Skipper Accessibility Suite 1.6.0 Released, Oct 02, 2003

Webmaster's note: We may post a lot of news about SCO and other things, but stories like this one are the most important - the ones about how Linux can be used to improve the quality of people's lives - and the dedicated members of the Linux community who develop these applications

Skipper 1.6.0 is a GPLed Linux accessibility suite for the severely physically disabled - cerebral palsy, road traffic accidents, motor neuron disease, Parkinsons etc. It takes input from multiple devices like graphics tablets and microswitches connected directly to the printer port, does input switching and processing (configured graphically like modular synthesisers), and provides clever genetically annealed menu systems for application and desktop control. With just one detectable click, people can have full Web and email access - in fact the whole Linux desktop - in complete privacy.

Citizens Against Government Waste should be ashamed of itself. As a liberty-loving foe of intrusive government, I'm normally sympathetic to their crusade against bureaucracy and over-regulation. But today, CAGW made the strongest argument I've ever seen for writing them off as mere shills for corporate greed.

CAGW's press release attacking the Massachusetts Freeware Initiative reads like it was dictated by Microsoft's PR department--complete with a fraudalent assertion that open source is more expensive, and even an attempt to associate open source with the hideous evils of the Soviet Union and socialism.

SCO's references to XFS are completely misplaced. XFS is an innovative SGI- created work. It is not a derivative work of System V in any sense, and SGI has full rights to license it to whomever we choose and to contribute it to open source. It may be that SCO is taking the position that merely because XFS is also distributed along with IRIX it is somehow subject to the System V license. But if so, this is an absurd position, with no basis either in the license or in common sense. In fact, our UNIX license clearly provides that SGI retains ownership and all rights as to all code that was not part of AT&Ts UNIX System V.

The security flaws exist in the OpenSSL Project's version of the secure sockets layer (SSL) software used by Web sites and browsers to cryptographically secure data. Two of the flaws could lead to a denial-of-service attack, and a third may allow an attacker to break into a system from the Internet.

The publicity generated by the SCO lawsuit hasn't hurt Linux distributor Red Hat's plans to expand business in Australasia--in fact, it seems to have helped, said a senior executive.

"It has helped opened a lot more doors. People don't understand what's going on and that gives us opportunity to explain," said Harish Pillay, the U.S.-based firm's chief technology architect for the region.

Version 9.0 of SuSE Linux is designed to make migrating to Linux as easy as possible. There have been enhancements to its connectivity to the Windows NTFS file system and improved local network support, which Chris Schlaeger, director of distribution development at SuSE, said now resembles Windows' Network Neighbourhood. "It integrates all the networking protocols that Linux supports into one GUI," he told ZDNet UK. Additionally, the OS is compatible with both 32-bit and 64-bit environments, and fully supports AMD's Athlon 64 processor.

Thousands of computers in government ministries, agencies and universities will have their proprietary software replaced by open-source alternatives during the next three years

The South Korean government has announced a plan to have proprietary software on a substantial number of its PCs and servers replaced with open-source alternatives by 2007.

High-end computer maker Silicon Graphics Inc. is in line to become the next target of Linux opponent SCO Group, with the controversial software seller threatening to revoke SGI's Unix license.

SGI revealed the expected move in a regulatory document filed earlier this week with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The filing included a statement detailing the company's plans to revoke SGI's license to distribute products based on Unix code that SCO controls. The move would mirror similar actions that SCO took earlier this year against computing giant IBM, SCO's main opponent in its legal battle against the open-source Linux operating system.

San Diego startup Lindows.com said yesterday it will not take down a Web site that offers to process claims in a $1.1 billion lawsuit settlement involving software giant Microsoft.

In his latest swipe at the industry giant, Lindows.com chief executive Michael Robertson wrote a letter to Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates saying the Web site would not be removed. Robertson was responding to a letter from a law firm representing Microsoft.

To see the foolishness of SCO's posture, imagine that the creator of a copyrighted book alleged that another author plagiarized his work but refused to publicly identify the offending segments. Without public articulation, SCO's case is utterly ridiculous and should be summarily rejected on procedural, if not substantive, grounds.

Founding father of Trustix Secure Linux, Erlend Midttun, along with Trustix Secure Linux developer, Christian Toldnes now offers development, maintenance and support for community and commercial customers from the newly started company - Tawie Technologies AS.

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