Linux Opinions

Linux : Opinions : Open source's black hole
Posted: ( Wed 2nd May 2001 10:07:12[PM] UTC )
"The year's Big Lie is the assertion that Apple has embraced open source software. Sure, Apple's next generation OS X is based on its Darwin project, which is based on the open source Mach operating system. But the embrace is actually a chokehold. Apple's only interest in open source is what it can extract, both in technology and publicity. Despite appearances, Darwin's dependence on free software doesn't indicate that Apple has changed its self-serving attitude towards the community," says Evan Leibovitch.

Linux : Opinions : Wanna invest in a bridge? Okay, how about a donation?
Posted: ( Wed 2nd May 2001 09:19:33[PM] UTC )
"I learned from Michael's column Eazel is soliciting payment for its software. It's nothing so formal as setting a price and refusing to ship product until that price is paid, but it's payment nonetheless. The company has set up a PayPal account so that people who want to do so can give the company money. And the message from Eazel is plain enough: You want us to stick around and keep producing "free" stuff, you're gonna have to send us some money. The only thing wrong with it is its Orwellian, Free Software Foundation, convoluted misuse of the word "free," says Dennis E. Powell

Linux : Opinions : Tux, my hero
Posted: ( Wed 2nd May 2001 03:35:05[AM] UTC )
"I submit that within this transition period is an excellent time for Linux developers to get their ducks in a row and start really churning out the apps that will attract disenfranchised Windows users, whether they are server administrators or desktop users. In times of upheaval, fortune may favor Linux with more serious looks from serious users," says Brian Proffitt.

Linux : Opinions : Ximian GNOME 1.4: The monkey has landed
Posted: ( Wed 2nd May 2001 03:13:29[AM] UTC )
In order to take GNOME to the next level, Ximian addresses not only the polish of the overall desktop environment, but the usability issues presented in getting the software onto an end user's machine in the first place. In the first of a two-part look, Michael Hall examines getting and installing Ximian GNOME 1.4 on Red Hat, Debian, and Progeny systems, with a special eye to straightening out a few bugs and snags he found along the way.

Linux : Opinions : Has Microsoft changed? A kinder, gentler gorilla?
Posted: ( Mon 30th Apr 2001 02:28:48[AM] UTC )
To the casual observer, Microsoft seems to have changed its ways. According to The Economist, closer inspection shows that it has done so only superficially. Inside the software industry’s 800-pound gorilla, the heart of an incorrigible monopolist beats still.

Linux : Opinions : A private home network
Posted: ( Mon 30th Apr 2001 02:10:34[AM] UTC )
This article covers a no-compromise approach to securing a home network intended to provide no services to the outside world while also tightening down internal services. The author deals with not only the old stand-bys such as securing inetd more thoroughly, but how to lock down services such as X.

Linux : Opinions : Who pays the developers?
Posted: ( Mon 30th Apr 2001 01:21:08[AM] UTC )
Who pays the developers? The company they work for, right? But what about those developers who develop Open Source software after hours, on their own time and equipment? Who pays them? Many say no one does and no one should. After all, it's Free Software. You don't get paid for Free Software. Before we develop such a closed attitude, let's take a look at what one of the founders of the Free Software movement has to say.

Linux : Opinions : You can't always get what you font
Posted: ( Thu 26th Apr 2001 11:18:26[PM] UTC )
"There are certain areas in which Linux and other Unix alternatives take a distant back seat to Windows and Mac OS. Most commentaries on Linux as a desktop os complain that Linux won't really be a factor on the desktop until it corrects. As someone who's been using Linux as my primary workstation OS since 1995, and its Looking Glass GUI, I don't just have one Linux desktop frustration; I have a list. At the top of that list is the ghastly manner in which Linux systems implement fonts."

Linux : Opinions : Am I a Microsoft lackey or what?
Posted: ( Thu 26th Apr 2001 09:48:45[PM] UTC )
"So, am I a lackey? No, but I am not a Microsoft-hater, either. You, the customer, have voted for Microsoft with your dollars, and in the process killed most of the competition. That bothers me sometimes. My goal isn't to be for or against any particular company. Instead, it's simply this: To be pro-consumer and pro-reader. Microsoft isn't my constituency. You are."

Linux : Opinions : Thieves r us
Posted: ( Tue 24th Apr 2001 03:21:41[AM] UTC )
Mike Godwin, formerly staff counsel for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, weighs in with his opinions on Content Protection for Recordable Media (CPRM).

Linux : Opinions : Replacing a Linux gateway with a cheap appliance
Posted: ( Sun 22nd Apr 2001 11:25:20[PM] UTC )
"Anyway, I must point out that Linux can still do more sophisticated firewalling than any of the appliances such as the SOHOware and Linksys boxes. I still use the firewall capabilities of Linux for the servers that are connected directly to the Internet."

Linux : Opinions : Linux 4 Windows? Whats the point?
Posted: ( Fri 20th Apr 2001 12:26:17[AM] UTC )
Linux is among the most stable OS ever made. Well I wonder, "How does it act under Windows?" Windows is crash-prone. What would the impression be if someone installs Linux for Windows, and it crashed? They, like many Win users, would blame the application, and not look into it enough to find that it was Window's fault.

Linux : Opinions : Something for everybody - Part 2
Posted: ( Thu 19th Apr 2001 11:36:24[PM] UTC )
"The X version of my notion of a grand package handler would include the things that would enable anyone who cared to do so to learn all about compiling while doing it. In addition to the wonderful things that CheckInstall does, it has caused me to think that my notion is entirely possible, most of it by bringing together things that already exist. I can't think of anything that would better promote Linux, and suck the wind out of that 'steep learning curve' nonsense."

Linux : Opinions : Something for everybody
Posted: ( Thu 19th Apr 2001 10:59:31[PM] UTC )
"Here I am talking about an operating system back from the dead and what Linux can learn from it. The operating system is IBM's perennially crippled OS/2. It's back in the form of a very good system with a very bad name: eCommerceStation. I have a beta here, and it works very well."

Linux : Opinions : Kevin Dankwardt on standardization for Embedded Linux
Posted: ( Thu 19th Apr 2001 12:02:15[AM] UTC )
Kevin Dankwardt raises a number of serious issues and concerns regarding the ELC Board's ELC Platform Specification proposal and provides some possible answers, many of which are given as alternatives. Plus he points out what appear to be inherent contradictions in the announced goals and purposes.