The Open Source Writer

LXer Article

An interview with IBM's Vice President of Open Source and Standards about their Open Source Strategy, the recent pledge of its patents for more than 150 open software standards, his take on the ODF vs. XML issue, and much more in The LXer Interview of Bob Sutor.

The Interview

Could you tell our readers a little bit about yourself, when your interest in computers and software started?

I started using computers when I was 15 years old, back around 1973. Our school had a time-sharing system and I learned to program using BASIC and, later, APL. The main project I can remember from that time was software that I wrote in APL to format articles for the school newspaper, so my interest in electronic documents started pretty early. In college I was a math major, though I dabbled in computer science a bit. I was originally pre-med, but switched to math because it was more axiomatic and I probably wouldn't inadvertently hurt anyone.

How did you come to be at IBM?

After my sophomore year at Harvard, I got a summer job at IBM in White Plains, NY. It was in the part of IBM that optimized how we ordered telecommunications lines and services from AT&T. After the breakup of AT&T,
there were many more companies and offerings to deal with, but it just became a larger optimization problem that we solved. After a while, I had a standing offer to work for IBM whenever I had a week or two free, so it was a great way to earn money in college and grad school. After Harvard, I went on to Princeton for graduate school in mathematics, specifically algebraic geometry.

After a couple of years I decided to take a leave of absence because I was starting to think more about computer science than theoretical math, but also because I was getting married and my soon-to-be-wife was starting grad school several hundred miles away. So I went back to IBM full-time, moved to the Mathematical Sciences Department in IBM Research after a year, and then went back to Princeton between 1988 and 1991 to finish my doctorate in math, which I received in 1992. That all took place while I was still an IBM employee and under IBM sponsorship, so I returned to IBM Research after my studies.

What is your current position and what are your responsibilities?

I'm the corporate VP for open source and standards. That means that when there are issues that span multiple business units in either of those areas, my team or I will usually be involved. Internally this might mean intellectual property agreements or cross-unit business strategy. Externally, it often means speaking with customers, governments, and others about the changing IT environment and how "open" is making it better.

What was it that made IBM embrace Linux while so many other large computer companies shunned it?

There were several factors. IBM is a large computer company and so you can look at any strategy through a software, hardware, or services lens. On a really good day you can even look through all three! All by itself, IBM
has multiple hardware lines and having a single operating system that spans all of them makes certain things easier. Any given customer problem can be solved and the solution optimized by choosing the right hardware, the right OS, the right middleware, the right applications, and the right services to tie them all together, if necessary. Linux increases the options that our customers and we have, not decreases them. Note that this "one thing that spans several platforms" strategy is used in various ways by IBM such as with Eclipse, Java, XML, ODF, web services, and SOA. It helps make interoperability a tool rather than a marketing buzzword.

Can you give me an idea of what embracing Linux has done for IBM? What has changed, what has stayed the same?

It taught us how to better collaborate with others who don't work for IBM; it demonstrated that business models can evolve; it showed us that a good intellectual property strategy balances both "open" and "closed"; and it taught us that software that grew up in a non-corporate setting can be excellent, wildly successful, and meet customer needs. Linux, along with other open source software and open standards, showed us that being
flexible in our thinking and business models is lower risk than adamantly clinging to past practices that might have worked once but now aren't solely what customers really need.

The recent news that IBM has pledged its patents for more than 150 open software standards certainly is welcomed by the Open Source community. IBM also donated over 500 patents to the open source community a while back if I am not mistaken. IBM has far and away the largest patent portfolio of any technology company, SO what is keeping IBM from donating more patents to Open Source?

We pledged that any of our patents that were necessary to implement these core SOA/Web 2.0 infrastructure standards would be available for use without royalty and without a need to check in with IBM. This assumes, however, that you behave yourself and not go around suing people over the use of your necessary technology to implement these standards.

The other announcement to which you are referring is from January 2005, where we pledged 500 patents for use in open source. The latest pledge for standards applies to both open and closed source. We continue to look for new ways to use IP to advance the software industry. We're also looking, frankly, at what others are doing and, sometimes, not doing. We welcome others in the industry to follow our example and do similar pledges for the 150+ software standards.

The adopting the ODF format as an Open Document Standard and Microsoft's attempt to get their own XML format accepted as such is an ongoing issue. What is your take on the situation and is there anything that can be done to make people see that XML is really not Open?

Because of the ISO process, this issue is being discussed around the world right now. There is a lot of good material out there about why Open XML, or OOXML, should not be an international standard. Whatever happens with OOXML, I think many important issues have been raised and understood. I think we have collectively educated and permanently changed the policies of procurement people in many organizations around the world.

I think that the commotion around OOXML and ISO will lead to significant reforms in national standards bodies as well as in the international standards organizations. The goal is high quality standards, not just many standards. The goal is interoperability, not preservation of marketshare, though if that comes through the development and use of true non-dictated, open standards, so be it.

Why doesn't IBM use their advertising muscle to counteract the Microsoft FUD?

There has been a tremendous amount of broad community rebuttal of nonsensical information that is self-serving and anti-open source and anti-open standards. We contribute where necessary in various ways as we speak with customers, analysts, and anyone else appropriate.

What do you see for the future of IBM's involvement with Linux?

More and better!

Follow up

If it seems like IBM has been around since the beginning, its because they have. IBM has seen its share of ups and downs but they have learned to roll with the punches in the technology business as they have happened, and how to take advantage of it. To do otherwise would have spelled their demise long ago. Their contributions to and support of Free and Open Source Software and the Open Source community have helped to make it what it is today. Whether we know it or not.

Open Standards of communication, Open Software and the collaborative nature of its evolution are still new ideas for most individuals and businesses alike. It is a great irony of our existence that we are so very resistant to and at the same time always in the midst of evolving, changing and growing. Almost like a piece of Open Source Software wouldn't you say? Linux and Open Source Software have been facing an uphill battle since their inception. But with a company like IBM "in our corner" so to speak, I think our chances are pretty good.

An interview with Dave Wreski CEO of Guardian Digital, makers of EnGarde Secure Linux. I ask him how EnGarde came about, what makes EnGarde different and the effect if any, of the GPLv3 on the software in EnGarde. He answers all these questions and more, in The LXer Interview of Dave Wreski.

Introduction

We always seem to hear about the companies that treat their customers like thieves or take away their rights, just for the sake of money. What about the companies that don't do that? What about the companies that respect their customers? What about the companies who want to make money and not take away their customers rights at the same time?

Well companies like that do exist, and if I get my way you are going to start hearing more about them. One of those good companies is Guardian Digital, the makers of EnGarde Secure Linux. Dave Wreski, the CEO of Guardian Digital was kind enough to speak with me recently. I asked him, among other things about how his company does the right thing and still makes money.

The Interview

What is your position with EnGarde and what are your responsibilities?

I founded the company in 1999 and have been very excited to take it from its origins into its current position in providing comprehensive solutions for enterprise environments. As such, I am currently involved in the major strategic aspects of the company. This includes all aspects of the business including development, product engineering and strategic planning.

Could you tell our readers a little bit about yourself, when your interest in computers and software started?

Initially, I had gotten interested in computers very early on, and was introduced to Linux since its inception in the early 90s, and quickly became involved in learning about open source and what I believed to be the future of Internet technology. I had worked at a large international company called Ascom Timeplex, a provider of services for integrated voice, data communications and network based security solutions.

After leaving Timeplex, I moved on to work at United Parcel Service (UPS) as a senior architect for UPS Worldwide, managing the security architecture of the company's worldwide data centers, the secure design of partner communications with internal UPS systems and the security staff. This was a time of extraordinary growth for the company, where I also managed and directed the Internet Systems security policy.

