Linux Foundation: Paid Contributors Helping to Grow Kernel, Apr 07, 2008

The Linux Foundation has found that the number of developers putting work into the Linux kernel is growing fast, tripling over the past three years. Over that period, the number of individual contributors has doubled. Linux is being used more often as the firmware found in consumer electronics, and now more than 70 percent of all kernel development is done by paid professionals.

In a nutshell, the year 2038 problem, as it is also known, is that most Unix-like operating systems represent time as the number of seconds since January 1, 1970. On 32-bit systems, that second count is a signed 32-bit integer. What that, in turn, means -- unfortunately for us all -- is that the latest time that can be represented is 03:14:07 UTC on Tuesday, January 19, 2038.

The holidays are coming, and there's no better time of year to consider buying a computer for yourself or as a gift. It is also a good time to consider a PC loaded with Linux.

"Free software" is a term that's often used interchangeably with "open source," and often understood simply to mean software that is obtained without charge. However, the idea of free software is neither about openness nor about price; it is a matter of freedom, and its implications extend into the political, philosophical and ethical realms.

Free software gives everyone the freedom to run, study, change and redistribute software. It is these freedoms, not the price, that is important about free software. Free software advocates make the distinction between free, as in speech, as opposed to free, as in beer. Though many people would gladly accept a free beer, it is not one of the fundamental principles of democracy.

Figuring out the best Linux distribution depends entirely on one's intended use for the program. As open source, freely distributed software, Linux programs have been modified and redesigned in countless ways to fulfill as many needs. However, some versions have proven more popular than others.

Red Hat has expanded its operations to the Czech Republic, where it opened a research and development center in Brno, the second largest city in the country. The company will invest about $1.7 million and hire around 200 workers. The move follows the firm's recent efforts to expand into India and South America.

A key open source developer, Jeremy Allison, who cofounded the Samba project, has resigned from Novell in protest over the company's recent agreement to enter a collaborative arrangement with Microsoft.

If there is one open source Ajax project that is leading the pack these days, it might be Dojo. It's not necessarily better in any particular way than the others, but it is both broad and deep with a big selection of very customizable widgets. These traits may explain why both IBM and Sun have recently signed on to support the Dojo Foundation and its work.

In an effort to capture the educational market, Red Hat has established specially priced subscriptions and services.

Popularity may be a menace as well as a benefit for the open source software movement, according to an analyst at Forrester Research in Boston, Mass.

Senior government officials from 13 countries were among a group of open-source advocates behind a report presented to the World Bank last Friday calling on nations to accelerate economic growth by using products based on what are called open-technology standards.

Novell this week said Linux on the desktop is gaining on Windows in European public and private sectors.

Novell can pursue its claims that Microsoft in order to protect its own software interests, tried to undermine and damage Novell's ability to market its WordPerfect and Quattro Pro spreadsheet programs, a Baltimore judge ruled last week.

IBM and the government of Mexican state Baja California have launched an open-source software technology center, IBM said in a statement.

Novell Software has followed the "give and take" philosophy of the open source sector by offering some of its own technology back to the open source community, from Mono to Beagle.

Samsung has agreed to bundle some of its corporate servers with Haansoft's Linux software, the company said in a press release. The agreement also allows Haansoft to sell its two Linux software programs at a discounted price through Samsung Electronics, the statement said.

Brazil's federal government is drafting a presidential decree to make it obligatory for administrative government entities to use open-source software, local daily Valor Econômico reported.

The chief executive of open-source operating system vendor Linspire has vowed to fight any future attempts by Microsoft to hold back Linux.

Lastly on the subject of Linux pros rather than cons, once you've gotten used to Linux's idiosyncrasies, it's a pleasure to use and run. Moreover, some of the software really is free and a lot of it really is good.