Sun Microsystems has posted an analysis of Microsoft’s .NET strategy. “Is .NET a radically new and innovative platform, as Microsoft claims? Or is it another migration path for Windows developers who have not yet embraced the Java platform?” asks Madhu Siddalingaiah.

Slashdot readers discuss an article by Ian Murdock at DebianPlanet talking about the differences between “pure” and “commercial” Debian.

Slashdot readers sound off on this submission: “It seems lately that a whole lot of the discussion on
Slashdot centers around copyright law. Napster, DeCSS, the GPL; in all
of these discussions the fundamental power over which there is a struggle
derives from the law of copyright. And in all these cases, the fundamental
existence of copyright is hardly ever questioned. However, copyright is
not a law of nature. Such force as it has is a product of international treaty …”

A column at Technocrat advocates Internet voting as a way to combat election fraud: “All in all, Peer-To-Peer, rather than Client/Server would seem to be the only
way to go, to avoid the Florida Fiasco in future. But, like I said, there’s not a hope
that’ll ever happen. Too much rides on there BEING crises for those with the
power to make changes to ever make such a change.” ZDNet UK also examines the possibility of Internet voting.

The Register follows up on an earlier story: “The SDMI (Secure Digital Music Initiative) group has announced, despite earlier
claims to the contrary, that practically all of the 447 entries to the ‘Hack SDMI’
challenge bounced off. This would mean all in the garden was lovely, if it weren’t for
the pesky Princeton University researchers led by Edward Felten, who stoutly
maintains that SDMI is toast, and says the Princeton team will be publishing its
results by the end of the week.”

CNet reports that Yahoo’s president is telling investors “not to be fooled into thinking the Web was a passing fad just
because so many companies had withered along with Net hysteria.” Wishful thinking?

Do any Linux users want America Online? Gateway thinks so. The Register reports that Gateway will announce its Transmeta-based, AOL-oriented Net appliance Friday. CNet has more.

InfoWorld reports that Minnesota wearable computer maker Via has chosen Transmeta’s Crusoe chip for its belt-attached computer because of the chip’s low heat and low power requirements. CNet has more, including information that the U.S. Army is testing the Via wearable computer.

ZD Net has a brief saying Red Hat has named Kevin Thompson, its vice president of operations, as its new chief financial officer.

“Ah, life is good with DSL. Everyone has enough bandwidth to have fun.

Then it happens. Susan and I both get knocked off our machines. The login
prompt flashes on our screens. Susan and I both try to log-on. I try telneting
back into the server. Nothing works. I power down the server and waited for
it to reboot. The machine boots up — and everything looks fine. Until I try to
log on.

Recent headlines jump into my mind — I must have an intruder. I rip out the
Ethernet cable, hoping I’ve disconnected in time to keep the hacker from
hosing my box. I become very angry. I ponder my next move.” From justLinux.com.