For those who may not be familiar with your company, can give us a brief history of how EnGarde Secure Linux got started and how you became involved?

After I had been at UPS for some time, I recognized that we had a significant opportunity to increase the capability of our security, and that Linux provided this opportunity much better than other solutions. I had seen this need, and felt that other companies would value this focus on securing business-critical information from unauthorized users or any attacks that could harm the network. I felt that open source was a tremendous vehicle to achieve this and started laying the foundation for starting Guardian Digital in late 1998.

We started operations in early 1999, leveraging open source to solve critical business problems. After some evolving, we started writing and developing our own platform, EnGarde Secure Linux, seeing that our own security-focused platform was superior to the options that were available at the time.

What is it that makes EnGarde different and/or better than other distributions that claim to focus on security?

First, I'd just like to say our competition would include the complete market of security providers, both proprietary and open-source alike, specifically ones that address enterprise-level solutions and services. We have been utilizing open source security since 1999, and have used this expertise with the Linux OS to integrate and embed security into every aspect of the computing infrastructure. As far as the open source realm is concerned, unlike many solutions that bolt-on security, ours is explicitly designed with security in mind from the outset.

To understand what the differences are, it’s important to recognize that security is often a comprehensive process of engineering and maintenance. Simply adding spamasssassin (for example) to a distribution doesn't make it effective and enterprise capable - not by a long shot. Part of a secure posture requires engineering these multiple applications, in such a way that each one is secure through its use and scalability, in that specific environment.

This is what EnGarde Secure Linux provides, along with our portfolio of secure applications and managed services: A comprehensive and complete solution for all aspects of enterprise network security, in a manageable interface for proxy cache filtering, Content and Policy Enforcement, Anti-Virus, Anti-Spam, Anti-Phishing protection, Web and DNS services, Intrusion Detection and Prevention, secure remote monitoring and more.

Along with WebTool and Guardian Digital Secure Network (GDSN) providing automated updates and patches, Guardian Digital is one of the oldest firms in the industry to utilize open source to establish this kind of overall security. Because of this, many of the advantages that EnGarde provide are realized over time in the day-to-day process of maintaining and scaling security in a dynamic environment, not merely just installing some applications.

What are the main differences between the community and enterprise editions of EnGarde?

The primary differences are few, but important. EnGarde Professional provides a much greater degree of scalability. Also, our commercial offerings involve a complete array of managed services and support that the community version isn't provided with. The more important applications that enterprises require, our VPN Suite or WorkGroup applications for example, aren't available for the community as well. Largely, though, the Community version shares the same secure infrastructure as the professional platform and the basic server capability including Web, DNS and Email. So for a home user, EnGarde Community is a commercial-grade platform and is one of the most robust solutions freely available to the open source community.

What kind of graphic user interface does EnGarde Use?

Since we deployed EnGarde in 2001, we knew we wanted to demystify the often complex process of security for the average administrator, especially if they were coming from a proprietary source. WebTool, our secure remote management tool, allows for "touch-free" maintenance and configuration in a web browser. All the administering needed is accomplished through an intuitive, point-and-click graphic interface. This is especially useful when combined with the strength of SELinux deployed through a simplified interface like WebTool. It ensures not only that administration is done securely and effectively, but that the possibility of introducing insecure applications and configurations are minimized, without requiring an advanced degree in security by the administrator.

Has EnGarde benefited from making the community edition freely available?

Absolutely. In fact, that has been the staple of the company throughout our history. Part of what makes EnGarde so secure is the outstanding community that we have fostered over time, and offering the Community Edition really serves two purposes, actually. One, it provides a substantial service to the community, and two, allows us to test new changes/updates, as well as draw on the knowledge and insight of our users. Many of the changes that get implemented into EnGarde Professional get their first test with our community of users. So, yes, EnGarde benefits from this structure.

How many people do you estimate use the Community Edition of EnGarde?

As with any open source project, it's incredibly hard to gauge. We've recorded hundreds of thousands of downloads since we began in 2000, and seeing thousands of new visits each month. We recently upgraded our datacenter again to support the increased demand we're seeing after the introduction of new features including enhanced intrusion detection and the addition of numerous new open source projects.

How are sales of the enterprise edition doing and who are your target customers?

The sales of EnGarde Professional are continually growing, as we currently have over 500 customers worldwide, including Sony, Piedmont Natural Gas, divisions of AT&T, domestic and international governments, and more. Our target customers include mid-level to enterprise businesses and include an organization that wants to provide the most comprehensive security possible, in a way that isn't cost prohibitive. Open source is one of the reasons we are able to keep our costs to our enterprise-level clients lower than most of our competition.

Do you have any plans, or are you interested in signing a cross licensing deal with Microsoft?

Absolutely not. Guardian Digital will always be a completely open source business. Changing our strategy in this way would not only renege on our pioneering role in open source security, but would also dilute the quality of our development, as our community is one of our greatest assets. But, what would happen if we did seek a deal? Let's use Linspire's recent decision as an example. Seeking such an arrangement would, in effect, force Guardian Digital to relinquish its existence as an open source company. Not explicitly, but as far as I'm concerned, when you prohibit modifications or distribution of software in order to maintain licensing protection, you cease to be open source. That's just out of the question for us.

Furthermore, such "protection" is completely shrouded in ambiguity and uncertainty. The perceived advantages aren't even guaranteed if you make the required concessions. By not explicitly restricting what Microsoft can do, it gives them near-complete power in determining what software warrants protection, in what manner it's labeled as such, and when. In other words, the loopholes are so extreme they are practically a caricature of themselves. These deals are a joke. In theory, everything's safe, but in practice nothing is protected if Microsoft says it isn't. And with their track record, it's not worth taking that chance, even IF there were benefits.

Has the GPLv3 affected EnGarde Linux licensing one way or the other?

No, not really. GPLv3 took a rise after the Novell deal, and since our strategy doesn't involve this possibility, it hasn't really changed anything. Next year, we may consider readdressing licensing, but for now, GPLv2 is what we are dealing with. As open source projects continue to adopt the GPLv3, we will continue to incorporate these versions into Guardian Digital's offerings.

Are there any new features coming down the pipe for EnGarde that you can tell us about?

We are always in the process of streamlining our functionality, usability and security. One such example is the incorporation of AJAX into EnGarde Community for an enhanced Intrusion Detection interface. We are committed to keeping not only our professional platform on the cutting edge, but also our community version as well. We have a few major enhancements coming up in the future, and which are currently in the internal beta test phase. We are looking for a fall deployment, but we'll make sure to keep you posted. :)

What do you see for the future of EnGarde Secure Linux?

Open source has slowly but surely shed its skin only as an "alternative" and is now considered a primary solution. As more and more organizations realize the capability open source provides in maintaining a secure posture, especially in the burgeoning overseas markets in South America, Europe and obviously India and China, Guardian Digital will continue to lead the way and bring the inherent advantages of open source to communities and businesses worldwide.

Follow Up

My thanks to Dave Wreski for agreeing to be interviewed and Ryan Berens for his help in facilitating it. Unfortunately I have not had the time to do more than give it a cursory glance. But then again a review of EnGarde Secure Linux deserves more than a sentence or two at the end of an interview. Look for more on "Secure Linux" from LXer in the near future.

I told you there were companies (well, at least one) that do right by their users and customers, and Guardian Digital is one of them. See? There just might be hope for the Human species after all. :-) On the EnGarde website they provide an easy to find Wiki and Forum for users to find information, share ideas, ask questions and get help if they need it. They actually engage the users of their software in open communication, to the benefit of both the users and their business.

What a novel idea.

