'Forgotten' distros stealing Linux developers' mindshare, Mar 29, 2001

Money may pour in and out of commercial Linux vendors, but that does little to diminish the enthusiasm for the less well-known distros. Results from a survey of Linux developers seem to prove the diversity of the distro market

Ben Collins has been named new leader of the project developing the Debian version of Linux, according to voting results announced Thursday. Collins replaces Wichhert Akkerman, who had been Debian project leader for the two most recent terms.

I wonder, however, how committed the community really is to Linux's commercial success. For example, when was the last time you actually purchased a distribution? I have in my possession Stormix, Debian, Kondara, Red Hat (2.1 and every one after 4.2), Mandrake 7.0, 7.1, and 7.2, SuSE 7.1, and a host of others. The only one that I have used the old credit card for is Mandrake, and that was only once.

Israel-based startup Galleo announced a Linux-based "mobile multimedia communicator" at this month's CeBIT technology expo in Hanover, Germany. Like several other recently introduced handheld computers with wireless connectivity, the device combines the functions of a PDA, Web appliance, and cellular phone.

Upon the completion of the merger between Linux seller Caldera Systems and the Unix products and services of the Santa Cruz Operation, the combined company will change its name to Caldera International, Caldera Systems said Monday. The merger was delayed until the second quarter of the year so Caldera Systems could acquire more of SCO's product line.

The French government has lined up against software patents. The minister in charge of patent policy, industry secretary Christian Pierret, last week stated that he opposed them, and that they "would kill innovation and promote judicial terrorism" by multinational companies against startups.

Pierret, who made the comments in an interview with magazine 01 Informatique, seems to have made a convincing bid for Open Source pin-up status whle he was about it. "I support Linux and free software," he said, "because they allow faster and more robust development to put public administration systems online. Commercial software raises security issues, because one doesn't know what's inside it. This is why I am against software patents in Europe."

SuSE Linux will install Linux on PowerPC-based Macs. It's based on a new kernel - called Kernel 2.4.2 - which offers "greatly enhanced" USB support. It also supports Advanced Linux Sound Architecture for Power Macintosh, more RAM and can handle larger files.

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