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What's Left Of Unix? Vendors are scrapping over what remains of a once-hearty market. By Charles Babcock, InformationWeek Jan. 23, 2006 For 35 years, the Unix operating system has been a mainstay of the computer industry, from its origins as a time-sharing system used by horn-rimmed academics to its central role running some of today's most powerful servers. But enthusiasm for this sophisticated piece of code is in decline as sales flatten, while Linux, the Unix-like alternative, thrives. Which leads to the inevitable question: Is Unix itself on the wane? The past few years haven't been kind to Unix. Two...

Red Hat and Suse have released patches for a critical security hole in their Linux distributions that stem from a vulnerability in the KDE desktop environment.KDE is a user interface package used with several versions of Unix and Linux. The KDE hole was discovered Thursday and rated critical by both Red Hat and the French Security Incident Response Team (FrSIRT).It affects the JavaScript engine used in various parts of KDE, including its Konqueror Web browser. The flaw could allow a remote attacker to launch an overflow attack and run arbitrary code on the user's machine, FrSIRT said.Users could disable JavaScript...

...According to Attorneys Wasabi Systems Releases a New Study Analyzing Sarbanes-Oxley Risks Associated with Linux NORFOLK, Va.--Jan. 18, 2006--Many companies using Linux for embedded applications may be unwittingly violating the Linux license and even breaking federal securities laws, according to a white paper released today by Wasabi Systems, a leading embedded operating systems provider. The white paper, When GPL Violations are Sarbanes-Oxley Violations, is the first in a series of legal studies analyzing the common misperceptions and risks associated with Linux and its license, the GNU General Public License (GPL). Future white papers will look at the GPL implications of...

GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE Discussion Draft 1 of Version 3, 16 Jan 2006 THIS IS A DRAFT, NOT A PUBLISHED VERSION OF THE GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE. Copyright (C) 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc. 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this license document, but changing it is not allowed. Preamble The licenses for most software are designed to take away your freedom to share and change it. By contrast, the GNU General Public License is intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change free software--to make...

When the Mars rovers blasted into space to begin a 60-million mile journey to the Red Planet, Linux was there to help NASA get them off the ground. In fact, some form of Linux has been present at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., for years, assisting researchers with projects that range from unmanned space flight to deep space exploration. Even more amazing perhaps than multimillion-mile journeys through space is that on many of the desktops within the lab, Linux is the preferred operating system. At the JPL, it is common to see Red Hat Inc., SuSE...

IT directors shouldn't worry about SCO Group's latest sallies in its legal war on Linux vendors IBM Corp. and Novell Inc., says attorney Thomas Carey. It's just more posturing, or as Shakespeare said, a tale "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." In this interview, Carey explains why SCO has no case, predicts the open source legal fields of battle for 2006 and discusses SCO's claims against Novell. Carey chairs the Business Practice Group of Bromberg & Sunstein LLP, an intellectual property law practice in Boston, Mass. Carey's IT background includes a stint as a programmer for the city of...

THE UNITED STATES Computer Emergency Readiness Team (CERT) has prepared a report for the government that claims that fewer vulnerabilities were found in Windows than in Linux/Unix operating systems in 2005. Cert included under the Linux umbrella Mac OS X, as well as the various Linux distributions and flavours of Unix. It claimed that the Unix camp had more than twice as many vulnerabilities as Windows. The Cyber Security Bulletin 2005, said that out of 5,198 reported flaws, 812 were Windows operating system vulnerabilities, while 2,328 were Unix/Linux operating bugs. The remaining 2,058 were multiple operating system vulnerabilities. It is...

This is the way the world of Linux ends. Not with a whimper, but with a bang. I grew up on a Unix command-line. BSD, I believe. I have dim memories of dialing up on a black and green Wyse50 terminal, sending e-mail with 'mail', reading newsgroups and playing Nethack in all its ASCII glory. I even became rather adept at vi. I was happy, ecstatic even, wrapped all snug and safe in my warm, green world of text and terminal beeps. But my friends all had 'IBM clones', and as I grew, so too did the technology. My early...

Newly formed PC builder/reseller SeaScape LLC will introduce its first batch of pre-loaded Linux desktop computers within the next few weeks, company president James Rhodes told DesktopLinux.com on Friday. The systems will be based on Linspire's Linux desktop. The fledgling Albuquerque-based company, founded last month, partnered with Linspire to use Linspire Five-O in all eight SeaScape microATX models. Customers will be able to purchase customized computers through the company website based on their particular needs and requirements, Rhodes said. "Linspire Five-O is definitely the most user friendly Linux operating system to use on a daily basis," Rhodes said. "We feel...