In the latest LXer Weekly Roundup we have, Mark Shuttleworth announcing that Gobuntu is a go, Confessions of a Linux Fan, a review of Siag Office, Turbolinux signs a deal with Microsoft, IBM Pledges Free Access to Patents for use in Open Standards, my interview with Sebastian Kügler of KDE, 16,000 Linux computers delivered for free and Paul McDougall tries to put words in Linus Torvalds mouth. All this and more, plus the FUD article of the week.

Dell's Linux desktop line keeps expanding: SJVN catches us up on Dell's announced expansion of their Linux line of offerings and where outside of the U.S. they plan ro expand to first.

15 minutes to using your existing Windows install & apps in Ubuntu: Here’s a simple guide to using your existing Windows install inside Ubuntu - and still being able to start it from your hard disk if you need. Unlike previous guides, it takes around 15 minutes and doesn’t require any terminal use.

Confessions of a Linux Fan: 10 Things You Might Want To Know Before Switching Over To Linux: The author states "Linux fans (myself included) love to argue to Windows users how much better the Linux's are than Microsoft Windows. However (and there's always a however) we tend to be very selective on what we tell you when it comes to the minor details. Take this as a confession, as an admission of those details you might not necessarily like about Linux."

Puppy, Damn Small Linux don't let me down: Steven Rosenberg tells us his trials and tribulations in trying to get, FreeBSD, DesktopBSD, Xubuntu, OpenSUSE, Scientific, DeLi, Puppy and Damn Small Linux to install on his laptop. Not all at once I hope. :-)

Siag Office is far from pathetic: The self-effacing name for the Siag Office Word Processor, Pathetic Writer, might leave you thinking that this office suite is a mere plaything, a university student's cobbled-together programming assignment. But don't be fooled by first impressions. Siag Office is a lightweight suite of applications which might be just the right set of office tools for you, especially if you have older hardware.

Gobuntu is… go: In an announcement on his blog, Mark Shuttleworth states "This is a call for developers who are interested in pushing the limits of content and code freedom - including firmware, content, and authoring infrastructure, to join the team and help identify places where we must separate out pieces that don’t belong in Gobuntu from the standard Ubuntu builds."

Microsoft Makes Another Linux Friend: Turbolinux: Microsoft announced that Asian Linux distributor Turbolinux is the latest Linux company to join its Ecma Open XML-Open Document Format Translator Project. Unlike the earlier Microsoft/Linux partnerships—Novell, Xandros and Linspire—there's no patent agreement or any other technical partnerships.

NoMachine NX 3.0 improves remote access to Linux boxes: Nathan Willis reviews NoMachine's NX 3.0, "As a whole, I found NX 3.0 to be very capable software, and faster than VNC, which for a free solution is reason enough to earn a place on my network."

IBM Pledges Free Access to Patents Involved in Implementing 150+ Software Standards: IBM announced that it is granting universal and perpetual access to Patents that would be needed to implement more than 150 standards designed to make software interoperable. The commitment not only applies to the distributors, developers or manufacturers that are implementing the specifications involved, but also extends to their users or customers. It is valid as long as adopters are not suing any party, not just IBM.

The LXer Interview: Sebastian Kügler of KDE: If you ever want a glimpse of how much Sebastian Kügler does around KDE just subscribe to the kde-promo e-mail list which is as busy as it is effective, and that is just one of the many tasks that he is charged with. In his time with KDE, Sebastian has witnessed and helped facilitate some of the most sweeping changes the organization has ever seen. In our Interview we talk about those changes and more.

16,000 Linux computers delivered - for free: James Burgett is a great guy. He is collecting old computers from companies and individuals, checks and in some cases repairs them, and then gives them away to those who cannot afford to buy. He does it since 12 years, and each system is delivered with a free OS.

Linux Creator Calls GPLv3 Authors 'Hypocrites' As Open Source Debate Turns Nasty: In our "let's try to create a controversy" story, Information Week tries to put these words into Linus's mouth, "Linux creator Linus Torvalds said the authors of a new software license expected to be used by thousands of open source programmers are a bunch of hypocrites and likened them to religious fanatics.."

Misleading InformationWeek GPLv3 article: A lobbyist for FSF Europe, Ciaran O’Riordan picks apart the Linux Creator Calls GPLv3 Authors 'Hypocrites' As Open Source Debate Turns Nasty article piece by inaccurate piece.

Linspire releases Open XML translator: In our "empty" article of the week we have the Linspire announcement that the new "Open" XML bi-directional translator is now available for use in its latest Freespire and Linspire distributions. Besides being told this before, just where is this translator that you and Microsoft are so proud of anyway?

The Apple way and the Linux way: Jem Matzan goes off on "the Apple way" vs. "the Linux way" and makes a valid point or two but did not do his homework on some configuration basics that really hurt his argument.

Why Most Businesses Still Use Windows: In our FUD article of the week we have all the usual suspects in a nice list to help make you feel insecure about whether Linux is right for you and your small to medium sized business. The main thread throughout comes down to this, Windows is a known, your employees won't like change and that's all that is really important.

If you ever want a glimpse of how much Sebastian Kügler does around KDE just subscribe to the kde-promo e-mail list which is as busy as it is effective, and that is just one of the many tasks that he is charged with. In his time with KDE, Sebastian has witnessed and helped facilitate some of the most sweeping changes the organization has ever seen. In our Interview we talk about those changes and more.

The Interview

Could you tell our readers a little bit about yourself, when your interest in computers and software started?

I started programming at the age of 9, finding the games for the Commodore 64 that I owned at that time boring. The machine was sold with a manual for Commodore 64 BASIC. I started exploring it, wrote small games together with a friend of mine. Eventually, I ran into errors I wasn't able to understand (probably, I ran out of memory). For about 10 years, I did pretty much ignore computers apart from playing a game once in a while and returned back to them when I started studying in 1998. I quickly took up programming again, got a job as webmaster at the university and was introduced to Linux. "We want this website to run on Linux, can you install that?" So I tried, and got hooked.

How did you become involved with KDE?

I sent an email to Simon Edwards, asking him for the source code of the Guidance tools. While it was still in Alpha state, I played around with it a bit, ported it to Debian and fixed various bugs. After some time, we started using a shared SVN repo which I hosted on my server at home. At aKademy 2005 in Malaga, it was suggested that I imported Guidance into KDE SVN. My non-coding career in KDE also started in Malaga, when Matthias Ettrich approached me with the question if I had ideas on improved marketing for KDE. I organized a BoF, got some people together and we started the KDE Marketing Working Group. I was proposed as a new member to the KDE e.V. and got accepted short after aKademy.

What is your position with KDE and what are your responsibilities?

During aKademy 2006, I got elected as member of the Board of Directors of the KDE e.V.. I am working on developing the Supporting Membership Programme, a programme that offers companies (and at a later point also individuals) a unique way of ensuring the health of the KDE community by contributing some money. My current efforts also concentrate on a Corporate Partnership Programme for KDE. Such a program aims at a collaborative approach to marketing, building a network of companies to jointly market and KDE desktop and software. I'm also still coordinating parts of the work of the Marketing Team. I also try to help out where it's necessary. When I find time, I enjoy writing code, although that is probably not the most important contribution to KDE, given my limited skills.

With all that I have read it seems that KDE has begun a complete transformation as an organization. What facilitated this change in philosophy and the need for KDE to "reinvent" itself?

Starting roughly three years ago, some people within KDE realized that software developers alone cannot bring the Free Desktop to its full potential. Since then, KDE has shifted from a pure Free Software community to a Free Culture community. The core values of Freedom and Community are still the same, of course, but we are actively reaching out to other communities with the same values. Creative Commons, Wikipedia organization such as OpenStreetmap are one part of this puzzle. Another part is on the inside. We need experts in all different areas in order to push KDE and the Free Desktop in the mainstream market. This shift can be seen in sub-communities that are integrated under the KDE umbrella.

