Linux News for Nov 27, 2007

• Why KDE4 (Might) Suck! (Nov 27, 2007, 23:30)
  Geek with an Attitude: "I've been a kde user for very long time, since from before version 3.0. I vaguely remember being excited with version 3.0 to the point I was using the beta releases on a daily basis..."


• Mozilla Plans 2 More Firefox 3 Betas, ~500,000 Copies of Beta 1 Downloaded to Date (Nov 27, 2007, 22:45)
  Shared Software, Shared Processes: "The Mozilla Foundation reports that nearly 500,000 copies of Firefox 3 beta 1 have been downloaded since its release last week and two more beta test versions will follow before its final release next year..."


• Can Linux Forget Desktops and Servers? (Nov 27, 2007, 22:00)
  Open Sauce Software: "While Linux might be able to gain share at the expense of the still-unpopular Vista, it's possible that tired old PCs aren't that important anyway..."


• Richard Stallman and the Connotations of Language (Nov 27, 2007, 21:30)
  Datamation: "Anyone looking for a summary of the free software movement's concerns needs only to look at Richard M. Stallman's essay 'Some Confusing or Loaded Words and Phrases that are Worth Avoiding...'"


• Lagos Analysis Corp. Files Lawsuit Against Negroponte and OLPC Association for Patent Infringement (Nov 27, 2007, 21:00)
  MarketWire: "The patent infringement lawsuit was filed on November 22nd, 2007 as a result of OLPC's willful infringement of LANCOR's Nigeria Registered Design Patent # RD8489 and illegal reverse engineering of its keyboard driver source codes for use in the XO Laptops..."


• T'is the Season (Nov 27, 2007, 20:30)
  Roundup: "I have scoured the Internet for holiday gifts that are geeky with an open source, stick-it-to-the-man slant..."


• Linux PCs: Look Beyond Wal-Mart (Nov 27, 2007, 20:00)
  TechIQ: "But a lot of bloggers, including The VAR Guy, need to remind readers that it might be wiser to look elsewhere for affordable, reliable Linux PCs. One prime stop should be ZaReason.com. Here's why..."


• Politics 'Stifling $100 Laptop' (Nov 27, 2007, 19:30)
  BBC News: "A lack of 'big thinking' by politicians has stifled a scheme to distribute laptops to children in the developing world, a spokesman has said..."


• Linux Kernel Maintainers: Accountable To All, Beholden To None? (Nov 27, 2007, 19:00)
  InformationWeek: "Forget IBM, Microsoft, and Oracle. How much software do you think businesses have developed for internal use? Here's one expert's guesstimate..."


• Public Beta Now Open for Red Hat Enterprise Linux on Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Nov 27, 2007, 18:15)
  Red Hat: "Today, less than three weeks since the announcement of our collaboration with Amazon Web Services, Red Hat has opened the beta for Red Hat Enterprise Linux on Amazon EC2 to the general public..."


• Examining the "Facts" in Illinois (Nov 27, 2007, 17:30)
  Managing L'unix: "One such case study revolves on the decision by the State of Illinois to standardize on Microsoft's servers and related technologies..."


• The Penguin Comes In From the Cold (Nov 27, 2007, 17:00)
  Australian IT: "Linux hardware and software makers have been trumpeting the virtues of the open-source operating system for quite a while, but businesses have been slow to take the bait..."


• In Defense of The GPL (Nov 27, 2007, 16:30)
  internetnews.com: "The ultimate impact of these actions could well serve to either spurn or spawn even greater open source adoption, industry observers say..."


• A Response to the Cacophony (Nov 27, 2007, 16:00)
  eighty-eight miles per hour: "Of course, resolving these issues did not require such hatefulness, but that is a property of the dysfunctional relationship on display..."


• News From Hungary: A Followup Meeting of TC on MSOOXML Dec. 5 (Nov 27, 2007, 15:30)
  Groklaw: "On December 5th, there will be another meeting of the Technical Committee in Hungary with what looks to be a fascinating agenda..."


• California City Rebuilds Network Using All Open Source Software (Nov 27, 2007, 15:00)
  Network World: "Open source network tools such as Asterisk IP PBX give the city of Madera needed voice and data improvements for a cost it can handle..."


• South Africa, Netherlands and Korea Striding Toward ODF (Nov 27, 2007, 14:30)
  Computerworld Australia: "But France is still making the strongest move to ODF and its native office suite, OpenOffice..."


• Mozilla Fixes Memory And CPU Problems In Firefox 3 Beta 1 (Nov 27, 2007, 13:45)
  InformationWeek: "Mozilla.org says it fixed a problem with Firefox 3 Beta 1 that caused it to spike CPU usage and eat hundreds of megabytes of RAM..."


• NVIDIA 169.04 Driver Brings Improvements (Nov 27, 2007, 13:00)
  Phoronix: "Last week NVIDIA introduced the 169.04 Beta Linux driver for their GeForce and Quadro graphics cards..."


• Ten Firefox Extensions to Keep Your Browsing Private and Secure (Nov 27, 2007, 11:30)
  Linux.com: "Most people lock their doors and windows, use a paper shredder to protect themselves from identity theft, and install antivirus software on their computers..."


• APT-build--Optimize Your Debian! (Nov 27, 2007, 10:00)
  PolishLinux: "But here comes the rescue--an apt-build goody available under every distro armed with the big gun--APT package manager..."


• Installation Guide: Linux Mint 4.0 Daryna (a.k.a. The Perfect Desktop) (Nov 27, 2007, 08:30)
  HowtoForge: "This tutorial shows how you can set up a Linux Mint 4.0 (Daryna) desktop that is a full-fledged replacement for a Windows desktop..."


• AMD Catalyst 7.11 Linux Driver (Nov 27, 2007, 07:00)
  Phoronix: "For the past two months, the AMD release train has been running full speed ahead as they introduced their new driver code-base and last month had dropped in the AIGLX support..."


• Linux on Board: Developing for the Nokia N800 (Nov 27, 2007, 05:30)
  developerWorks: "Linux is enjoying a well-deserved surge in popularity for mobile and embedded applications, owing to its ability to scale down to the small footprint needed to run efficiently in compact devices..."


• Insecurity Blues (Nov 27, 2007, 04:00)
  Tux Deluxe: "It hasn't been a good month for my code. Samba, the project I'm responsible for, has had to announce several security flaws..."


• Real Answers to the Question "Can You Run Your Business on Linux and Open Source?" (Nov 27, 2007, 02:30)
  The Linux Distillery: "A friend said to me recently that 'Firefox is for the home, Internet Explorer is for the office...'"


• The Brotherhood is Displeased (Nov 27, 2007, 01:45)
  Maison Fleury: "Clearly, those that I feel I owe, I also feel I have already taken care of by way of the JBoss equity cap table..."


• Facets of Open Source Part I (Nov 27, 2007, 01:00)
  systhread.net: "What is the point of differentiating Open Source as an entity versus something that has just always been there...?"


• Does MySQL's Proprietary Workbench Signal that the Future of Open Source is... Closed? (Nov 27, 2007, 00:15)
  The Open Road: "Is this the future of open source? To get ubiquity through open source and then cash through proprietary source...?"