DaimlerChrysler tells SCO to get out of its face, Apr 29, 2004

DaimlerChrysler has responded robustly to SCO's Linux lawsuit. SCO claimed Daimler had refused to provide it with a "certificate of compliance" over its long-term Unix contract. Daimler response? Tough.

The car manufacturer asked a Michigan court to dismiss the lawsuit because there was "no genuine issue of material fact" in it. Daimler says it has no obligation to provide SCO with any such certification, but that it had nevertheless sent it a letter about the situation.

"DaimlerChrysler has provided SCO with the only certification required under the licence demonstrating that DaimlerChrysler is not even using and has not used the licensed software for more than seven years," the response stated

Linux source code could be infiltrated by dubious elements, including spies, according to a white paper released by Dan O'Dowd, chief executive officer of Green Hills Software Inc.

This is his second white paper in a series that his company describes as being focused on "the urgent security threat posed by the use of the Linux operating system in U.S. defense systems, including the Future Combat System and Global Information Grid."

A lot of people think open source is important because it produces better software. Whether it does or not is one of the great technology questions of the decade, and one the global software industry is struggling to answer.

There is certainly no shortage of passionate debate.

I recently researched what Australian IT decision-makers were thinking and experiencing on open source in large enterprises and learned a lot about benefits, motivations, challenges and concerns, but found no evidence to support the notion that open-source products were technically superior to their proprietary counterparts.

Distinctive Devices says it has received a $3.2 million dollar purchase order for embedded Linux based set-top boxes (STBs) that it calls "representative" of other deals. Italian digital TV vendor Goldtop will buy the devices and resell them into both terrestrial and satellite-based digital television markets.

The open-source development community is looking to head off Microsoft Longhorn before it escapes the Redmond corral.

Some key members of the community recently met to discuss ways the open-source movement can prepare for Longhorn, the next major version of Windows that is expected to debut on the desktop in 2006.

The Dublin Institute of Technology has said that a new e-learning system is transforming student life and its lecturers' attitudes to teaching.

The Institute's WebCT system went live in September, and is used regularly by around a quarter of its 20,000 students.

Kevin O'Rourke, project manager for learning technology at the Institute, said: "It's changing things for students, certainly, but also for the lecturers.

Born in Mexico City, Miguel de Icaza was the driving force behind the creation of the Gnome free software desktop, and co-founded the open source company Ximian, bought last August by Novell. In July 2001, he helped start another ambitious project, Mono: a free implementation for GNU/Linux of Microsoft's .Net framework. He talks to Glyn Moody about Mono's progress, how Ximian was bought by Novell, and why he is so scared of Microsoft's Longhorn.

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