Usability engineering has become integral part of our development process, we have a team of excellent artists currently working on the visual appearance of what's to become KDE4. But there's a lot of other people in the community that are filling in gaps in our project, think documentation teams, translators, people organizing event attendance and showing KDE to the world at fairs, people that spend endless hours helping out users and communicating a friendly and helpful attitude to the users. Our aim is to show that KDE is a Free Culture community that is appealing to people with various areas of interest, and to make it attractive for people to become part of the KDE community, either as user or as contributor.

How far along in the process are you, or is this something that will never really stop?

The process is coming along quite well. The diversity of teams within KDE shows this. Currently, we need to work on sustainability of those teams. Sometimes we are dependent on two or three people being available, but having a constant influx of new people is very important to not have those efforts die out.

I have been trying to keep up with everything going on with KDE4. You have really set the bar high for this next release, how is it going and what is your biggest worry?

It's going really well. We took quite a risk with KDE4, not simply porting all of our software to Qt4, but fixing a lot of structural problems and providing efficient and integrated ways of solving problems such as multimedia and hardware integration, and much more. A lot of people were afraid of drying out the community by a very long release cycle and indeed, it has been quite a challenge. Software developers might run away if they know that their work won't be released for another 2 years, making the release cycle even longer.

A big challenge was when our coolo, our release manager said that he was probably not able to keep being release manager for the 4.x cycle. We had to invent new ways of governance. First, we created the Technical Working Group, a group of core developers in our community to deal with release management and as a group who solves conflicts within the community. Due to time constraints of those people (the people in this group were also the busiest people in other areas), this didn't work out. At the end of 2006, KDE lacked direction in that respect and we asked the community to step up and solve this problem.

A group of people feeling responsible stepped up, and without much formality, the Release Team formed. Quickly, a release schedule was worked out, and this team has done an excellent piece of work in listening to the contributors and making decisions based on their findings. Now KDE has a more sustainable structure, is not dependent on two people anymore and there is a clear way to address various technical issues.

Now we've released the first Alphas of KDE4.0, the situation is quite different. Last week's aKademy showed that we're doing extremely well. KDE has a constant inflow of new, excellent and enthusiast contributors. Having a shared vision for KDE4 is extremely important in that respect. Developers are excited about what's possible in KDE4 and value the freedom they have when implementing it. The diversity in the community makes for innovative, usable and beautiful software, different teams are working together really well. Part of this is caused by the excitement we were able to create within the community about our new technologies.

Letting the world (inside and outside of KDE) know what we're doing is extremely important, both to grow our user base and our contributor community. KDE4 is being developed at a tremendous speed right now, and it will, in itself grow our community and its diversity even further. Approaches such as the one Plasma takes (making it easy to extend KDE for artists, programmers and other creative minds) will have great effect on what the user will actually be able to do with the desktop. While KDE 4.0 will not be the perfect desktop, it will provide all the possibilities to make it a huge success, and to fully utilize the creative potential within a growing community.

What do you see for KDE in the future?

For the future, I don't worry too much. We have a huge potential, and if we keep doing our job well, we have a good chance to actually change the world, to make Free Software ubiquitous. An important milestone will be when the Free Desktop reaches 10% market share. This is the point where most vendors can't ignore us anymore. Hardware vendors will make sure their drivers work equally well on Linux and other Free Software platforms, software and service vendors will support our software in the same way, taking away the last hurdles for wide-spread adoption. If we're not able to change the world, then I really don't know who is.

Follow Up

My answer to you Sebastian, KDE is changing the world. KDE has taken on a important role in the Open Source Community and its success ripples out in all directions. They have essentially re-written the book on how to manage a large Open Source project and come out on top. KDE has embraced change and I believe it will flourish for a long time to come because of it.

There are many Open Source projects that could learn from what KDE is doing. How KDE is organized and how well it is run is as innovative as the software they create. With things starting to ramp up for the KDE4 release, I want to Thank Sebastian for taking the time out of his schedule to talk with me.

Take notice everyone because KDE is trying to change the world, and its working.

The big stories this week include Microsoft's attempts to distance itself from the effects of the GPLv3, Part 2 of Carla Schroder's Adventures in Digital Photography, using Live Linux distro's for online banking, Massachusetts decides that XML is ok and the BSA ups the ante on getting people to "Blow The Whistle". All this and more await you in this weeks LXer Roundup.

Linspire Joins Microsoft in Developing and Deploying Open Source Translators between Document Formats: In the deal that came as no surprise to anyone, Linspire announced that they would be working with Microsoft on providing translators for ODF and XML. What amazed me was that this didn't happen a lot sooner. Linspire has always been at the forefront of providing the necessary codecs and such in their distributions. I wonder what took them so long?

Permission for home!: In an article contributed to LXer, the author describes how he somehow got locked out of, and his ordeal in fixing the permissions to be able to enter his home directory on his computer again.

Adventures in Digital Photography With Linux, part 2: In the second part of her series, Carla Schroder covers why DSLR cameras may be good or bad depending on your needs and wants, Lenses, Focal Length, Sun Filters and much more. If your into Digital photography this is a must read.

Mass. Embraces MS' Open XML Document Format: In what we all saw coming, Massachusetts has reversed its policy and will support both Microsoft's Office Open XML format and the OASIS Open Document Format. After "helping" to remove one Director and biding their time patiently, Microsoft finally got what they wanted.

BSA Raise Reward Up to $1 Million for Qualified Reports of Software Piracy: The Business Software Alliance, otherwise known as Microsoft's "Piracy Police" have raised the reward for reports of software piracy up to $1 Million dollars. They have also launched the "Blow the Whistle" campaign that encourages employees to report software piracy to the BSA. That kind of money almost makes it worth screwing the company you work for, losing your job and ruining your reputation for. It will take most of that money to move to another state and change your name just to get another job and do it all over again.

French Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries Choose Mandriva: The French Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries chose to migrate its local servers (about 400 machines) from Windows NT Server to Mandriva Corporate Server 4.0, within the next two years.

The ticking time bomb of old file formats.: The National Archive in the UK has issued a statement expressing concern over the amount of data locked up in proprietary file formats. Microsoft have stepped up to the plate to take advantage of the situation, created largely by their own policy.

Joint releases to jolt open source: Shuttleworth: Ubuntu Linux founder Mark Shuttleworth has declared more publicity would be generated for open source software if the three large desktop projects of KDE, GNOME, and OpenOffice.org agreed on a common and regular release cycle. Now if only Ubuntu could just stick to their own regular release cycles Mark might be able to convince others to do the same.

KDE 4.0 Alpha 2 is out: In this LXer Press Release we announced that KDE Alpha 2 is out. There is a lot of info and screenshots available for you to check out.

The politics of open source: The author responds to Rob Enderle's article in which he suggested that Cuba's adoption of Linux would make it a political issue and that no US politician could now dare be associated with open source software. Why is it that when Rob says things, everyone doesn't just take him on his word?

Secure web browsing through Live Linux distros: In this article the author expounds on the virtues of using a Live Linux distribution to keep ones online banking experience as safe as possible.

Microsoft Says It Is Not Bound by GPLv3: Microsoft attempted to "clear the air" July 5 concerning its obligations to GNU General Public License Version 3 support, declaring it will not provide support or updates for GPLv3 under the deal it penned in November with Novell to administer certificates for the Linux distribution. Whew! I'm sure glad they cleared that up for me.

Microsoft Tries to Spit Out the GPLv3 Hook: SJVN states "Microsoft wants everyone to understand that GPLv3 has nothing to do with the company, its Linux partnerships or anything else Redmond-based. In other words, Microsoft is doing its best not be caught on the hook of GPLv3. Ah, Microsoft you'd love to be able to do that, wouldn't you?"

