Linux News for Dec 29, 2000

• Winnipeg Free Press: Microtrader anything but conventional; sets up small/home offices with Linux (Dec 29, 2000, 22:56)
  "Brent Crighton doesn't mind being unconventional. In fact, he seems to thrive on it. ... Crighton estimates the company has rolled out 75 to 100 Linux boxes for local business clients -- from auto dealers to insurance agents -- in the last year."


• MacCentral: Mac version of StarOffice next summer? (Dec 29, 2000, 22:39)
  "Now that Apple and Sun are working more closely together, Mac users have been hoping that Sun's StarOffice product will come to the Mac platform sooner. According to the updated StarOffice Frequently Asked Questions Web site, Sun is "targeting availability [of version 5.2] by summer 2001."


• Advogato: Free software: second generation (Dec 29, 2000, 21:40)
  "In other words, is cloning standard industrial applications still compatible with the free softwares phylosophie[sic]?"


• Motley Fool: 2000: Year in Review - The Losers (Dec 29, 2000, 20:41)
  "While companies associated with the open source Linux operating system enjoyed a huge run-up last year, this year was another story. VA Linux and Red Hat, number one and number six on our list, respectively, were clobbered for 95% and 92% losses."


• theKompany.com Customers Get a Break on O'Reilly Books (Dec 29, 2000, 20:01)
  theKompany.com found its customers had a need for documentation that O'Reilly books could fill, so theKompany.com customers "can now enjoy a 20% discount on their orders from O'Reilly."


• Security Portal: Weekly Security Tools Digest 2000/12/22 to 2000/12/28 (Dec 29, 2000, 19:51)
  "Updates to General free tools this week include Stunnel and an SSH/Telnet client in Java."


• Merlin Software Releases Public Test Version of Communicado FAX 4.0, Successor to HotWire FAX (Dec 29, 2000, 19:27)
  "Good news: Communicado builds upon and extends the HotWire program that it replaces. Bad news: It may not be available as a free download like HotWire was."


• ComputerWorld: Microsoft extends availability of NT 4.0 exam (Dec 29, 2000, 18:21)
  "IT professionals trying to take Microsoft Corp.'s Windows NT 4.0 certification exam prior to the Dec. 31 deadline have been given a slight reprieve. ...until Feb. 28..."


• Stomped.com: Year-End 2000 Games Interview: Dr. Ray Muzyka And Dr. Greg Zeschuk of Bioware (Dec 29, 2000, 17:52)
  "MDK2 Armageddon for PS2 and Neverwinter Nights (PC, MacOs, BeOs, Linux) are BioWare's current projects that will be released in 2001. I'm confident both will have a huge impact on the gaming community. The Star Wars RPG isn't due for a little while yet, but it will definitely be a humdinger."


• The Standard: Gateway Should Stick to Selling Computers; eSoft, Other Investments, in Trouble (Dec 29, 2000, 17:12)
  "Among the most troubled of those investments is the millions Gateway has sunk into eSoft (ESFT) , a move which seemed like a good idea on April 26, when Gateway agreed to put $12.5 million into the tiny Colorado-based Linux company with just $9 million in annual revenues."


• AsiaBizTech: Justsystem Announces Beta Version of Java-Based Spreadsheet Software (Dec 29, 2000, 16:57)
  "Choco will run on the "Java 2 SDK1.2" or the "Java 2 Runtime Environment1.2," which are Java runtime environments for Windows/Linux/Solaris distributed by Sun Microsystems Inc."


• ZDNet: More Microsoft madness; Xbox can be hacked into LinuXbox? (Dec 29, 2000, 16:31)
  "Because the [Xbox] machine has a normal computer subsystem, including a hard drive, very little effort would be needed for hackers to... turn it into a cheap Linux box... I suspect that the Xbox, once it arrives, will become the most hacked and modified computer in history, much to Microsoft's dismay."


• PC Magazine: Servers: When I'm 64 (bit); AMD's 64-bit chips to rely on Linux (Dec 29, 2000, 16:07)
  "...the Athlon chips and the Linux operating system should prove less costly than the Itanium paired with Windows 2000, providing 64-bit computing to businesses that otherwise couldn't afford it."


• The Register: CNet suckered by CPRM spin (Dec 29, 2000, 14:16)
  "Alas, the author has ignored the fact that removable drives Zip and Jazz use the packet-based ATAPI cousin of the ATA specification, the standard used by fixed hard disk drives. What's under consideration by the T.13 committee are extensions to the ATA interface itself."


• The Register: Everything you ever wanted to know about CPRM, but ZDNet wouldn't tell you... (Dec 29, 2000, 13:59)
  A FAQ from The Register about Content Protection for Recordable Media.


• AllLinuxDevices: Yopy to Go Into Limited Developer Release in January (Dec 29, 2000, 13:17)
  "As reported by LinuxNews.pl, GMate, the company responsible for the highly anticipated Yopy, a Linux-based handheld, has announced a program that will make a limited number of the devices available to developers in January"


• IBM developerWorks: IBM Releases Experimental S/390 64-bit Linux Patches (Dec 29, 2000, 12:21)
  IBM has released experimental S/390 64-bit Linux patches. The patches apply to kernel 2.4.0-test11.


• AllLinuxDevices: Embedded Linux Software Company Announces Launch (Dec 29, 2000, 12:09)
  "TUXIA, a new embedded Linux software company, has launched with a 20 Million Euro investment and a licensing agreement with Infomatec, which plans to use Tuxia's JNT embedded Linux for interactive tv."


• Happy (Belated) Birthday, Linus (Dec 29, 2000, 11:58)
  Though we're a day late, "happy birthday" from LinuxToday.


• O'Reilly Network: Insecurities in a Nutshell: OpenBSD, Zope, syslogd, and More (Dec 29, 2000, 09:04)
  "Problems this week include a remote root exploit of OpenBSD and NetBSD, more temporary file problems in Solaris's patchadd and ksh, local root vulnerabilities in Stunnel, syslogd, and klogd, and new tools for man in the middle attacks."


• CNN/InfoWorld: Users cry foul with Netscape 6 (Dec 29, 2000, 08:06)
  "Many users, turned critics, have reported that the product seems unfinished and the company would have better served users by waiting for the completion of the open-source Mozilla browser, set to be released in early 2001."


• LinuxTests.org: The fleminge of wrecches; why Linux is successful (Dec 29, 2000, 07:12)
  "The more things change, the more they remain the same. Only one year ago Linux was the darling of the media and Wall Street. Linux was a Prince that potentially would overthrow the King of OSes, Windows. Today, Linux articles are filled with dyspeptic gloom and opinions about the failure of Linux to grab a large market share or mind share."


• LinuxSecurity.com: Linux Advisory Watch - December 29th 2000 (Dec 29, 2000, 06:44)
  "This week, advisories were released for gnupg, stunnel, dialog, and fetchmail. The vendors include Debian and TurboLinux."


• LinuxPPC Inc. announces LinuxPPC 2000 Q4 (Dec 29, 2000, 06:38)
  New version of Linux includes three CD-ROMs, FWB Hard Disk Toolkit*PE


• osOpinion: The Linux Internet Dream (Dec 29, 2000, 00:51)
  "Linux is currently going through the same stages the Internet did. It started off as a geeks-only area, but some very smart companies -- IBM and so forth -- saw the potential for the OS, just like very smart companies -- Netscape -- saw the potential for the Internet. These companies are the ones that are going to bring Linux to the home user."