Kernel release: 2.2.27-pre1, Mar 24, 2004

2.2.27-pre1 has been released today.
See changelog for full details.

Files added: 1
Files changed: 41
Files removed: 1

A couple of days before the release of version 2.6 of the GNOME desktop, the server hosting the main GNOME website and several other gnome.org sites appears to have been compromised, according to a posting to one of the GNOME mailing lists.

GNOME is one of the two main desktop environments used by Linux distributions; the other is KDE.

Owen Taylor, who works for Linux maker Red Hat, said evidence of an intrusion had been discovered on March 23.

"At the present time, we think that the released gnome sources and the gnome source code repository are unaffected," Taylor said.

Wal-Mart has added to an already extensive lineup of Linux operating systems by signing on to sell Sun Microsystems' Java Desktop System.

At present, the new Sun Java OS gear is a bit hard to find. Wal-Mart has tucked the kit away on its Microtel PCs page. With SuSE, Lindows, Lycoris and Sun Java OS computers now all available, Wal-Mart is the clear leader in the Linux desktop market. It's a minor claim to fame at present but could pay off in the long run should more consumers take a risk on the open source operating system.

Hewlett-Packard Co. is putting its weight behind personal computers that run the Linux operating system, the No. 1 personal computer and computer printer maker said on Wednesday.

Palo Alto, California-based HP said it will work with Novell Inc. , which sells a version of the Linux operating system, to ensure that its business customers can use the fast-growing software on its desktop and notebook computers by providing support and testing.

Sun Microsystems, a company that has been making noise lately in the Linux desktop market with StarOffice 7 and Java Desktop, is currently working on an experimental 3D successor to Java Desktop that they believe will change the way we interact with computers, and in the end elevate the popularity of Linux in general.

Looking Glass is still very much in the planning stage, but a demonstration on the Sun Web site offers a glimpse of what it could be capable of.

In the demonstration, Jonathan Schwartz, vice president of Sun's software group, increases the transparency of a window so that you can see through it, turns a window on its side so that it sits at the edge of a screen like a book on a book shelf, turns a window completely around and leaves a note on the back, and takes a database of CDs presented as physical CDs, that you flip through, reading the labels, just as you would with real CDs, until you locate the one you want.

Novell's Linux-oriented divisions, Ximian and SuSE, will work together to make one common Novell Linux desktop from Gnome's and KDE's best features, Novell Inc. CEO Jack Messman revealed in an eWEEK.com interview at the company's annual BrainShare trade show here.

Ximian has been the main power behind Gnome, while SUSE has been KDE's chief backer. Supporters of the two interfaces have often sparred with each other in flame wars on Slashdot, mailing lists and newsgroups.

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