Linux a fare deal for online travel agent, Oct 28, 2003

Linux is now a power behind the screen for millions of people making airline reservations on the Web, be it through online agents, major carriers or travel agencies.

Travel commerce leader Sabre Holdings Corp., a $2 billion global travel commerce online transaction services provider, is joining those ranks. Sabre announced it is moving a significant part of its Sabre Air Travel Shopping Engine (ATSE) low-fare lookup service to the open source MySQL database and open systems GoldenGate Data Synchronization software running on Linux.

The LW SI will have a single processor. The previous LW had a dual processor, which frequently malfunctioned. Other changes include a more simplified data bus and a Linux-based operating system, as opposed to Windows. “Evidence shows that Linux is more stable. We are moving in general to where the Army is going, to Linux-based OS,” said Gallop.

Version 2.6 of the Linux kernel crept a little closer to reality as the Open Source Development Lab (OSDL) on Monday made available a test version of the technology aimed primarily at enterprise developers.

The OSDL is calling on all major Linux users, developers, and systems providers to focus on the new release, called Test9, to "test, validate, and enhance" it in preparation for the finished version of the technology, which is due either late this year or early next. The new version is now available for download at http://www.kernel.org or ftp.kernel.org.

To increase its autonomy over software products and reduce costs, Taiwan will pour US$3.4 million into the promotion of open-source software development this year and the next.

The Industrial Development Bureau, under the Ministry of Economic Affairs, as well as the government's IT think tank, the Institute for the Information Industry (III), and the Taipei Computer Association, will all work together to implement the project.

"We want to develop open-source software so we don't have to be tied down by Microsoft, and it also offers other choices for users" said Wu Lieh Neng, consultant at the Taipei Computer Association

If the GPL is not a valid license, Moglen reasoned, then SCO itself does not have the right to redistribute Linux -- something it has done for years. "If SCO says the GPL isn't valid permission, then they have no valid permission," he said. "Redistributing copyrighted works without permission, we are told by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America Inc.) and MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) every day, is stealing."

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