Maddog Weighs in on the State of Linux

SearchEnterpriseLinux has posted a good interview with John “Maddog” Hall. Maddog is a Linux pioneer and has been around for a long time. He covers some general trends, application integration, how open source development is changing the enterprise application development world and what is and isn't happening in the Enterprise Linux space. He names Asterisk, which I have been messing around with a bit myself, as one of the items that should make a big impact next year. I wholeheartedly agree. It reviles, and in many cases surpasses, many hugely expensive propriety PBX systems. One of my favorite quotes from the interview – “Anyone can complain; it takes an entity with vision to do something”.
–jeremy

LQ ISO Hits 100,000 Downloads

In less than three months, LQ ISO has registered well over 100,000 downloads. There are now almost 100 distribution versions available from almost 300 different download mirrors. If you see any distribution missing, please click “Suggest Additions” and let us know. Thanks.
–jeremy

OSDL Enterprise Linux Summit Sponsor

I am proud to announce that LinuxQuestions.org will be a sponsor of the upcoming OSDL Enterprise Linux Summit. From the OSDL Site:
The OSDL Enterprise Linux Summit is the source of Linux deployment information. This unique conference brings together Linux users, developers and vendors to explore practical solutions for accelerating Linux deployment across the enterprise.
The show is January 31 – February 2, 2005 and is in Burlingame, California. Hope to see you there!
–jeremy

Interview II

Chuck, from Orange Crate, recently asked me to do an email interview. I was happy to oblige. Thanks Chuck. Tom Adelstein also recently interviewed me for LXer.
–jeremy

Dell to Announce a Preload Agreement with Novell – Part II

Just got confirmation on this. The call is in about 5 minutes.
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SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 9 on Select Dell PowerEdge Servers Extends Customer Choice and Value
ROUND ROCK, Texas and WALTHAM, Mass., Oct. 27, 2004 – Dell and Novell today announced an agreement to offer Novell SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 9 certified on select Dell PowerEdge servers worldwide.
This announcement provides Dell and Novell customers with more choice for fully-supported Linux platform deployments, and at the best value in the industry. Dell provides a single point of contact for customers' support needs; Dell Services will also assist customers throughout the lifecycle of their deployments.
Dell customers will be able to purchase Novell SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 9 with their single-and dual-processor PowerEdge servers. The agreement reinforces Dell and Novell's longstanding collaboration to provide customers with superior standards-based computing platforms, and extends this value and expertise to customers deploying SUSE LINUX for their business applications.
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–jeremy

Dell to Announce a Preload Agreement with Novell?

Looks like there is a rumor going around that Dell may announce a preload deal with Novell. From the article:
Dell is expected to announce a partnership Wednesday to offer Novell's SuSE Linux factory-installed on new servers, CNET News.com has learned.
Now, considering that yesterday I got invited to a Dell conference call that is tomorrow morning, I'd say there's a pretty good chance this is true. I'll post more tomorrow after the call.
–jeremy

Software Piracy Due to Expensive Hardware, Says Ballmer

It really amazes me how many stupid statements come out of Microsoft these days. Now, from the Microsoft employees that have participated on my blog on multiple occasions, I know they have some smart and clued in people. Why they continue to let the PHB's say things like this, however, I just don't understand. Ballmer wants a $100 PC so people can run a crappy OS that costs $200? The first time he said that out loud, a bell should have went off when he realized it made no sense. In the same article, Ballmer also defended a comment made earlier this year by Bill Gates, Microsoft's chairman, who said security will not be an issue in three years. I could have sworn we heard something similar years ago, when their new “focus” was security. In three years, security will be an issues for *EVERY* OS. There is just no such thing as a networked computer that is 100% secure. People write applications, and people just make mistakes sometimes. Way to set a realistic expectation there. The real question is, will the next version of Windows even be available in three years, and if it is will anyone even care! (While the answer to that last one is clearly a yes, my guess is, by the time Longhorn does finally come out, Windows will have lost a significant share of the desktop market. If it hasn't, we've lost).
–jeremy

Spread Firefox

Spread Firefox is trying to raise money for the official Firefox 1.0 release. You can register here and donate here. One of their goals is a full page ad in the New York Times. Should be interesting.
Get Firefox!
–jeremy

O'Reilly Radar 2004

I was pretty bummed when I had to miss OSCon due to it's close proximity to LinuxWorld. It was great to see that Tim's keynote presentation is available online in streaming format, complete with companion slides in PDF format. Tim is a really smart guy – you should listen when he talks (and read when he writes).
–jeremy

Fedora Kernel and iPod

As I posted here, the stock FC2 kernel is not compatible with the iPod. I've compiled i686 kernels that will work with the iPod and am making them available to everyone. Please note, while I have tested both kernels I am releasing on machines I own and both work flawlessly for me, I make no claims that they will work for you. The usual disclaimers (using this software may start your computer on fire, steal your dog, slap your cat, etc.) apply. If you do run into a problem let me know and I'll try to address it. Also note that you will need to run mkinitrd manually as the RPM doesn't do it for you. Without further ado, I give you iPod compatible Fedora FC2 kernel RPMs.
–jeremy