Linux News for Nov 30, 2010

• LCA 2011: The quiet man at the helm (Nov 30, 2010, 23:35)
  IT Wire: "The man behind the next Australian national Linux conference is an academic, a retiring type not exactly prone to bluff and bluster. He and his team are quietly getting things ready for the last week of January 2011 when a host of geeks will converge on Brisbane for the 12th LCA"


• Bordeaux 50% off recession busting sale (Nov 30, 2010, 23:05)
  Wine-Reviews: "The Bordeaux Technology Group is proud to announce a 50% off recession busting sale on Bordeaux for Linux, Mac, FreeBSD, PCBSD and OpenIndiana."


• Peter Sunde attempting to create p2p alternative to ICANN (Nov 30, 2010, 22:35)
  Geek.com: "According to Sunde's Twitter feed he has been suspicious of ICANN for a long time."


• All That Java Jive (Nov 30, 2010, 22:05)
  Linux Magazine: "I love coffee, I love tea. I love the Java Jive and it loves me.* If Java is giving you jive, put your fears aside. You'll soon love it sweet and hot. Or maybe not."


• Firefox Extensions for the Web Developer (Nov 30, 2010, 21:35)
  HTML Goodies: "Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens...yada yada yada (I mentioned the kittens). Here are a few of my favorite Firefox things: Web Developer, Pixel Perfect, ColorZilla, Measure It and Pixl Grabber."


• It's Not Easy Being Green: Life for SUSE with Attachmate (Nov 30, 2010, 21:05)
  Linux Magazine: "Attachmate buying Novell came as a bit of a surprise to industry watchers, but now that the deal is inked (but not closed) what does it mean for SUSE, openSUSE, and the rest of the Linux industry?"


• 2010's 5 Biggest Linux and open-source stories (Nov 30, 2010, 20:35)
  Cyber Cynic: "The story behind the story is that Linux has become totally mainstream. No, you may not have a Linux desktop in front of you the way I do, but you if you spend most of your day visiting Google, Facebook, and Twitter, you're using Linux."


• PMML Makes Predictive Analytics and Data Mining Easier (Nov 30, 2010, 20:05)
  eCRM Guide: "Predictive analytics — the art of mining and analyzing historical data patterns to predict the future — is not a common term among IT types, let alone consumers. Yet predictive analytics is practiced widely, and its use affects millions of consumers and businesses every day."


• A Schizophrenic Look at Microsoft, Novell, and Patents (Nov 30, 2010, 19:35)
  IT World: "No matter how you look at it, Microsoft's open purchase of Novell's patents was very sane."


• When Linus is away, Linux Kernel developers will... (Nov 30, 2010, 19:05)
  Netstat -vat: "Normally, you'd think that when the 'boss' is away, that the 'employees' will slack-off. But the exact opposite is what happens with Linux kernel developers."


• Red Hat At $1 Billion (Nov 30, 2010, 18:35)
  Forbes: "Based on the run rates of the current quarter, Red Hat will likely reach $1 billion in annual revenue in 2011. Only a handful of companies, probably less than 20 software firms, have ever hit this milestone."


• Wikileaks Diplomatic Cable Cache Links China to Google Hack (Nov 30, 2010, 18:05)
  Datamation: "Included in the massive trove of classified diplomatic cables the website WikiLeaks began releasing on Sunday is evidence reportedly linking Chinese authorities to a massive computer hacking campaign that included a high-profile assault on Google nearly a year ago."


• Homeland Security's Domain Name Seizure May Stretch The Law Past The Breaking Point (Nov 30, 2010, 17:35)
  TechDirt: "We had a bunch of questions concerning the legality of Homeland Security's seizure of domain names via its Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) group. The whole thing seemed of extremely dubious legality. And it appears we're not the only ones to think so."


