The UK-based magazine IT Week has these very interesting results. “With 10 weeks to go before firms must sign up to Microsoft's Software Assurance licensing scheme or pay full price for upgrades, new tests suggest open-source Samba software may offer a viable alternative to upgrading file servers to Windows 2000.”
eWeek Labs has a story on the major improvements Apache 2.0, the next generation of the world's most popular web server, has made on an unlike platform - Windows. “Apache 2.035 and IIS 5.0 were installed on Windows 2000 Advanced Server. Given the fact that IIS is essentially the benchmark for performance on Windows servers, Apache 2.0's ability to match it is very significant. These results can be attributed to the improved design and native Windows code for Apache 2.0. “
A NewsForge columnist talks about Linux distributor Xandros, a company that has not yet made a widely available beta of its distribution. “
Michael Bego would like you to know that he has not left the helm of Xandros, contrary to some gossip that's been going around. He would also like you to know that a little rumor about half the engineering staff laid off is just that — a rumor. But most of all, the Xandros president would like you to know more about the new desktop-focused Linux distribution he's been working on.”
Gary Krakow of MSNBC has a glowing review of the Lycoris Desktop/LX distribution of Linux.
ZDNet reports how IBM has been using open source as a “deadly weapon,” the result of which is massive amounts of open source code made available to the community. “IBM officials speak fondly of an attitude adjustment that has changed Big Blue into a much more customer-focused company. They describe an altruistic metamorphosis that benefits end users who will settle for nothing less than interoperability and support of open standards.”
ZDNet UK has a nice size interview with open source advocate Eric Raymond of the Open Source Initiative. “Linux and the open-source movement have come a long way since the foundation of the Open Source Initiative in the late 1990s, Raymond says. It now has the credibility it needs to succeed in the business world”
Robin Miller of NewsForge looks at Sun's upcoming release of StarOffice 6 and its open source sibling, OpenOffice. “I have OpenOffice build 641C (now known as version 1.0) and a pre-release copy of StarOffice 6.0 running side by side, and I have been looking at the differences between them. OpenOffice is free in both senses of the word, while StarOffice is not. I am generally happy with OpenOffice, but I can also see why some people — and many corporate users — would be willing to pay up to $100 for StarOffice.”
NewsForge has an interesting piece on the U.S. Census Bureau's usage of open source for many of its web-based data mining services. “If you're checking out demographic information at the U.S. Census Bureau's Web site, there's a chance the information is courtesy of several Open Source tools. Two senior technology architects with the Census Bureau's Internet division said the low cost of Open Source software, plus strong support from the developer and user communities make Open Source the right choice for several Web-based projects at Census.gov.”
PCMag.com has an article from well known journalist John C. Dvorak that looks at why Linux may be in position to become a major desktop player. “Over the decades of desktop computing, we've witnessed one transition after another. We changed from 5.25-inch floppy disks to 3.5-inch floppy disks to no floppy disks. We moved from the CP/M machine to the IBM machine to the PC clone and from the dot matrix printer to laser and ink jet printers. We changed from the command line OS to the GUI.”
LinuxandMain.com has helpful details about a potentially dangerous vulnerability that was discovered today. “SuSE and Debian, among other distributions, have issued two security advisories relating to a potentially very sertious security exploit in the zlib compression libraries which are included as both a standalone package in base distributions and in a number of packages that are installed by most users of any Linux distribution distributions.”