CNET News.com takes a look back at this year’s leading privacy issues.

“Linux is currently going through the same stages the Internet did. It started off as a geeks-only area, but some very smart companies — IBM and so forth — saw the potential for the OS, just like very smart companies — Netscape — saw the potential for the Internet. These companies are the ones that are going to bring Linux to the home user. This business method has much in common with those early adopters that brought the Internet to the home user. Linux will become easier to use because, like the early days of the Internet, the difficulty in using it turned off a lot of people.” –Kelly McNeill

Wired News reports: “Online news sites are turning to a novel way to make some extra cash: requiring fees for links. The Albuquerque Journal charges $50 for the right to link to each of its articles. Localbusiness.com and Latino.com are more generous, and permit one to five links without payment. There’s just one catch. Legal experts say no U.S. law or court decision allows a website to successfully demand payment for links to its content.”

TurboLinux has released a security advisory for fetchmail-5-5.0-2 and earlier versions. “The updated IMAP server released in errata advisory RHSA:102-04 exposes a bug in fetchmail’s
implementation of the AUTHENTICATE GSSAPI command.” Details and patches available at LinuxToday.

From PlanetIT: “Jockeying to cut to the front of the Linux world, IBM has
demonstrated an uncanny affinity for the once-renegade
operating system, sinking not only dollars and
engineering time but also unimpeachable corporate
reputation into Linux products and enhancements.”

LinuxToday has posted Linus Torvalds latest update to the kernel.

From the Los Angeles Times: “The story so far: In a quest to end my dependence on Microsoft, I embarked on
a 14-day experiment. I tossed all my Microsoft programs and made Linux my
primary operating system.”

“If you have fond memories of Core War, or if you think the Mars rover would have been more interesting with a
rocket launcher strapped on, then MindRover: The Europa Project is for you. Lee Anderson lays out the basics of
designing your own rover and then setting it free to blast away other people’s creations.” Review at LinuxWorld.

From InfoWorld: “Turning up the pressure on its arch-rival Sun Microsystems, Inc., IBM on Wednesday shipped what it claims is the industry’s fastest Unix-based workstation, which is propelled by its copper-based processors.”

ZDNet’s Mary Foley writes “In 2001, we saw the single largest
corporate purchase of Linux, the
biggest Linux clustering installation,
the greatest gains for Linux
vis-à-vis Windows and Unix, the
largest number of Linux-made
millionaires (and millionaires gone
bust), not to mention the greatest number of news articles
hyping Linux. Makes you wonder if there’s anywhere for
Linux to go but down!”