Developers from both Open Source desktop environments tell Maximum Linux that they’re looking at some of Windows’ features. “We do actually try to copy the better features of Windows,” a KDE developer said. “But we also get inspiration
from Mac, BeOS and even OS/2.”

Sm@rt Partner reports that peer-to-peer devolpers, at a P2P work session this week, denounced Intel as authoritarian and told the chip maker to revamp its plans in that arena.

Maximum Linux asks the question and answers that being LPI certified can give you connections with big companies.

From a column at Linux World: “I asked for a
comprehensive self-hosting sample implementation of an LSB-compliant Linux distribution. In plain
language, that means I want a standard Linux distribution anyone can install and run. Every
commercial and nonprofit Linux distributor would start with this standard, and then add the unique kind
of value that does not cause incompatibilities.”

Maximum Linux reports on ALS, Day Two: “Tim O’Reilly has a new project up his sleeve called Peer-to-Peer. A conference for the project will take
place in February in San Francisco discussing Peer-to-Peer networking.”

There’s a format bug in the logging code of the mod_php3 module.
It uses apache’s aplog_error function, passing user-specified
input as the format string. The advisory is posted at LWN.net.

ZDNet has a short story about the number of downloads of the Open Source version of Sun’s StarOffice crashing the server Friday afternoon. Can you say Slashdotted? The Register adds this commentary: “Little by little Sun is getting religion, and when it comes to productivity
apps there’s not actually a great deal of choice, even before you
consider that Microsoft just bought a slice of the other contender.”

LWN.net has an advisory: “The version of curl as distributed with Debian GNU/Linux 2.2 had a bug
in the error logging code: when it created an error message it failed to
check the size of the buffer allocated for storing the message. This
could be exploited by the remote machine by returning an invalid
response to a request from curl which overflows the error buffer and
trick curl into executing arbitrary code.”

From Reuters: Scour Inc., an Internet file-swapping service a la Napster whose investors include Hollywood agent Michael Ovitz, said on Thursday it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

An eWeek story reports on an SEC filing that claims Corel will be able to port Microsoft’s .Net to Linux. But does Linux want it? The Ottawa Citizen adds: “Corel has become the insurance policy that Microsoft needs to ensure it
won’t be left behind if the Linux operating system takes off.”