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The question of what Lindows is should perhaps begin with an explanation of what Lindows isn't. The world may be justifiably confused about the nature of Lindows due to some bold statements from marketers in the early days of the company. Despite its name, Lindows is not a hybrid of Windows and Linux. Lindows is also not a new Linux-like operating system that comes with the power to run Windows software. Lindows has decided to downplay its original dream of Windows compatibility and, instead, now focuses on its role as an extremely simple and user-friendly version of Linux. If you...

Funniest Story of the Day: SCO's Linux "Expert" Contradicts Linus   Monday, December 22 2003 @ 11:29 PM EST   Is this not the funniest story of the entire day? The New York Times' Steve Lohr reports on Linus' reaction to SCO's claim that their list of files is code copied from UNIX: "But Mr. Torvalds is also clearly angered by SCO's accusation that much of Linux was merely copied. 'In short,' Mr. Torvalds said, 'for the files where I personally checked the history, I can definitely say that those files were trivially written by me personally, with no copying...

The penguin's going to pack a bigger punch. Backers of Linux, who use the waterfowl as their mascot, have just launched the finished version 2.6 of the software's core framework, or "kernel." The release is touted as more stable and business-ready than the version in wide use now. Developers hope changes in the volunteer-made operating system make it an even stronger rival to Unix and Windows in the corporate market, where Linux is making inroads on lower-end machines. It's the biggest upgrade since 2001's version 2.4, the first edition many big business users took seriously. Getting Up To Speed New...

[Computerworld] IT managers are increasingly turning to thin clients, other options in push to cut PC costs EVERY YEAR Dave Raspallo, CIO at Textron Financial Corp., found himself having to replace a third of his 1,200 PCs. But he grew tired of the cost of the annual ritual, and he began swapping out his desktops for thin clients. Forty percent of those PCs are now gone, and many more will disappear next year. "I would consider it a failure if we don't eliminate completely the use of any desktops," said Raspallo, who has a name for his project: STIMI, or...

NASA Web Sites Hacked By Sharon Gaudin Thirteen NASA Web sites were attacked this morning by a Brazilian group protesting the war in Iraq, according to two separate organizations that monitor hacking. On the same day as President George Bush and 34,000 onlookers celebrated the achievements of the Wright brothers and 100 years of powered flight, the Brazilian group, calling itself DRWXR, defaced the NASA Web sites, according to both mi2g, a digital risk management company based in London, and Zone-H, an organization that monitors hacking. The Zone-H Web site itself was down today. No one at Zone-H could be...

Advanced Micro Devices has quietly trotted out a version of its Athlon 64 chip that provides a little less performance than earlier models but only costs about half as much. The new Athlon 64 3000+ runs at 2GHz, the same as the existing Athlon 64 3200+, but it only comes with a 512KB secondary cache, according to an AMD spokesman. The 3200+ features a 1MB cache. A cache is a pool of memory integrated into the processor for rapid data access. In general, large caches lead to better performance. AMD, however, prices the Athlon 64 3000+ at $218 in quantities...

Revenge Of The Nerds Daniel Lyons, 12.16.03, 12:30 PM ET NEW YORK - In the real world, Brenda Banks is a 54-year-old grandmother in Greer, S.C., a former warehouse supervisor who teaches rubber-stamping arts and crafts classes. But online she transforms into "br3n," a passionate user of Linux software who cruises Web sites posting smash-mouth messages about SCO Group. So far Banks has posted more than 1,500 messages on SCO's Yahoo! message board alone--including five on Thanksgiving. "I feel very strongly about it," says Banks, who runs Linux on a six-year-old Acer home computer. "They want to come and stab...

The code at the heart of SCO's legal action against IBM will be revealed only in a closed court When the SCO Group finally lays its cards on the table in its upcoming lawsuit against IBM, the open-source community won't be given the opportunity to see them. IBM last week successfully persuaded the judge presiding over the case to give SCO 30 days to reveal the code that forms the basis for its $3bn (£1.72bn) lawsuit against Big Blue for alleged copyright infringements. The judge originally placed no restrictions on public disclosure of the disputed code, and it's understood IBM's...

SCO attacks keep coming back December 15, 2003, 11:57 AM PST By Robert Lemos Staff Writer, CNET News.com More Internet attacks cut off access to the SCO Group's servers this past weekend and again on Monday, as the Unix software company struggled to stop the hackers. After the attacks largely abated Friday, they restarted at 3 a.m. PST Saturday until 11 p.m. Sunday, said Blake Stowell, a spokesman for SCO. The deluge of data, known as a denial-of-service attack, restarted Monday morning, and the company's Web site continues to be inaccessible. "At this point, we are continuing to use the...

December 12, 2003Linux in the Security Crosshairs By Jim Wagner Compared to Windows, Linux has enjoyed a reputation as a stable and secure operating systems (define), thanks in large part to an enthusiastic open source community that plugs holes before they create problems. But Linux's growing popularity is attracting unwanted attention from virus writers, script kiddies (define) and other criminal elements. In response, Linux advocates are putting a new emphasis on security measures and working to reassure companies that the OS is ready for important business networks. "There has been a lot of change in the attractiveness of Linux as...

