“Most of our discussion has focused on Linux as an inexpensive and viable alternative to existing solutions to math ed software. In addition to covering all that, I decided to ‘up the ante’ and push Linux as an operating system that is also capable of ‘state of the art’ applications. I was surprised to find out how many schools are already doing this. I think this is really one of the strong points for using Linux.” Check out the full report.

Micron Technology, one of the world’s largest memory chip makers, announced Monday that it has filed suit against high-speed memory interface technology developer Rambus. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Delaware, asserts violations of Federal antitrust laws, and also invalidity, non-infringement, and non-enforceability of Rambus’ patents, the Boise, Idaho-based memory supplier said. The full report is at PC World.

DeCSS, the DVD decryption software the MPAA tries to declare illegal, is a topic that touches politics, science and art, but has so far not been discussed in any of those contextes. DeArt aims to open the discussion in one of these fields – art. DeArt is an art contest, starting on September 1st and running until the end of the year, that accepts submissions of original artwork and will be judging them, including prices for the best pieces. Jon Johanson, one of the authors
of DeCSS, is a member of the jury. Emmanuel Goldstein, the MPAA’s target in New York, has also been invited. The full press release is at LWN.net.

Apple Computer has apparently fingered one of its own as the source of several recent leaks about products it hadn’t announced. In a statement issued Monday, the company said it had added the name of Juan Gutierrez, “an individual employed by Apple,” to a previously filed lawsuit alleging unauthorized disclosure of trade secrets, reports the San Francisco Chronicle.

Sun Microsystems, Inc. has announced it
will release the source code for the internationalization technologies for
the Solaris Operating Environment to X.org, a non-profit, international
consortium responsible for standards requirements in the X Window System.
This code, made available under the X license, will provide open source
software developers with an easy way to design applications which operate
in virtually all national language environments and among the operating
systems that utilize X-windowing technologies, such as Linux and Unix
variants. The press release is at LWN.net.

From a column at ZDNet UK: “OK, so Linux is still not ready for the desktop. But the Gnome Foundation will add to the effort to make it so, and Microsoft may even succumb to the lure of the lolly that it might make from selling applications for the platform, just as it sells software for the Mac. Even if the Office rumour proves false, the Gnome Foundation will increase pressure on Microsoft to challenge Linux’s one real advantage at the desktop: stability.”

Execs at Caldera Systems have been rolling out the red carpet to SCO integrators with mixed success for more than two years. But now, after buying a big chunk of the beleaguered Unix vendor, Caldera may have a pitch they can’t refuse. Check out an analysis piece at Sm@rt Partner.

Slashdot discussion on a former Microsoft employee describing how the software giant uses Unix.

A Trojan horse — a program that poses as a beneficial application, yet does something completely different — is making its way through the underground circles of Palm users, reports ZDNet.

Is Bill Clinton challenging Al Gore for the title of “Father of the Internet”? It sounded that way Sunday in Abuja, Nigeria, as the president addressed a group of Nigerian and American business leaders. — Submitted by JimD