Microsoft's Plot To Kill Linux Busted: A great spoof cartoon that speaks to the ever increasing war of operating systems between Microsoft and Linux.

Bill Gates creates perfect accessory for Linux tablets: In this very amusing article by Fernando Cassia, he shows how Bill Gates came to the rescue in providing him with the perfect accessory for his Nokia N800.

Linux Less Secure Than Vista: In our "its got some FUD in it" article of the week Matt Hartley successfully propagates some old Linux security myths and chastises Microsoft a little, but not too much.

With aKademy taking place in Glaskow, Scotland and hundreds of KDE developers hunting bugs and working on features as we speak progress is moving forward at an amazing pace. Some of the most exiting work is being done on Plasma, KDE 4's new shell for the desktop.

Screenshot 1

Plasma provides krunner, an application to directly launch programs and start other tasks. Plasmoids are applets that display information such as the time, information about hardware devices and also provide access to online resources, for example showing RSS feeds, images or providing dictionary lookup.

Screenshot 2

System Settings, the replacement for KControl is an improved user interface hosting various modules for configuring the desktop and other aspects of the system is another addition worth mentioning.

Screenshot 3

Work on the new Dolphin File Manager continues as well and as they get closer to the release date it gets more and more polished.

Screenshot 4

For those who want to try KDE 4.0 Alpha2, please refer to this page to find ways to have a peak at the current status yourself. As the pace of development would outdate screenshots very quickly, please refer to KDE Dot News for updated information on all things KDE.

The big story this week is the official release of the GPLv3. It has been a long time coming and I for one am glad that it is finally here. Other stories include the Ohio Linux Fest call for presenters, Google going over the head of the Justice Department, a new Linux powered IBM super-computer, Dell expands its Linux offerings along with the FUD article of the week. Enjoy!

Introducing the Thunar file manager: Since its inception, the Xfce desktop environment has aimed to provide high functionality with only modest demands on system resources. One of the significant changes in recent releases of Xfce 4 is the Thunar file manager, which replaces the original xffm.

Google calls for more limits on Microsoft: OK - Not Linux, but interesting anyway. Google has gone over the heads of the Justice Department to directly petition a federal judge to expand the reach of consent decree imposed upon Microsoft as a result of the federal antitrust litigation.

Linux powered Blue Gene/P becomes the fastest computer in the world: IBM has announced the arrival of Blue Gene/P, which triples the performance of Blue Gene/L, the previous holder of the official world’s fastest computer title. And it is powered by Linux, of course.

Ohio LinuxFest call for papers deadline is nearly here!: The call for presentations deadline for Ohio LinuxFest 2007 is approaching rapidly. The last date for presentation submissions is July 15, 2007. If you are interested in presenting at this years Ohio Linux fest don't be late in registering.

The Solaris Installation Experience: There's a problem with Solaris and Sun knows it. The installation experience of Solaris (along with other areas) could be greatly improved. The installer doesn't "suck" as it's easy and known to Solaris administrators, but for a Linux or Windows user it could prove to be a bit challenging.

Firefox 3 and Google team up for offline apps: Mozilla and Google are collaborating on an effort to make web applications work offline. Firefox 3 will be the first internet browser to offer offline web application support when it launches at the end of this year.

Dell to offer Ubuntu on more systems: Dell isn't resting on its recent consumer Linux PC laurels. The computing giant has added a new laptop -- the Inspiron 1420 Notebook -- to its Ubuntu Linux 7.04 offering. It is also replacing the Dimension E520 desktop with the new, low-priced Inspiron 530.

New York legislators keep e-voting software in public hands: With this year's New York Senate and Assembly session now ended, local voting activists are chalking up a victory for the public at the expense of Microsoft Corp. and the e-voting industry.

Epson jumps into the Linux PC market: When you hear the name EPSON, what images come to your mind? Mine, like many of you I’m sure goes to inkjet printers, or even scanners. But Linux-powered PCs? That one never crossed my mind.

No to OOXML!!!: A petition calling for Microsoft's OOXML "standard" to not be ratified as an ISO standard.

DisroWatch Featured Story: One year with Puppy Linux: The sad tale of how the hope and excitement of a promising distro turned to fear and loathing in Linux land.

The Distro Jungle: People new to Linux are often confused by the large number of distributions there are to choose from. This article helps you cut through some of the confusion in choosing a Linux Distribution your exploration and helps you understand just what it is you've chosen.

Final text of GPLv3 and LGPLv3: Here is the final version of the new GPLv3 and LGPLv3 in their entirety for you to read. A little heavy for some but certainly much more succinct and to the point compared to, say Microsoft's EULA.

Google flirts with online OS: Docs, Spreadsheets, Folders..It's only a matter of time before Google unveils a full-fledged online operating system. This week, Microsoft's biggest rival rolled out a new version of Docs& Spreadsheets - its online answer to Word and Excel - adding Windows-like folders, an improved search engine and a much cleaner interface.

Neuros’ open set-top-box: Media streaming boxes such as the AppleTV, XBox 360, PS3, and others, do a varying job of bridging the gap between the PC and television and with some, delivering Internet content directly into the living room. But all are closed systems. Bucking this trend, Neuros is taking a completely different approach and has open-sourced the firmware for it’s Neuros OSD media-center which means that anybody is free to write add-ons that extend the device’s functionality.

Why Is It Called Iceweasel Again? - The Debian Chronicles: I explain a few things and find out why the Mozilla browser is called "Iceweasel" in my continuing adventures in Debian-land.

This week at LWN: Counting vulnerabilities: In our refuting the FUD article of the week, Jonathan Corbet of LWN takes the recent survey written by Microsoft employee Jeff Jones that states Vista is more secure than any of the alternative operating systems apart piece by inaccurate piece.

Is Linux Splitting into Two Factions?: The hands down winner for FUD article of the week belongs to the CEO of Linspire, Kevin Carmony. He makes veiled accusations and talks about the respect we should have for the IP of others, namely Microsoft. He's right about one thing, Linux is splitting into two factions. Those who capitulate to unfounded IP claims and those who don't.

The big stories this week include Bolivarian Computers made in Venezuela, an illuminating comparison of ODF and OOXML, Mandriva's CEO says publicly that they will not sign a cross licensing deal with Microsoft, Miguel de Icaza shows off Microsoft's Flash replacement and an "expert" on Innovation vacillates on his own definition in reference to Open Source software. All these stories and more for your reading enlightenment.

New Google Linux Apps Coming Soon: During their presentation at this years Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit the Google Linux Client Team announced that there are going to be new Google desktop applications coming out this year for Linux.

Venezuela Launches Sale of "Bolivarian" Computers: The Venezuelan government or should I say, The right arm of Hugo Chavez announced the launch of their "Bolivarian Computers" made with combination of Venezuelan and Chinese technology . Four different models that will all have Linux preinstalled. Hugo Chavez may be a power hungry dictator but at least he like Open Source software. Its not much, but its something.

Achieving Openness: A Closer Look at ODF and OOXML: Sam Hiser compares ODF and OOXML and discovers the difference between actually being open standard and saying its an open standard. Just because Micorsoft says its an open standard doesn't necessarily mean it is, why am I not surprised.

Interview With Fred Miller - GNU/Linux Evangelist: Don Parris interviews Fred Miller, a prolific GNU/Linux evangelist and active member of the OpenSUSE community.

CEO of Mandriva: We will not go to Canossa - No deal with Microsoft: The CEO of Mandriva goes on record to say that his company will not sign a cross licensing deal with Microsoft and in the process earns some respect from the Open Source community.