< Years into case, SCO asserts copyright infringement By Stephen Shankland http://news.com.com/Years+into+case%2C+SCO+asserts+copyright+infringement/2100-1016_3-6022453.html Story last modified Fri Jan 06 15:49:00 PST 2006 < After three years of accusations, SCO Group has finally begun aiming a legal charge of copyright infringement toward a Linux supplier. The claim is in an amendment SCO proposes to make to its lawsuit against Novell, whose sales of Linux, SCO argues, violate SCO's purported Unix copyrights. SCO filed its request to add the claim on Dec. 30, nearly two years after it first filed its suit against Novell. In the proposed claim, the Lindon, Utah-based SCO...

1.i am not a MS hater, i just wanted something without all those virus problems. i do have a theory that the virus programs are all writen by linux users.(smiles) 2.i have tried most of the top 50 distros at distrowatch and hated most of them. i came close to keeping desktopBSD but it pissed me off too. in the end most distros just don't work after you install them. they either come broken or just plain lack the programs for the things i need installed. then came pclinuxos OMG!!!!!! wow!!! it really works. samba hooked up to my...

PHONE GIANT Motorola has dumped Apple’s iTunes, and a lot of its technical problems, from its ROKR E2 phone.

Researchers tracked three browsers (MSIE, Firefox, Opera) in 2004 and counted which days they were "known unsafe." Their definition of "known unsafe": a remotely exploitable security vulnerability had been publicly announced and no patch was yet available. MSIE was 98% unsafe. There were only 7 days in 2004 without an unpatched publicly disclosed security hole. Firefox was 15% unsafe. There were 56 days with an unpatched publicly disclosed security hole. 30 of those days were a Mac hole that only affected Mac users. Windows Firefox was 7% unsafe. Opera was 17% unsafe: 65 days. That number is accidentally a little...

Apple's 'Switch' campaign was addressed to Window users. And indeed, according to stats, many Windows users - aided by the iPod halo effect, Apple's reduced hardware prices, and the Mac mini - switched to Mac OS X. But something unpredictable happened. Even before Windows users started switching to Macs, Linux users were coming to OS X in masses. That wasn't in the plan, was it? The switch campaign was focused on Windows users. The numerous conversions from Linux to OS X are not publicised in the way the corresponding Windows conversions are - maybe because Linux was never the...

IBM's Motion Granted - 1st Report from the Courthouse -UPDATED Tuesday, December 20 2005 @ 02:49 PM EST Frank Sorenson made it to the hearing, thank heaven. IBM's Motion to Compel Documents on SCO's Privilege Log was granted. Frank's full report will be arriving soon, but in the meantime, here is the brief message he sent right after the hearing: Hearing over. IBM's Mot. to Compel Prod of Docs on SCO's Priv Log GRANTED. SCO's Mot. to Compel Docs from Execs GRANTED/DENIED in PART. As soon as I have more, I'll share it with you. I hope any readers in...

Blake Stowell, SCO's PR guy, is trying to turn all the bad news about SCO around and counter the impression that they are on the skids. In an article in Information Week about the latest money transfusion, he is quoted as saying this:A SCO representative, however, said the company's legal prospects were excellent and that investors would be well-served by helping the company to persist in its offensive against IBM and others. "Any open-minded individual who has read all of the public filings and court rulings, and attended every hearing would have a difficult time [casting doubt on SCO's prospects]...

Apple Computer has quietly voiced its concerns about the growing threat it faces from Linux in the desktop market. The Californian manufacturer's concerns emerged in its Form 10-K filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission late last week. The 10-K is an annual report on the company's business, and an effective disclaimer on factors that may affect the company's future performance

The KDE Project Tuesday released the long-awaited KDE version 3.5, which will serve as the final iteration of the KDE 3.x line. Since being taken over by a new developer team, KDE Kicker -- KDE's much-improved desktop application-launcher menu bar -- has seen a wealth of small but useful improvements, the project spokesman Tom Chance said. The pager now shows the application icons of each window to help distinguish between them, and allows users to drag and drop windows from one desktop to another, the project said. In response to user feedback, the pager and taskbar now have three default...

November 28, 2005 08:47 AM US Eastern Timezone Lockheed Martin Selects Concurrent's RedHawk Linux for THAAD Missile Defense Program; Concurrent's Real-Time Linux System Supports Mission-Critical Missile Defense Testing DULUTH, Ga.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 28, 2005--Concurrent (NASDAQ: CCUR), a leading provider of integrated computer solutions for mission-critical applications, today announced that Lockheed Martin Space Systems has selected Concurrent's RedHawk(TM) Linux operating system for their United States Army Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) program. Lockheed Martin's selection of Concurrent technology is expected to serve as a launchpad for additional international partnerships in winning and executing global programs for global defense and civil government...

As far as the general user experience and graphical user interfaces are concerned, overall I put MacOS first, Linux/KDE second, Windows third. For networking and operating systems, it's Linux first, Apple second, Windows third. Since Apple appears to follow Microsoft's mindset closely, I don't see Apple's OS ever catching up to Linux. With this background, I don't see Apple making big inroads into the server market, but they have everything that is needed to win the desktop, something Linux has not been able to do because it only recently achieved a coherent GUI with the KDE desktop. If Apple would...