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Crypto market opens up

Author: JT Smith

Expiration of RSA Security’s key patents this month are leading to new competition in the field. ZDNet.co.uk story discusses the future of commercial encryption, relays a boast by Baltimore Technologies that they will soon be the #1 pay-for encryption supplier.

Category:

  • Linux

Philippines President Estrada mocked by new Windows trojan

Author: JT Smith

“MosCom, the oldest Internet service provider in the Philippines, said the new virus spread as an
attachment to an e-mail which has ‘erap estrada’ as the subject heading.”
Story at Singapore Straits Times.

Category:

  • Linux

Tech art at Burning Man

Author: JT Smith

On-the-spot report from Burning Man about making technology-inspired art and art-inspired technology in the ad-hoc, one-week desert village, by Declan McCullagh at Wired.

Category:

  • Linux

Netcraft: Zeus Web server breaking from the pack

Author: JT Smith

Apache still dominates the web server roundup according to new Netcrafty surveys, but non-free British product (full license ~$1700) Zeus shows outstanding gains despite UK Prime Minister’s endorsement, says The Register.

Nokia steps up pressure with ‘chat’ phone

Author: JT Smith

The new sort-of Internet-enabled Nokia 3310 phone is scheduled to start shipping this month, according to a Reuters story at InfoWorld.

Weekly News Wrap-up

Author: JT Smith

By Grant Gross
Managing Editor

Life as a horse race
The news media tends to cover most everything like a horse race. Who gained ground today, and who lost? Who’s on the way up, and who’s on the way down? If you read enough of the media, you begin to think life is about competition, not cooperation.

In the spirit of the coming summer Olympics, we look at the gold medallists and the also-rans in the Open Source world this week.

Red Hat still ahead, but looking over its shoulder

International Data Corp. released its market-share study this week, and found that Red Hat continues to be the dominant Linux distribution, with more of the Linux market than its next five competitors combined. Yeah, yeah, no real surprise, but what may be a surprise: all of Red Hat’s competitors are increasing their market share. While the Linux market grew 89 percent from 1998 to 1999, Red Hat’s sales grew only 69 percent.

Linux 1, closed source 0

Moving away from internal competitions in the Open Source community, Linux itself got a boost in the race against certain closed-source operating systems when IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and Intel teamed up to form an independent lab to expand the operating system for heavy business tasks. Several media outlets covered the announcement, and LinuxPlanet chimed in with a good review: “The intersection of Linux and high end computing got a lift with an announcement that offers a pleasant splash of substance to end a month that had its share of convention-inspired hoopla and an inordinate amount of fascination with GUIs.”

Microsoft minus 1 million, everyone else breaks even

Speaking of everyone’s favorite closed-source software company, Microsoft was ordered in Federal Court Thursday to pay Bristol Technology $1 million in punitive damages for engaging in “wanton, reckless” and deceptive business practices.

Pretty Good Privacy misses the gold medal

The Pretty Good Privacy encryption software continued to take hits this week after last week’s announcement that it had some holes. Early in the week, security firm Network Associates promised a fix for versions 5.5.x to 6.5.3 the encryption software. Then afr.com.au raised concerns the whole encryption industry: “Network Associates’ announcement of a mile-wide back door in its PGP security software is deeply concerning. Not because PGP is the sole means of online security — on the best estimates, it boasts only 7 million users — but because PGP is the gold standard, and its breach casts a pall over the entire crypto industry.”

Robots 1, factory workers 0?

File this, maybe, under “robots vs. humans”: Brandeis University researchers announced this week that they have programmed AI computers design and build simple robot-type machines with little or no human help.

NewsForge highlights this week:

  • Check out columnist Jeff Field’s review of the Tuxtop Quartz 795+ laptop.

  • Internet veterans Rebecca Hargrave and Carl Malamud are proposing something called “antipatents,” as one way to cure what they see as a broken patent system in the United States.

  • Do you have an idea for a piece of Open Source software but don’t have the resources or know how to get it done? Check out news editor Tony Granata’s story about Cosource.com, a collaborative, reverse-auction Web site enabling international consumers and developers of Open Source products to work together to fund development.

  • And for those of you scoring at home: NewsForge posted approximately 450 stories between 8 p.m. Friday night, Aug. 25, and the same time Friday, Sept. 1.

  • Napster: Free speech or thievery?

    Author: JT Smith

    LinuxWorld challenges Napster supporters to revise their arguments.

    14 million Brits resist the Internet

    Author: JT Smith

    ZDNet analyzes a Which? study on British opinions of the internet. The study finds 1/4 of the British population do not want to be part of the internet revolution.

    Category:

    • Linux

    300 million users, 2 billion web pages

    Author: JT Smith

    ZDNet cites a study on the growth of the internet, which found an estimated 304 million regular users (about 1 in every 20 people on Earth) and 2 billion web pages. The internet is moving overseas, adds the story, as people world wide log on.

    Former Intel engineer faces charges

    Author: JT Smith

    A former Intel engineer is facing charges of insider trading. ZDNet has more.

    Category:

    • Open Source