Linux Today posted this note from Alan Cox.

“Where do you want to go today?” may
be a Microsoft catch phrase – but the company
seems unsure about where it wants to go with
Internet Explorer. MSNBC reports.

From ZDNET: “The deal, the biggest in U.S. history, closed one day
after the one-year anniversary of when the No. 1 Internet
service provider said it would purchase the media giant.
At that time, AOL shares were trading at $72.875,
valuing the union at almost $164 billion.”

MSNBC tells us: “To avoid Microsoft Access 2000 from locking up, don’t mix
ActiveX Data objects transaction methods with Jet 4 Data
Definition Language transaction statements.”

ZNDET reports that pocket PCs, sporting high quality images that
can zoom in on specific detail without
becoming distorted, are being developed.

The company is relocating its West Coast office, adding a new western
regional manager and is spinning off its computer hardware sales operations, according to LinuxPR.

From Infoworld: “IBM delivered the first in what is expected to be a
series of products that makes it easier for developers and corporate
users to tie its AIX and Linux operating environments together.

The AIX Toolbox for Linux Applications is designed to build Linux
applications that can take advantage of AIX’s full range of
capabilities. It also gives users more flexibility in deploying a mix of
AIX and Linux applications for e-business solutions running natively
under either AIX or Linux.”

ZDNet reports on IBM’s latest ThinkPad, which uses neither keyboard nor mouse. It uses pen and paper for input.

Red Herring ponders Microsoft’s conspicuous lack of presence in the portable gaming market in spice of its effort to break in to the game-console market.

– by Tina Gasperson –
On Sunday, Fujitsu will announce the March 2001 release of Liberator, its Red Hat Linux-based point-of-sale (POS) software for retailers. The system, which emulates older proprietary DOS-based set ups, was created to run on Fujitsu’s TeamPOS 2000 terminal.
Don Paschal, the director of retail marketing for Fujitsu, says, “Liberator is a Linux operating system with the appropriate services that make it emulate the 4690 OS. You can take your IBM POS application and put it on the Liberator and it will run. So your host interfaces don’t have to change.”

This should make it easy for retailers to make the switch, he says. Of the millions of POS retailers out there, many are finding that their systems are increasingly behind-the-times, with the standard non-graphical user interfaces and fairly steep learning curves for new employees. With Liberator, companies can train new hires quickly because of the easy-to-use GUI and updated capabilities that include multimedia and touch-screen functionality.

Fujitsu had several reasons for going with Linux when they needed a base OS for the new terminal, says Paschal. “The licensing prices were attractive. And we wanted something you could do a remote program load with so you don’t have to have a hard drive in the cash register. Plus, Linux is getting a lot of favorable publicity and buzz in the industry,” causing retailers to perk up their ears and take notice of a new product based on the free operating system.

Liberator isn’t the first POS software that runs on Linux, but it is the first time a major company has taken the initiative in designing an entire hardware and software solution based on Linus Torvalds’ operating system. “We [want] to allow retailers who have IBM POS applications running today on 4690 OS an alternative in both hardware and operating systems,” says Vic Scott, Fujitsu’s director of platform support. “Liberator achieves this goal by enabling retailers to run their 4690 POS application on Fujitsu’s POS hardware.” Additionally, says Scott, the retailer benefits from the additional capabilities of a standard Red Hat Linux distribution.

When asked about the release of source code for modifications to the kernel, Scott said, “These changes will, of course, be made available under the GPL,” but, he adds, Liberator was created specifically to run on Fujitsu’s POS hardware. The bulk of the system is actually proprietary, much like TiVO’s practically proprietary “replay TV” application, whose secrets are closely guarded.

Fujitsu’s new system also makes use of the Java POS standard, developed by Sun and employed by major retailers like Home Depot and Sears. The Java POS, incidentally, runs on newer releases of the 4690 OS, providing a graphical user interface for non-Linux converts as well.

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