Showing all newswire headlines

Last week, I suggested that running a Linux desktop in your lap, perhaps outfitted with the Novell-supported GNOME user interface, might be a good thing, if only to familiarize yourself with the way Linux works - sometimes like Unix, sometimes like Windows and sometimes like a Macintosh. The more familiar you are with it, the better prepared you'll be when split-second decisions are needed.

Hundreds of software developers, enterprise and government leaders will gather on the coast of Norway to discuss the rapid adoption of the world's most popular open source desktop, GNOME. The Fifth Annual GNOME User and Developer Europe Conference (GUADEC), will be held at Agder University College from June 28-30, 2004, in Kristiansand, Norway.

The Sasser worm has made headlines not only in tech media but almost everywhere, including television. Most of the better Internet and print news media point out that it only affects Windows computers (specifically those running 2000 and XP), but my local TV stations don't seem to have picked up the distinction between "computers" and "Windows."

Much has been made in the press and on community sites about Red Hat's ambivalence in the "desktop" space. If you're reading this, you may have written an article or two on it yourself. Or at least flamed us in your blog.

With Microsoft's next generation version of Windows, code-named Longhorn, scheduled for release as much as 12-24 months away, does Linux have a window of opportunity to capture market share? The answer depends on who you ask, but even the most optimistic prognosticators don't see Linux desktop eating into Microsoft's domination of the desktop in any significant way.

If Novell has its way, Melbourne will become the Linux capital of Australia with students across the state using Linux on the desktop.

Resellers are enthusiastic about recent moves by Novell and Red Hat to move Linux onto the desktop but warn that fear of the unknown and missing applications are holding progress back.

PEAK is a Python framework for rapidly developing and reusing application components. While Python itself is already a very-high-level language, PEAK provides even higher abstractions, largely through the clever use of metaclasses and other advanced Python techniques. In many ways, PEAK does for Python what J2EE does for Java. Part of the formalization in PEAK comes in the explicit specification of protocols, specifically in the separately available package PyProtocols.

Linux is evolving as the predominant OS of the new millennium and legacy OSes like OS/2 are getting phased out gradually. This series of article(s) attempts to help the developers involved in the tedious process of migrating/porting the OS/2 system drivers/application to linux. It provides a one-to-one mapping of various OS/2 to linux calls related to threads, IPC, memory mgmt, timer handling, file handling etc. In addition it also captures the various preprocessor directives, compiler/linker options which can be mapped from OS/2 to linux.Part 2 covers mapping of system calls related to memory mgmt, filehandling, and device driver interface.

The upcoming stable Debian release (code-named sarge) will feature fully integrated XML support. Multiple toolchains for XSL(T) processing, a fully standards-compliant XML catalog system, and a Debian XML policy document for both Debian developers and users provide the backbone of a complete, out-of-the-box system for XML developers and authors.

Daimler-Chrysler has used real-time embedded Linux in a portable automotive diagnostic tool currently shipping to dealers and repair shops. The StarScan tool enables shops to work on 2004-model year and later Dodge, Chrysler, and Jeep vehicles incorporating CAN (controller area network) buses.

Australia's Open Source Industry Association has used the Sasser worm incident to push its claim that operating systems such as Linux, FreeBSD, Mac OS X and Unix are reliable and secure.

Over the past year, the Howard County (Md.) Public Library has migrated more than 200 public PCs from Windows 98 and Windows NT to Linux. These PCs are used both to surf the Internet and to access the library's catalogues. NewsForge recently spoke with Brian Auger, associate director of the library, and the IT team responsible for the migration. We wanted to learn more about why and how it was accomplished, and how pleased they are with the results.

They are Canada's newest Linux entrepreneurs and they're looking to make it big — before they graduate. What sets [their Linux distribution] Ignalum Linux apart is its ability to run popular Windows applications such as Office, Word and Excel.

In the Unix world of computing, it is possible to exchange your window manager with an advanced one. The window manager's main purpose is to move/resize windows on the screen. These improved window managers differ from the way people are used to interact with windows in the Microsoft Windows world.

Major vendors are positioning Linux as an alternative for high-end systems. The open-source Linux operating system is just one of several choices for desktop computers, enterprise servers and other common implementations. Sometimes it is chosen, but often it is not.

Former Red Hat and IBM executive James Neiser has joined Durham-based Web services startup StrikeIron as chief marketing officer, the company announced

Computer Associates International is looking to the open-source community for help in building its next wave of management software.