Sometimes Things Just Work Out

January 19, 2005 Leave a comment

As you may know, the LQ search has been a bit slow as of late. The problem is, we need more hardware. I had been meaning to contact Sam over at Penguin Computing for a couple of days, but it just kept slipping. Then, yesterday, he emailed me to check in and see how things were going. Talk about timing! The good news is, once again they are going to be able to help. No specifics yet, but I'll keep you posted. In the meantime, if you are looking for any Linux servers, make sure to check out Penguin Computing.
–jeremy

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Evolution for Windows

January 17, 2005 1 Comment

Nat Friedman announced that Novell has hired Tor Lillqvist to port Evolution to Windows. Tor was the one who previously ported GIMP to Windows. This is an interesting move and should help Evolution compete with Outlook much better. Also, if you have someone running Firefox, Evolution and OpenOffice.org on Windows then moving them to Linux becomes much easier.
–jeremy

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Best Place for LQ Podcasts?

January 15, 2005 2 Comments

I'm considering moving the LQ Podcasts to the LQ Radio site. Where do you think they make the most sense, here on my blog or over at LQ Radio?
–jeremy

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Linus Responds on Linux Kernel Security

January 14, 2005 1 Comment

Linus has responded to the issue I posted about here. Seems he also thinks a single point of contact for kernel security issues is not a bad idea. He also comments on the current policy and the vendor-sec setup. As always, his response is level-headed, sticks to the facts and makes a ton of sense. Linus and his demeanor/attitude has so much to do with the success of Linux that I don't think it can be measured. It's something I don't think many people realize. It wasn't just his coding that got Linux where it is today (after all, he couldn't have coded it all anyway), it was his decisions. Thanks again Linus!
–jeremy

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LinuxQuestions.org Podcast – 01.11.05

January 13, 2005 Leave a comment

The latest LinuxQuestions.org Podcast. Topics include LQ Radio, my latest Linux Magazine article, LQ in LinuxWorld Magazine, a sneak preview and IBM's 500 patents.
–jeremy

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I.B.M. to Give Free Access to 500 Patents

January 13, 2005 1 Comment

The NYTimes has an article about how IBM is allowing 500 patents to be used in Open Source software. From the article:
I.B.M. will continue to hold the 500 patents. But it has pledged to seek no royalties from and to place no restrictions on companies, groups or individuals who use them in open-source projects, as defined by the Open Source Initiative, a nonprofit education and advocacy group. The group's definition involves a series of policies allowing for free redistribution, publication of the underlying source code and no restrictions on who uses the software or how it is used.
Reactions to this release have been extremely mixed and I can really see the point to both sides. On the one hand, kudos to IBM on continuing to move ahead with their dedication to Open Source. They have more patents than anyone and hopefully this move will prompt others to do that same. In itself, that is good. On the other side, IBM still has almost 40,000 patents and registers for 1,000s more a year. They are also one of the driving forces behind the extension of the scope of patentability with respect to software in Europe. You can get more info in this Groklaw article.
–jeremy

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Microsft Updates and Linux Security

January 11, 2005 Leave a comment

Looks like Microsoft has now posted some updates for these vulnerabilities. Not too bad of a turn around time this around, but still multiple days for a fairly serious issue. On the issue of security, this email was recently posted to LWN. It details some issues spender from the GRsecurity team has with the current security model of the Linux kernel. While I don't agree with everything he says, he does bring up some valid points. In the comments, someone from the PaX team does bring up something that I agree with very much. We'd be well served if there was a single Security contact for the kernel . This person could serve as a single point of contact for all security related issues, route patches to the correct places, and most importantly gain the trust of the security experts who are finding the wholes (which the vendor-sec list seems not to have done).
–jeremy

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LinuxQuestions.org Featured in LinuxWorld Magazine

January 10, 2005 2 Comments

So, I opened a copy of LinuxWorld Magazine yesterday, and was quite surprised to see a 2 page article dedicated to LinuxQuestions.org. Mike had asked me some questions a while back, but 1) it was long enough ago that it had slipped my mind and 2) I didn't know the article he was writing was actually about LQ itself, I thought it was just a general topic type piece. A great surprise to say the least. Thanks Mike.
–jeremy

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Another IE Vulnerability

January 10, 2005 1 Comment

Actually, Vulnerabilities. Have you checked out Firefox yet? From the article:

Vulnerability 1 and 2, or 3 alone, in combination with an inappropriate behaviour where the ActiveX Data Object (ADO) model can write arbitrary files can be exploited to compromise a user's system. This has been confirmed on a fully patched system with Internet Explorer 6.0 and Microsoft Windows XP SP2.
Solution:
Use another product.
Doesn't appear there is a patch available yet. Thou shalt not patch on Sunday I guess.
–jeremy

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Partial CES Explaination

January 8, 2005 2 Comments

This article (note: the site appears to be having issues now, try this link also) gives an explanation of the Media Center bit of this post.
–jeremy

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