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What was the biggest theme to emerge during the 2004 "Year in Linux"? In large measure, it all had to do with the expanded movement of Linux into new environments, ranging from the data center to embedded spaces.

This article, the first in a two-part report, reviews common issues of wireless security, and shows how to use open source software to suss out wireless networks, get information about them, and start recognizing common security problems.

Following the recent string of security-related kernel issues, the question was raised on the lkml what formal effort is being made to audit new patches. Long time Linux kernel guru Alan Cox noted two trends that he considers positive.

There is a new wave sweeping our world, and it has one name - Linux. Everyone, from Eskimos in Greenland to Bedouins in desert, has heard of Linux. As a reader to a publication of this nature, you have most probably already used Linux in some form, or toyed with the idea of setting up a Linux Box. But some questions may have plagued you. For example, when we say "Linux", what exactly do we mean? Do we mean Red Hat? Or SuSe? What is the nature of the beast? In this article, we will attempt to give a broad introduction to the world of Linux.

Red Hat is believed to be planning a major upgrade to its Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system that will fully support the latest Linux 2.6 kernel for the first time.

Mandrakesoft has just announced a new partner program for the US. The Mandrakelinux Solution Provider Program will assist IT services companies in delivering practical, affordable Linux-based products to the small and mid-sized business market. As part of the partner program, Mandrakesoft is introducing a new line of solution-based Linux servers, called the Mandrakelinux Dedicated Server Series, tailored to the needs of the mainstream SMB market. These server offerings are designed to be easy to migrate from Windows, and are only available from official Mandrakelinux Solution Providers.

GFI Software Ltd., recently announced the release of a new version of its network security scanner, GFI LANguard Network Security Scanner (N.S.S.) 6 that can detect all machines and devices connected to the network via a wireless link. It also alerts administrators when suspicious USB devices are connected to the network. Additionally, the new version includes further Linux security checks. It now incorporates an SSH scripting feature that allows administrators to connect to remote Linux/Unix machines and launch scripts. This feature also enables the creation of custom security checks.

Publication of an open source procurement guide for government agencies is not expected until March this year, four months after the early December timeframe flagged by officials last year.

The CE Linux Forum, which develops and promotes Linux for consumer electronic devices, has officially established itself as a non-profit corporation based in San Jose, California.

AMI-Partners Inc. tempered some of its findings, stating "user challenges and a dearth of applications continue to hinder the growth of Linux servers and on the desktop."

While there's no shortage of Web-based programs that output RSS, sometimes all you want to do is generate and serve a quick-and-dirty feed, perhaps as part of a script, or using the output of some other program. You might want to check your log summaries with the same ease than you check your daily news, or perhaps set up an RSS feed to distribute internal documents to your workgroup. While these are things that could be done with a content management system, they really call for nothing more that a simple command-line program able to create a feed and add content to it. Luckily, kludging together a reusable tool to generate RSS feeds is a relatively straightforward proposition, and one that opens myriad possibilities for creative uses of RSS.

Microsoft is lobbying Brazil's government to agree to a meeting between the company's chairman, Bill Gates, and President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at the World Economic Forum next week, a Brazilian official said. The country has taken prominent role in the so-called free software movement, an effort that champions free computer operating systems like Linux as an alternative to Microsoft's Windows program.

The popular open source bug tracking system gets improved Enterprise features and is easier to run on Windows.

Being a guy with an accent on one of the letters of his name, you can imagine that I probably spend a lot of time entering so-called "special characters" in my documents and e-mails. Short of keeping a document with these letters already written, then copying, and pasting them, entering an é can be amazingly time consuming. Worst of all, while OpenOffice.org lets me click Insert, Special Character to select from a list, not all applications have a handy list of characters to choose from. For everyone out there who routinely has to enter special characters or letters with accents, I'm going to give you a great KDE trick to use that will ease the pain.

Recently Linux Business Week ran a story entitled "Cherokee Indians To Encircle Open Source? Or How the GPL Might Wind Up with Arrows Sticking in It." Luckily, author Maureen O'Gara seems to have the story all wrong.

Connecting your Linux VM to the company network and to rest of the world.

Open Source Development Labs has reportedly rejected reports it is leading a revision of the Linux Kernel to remove code that might infringe software patents.

There are a lot of good links to security information at WBGlinks.net, a site whose self-proclaimed mission is to prevent the spread of FUD, because there are just too many "naive people" online and not enough computer security experts.

KOffice is built on KDE. This advantage brings enormous potential in terms of integration, performance, scalability, and with the coming full support for the OASIS Open Document Format, even portability. All these factors are vital for business deployments. The KOffice team is looking for contributors and developers to significantly increase and utilize the potential of KOffice even further.

Now you can run Xorg on Debian Sid easily!