BitKeeper and Linux II

April 16, 2005 3 Comments

This seems to be getting uglier and uglier. I've still not had the amount of time needed to properly sort out all the info here, but I'm a bit surprised the fallout has been this bad. There is a real danger of the community becoming fractured and polarized here…we need to avoid that. Tridge did what he does (and is damn good at) and it's hard to believe that his intentions were bad or that he was doing something with malice. At the same time, Linus has always been of the opinion that commercial products, even closed source ones, are not inherently evil and that using them, if they are clearly the best, is fine. This annoyed a lot of people, but at the end of the day Linux is still Linus project whether you agree with him or not. You can read more about how Linus feel on the subject, which he calls the real difference between “Open Source” and “Free Software” here. At any rate, what's done is done and we need to get this sorted and put behind us. Linus is writing git for SCM and both sides are clearly a bit agitated here. I for one will continue to watch this *extremely* closely as the impact could be so far reaching.
–jeremy

Filed under Linux, Main Page

Munich Chooses Debian as its Distro

April 16, 2005 1 Comment

Looks like Munich has selected a Distro for its Linux migration. While it was Suse, along with IBM, that did the original year-long pilot, the city choose to go with for the final rollout. One has to wonder if Suse would have been selected if it was still an independent Germany company, and not a division of US based Novell. The Debian distro will be customized for this job and they hope to begin the migration by the end of the year. This is one of the largest government Linux migrations ever and its outcome could have a huge impact on future uptake of Linux in government, so this is definitely something to keep a close eye on. It's so important in fact that it was reported that when the original decision was made, MSFT CEO Steve Ballmer cut short a ski vacation in Switzerland to travel to Munich to speak with the mayor. Clearly, whatever he said wasn't able to sway the decision.
–jeremy

Filed under Linux, Main Page

Windows XP SP2 Now Required to Get Security Updates

April 15, 2005 1 Comment

While it comes as no surprise to me (at least from some of the reports that I have heard) that Windows XP SP2 uptake has been slow, it is surprising that Microsoft made it official that PCs must have SP2 in order for Windows XP updates and security patches to be downloaded. Considering the low percentage of XP machines that currently have SP2, is limiting the ability to install security patches really the way to go? Especially this soon? Seems you don't have a choice though, which makes me glad I don't admin 1000 corporate WinXP boxes. The thing that strikes me as odd about SP2 is that many of the XP vulnerabilities I see seem to effect machines with SP2 installed anyway. Once again…vendor lockin==bad.
–jeremy

Filed under Main Page

SCO's Revenue Continues to Plunge

April 14, 2005 Leave a comment

Wow, it has been a while since a SCOXE related post here. Almost hard to believe that the case is still going on. It should come as no surprise, though, that SCO's revenue continues to fall. They claim to anticipate that their UNIX business will see a turnaround with the next release, codenamed Legend, but I'll believe that when I see it. Two other interesting bits from the article. 1) McBride accused popular legal news site Groklaw of being a front for anti-SCO parties and that its editor, Pamela Jones, isn't who she says she is. They're currently “digging into who Pam Jones is, and we're close to the bottom.” Bottom of what, I'm not sure. She's someone who got interested in the case and did a lot of hard work to dig into it. 2) McBride also stated that SCO has reviewed Sun's plan to Open Source Solaris and that they are 100% OK with it. They feel that there is “no problem with what Sun is planning to do and that it will not hurt SCO's Unix intellectual property rights”. Seems a bit odd to me, but with all that has been going on with SCO, you really have to expect the unexpected.
–jeremy

Filed under Main Page

More Hiring of Open Source Programmers

April 14, 2005 Leave a comment

Looks like Firefox/Mozilla programmers are being increasingly recruited by large companies. First it was Google and now IBM is joining in. Being able to closely tie FF in with a middleware stack or web service is an extremely good business proposition and it's great to see some more programmers getting jobs.
–jeremy

Filed under Main Page

Want to Win an LQ Shirt?

April 14, 2005 Leave a comment

Interested in helping to spread the word about LinuxQuestions.org and have the chance to win a great limited edition LQ shirt in the process? The latest LQ Contest has begun. Good luck.
–jeremy

Filed under Linux, Main Page

BitKeeper and Linux

April 13, 2005 Leave a comment

I'm back and just starting to catchup on things. Looks like there was some drama while I was away. It appears that Linus will no longer be using for the main Linux repository after Larry revoked the free license. You can get some of the details here, although some of the statements there seem to be a bit off. I'm still reading up on this, so I'll hold my opinion for now, until I am a bit more informed. I think everyone (including Linus) saw moving off bk as an eventually certainty, although Linus mentions that he had hoped to allow the free SCM projects to mature a bit more before the move. Tridge is a really smart guy and so is Linus, and the whole situation seems unfortunate IMHO. Hopefully I'll have had enough time to read up on this and form an opinion before the next LQ Podcast.
–jeremy

Filed under Linux, Main Page

Ready for the OSBC?

April 4, 2005 Leave a comment

The Open Source Business Conference () starts tomorrow, so if you're in the area make sure to check it out. Looks to be a very good conference and LQ is a proud sponsor. I'd have loved to attend, but I am actually traveling somewhere else this week, so it just wasn't possible. On that note, the blog will probably be fairly quite for a little while as a result of the travel.
–jeremy

Filed under Main Page

Technorati: Tags

April 2, 2005 2 Comments

Looks like the tags functionality at is having some problems getting the correct post for some tags here at my blogs. I emailed their support and was quite impressed to get a response in about 30 minutes. I gave them some additional info and hopefully the problem will be resolved soon. If you have a and aren't familiar with tags, check out the info.
–jeremy

Filed under Main Page

Dell Offering Linux Preloads Again?

March 31, 2005 Leave a comment

It appears that is once again offering workstations preloaded with Linux (Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS to be exact). A major manufacturer selling Linux workstations is something that has been sorely needed, and hopefully once one major manufacturer starts others will follow. It's easy to be a bit skeptical here though. If you recall, shortly after Michael Dell gave the keynote at the 2000 LinuxWorld, Dell pulled all Linux workstations from their site. Some speculated that it was due to pressure from Microsoft, as kickbacks and spifs from MSFT is where Dell generates a lot of its cash. Here's hoping that this is for real and that other PC makes follow suit.
–jeremy

Filed under Linux, Main Page

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