Ubuntu'd, you're getting a Dell: Our own Lane Beneke (aka NoDough) writes about his experience of buying a new computer with Ubuntu preinstalled from Dell to give to his Daughter for college.

Adventures in Digital Photography With Linux: Carla Schroder shares some of the new tricks, tips and more that she learned from the Don Parris article From the Camera to the Web With Konqueror.

Silverlight To Run On Linux This Week: In Microsoft's continuing onslaught on Adobe, VP of Novell Miguel de Icaza will demonstrate Microsoft's Flash replacement at the Mix07 conference this week in Paris. I guess some of the money they gave to Novell gets you a couple of "stand next to our product" sessions by a VP too.

Don't wait for Vista SP1, pleads Microsoft: I couldn't help but post this story. It seems that the uptake of Vista is so bad that Microsoft has had to create a Vista version of the "Get The Facts" website to convince people to upgrade to Vista and not wait for an SP1 update because there will not be one. Vista is so good it doesn't need an update, ever. Yeah, right.

Bad, Bad Reasons Not to Buy Open-Source Software: Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols responds to the eWEEK slide show, Ten Reasons Not to Buy Open Source which was based on "Microsoft.Net Creates End-to-End Framework That Offers Lower TCO". The funny thing is, I cannot find either the slide show he references or the Microsoft article anywhere. If someone does, please let me know. I would love to read them.

What the "ultimate filesystem", Sun ZFS, means for your desktop, in Plain English: Ashton Mills translates Sun's ZFS filesystem jargon into plain English for the rest of us.

Xandros and Microsoft to build Open Source translator: Xandros announced this week that it will join Microsoft and others to build and ship open source translators between documents stored in Ecma Office Open XML and Open Document Formats. The translators will be made available to Xandros users via the Xandros Networks update facility.

Laura and Me - Updated: Pamela Jones talks about some of the history involving her, SCO, Laura DiDio and some of the things that have been said and done since she worked at SCO and the ensuing trial that Groklaw covers.

Will The Real Open Source CRM Please Stand Up?: Michael Tiemann responds to the many people who have asked "When is the OSI going to stand up to companies who are flagrantly abusing the term 'open source'?" The answer is: starting today.

Open Source is Not Innovative: In the first of our two FUD articles this week Dr. R. Keith Sawyer who in his own words is "one of the country's leading scientific experts on creativity" gets his definition of "Innovation" a little mixed up and decides that Open Source Software is, and is not innovative. Read for yourself and decide if he knows what he is talking about. Just how does someone become an expert on Innovation if they don't know what it means anyway?

Is Open Source Dying?: Michael Hickins does his best to sow the seeds of despair in trying to convince us that despite the ever present and growing success of Open Source that it is actually slowly winding down and dying. And I thought I was crazy..

Today I was promoted to Editor-in-Chief for LXer Linux News. Here is the post on LXer.com.

Introducing Scott Ruecker

First off, Happy Fathers Day to all you Fathers out there, especially mine. It seems that Microsoft is all over the news this week. Between the Linspire deal, getting help from an old friend in the Justice Department to yet another one of their shills stating that OpenXML really is an open standard. Not to worry though, I have lots of other articles for you to check out.

Microsoft Finds Legal Defender in Justice Dept.: Thomas O. Barnett, top Justice Department antitrust official and former partner at a law firm that representing Microsoft in antitrust disputes, has recently rejected a complaint by Google and is urging state prosecutors to do the same.

Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn — Cool, Fresh and… Unstable: Borys Musielak writes "This will not be another “I just installed Ubuntu — it beats Windows — try it yourself” type of review. It is going to be rather a report from another successful upgrade, pointing out the biggest surprises and the most miserable failures of the latest release of Ubuntu Linux, codenamed Feisty Fawn."

Microsoft Spits in GPL Creator Richard Stallman's Eye: The GPL creator's attempts to stop Microsoft from cutting any more of those patent-protection deals like the one it cut with Novell don't quite seem to be working.

Linux Programmer's Toolbox: What does it take to start writing programs for Linux ? Most people will guess a text editor, knowledge of a programming language and the compiler and libraries of that language would suffice. But ask a professional programmer who has been writing code for Linux and he will differ with you.

Torvalds: Solaris could nudge Linux to GPL 3: Linux leader Linus Torvalds has finally found something that could convince him that the forthcoming version 3 of the General Public License is worth adopting: open-source Solaris.

Microsoft and Linspire Collaboration Promotes Interoperability and Customer Choice: Here is the press release announcing the Linspire-Microsoft deal. I keep hearing an old Queen song in my head, "and another one gone and another one gone, another one bites the dust".

From the Camera to the Web With Konqueror: Our own Don Parris shows us how to get pictures from our cameras and onto the web without pulling your hair out in another one of our LXer Features.

Microsoft Will Help Deliver a "Better" Linux (Linspire announces deal with Microsoft): Here is the letter that Kevin Carmony wrote where he talks about why the deal with Microsoft is good for Linspire and Linux in general.

Tutorial: Protecting Data with Encrypted Linux Partitions: In this tutorial Carla Schroder shows us how to protect our data using encrypted partitions.

How To Compile A Kernel - Debian Etch: In this tutorial Falko Timme of HowToForge.com shows us the steps to be taken in compiling a kernel under Debian Etch.

Linux leaders plot counterattack on Microsoft: Eric Auchard likens the Open Source movement to a religious sect in his "slightly" slanted report on the recent get together of Open Source figures at Google headquarters.

Lessons from a Community Fundraising Project: D.C. Parris and Brian Proffitt publish their financial report and lessons learned on the Tux-500 campaign.

Microsoft Interoperability Team: Bring on Red Hat: Microsoft said the company hopes to strike a Linux pact with Red Hat similar to the partnerships it has forged with Linux vendors. So far Red Hat is not interested.

Mark Shuttleworth on Ubuntu and Microsoft -- he's not signing nothing: Steven Rosenberg found a post my Mark Shuttleworth on his blog concerning whether or not Ubuntu would be signing a deal with Microsoft. Mark has since expanded and reposted his thoughts on his blog.

Microsoft's next Linux partner is...?: In the first of our two FUD articles of the week SJVN tries to convince us of his telepathic abilities because he knew that Linspire was going to be next to sign a deal with Microsoft. So Steve, can you tell what I am thinking right now?

Open standards advocate comes out in favor of Microsoft: Microsoft's standards format has been misunderstood and being "pro Open XML" doesn't make one "anti ODF", claims Australian activist Rick Jelliffe. Hmm, I wonder who pays his bills..

The big news this week was Microsoft signing LG Electronics and Linux Distributor Xandros to cross patent licensing deals. We have several articles submitted by our readers and Don Parris talks about why those patent agreements are a search for Fool's Gold.

"Eating Dog Food": LXer reader Aladdin_Sane submitted this article talking about what happens when there's no separation between Microsoft and the customers they care about.

Looking for a small Linux that will run with a GUI in 4MB of RAM: LXer, tracyannne posted a question about finding a small Linux Distro that would be small enough for what was needed and got quite the response from other readers.

Linux: making small businesses possible: Sander Marechal writes: "I have a small company that builds websites for equally small businesses in the area and it's Linux that made this possible. If we would have been stuck on the Windows platform there is no way we could have done what we do because it would simply have been too expensive."

Microsoft teams with Linux distributor Xandros: Microsoft and Linux distributor Xandros signed a deal very similar to the one signed between MS and Novell. Two down, 500 or so to go..

Former Microsoft Insider Speaks Out: A former Microsoft employee talks about the environment at MS and its evolution during his time there.

GPLv3 - Unforseen Consequences?: Kevin Carmony sound off on his concerns for the GPLv3, one wonders if he is trying to get in line for a deal with Microsoft or something else entirely.

