Open-Source Fight Flares At Pentagon, May 23, 2002

Microsoft Corp. is aggressively lobbying the Pentagon to squelch its growing use of freely distributed computer software and switch to proprietary systems such as those sold by the software giant, according to officials familiar with the campaign.

But the effort may have backfired. A May 10 report prepared for the Defense Department concluded that open source often results in more secure, less expensive applications and that, if anything, its use should be expanded.

After bowing to consumer pressure once again, Sony today released a Linux kit for the PlayStation2 in Europe.

After initially announcing that it would only be made available on the Japanese market, the console giant started taking orders for the Linux kit on a special website today.

The new browser, which became available this week in preview form at www.netscape.com, has useful user interface aids, strong standards support and a much improved mail client. However, there aren't a whole lot of new ideas reflected here. In fact, if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Microsoft Corp. and Opera Software should consider themselves flattered.

Sherwin-Williams Co., the No. 1 U.S. paint maker, plans to convert its computers and cash registers in more than 2,500 stores to the upstart operating system in the next year and has hired International Business Machines Corp.'s services division to do the job. Click Here to go to Gateway!

It's not quite a huge victory for Linux -- Sherwin Williams' back office support systems isn't part of the deal -- but analysts say it could be an indication that retailers are turning to Linux as they replace their old systems.

SP: Looking at the usage figures, there are now over 9 million domains using PHP. Did you have any idea that PHP was going to become this big? How does it feel to know that your product is probably the best alternative to Microsoft's solutions for the Web?

RL: First, to be clear, I did not develop the PHP we know today. Dozens, if not hundreds of people, developed PHP. I was simply the first developer.

An international team set a new record for Internet performance by transferring the equivalent of an entire compact disc's contents across more than 7608 miles (12,272 km) of network in 13 seconds. The rate of 401 megabits per second achieved in transferring 625 megabytes of data from Fairbanks, Alaska to Amsterdam in the Netherlands is over 8000 times greater than the fastest dial-up modem.

The record-setting team consisted of the University of Alaska at Fairbanks; the Faculty of Science of the University of Amsterdam and SURFnet, the national computer network for higher education and research in the Netherlands. On both ends standard PC-like hardware running Debian GNU/Linux was used.

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