Microsoft slammed over misleading Windows Linux claims, Aug 25, 2004

The UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld a series of public complaints over an advert in a magazine comparing the cost of Linux versus Microsoft Windows.

An advert it ran compared the two operating systems to each other, but Windows was running on a measly dual 900MHz Xeon configuration, while Linux was running on a z900 IBM mainframe.

Security appliance vendor CyberGuard has begun migrating its operating environment (OE) from SCO Unixware to embedded Linux, rebranding its entire line of firewall/VPN appliances with the new Linux-based V6 OE and encouraging existing customers to upgrade. It also plans to harden its appliances with high-availability features from Carrier Grade Linux.

According to CyberGuard product manager Andy Tate, CyberGuard will continue to support its Unixware-based V5 operating system for several years. "We're going to continue to maintain that platform for at least two years. We encourage [customers] to move to the new platform, but we will not leave any customer behind."

Seeking to win over Java coders working on Linux, IBM is making its Java Runtime Environment (JRE) for Linux available as a free download on its developerWorks Web site. Java developers can also download the latest version of the open-source Eclipse SDK from the same site.

'This makes it easier for developers to work with Eclipse,' says Gina Poole, IBM vice president developer marketing and Web communities for ISV and developer relations. 'In the past, Java developers would have to download Eclipse from Eclipse.org and then go to Sun and download the Java runtime environment. We're making it easier for them by putting both together.'

A UN-funded organisation has produced a Linux desktop user guide to encourage the take-up of Linux in developing countries

A Linux desktop manual for novice PC users has been produced by a UN-funded organisation, the International Open Source Network (IOSN). The manual has been produced to encourage developing countries to use open-source software. It includes basic information on how to manage files, browse the Web and produce OpenOffice documents on a Linux PC.

Typing "Linux" into Google gives about 109 million results. Surprisingly, that's five million more than searching for "Microsoft". But are potential users of the alternative operating system to Windows being enticed into making a decision they may later regret?

Sun Microsystems Inc channel development partner ECS Pericomp Sdn Bhd has launched the Linux-based Nitix server operating system on the Sun V65x, V60x and V20z platforms in Malaysia.

Nitix is a highly integrated, easy to use and cost-effective IT solution which would meet the computing needs of small and medium businesses (SMBs), as well as the branch and regional needs of multinational companies, ECS Pericomp (www.ecsm.com.my) said in a statement on Monday.

Representatives from three of Australia's major political parties are expected to detail their policies on open source, Linux and open standards at an industry group conference early next month.

BusinessWeek columnist Stephen Wildstrom recently wrote a piece called A Big Fly in the Open-Source Soup that concluded, "The future of commercial open source might be considerably brighter if Linux and other programs went to a more commerce-friendly license with fewer complexities and ambiguities than the GPL." At the risk of offending a great many NewsForge readers, I am going to say that I don't disagree with him. Not because of the alleged complexity or ambiguities of the GPL -- it's a piece of cake compared to a typical proprietary EULA -- but because I don't understand what he means by the term "commercial open source." If he had simply said "open source" -- or used the more definitive phrase "free software" -- I would reject his position outright

In what appears to be a coup for the IBM-born Eclipse open source Java development framework, the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization (Ansto) has started using it to build a Linux-based desktop application for controlling laboratory instrumentation.

Ansto’s IT project manager Nick Hauser said having been through the design phase, development of the application – called Gumtree - has started and is due for completion in two years.

Well the latest version of Knoppix, 3.6, has been released, something you can tell because all the usual sites are either responding slowly or are completely down.

Fixing the Qt flaw quickly was a priority, said Thomas Biege, a member of the SuSE security support and auditing team, in an interview with LinuxInsider. "Every application which is linked against the Qt3 library and used the vulnerable function of image handling can be crashed or exploited to execute arbitrary code by processing a malformed image," he said.

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