flag, Mad Penguin™ talked to a group of hackers and cyberactivists who showed up for a build-in at Tony Godshall's house in the city of Alameda, California. These folks talked a bit about why they showed up at Tony's place; about how free digital TV fits into the greater software libre picture; and then Tony talks a bit about his experiences in building his own free open source digital TV and why he's a midwestern beefmeister who is residing and hacking open source TV boxes in California. Heh. We spoke with EFF Staffer Eric Hansen; Oracle Linux guru Peter Naggs; and of course, the beefmeister himself. (Keep reading to find out about the beef.)

Nokia introduced its first device in the new Internet Tablet category, the Nokia 770 Internet Tablet, at the LinuxWorld Summit in New York. The Nokia 770 Internet Tablet is a dedicated device optimized for convenient Internet browsing and email communications in a sleek pocketsize format.

Foreword: Intel is conducting research initiatives to enable "a future in which computing will be ubiquitous, woven seamlessly into the fabric of everyday life." This Intel-authored whitepaper outlines four of the initiatives: a Personal Server; Precision Location Technology; Low-Cost Location Technology; and a System for Human Activity Recognition and Prediction.

Mainsoft Corporation, the cross-platform development company, announced the availability of Visual MainWin for J2EE Developer Edition, a.k.a. Grasshopper, a freely available Visual Studio .NET plug-in, which enables Visual Studio developers to quickly develop Web applications for Linux.

One of the oldest Unix-like operating systems, FreeBSD, continues its advancement with the sixth release in the FreeBSD-5 series. Its developers have added nothing major, but have made many modifications, fixing a number of problems introduced in previous releases. FreeBSD 5.4 is the best release since 5.1, but it still may not be ready for prime time.

Unlike Sun's empty gesture, this isn't nothing. It is good to know that one important free software project will not be attacked by this particular megacorporation. But the Free Software Directory lists over 4000 free software packages. Nokia's announcement says nothing about them, so they still face the potential threat of being attacked by Nokia in the future. Nokia's announcement isn't nothing, but it is next to nothing.

Sun Microsystems set to begin multimillion-dollar rebranding effort that spotlights its new emphasis on open source and the like.

The Linux Enterprise Cluster is a how-to book and explains how to convert two or more PCs into a high-reliability, high-availability cluster based on Linux and inexpensive hardware using free and mainly open source software - what would have been an unthinkable configuration back when mainframes ruled the earth.

Log on to the Sleepycat web site and you will find that it claims to have 200 million users of its database, Berkeley DB. 200 million! In the immortal words of John McEnroe: you have got to be kidding me! Well no, actually.

Brazil's position as the leading developing world champion of Free/Open Source Software may soon by challenged by India. The Indian government has begun distributing free CDs with localized versions of a variety of F/OSS applications. The first set of CDs contain Tamil-language versions of Firefox, OpenOffice, an email utility and a dictionary, as well as a variety of Tamil fonts. Hindi will be next, with all 22 official languages of India covered eventually.

If you're a Windows 2000 or XP user who always wanted to try out a Linux desktop but were afraid of downloading and installing software that might upset your computer, I have some good news for you. Go to a new Web site called Open Source Region Stuttgart, click on a few links, and you're in virtual Linuxland.