Ultra-lite AntiX Linux targets obsolete PCs: Chris Preimesberger writes: "MEPIS today said that the RC of a community-built "ultra-lite" derivative of its own Linux distribution is ready for testing. AntiX (pronounced "Antics") is the personal project of MEPIS community member "anticapitalista," who wanted a MEPIS version that would work well on old PCs."

Microsoft & Linux Vendors Trading in Patent Fool's Gold: Our own Don Parris writes: "Well what do you know? Microsoft seems to be gaining ground with their "patent protection" scheme. But what if they discover they've only bought a few bricks of fool's gold?".

A guide to using PDFs on GNU/Linux: A really good overview of the different things you can do with PDF's in Linux by Bruce Byfield.

The Daily Static: Check out User Friendly's daily cartoon. After speaking with the "Smiling Man", we thought it would be appropriate to link to User Friendly here at LXer.

Inconvenient truths: PC vs. Mac, Windows vs. Linux, us vs. them, et al.: In our slanted article of the week Steven Rosenberg goes way out of his way be nice to Windows 2000 in comparing it nicely to specific Linux Distros.

Microsoft aims Linux patent FUD at devices: Microsoft signs a deal with LG Electronics that extends LG's protection onto the embedded devices they make. Now if MS could just make it illegal to run Linux on computer hardware, Hmm.

The New Distro: I saved this article for last because it goes the real heart of the matter when it comes to Microsoft and their money. One of our regular forum members devnet asks: "How much does it cost to buy you? Do you have a price? Can you be paid off?

First off my apologies for delay in getting the "LXer Weekly Roundup" to you. Yesterday was my Birthday and I am also out of town visiting family. So between my celebrating and well, my celebrating its been an interesting "morning". We have some great article selections this week for your reading pleasure.

A challenge to all Linux Users in the World: A recent posting by George Ou about Windows Home Server brought out a lot of responses from the Linux community. I think that Microsoft deserves to get some competition.

Of Insecurity Complexes and Other Great Adventures: Are we seeking "love" in all the wrong places? I don't think so. I think everyone deserves a chance to take a look at Free and Open Source Software. Before moving on from TUX500, I am asking everyone here and other places to do one thing: don't ever forget where it all came from!

Linux Distribution Guide: This is a brief 4 page guide to the world of Linux distributions, primarily aimed at individuals who are new to the Linux scene, and who are thinking about taking the plunge and trying Linux for the first time.It also has some gaping holes in the selections provided but it is not bad overall.

Eben Moglen: GPLv3 not about MS and Novell: Joe Barr writes "One of the highlights of my visit to San Diego for the Red Hat Summit was the opportunity to sit down one-on-one with Professor Eben Moglen. From that interview, we have selected six segments on various topics for your viewing pleasure, and will be publishing one each day this week. First up, an explanation of all the things that GPLv3 is about other than the MS/Novell deal."

Microsoft's scare tactics protecting profits, says Linux Foundation: The Linux Foundation's Jim Zemlin says Microsoft's recent patent claim against Linux and the open source community is a furphy, alleging it is a delaying tactic to merely help protect its profits, according to a column penned last Friday in Business Week.

A little history of Fuddenheim: Hans Bezemer does a great job of using a story where the names are changed but you still know who the characters are in this funny histroy of "Fuddenheim".

Sun Microsystems Powers the First Productivity Suite in the Sky: Singapore Airlines, the First Airline to Offer a Productivity Suite while in the air, has chosen Sun Microsystems Star-Office as its software of choice.

Ronin: Logged Off (9 July 1943 - 27 May 2007) - Celebrating the Life of Jim Farnsworth: Jim Farnsworth, known to many as "jimf" or "Ronin", logged off the IRC channel, #life, Sunday morning in a hospital in Kenosha, Wisconsin. As an active member of the LXer community, we'd like to help our readers celebrate Jim's impact on all of us.

RPM Project Roadmap: RPM Package Manager (RPM) relaunched under rpm5.org with a roadmap towards RPM 5.0 http://rpm5.org/ -- 2007-05-29 -- at its 10th anniversary and together with a new roadmap towards version 5.0, the project environment of the popular Unix software packaging tool RPM Package Manager (RPM) was relaunched under the domain rpm5.org by the newly formed RPM project team, further on lead by RPM's primary developer Jeff Johnson.

Why Novell Must Not Crash and Burn: Glyn Moody thinks that Novell crashing and burning would be very bad for the Open Source Community. Well Glyn, some of us think that it wouldn't be so bad.

Sabayon's Fabio Erculiani: "Users first and choice makes the tasty dessert among the distro's": Our Senior European Editor Hans Kwint interviews Fabio Erculiani of Sabayon Linux which is currently No.7 on Distrowatch.

You discover something new everyday: An LXer reader "tracyanne" writes about the joy of active desktops in KDE.

Novell, Heal Thy Self: Ken Starks writes: "They are purchasing software so that the software they've already bought will work. You have the answer to that problem right in the palm of your hand. Why haven't you mortgaged the farm to advertise the obvious answer to their problem?"

The dark art of removing the Flash plugin from Firefox in Ubuntu Linux: Steven Rosenberg finds out the it is easy to get the plugin for Flash in Firefox but that getting rid of it is an entirely different story.

Windows - still the only way to go?: In our FUD article of the week the author decides that checking his facts was just a little too much trouble.

l

I found out today that my friend Jim Farnsworth died Sunday, he had recently gotten a very bad flu bug and it unfortunately led to his death. To many who have visited LXer he was known as 'jimf' and to many on the Mepis and Debcentral IRC channels he was known as 'R0nin'. Jim was a Linux user before it was called Linux. He used to be a computer engineer before he retired years ago and he worked on Unix mainframes and a hundred other types of computers you or I have never heard of.

Jim helped me to switch from SuSE to Debian some months ago. He taught me a lot about Linux and a lot about life along the way. We would talk to each other almost every night on IRC and give each other a hard time and help others who needed it. He was old enough to be my Grandfather and for my part he kinda was. I could talk to him about things that I just couldn't talk about with a lot of other people. It is that kind of comfort level that endears someone to you very quickly and very deeply. His main motivation was to help people learn about Linux and to help them out with advice if they needed it.

I already miss you Jim. May you rest in peace my friend.

Guess what? Dell is selling computers with Linux Pre-installed and our own Don Parris was on top of the story from the beginning. More details came out concerning the Microsoft-Novell deal, IBM looks to be "opening up" development and with the Indianapolis 500 being run today the Tux500 campaign comes to a very successful close.

Moglen: SUSE Vouchers Have No Expiration Date! (Unlike MS's Patent Bullying): In this article Growklaw reports that Eben Moglen said that the SUSE vouchers Microsoft is distributing have no expiration date so they would then be subject to the GPLv3 which I think would most likely break the MS-Novell deal. Why am I not sad?

Railsconf 2007 roundup: Our own Sean Lynch aka 'number6x' attended the Railsconf 2007 and submitted this overview of the show.

Microsoft's Patent on a Pile of Baloney: In this editorial by Carla Schroder, she states plainly: "..Because there is no patent threat. None at all." and she's right, there isn't.

Microsoft is not the real threat: This post by Mark Shuttleworth on his blog is interesting in that Mark really tries to tell us that Microsoft is not a real threat to the Open Source community. Sorry Mark, but I can't walk down that road with you because I have evidence to the contrary.

From MP3 to OGG: Freeing Sound from the Chains of Proprietary Software: The Free Software Foundation (FSF) has launched a campaign to convert the world to OGG, a non-proprietary alternative to MP3 audio files. It’s called the PlayOGG Campaign. This is an issue for me because I am a musician and I listen to a ton of music and I still need to convert a lot of my collection over to OGG.

