This SearchEnterpriseLinux.com roundup of Linux news includes information about a high-level security product for Linux developers and news about who will be speaking at the 2000 Linux Conference in Japan.

–Max Kincora

From Canada Newswire: Caldera Systems, Inc.,
a “Linux for Business” leader, today announced the appointment of John H.
Terpstra to the position of technology vice president and OEM strategist.
Terpstra, a former TurboLinux executive and cofounder of the SAMBA project,
joins Caldera’s chief technology office.

The Register follows up on an earlier press release: “We’ve seen various attempts to widen Linux’s appeal among mainstream users by
getting rid of as much of the open source’s complex installation procedure as
possible. The latest idea comes from French start-up Linbox and it essentially
eliminates installation altogether.

Linbox’s DemoLinux distribution runs straight off an auto booting CD-ROM, creating
a RAM disk in the host PC’s memory and installing itself there. That’s pretty much
what most distributions do as part of their own installation process before going on to
copy the open source OS onto the PC’s hard disk.”

Giant Industries Inc. turned to Linux to solve its computer crashes and poor system performance. This SearchEnterpriseLinux.com story reveals that down time at the company is now almost zero and costs are decreasing. (Disclosure: VA Linux, mentioned in the story, owns NewsForge.)

–Max Kincora

“Linux is downloaded more frequently than NT or any other operating system. As soon as we announce any product on Linux, we see an incredible spike in our developer registrations.” So says Charles Rozwat, executive vice president of server technologies for Oracle Corp., in an interview with SearchEnterpriseLinux.com. Oracle was one of the first vendors to port its software to the Linux operating system. Today the company says the gamble paid off and from now on everything they make will run on Linux.

–Max Kincora

“Coresma, a leading provider of programmable broadband technology, will be previewing its CICM 6001RD internal, host-based cable modem reference design running on Linux and Windows at the Western Cable Show 2000 Booth #3661. Built around the Coresma 6001 MAC chip, the CICM is a fully operational internal DOCSIS 1.1-ready cable modem that adapts to various broadband applications that require large, high-speed data transfers and use Linux or Windows as their operating system.” Press release available at Internet Wire.

“When running slocate, users are able to specify a database of their own as a commandline parameter. A subtle vulnerability exists in slocate’s reading of these user-supplied databases that may allow a local user to execute arbitrary code with effective gid slocate.” Full details at SecurityFocus.com.

From ZDNet News: “Pioneer of the first ever GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), Nvidia is now introducing a programmable GPU, seven times faster than the original Geforce 2 Ultra, the NV15. Confidential documents seen by ZDNet from the graphics chip manufacturer state the new chip will outperform previous processors even in complex 3D environments.”

ZDNet UK reports on the creation of the European Free Software Foundation: ” After receiving a blessing from the founder of the Free Software Foundation, Richard Stallman, the assembled programmers released a declaration of intent posted at the Foundation’s new European Web site, www.fsfeurope.org and also launched its official mailing list.”

Open Country.Net of Santa Clara recently announced that their web site www.opencountry.net is active, in beta stage, and they are eagerly seeking members of the open source community to test it out and give their feedback.Open Country is a community publisher, looking for home/small office users of Linux that have written programs that they might want to share with fellow users, while receiving rewards for their creation.

They also plan to include those who might be interested in writing, promoting or testing open source software. All efforts will be rewarded, and include free, un-biased software review by Open Country’s top “Geeks” (Linux Gurus).

Open Country was founded in 1998 by Paul Cubbage of Los Gatos. (Two new executives have been added to the team, with an announcment to come later this week.)

Long considered a “Unix Guru” in Silicon Valley, he has enlisted a talented team of “true believers” as he calls them. (Most work for deferred salaries, stock options or small stipends while awaiting funding.) Ever optimistic, Cubbage says, “We’ve several contingent funding offers, though, so all this sacrifice should be rewarded soon.” He was once the head of APX, the Atari Program Exchange which used a similar model, finding end users of Atari software that wanted to share their stuff with the world. A lot of former Atari programmers are now Linux “hackers”.

“Being rewarded with royalties, prizes and other incentives gives everyone a chance to be involved in the Open Source Movement,” said Cubbage, who is a big proponent of spreading the corporate wealth. “We also plan to give back to the community in a big way, once profitable (expected by 2002).”

For more information, or to submit a program or idea, please visit their site at Opencountry.Net or phone their headquarters in Silicon Valley at(408)248-8530. –Justine tenZeldam