Microsoft’s Linux Woes, Mar 29, 2007

Software behemoth Microsoft could be one of the biggest losers from proposed license changes to the Linux operating system unveiled Wednesday.

The idea that Linux is primarily a community-based project based on the work of thousands of independent, idealist hackers died a quiet death at home on March 27.

Chipmaker AMD has thrown its financial clout behind a non-profit organization setting up Linux-based computing and communication centers in East Africa. Inveneo initially used Wyse thin clients, but the organization has now switched over to MiniPCs based on AMD's recently-launched Ultra-value client reference design.

The Netra X4200 M2, the latest in a product line aimed at the telecom industry, also is Sun's first Network Equipment Building Standard Level 3-certified rack server powered by AMD.

Terra Soft Solutions today announced the release of Yellow Dog Linux 5.0.1, a specialty distribution for older, PowerPC-based Apple G3, G4, and G5 computers. The distribution is said to have added more than 500 package updates to go with its 2.6.17 kernel and Enlightenment E17 desktop environment.

If you've ever thought about giving Linux a whirl, this one's for you. Here are six useful facts that'll ease your path toward an open-source system

With the recent release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.0, Red Hat is both following and bucking server operating-systems trends we’ve witnessed in past tests of Novell’s SuSE Linux and Microsoft’s Longhorn beta code.

The Library of Congress, where thousands of rare public domain documents relating to America's history are stored and slowly decaying, is about to begin an ambitious project to digitize these fragile documents using Linux-based systems and publish the results online in multiple formats.

Linus Torvalds, leader of the Linux kernel project and a major figure in the open-source programming movement, said Wednesday he's "pretty pleased" with changes in a third draft of the General Public License (GPL) released Wednesday.

While the Austin, Texas-based computer company was unwilling to go on record as to which distributions it will support, comments from Dell officials indicated that it is likely to offer support for multiple distributions.

Corporate reaction to the release of the third discussion draft of the GNU GPL (General Public License) has been swift, much of it critical of the changes with how patents are dealt with.

The Free Software Foundation released the third discussion draft on the GNU General Public License on March 28. As expected, it contains language designed to prevent patent partnerships that extend protection from patent litigation to only the companies involved in such agreements.

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