Showdown With The Linux Gang, Jun 10, 2004

Webmaster's note(s): Washington post now requires registration - but just to see the photo of Darl McBride is worth it!

For a small but fervent cadre of computer enthusiasts, the most popular Internet parlor activity over the past year hasn't involved animated dungeons, dragons or warlords.

Instead, it is real-life sleuthing to piece together a business puzzle: How can a tiny, struggling software company based here at the foot of the Wasatch Mountains afford to pursue a legal donnybrook with some of the biggest names in corporate America?

The SCO Group reported lackluster second-quarter results on Thursday, with revenue falling across its three divisions and its loss from operations widening.

SCO, which is embroiled in a number of lawsuits over Unix intellectual property, reported revenue at the low end of its earlier forecast range and missed expectations by the one analyst that follows the company.

During the second quarter, which ended April 30, SCO generated $10.1 million in revenue, compared with $21.4 million in the year-ago period.

The SCO Group wants to push back the trial date of its high-profile lawsuit against International Business Machines Corp. by five months, but IBM says the delay is unwarranted.

During a hearing Tuesday before U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball, each company accused the other of foot-dragging. Brent Hatch, an attorney for Lindon-based SCO, said the litigation has featured "a lot of procedural posturing," "gamesmanship," "a considerable amount of jockeying" and "big-firm games."

Kimball said he would rule in a few days on that and another motion argued Tuesday. The trial is scheduled to begin in April.

Lindows, Inc. is offering a package containing the latest versions of three popular Linux operating systems: Linspire, Fedora and Mandrake. For the first time, Linspire, Fedora and Mandrake are being offered together in one package. The Linux bundle comes with 8 CDs of the most current software in a digital format or a boxed version, available for an introductory price of $29.95 and $39.95, respectively. To order, please visit www.linuxshootout.com.

Xandros, a start-up focused on desktop Linux, has begun offering a stripped-down but free version of its product.

The New York City-based company released the Open Circulation Edition Wednesday, a product that resembles the company's regular products but is free, is restricted to personal use and is missing some features.

The version doesn't have e-mail support, an instruction manual, the highest possible CD writing speeds or the CodeWeavers software for running Windows programs on a Linux machine, Xandros said. It also comes with a version of Opera's Web browser that's advertising supported.

Security researchers have found at least six more flaws in the open-software world's most popular program for maintaining code under development.

According to a representative of the project that oversees the program, known as the Concurrent Versions System, the vulnerabilities include a flaw that could let an attacker take control of a CVS server from the Internet, putting the code repository's contents at risk. The flaws were discovered as part of an analysis of the program's code following the announcement last month of a similar set of issues.

Webmaster's note: For your reading pleasure, one from Laura DiDio

The buzz associated with Linux is growing louder by the day, with most major software vendors embracing the open-source concept.

Still, while Linux vendors sing the praises of their products for across-the-board enterprise I.T. operations, a wholesale switch from Windows to Linux may not be the best move for most businesses.

'Linux has been slow to take-off in the Middle East but since about March this year we have seen a lot of interest all of a sudden,' says Christian Kroker, Managing Director of Enigmatis, a Dubai Internet City based Linux specialist which moved to the region from its South African home last autumn.

'Around the world the adoption of Linux has been led by government, and not the private sector. For example, the Munich City Council recently moved 30,000 desktop PCs on to Linux despite the offer of a free alternative from Microsoft. They simply wanted Linux.

Now that there's money to be made from Linux, creators of the Linux kernel's code are showing up faster than long-lost relatives at a billionaire's funeral. First, SCO said that a bunch of Linux code belongs to them. Now, some folks are saying that Linus Torvalds stole Minix code to create Linux, and Linux really belongs to the Prentice Hall publishing house which now owns Minix.

Of course, Linus denies all those claims, as well he should. He and I both know that he stole that code from me. Oh yeah, it's true. I've kept it quiet because Linus turned out to be a fine fellow. He chose a penguin as the Linux mascot and made Linux free, too. Gotta love him.

The KDE Project today announced the immediate availability of KDE 3.2.3, a maintenance release for the latest generation of the most advanced and powerful free desktop for GNU/Linux and other UNIXes. KDE 3.2.3 ships with a basic desktop and eighteen other packages (PIM, administration, network, edutainment, utilities, multimedia, games, artwork, web development and more). KDE's award-winning tools and applications are available in 51 languages (now including Arabic, Croatian and Upper Sorbian compared to KDE 3.2.2).

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