From a column by James Turner of the Christian Science Monitor: For $49 a year, you can purchase your friends and family memberships in Ask Dr. Tech (www.askdrtech.com). This service provides unlimited 24-hour telephone tech support for the Windows software platforms (including Windows 2000) as well as the Office suite of tools and hardware support for many major manufacturers. According to a representative at the show, Linux support will be added soon.

ComputerWorld interviews Red Hat founder and chairman Bob Young about the company’s financial wherewithal to back key initiatives announced at LinuxWorld.

Caldera Systems’ proposed acquisition of SCO’s server and services business may not help the company remain competitive against strong Linux competitors, said analysts. While executives were explaining their plans to merge Unix and Linux last week, Caldera’s quarterly results raised concerns about the company’s future, reported ComputerWorld.

IDG looks at how several tech stocks, including VA Linux and Caldera, acted more like bricks-and-mortar stocks last week.
(Full disclosure: VA Linux owns NewsForge.)

eWeek columnist John Taschek takes issue with 2600.com’s assertion in the DeCSS case that code is free speech.

Some “bug hunters” who uncover security flaws in computer software and rush to issue public warnings may be helping hackers more than consumers, industry officials worry, reported The Associated Press.

More humor from Segfault: Joel Kurtz, sysadmin for UK-based ISP Daemon Internet, today announced a reboot of one of the company’s largest webservers. “It just kinda happened,” said Kurtz. When asked why the reboot took place, Kurtz became cagey. He later said “You know. You go to a friends’ and you type ‘rm -rf /’ on their computer and hang your finger over the return key?”
The Linux-based webserver returned to normal operation within 5 minutes, a spokesperson for Daemon Internet stated.

From a Reuters story: “Consumers and organizations concerned about cell phone radiation emissions may have gained a limited victory from mobile phone makers. Nokia, the world’s largest manufacturer, Motorola, and Ericsson are developing a standard to measure specific radiation absorption rates and plan to label cell phones with this information next year.”

Microsoft and Amazon.com have partnered to deliver e-books online, according to a story at TheStandard.com.

From the humor site Segfault (no, it’s not true): When asked for comment, Bill Gates replied: “I don’t know why people think I’m a nasty guy. I really thought I was a nice person. In fact, look out for my new book called, ‘The Road to Being a Nice Person’ which will be in stores in October.”