Google Moves Toward Clash With Microsoft, May 19, 2004

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Edging closer to a direct confrontation with Microsoft, Google, the Web search engine, is preparing to introduce a powerful file and text software search tool for locating information stored on personal computers.

Google's software, which is expected to be introduced soon, according to several people with knowledge of the company's plans, is the clearest indication to date that the company, based in Mountain View, Calif., hopes to extend its search business to compete directly with Microsoft's control of desktop computing.

Linux is starting to show up in people's pockets, as well as in their briefcases, purses and hanging from their belts.

Cell phone managers are looking to Linux to fill the need for more sophisticated software that's not attached to major vendors like Microsoft and Nokia. The majority of Linux cell phone activity is in Asia. Japanese cell phone company DoCoMo made Linux the preferred 3G phone development platform, and NEC announced plans last year to release a 3G cell phone based on Linux in Japan later this year. Samsung released a Linux cell phone in China at the end of 2003 and a company called E28 is working on a Linux phone for the Hong Kong market.

Through Marist College, Linux developers will have remote access to a mainframe system to run qualified projects and test Linux software. Enabling a community of users to develop and test Linux on the mainframe will help improve Linux as an enterprise operating system while building a pool of skilled developers for industry and education.

Webmaster's note: Those who plan on installing Fedora Core 2 along with Windows XP may be interested in this post in Uche Ogbuji's weblog at O'Reilly's website: http://www.onlamp.com/pub/wlg/4896

Red Hat released its newest Linux product on Tuesday, Fedora Core 2, a free version designed for enthusiasts and developers who want to try out newer features.

Fedora is designed as a proving ground where new technology can mature before incorporation into Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), the company's corporate product. Although Fedora can be downloaded for free, it lacks long-term support from Red Hat and hardware and software partners such as IBM and Oracle.

The Mozilla Foundation took the newest edition of its browser and e-mail suite one step closer to a final release.

Mozilla 1.7 RC2 (Release Candidate 2) of the open-source Internet suite -- which includes the Mozilla browser, an e-mail client, and a chat client -- is the final pre-release edition planned before 1.7 goes final this summer.

Astronomical maintenance costs have forced the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) to migrate off its proprietary Unix systems to commodity Intel servers running Linux. The outcome was a saving of an estimated $A45,000 a year with further changes on the agenda.

AFMA's senior systems manager Sean Lincolne says the move to Linux for central business systems was an obvious progression as the organisation was an early adopter.

The European Council on Wednesday voted through controversial changes to the European Union's Software Patents Directive that will pave the way for widespread patenting of software in Europe.

According to a spokesman at the UK's Department of Trade and Industry, which backed the changes, the vote removes many of the changes introduced last year by the European Parliament that would have limited the degree to which software programs could be patented.

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