• The bad guys are worried - did we win? (Nov 30, 2010, 17:05)
  Free Software Magazine: "The thing most of us think of when we hear the word open is Windows"


• Easy Crontab Editing with Corntab (Nov 30, 2010, 16:35)
  ServerWatch: "Never memorize what you can look up. This is one of the essential rules of system administration, and it applies very well to creating crontab entries. If you're not an expert on cron, don't worry -- just use the Corntab site or iPhone app."


• Salary Levels for Linux Administrators (Nov 30, 2010, 16:05)
  Datamation: "Job Description for Linux Administrator -- Installs, configures, and maintains Linux operating systems. Analyzes and resolves problems associated with the operating system's servers, hardware, applications, and software"


• Why I'm Rooting for Microsoft (Nov 30, 2010, 15:35)
  Computerworld: "Although I'd prefer the entire system to be swept away at a stroke, I think that is somewhat unlikely, so I may have to settle for progressive improvements."


• Exclusive Interview: Ubuntu Is The Number 1 Desktop OS (Nov 30, 2010, 15:05)
  Muktware: "What are the challenges? Is Canonical planning to enter the hardware business and offer an Apple-like solution, fully optimized hardware for the OS?"


• Quick Look at 0 A.D. - Free Linux RTS Game (Nov 30, 2010, 14:35)
  TuxArena: "0 A.D. is an open-source, 3D real time strategy game with an ancient warfare theme, developed by Wildfire Games, and using the Pyrogenesis engine."


• The good and bad news about Dell and Ubuntu (Nov 30, 2010, 14:05)
  Cyber Cynic: "She wasn't happy because it was already moving slower than her ancient XP Pentium M machine. When, out of the blue she got an Ubuntu Light (PDF Link) v1.0 Setup window. What the heck?"


• Symbian Foundation to Shutdown Websites (Nov 30, 2010, 13:35)
  Linux Pro Magazine: "The Symbian Foundation announces website closures starting mid-December 2010."


• Linux e-reader ships with 2450-dpi pen input (Nov 30, 2010, 13:05)
  LinuxDevices: "Asus launched its Linux-based Asus Eee Note EA800 (previously Eee Tablet) e-reader, available now available in Taiwan for about $230 and due in the U.S. in 1Q 2011, according to various reports."


• LPC: Michael Meeks on LibreOffice and code ownership (Nov 30, 2010, 11:05)
  LWN.net: "Back when the 2010 Linux Plumbers Conference was looking for presentations, the LibreOffice project had not yet announced its existence. So Michael Meeks put in a vague proposal for a talk having to do with OpenOffice.org and promised the organizers it would be worth their time."


• Five reasons to be grumpy about 2010 -- 2010 begins Oracle's reign of terror (Nov 30, 2010, 09:05)
  Network World: "Maybe it's the post-holiday letdown, but looking back on 2010 I'm not sure the open source community has that much to be grateful for this year. Not only have we missed another year for the Linux desktop, but there's been plenty to gripe about in 2010."


• 5 of the Best Free and Open Source Data Mining Software (Nov 30, 2010, 07:05)
  Tech Source: "The process of extracting patterns from data is called data mining. It is recognized as an essential tool by modern business since it is able to convert data into business intelligence thus giving an informational edge."


• 10 Weirdest Celebrity Tech Ads (Nov 30, 2010, 03:05)
  Network World: "When it comes to technology advertising, some companies hire a celebrity, and have them do something ridiculous in the general vicinity of the product."


• 20 essential virtualization tips & techniques (Nov 30, 2010, 01:35)
  Linux User and Developer: "These virtualization tips and techniques are presented to educate, save money and save endless Googling for answers. With luck they'll propel your virtualization efforts forward with new momentum and with minimal frustration helping you to improve the performance, reliability and security of your virtual machines."


• Supreme Court to Decide Standard for Proving Invalidity of a Patent (Nov 30, 2010, 00:05)
  EFF.org: "Today the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear Microsoft's appeal in a case that could make it easier to invalidate a patent."