Five Tired Old Myths About GNU/Linux: Don Parris gives some old myths a new review: "Would you believe that, in 2007, there are people who still blame Linux for the lack of hardware vendors who advertise Linux support and who believe that the Bash project's evangelists are hurting Linux uptake?"

'The List': Open Source Advocates Unleash Fury at Microsoft: You have to read this and then go and add your name to "The List". It is a list where you can sign up to ask Microsoft to sue you for using Linux. I signed it, and I am glad I did.

You cannot advertise an iGasm, says Apple: This article has nothing to do with Open Source but I just had to include it in my round-up because it is so darn funny. It goes to show just how far the "i" word can really go.

Why Is Dell Hiding Their Ubuntu Boxes?: During the Dell Ubuntu rollout Don Parris kept us up to date on where, and if you could find the Linux offerings on Dell's website.

Automounting removable devices on Debian: I had this very problem come up last week because my computer all of a sudden stopped recognizing my external Hard Drive. I fixed it before this article came out but I had to figure it out the hard way.

IBM looks to open up development: IBM is experimenting with opening up its software development process to see if developing applications the open source way could work for them. Jerry Cuomo, CTO of IBM said "The reward of getting our information out there is going to be amazing and critical to the future of IBM's software,". I think he is right.

Novell Goes Public with MS Patent Agreement Documents: Novell has filed its delayed annual report with the SEC, which includes the technical co-operation and patent agreements it entered into with Microsoft in November 2006. It looks like Eben might be right about the GPLv3 effect.

Tux500: The End of a Campaign, the Beginning of a Movement: At Noon EDT, the Tux 500 campaign came to an end. The campaign was a success on many levels. Linux was noticed by the sports and mainstream press and it raised the awareness of the need for Linux marketing in general. Hats off the the tux500 guys, now its time to race!

First OpenOffice virus emerges: I gave Matt Hartley a pass this week because I just couldn't get this one out of my head. You better lookout, there's a virus that affects OpenOffice! Oh No! For the first time in history there is a virus that OpenOffice is susceptible too. Now run and buy that $700 copy of Office2007 right now before it gets you.

The big stories this week are Microsoft spreading the FUD of actually putting a number on the amount of patents that Linux supposedly infringes upon and Dell trying to get their Linux advertising right. The key word being "trying". So much for just one FUD article of the week..

Report: Microsoft says open source violates 235 patents: Microsoft top lawyer Brad Smith alleges in a magazine report that the Linux kernel and OpenOffice.org violate hundreds of the company's patents.

Metric equivalent of Microsoft fonts for Linux: Red Hat is going all out to make sure the Open Source remain truly open. And the latest offering from this company is a gift in the form of fonts which are the metric equivalent of most commonly used Microsoft fonts and released under an open license as this article indicates.

Scared Microsoft just spreading Linux patent FUD: Interesting take on the 235 patent infringements argument, suggesting that Microsoft is running scared of open source and spreading FUD in an attempt to bully people into paying some kind of Microsoft Tax.

Clever IT use slashes carbon dioxide output: Switching off your computer at the end of day saves about 75 percent of the electricity it uses which could reduce the amount of carbon dioxide pumped into the atmosphere by more than 500kg. This advice is obviously for people and businesses that do not have mission critical software running and I am not sold on his statistics either.

Giving Up on Microsoft: The author writes, "Although I'm still satisfied with my place in the Microsoft development universe, some developers desperately want off the Microsoft treadmill. Mike Gunderloy is a notable example."

Microsoft's reignites its war on Linux: Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer on May 14 claimed that "Linux violates over 228 patents. Someday, for all countries that are entering WTO [the World Trade Organization], somebody will come and look for money to pay for the patent rights for that intellectual property." With that comment, Microsoft declared war against Linux and open source yesterday... Oh wait. My mistake, Ballmer made that attack in November 2004.

Dell's Ubuntu Deal Still On: Our own Don Parris writes: A missing post on Direct2Dell site, especially viewed against the backdrop of their latest arrangements with Microsoft and Novell, prompts questions about the Dell's Ubuntu deal. The deal is definitely still "on".

LXer 'classics': 101 patents Microsoft may infringe: Our own Hans Kwint re-posts an older LXer story that was released in 2005 showing patent numbers where parts of Microsoft might infringe upon.

Microsoft patent claims hint at internal issues: A Microsoft move to seek patent royalties from open-source distributors and users may be an attempt to use legal threats to deflect attention from company problems. Microsoft Corp.'s aim to seek patent royalties from open-source distributors and users may be an attempt to use legal threats to deflect attention from larger questions surrounding its business, including lack of interest in new versions of core products and lackluster profit from new wares.

Linus Torvalds Responds To Microsoft Patent Claims: Linus Torvalds, lead developer of the Linux kernel, has a sharp retort to Microsoft executives' statements in a Fortune magazine article that Linux and other open-source code violate 235 Microsoft patents.

Open letter to Novell: Release the patent numbers!: LXer reader Sander Marechal writes: The technology industry has been in a buzz since last Monday's Fortune article in which Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith claims that the GNU/Linux operating system infringes 235 of Microsoft's patents. Microsoft refuses to tell the community what those patents are, but they told you, Novell.

The Microsoft FUD Campaign vs. the Customer: Almost everything that can be said has been said about the latest moves by Microsoft to create Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt (FUD) about Linux. Countless pundits and analysts have pointed out that Microsoft threats are toothless. Some have noted that Microsoft has singled out Linux and OpenOffice, the biggest threats to its monopoly on operating systems and office suites. Surely Microsoft could claim that the *BSDs infringe on similar patents if not the same ones. But the *BSDs do not pose as great a threat to the company.

Tux500: Gregoire Appears to Be OK After Practice Crash: Stephan Gregoire, driver of the Linux-sponsored car in this year's Indianapolis 500, climbed from the car under his own power this afternoon, after hitting the wall in the short chute between turns 1 and 2. The rear end of the car appeared to get loose and swing around as he entered turn 1, and although he was nearly able to save it, the rear of the car made contact and slid down the wall.

Tux500: Stephan Gregoire Suffers Broken Vertebra in Crash: The author writes, "I just got off the phone with Ted Woerner of Acceleration Marketing, and I'm floored. Stephan suffered a broken vertebra in his crash this afternoon. This is a very sad day."

Can Dell Fix Their Google Ad Campaign?: Don Parris catches up with Dell on their ad campaign: LXer inquired about Google's advertising program to find out why Google ads show up with the words "Dell Linux Desktop", even though Dell hasn't yet launched its line of Ubuntu-based computers, and whether Google considers the practice misleading. Can Dell fix the misleading advertising problem?

Madtux and Vector Linux Announce NEW Linux PCs from $139.00 USD: MadTux, a leading Linux hardware vendor established since 2000 and Vector Linux, a popular open-source operating system, formed in 1999, are pleased to announce the release of the Lean, Mean, Green Vector Machine. Consumers everywhere will now have the choice of the fastest Linux distro on their desktops. The Lean, Mean, Green (LMG) Vector Machine is offered in a number of configurations, ranging from bleeding edge 3.3GHz 64-bit performance to the reliable but affordable $139 PC.

Google talks open source: Every time you use Google you're using Linux. So says Google programs manager Chris DiBona in a wide ranging interview that also touches, naturally, on the Microsoft patent threats and what it means for businesses like Google.

Linux-powered OLPC on "60 Minutes" May 20: In our Linux gets the attention of big media story, CBS TV's "60 Minutes" will feature the Linux-powered OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) device on Sunday, May 20 at 7 p.m. EDT/PDT. Project director Nicholas Negroponte will talk about his dream of putting a laptop computer into the hands of every child as an educational aid.