I'm sure that back in late winter, Darl McBride felt confident that SCO would be quickly bought out or some sort of settlement would be reached with IBM. Back then, their catch phrase was 'Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead.' Now, after a very large torpedo was fired by a Utah Court, we're seeing rats abandoning a ship that is surely destined to sink. What a difference two winters make. This one is shaping up to be the winter of SCO's discontent. Monday, The Royal Bank of Canada, to avoid getting royally chiseled, (for lack of a more descriptive word)...

SCO Hit By Another DDoS Attack By Jim Wagner The SCO Group (Quote, Chart), which is embroiled in a legal battle over copyright claims over some code in the Linux open source operating system, confirmed Wednesday a massive distributed denial of service attack (DdoS) on its corporate Web site. Officials at the SCO Group (Quote, Chart) said a Denial of Service (define) attack took down its Web site at 4:20 a.m. Wednesday, and will remain inaccessible for at least the next 12 hours. The breach also took out its customer support and e-mail service. Blake Stowell, SCO spokesperson, said this...

GPL is no hippie dream IDG News Service 12/8/03 Linus Torvalds, IDG News Service Last Thursday, The SCO Group Inc. Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Darl McBride posted an open letter on SCO's Web site arguing that Linux backers were threatening to undermine the copyright protections provided in U.S. and European law. McBride's posting was the latest in a series of public statements by SCO portraying the open-source operating system as a threat to the commercial software industry and an enemy of intellectual property. "There is a group of software developers in the United States, and other parts of the world,...

Bad day at the Office for Microsoft...One in four small companies are testing Linux, and half of them hope to use it as their core operating system in place of Windows, according to a survey by IBM. The companies surveyed believe the open-source operating system will not only save them money, but will be more secure, stable and flexible. However, the move away from Microsoft is also being assessed by both medium-sized and large organisations. Microsoft has enjoyed absolute dominance in the desktop market for more than two decades, but there are signs that the company's stranglehold may have peaked,...

Kevin Mack has captured Torvalds ten most potent comments, and ranked them in order of merit. December 7, 2003 Summary Our "Linux Quote of the Week" - chosen yesterday - may be vintage Torvalds, but isn't the best thing Linus has ever said about SCO. So says Kevin Mack, whose has his own Top Ten. LinuxWorld brings it to you here. Mack's Top 10 Linus SCO quotes (in reverse order): 10. Not About IP "None of the SCO accusations have anything to do with IP rights; they're all about contracts between IBM and SCO. All the IP rights blathering by...

The mysterious people designing open-source software are the same people who are working for you right now Worried about trusting your infrastructure to a bunch of shaggy college kids who might bolt at any moment for a yearlong backpacking trip to Switzerland? Don't worry. Even if every one of them left for the Alps tomorrow, 90 percent of the open-source community would still be checking in to one of the community's Internet hangouts (SourceForge.net and Freshmeat.net are the most popular) to see what's new. Turns out these people have real jobs—58 percent of the open-source community is made up of...

Lindon-based SCO Group Inc. took a hit Friday in its federal lawsuit against International Business Machines Corp.       SCO and IBM are locked in suits and countersuits about whether IBM violated its license with SCO by placing parts of SCO's Unix computer operating system source code into Linux, a freely distributed operating system that is developed and enhanced by contributors worldwide.       U.S. Magistrate Brooke Wells on Friday ruled for IBM in its motion to force SCO to provide answers to IBM's questions. SCO will have 30 days, likely starting next week, "to identify with specificity...

SCO Group Chief Executive Darl McBride is invoking the Founding Fathers in his company's battle over Unix intellectual property rights. In an open letter posted on the SCO Web site Thursday, McBride argues that the General Public License (GPL) that underlies distribution of Linux, a Unix-derived operating system, is unconstitutional because it violates copyright and patent laws established by Congress. He also sharply criticizes two of SCO's most aggressive adversaries who, he says, do not believe in federally mandated copyright protection. "In the past 20 years, the Free Software Foundation and others in the open source software movement have set...

First Report from Grokker Inside Hearing: IBM Wins Both Motions to Compel Friday, December 05 2003 @ 02:30 PM EST Our first report from a Groklaw volunteer, sam, who attended the court hearing is that IBM won both of its motions to compel and SCO's motion was set for a later date. Here is what sam is telling us, and it's subject to further information and confirmation as more news arrives. We have several attending and I'll do a followup, but this is the first word. Here is what sam is telling us: "Just returned from the hearing. "Needless to...

Linux Reality Doesn't Match Hype By Ronna Abramson Staff Reporter 12/04/2003 07:11 AM EST Almost every week, it seems, another government is jumping on the Linux bandwagon, badmouthing Microsoft (MSFT:Nasdaq - commentary - research) all the way. But for all the headlines, the open-source software movement remains very much a fringe business, raising troubling questions for investors who've plowed into publicly traded Linux providers in the past year. And plowed they have: As of Tuesday's close, Red Hat (RHAT:Nasdaq - commentary - research) shares were up 110% in the past 12 months, while shares of Novell (NOVL:Nasdaq - commentary -...