Anonymous Reader writes: “Austin, TX Startup BroadQ, LLC. today announced the availability of their QCast Tuner software, which turns any PlayStation 2 into a digital media center. QCast Tuner allows the PlayStation 2 to manage and play high-quality digital music and video files (.mp3, mpg 1/2, mpeg4/DivX) stored on a networked computer in your home. QCast Tuner currently supports Linux and Windows desktops.

Users with a mod-chipped PlayStation2 can sign up for a free Beta copy, if they’re willing to test a downloadable version.”

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By John Lettice of The Register –

The prospect of Peru’s legislators mandating Free Software for government departments continues to move mountains. First we had Bill Gates’ shock donation to the Peruvian president, and now the U.S. ambassador to Peru has written a letter to the president of the Peruvian congress opposing the move, according to Wired.

The text of the letter has fallen into Wired’s clutches, apparently, but the ambassador should not be particularly surprised at it being leaked, considering the approximate direction he sent it in. There is no direct evidence in the excerpts published that Microsoft nobbled John Hamilton to do its bidding, but he protests that by excluding proprietary software companies such as Microsoft, Peru would be hurting an industry with the potential to create “15,000 jobs” there.

Presumably he got that number from the local chamber of commerce.

Hamilton, for your information, is a Clinton appointee from 1999, but Peru it would appear does not count as one of the prestige postings reserved for large-scale dispensers of pork. Hamilton is, as you can see here, a career Foreign Service man, and therefore knows what he’s doing. Apparently.

All Content copyright 2002 The Register

That’s the headline on a Newsfactor Network story that says, “According to analysts, Microsoft has finally accepted that the Internet, particularly e-business, is an ecosystem in which it is unlikely to be a dominant force. Unix, Linux and mainframes are not going anywhere…

.NET is the underpinning of Microsoft’s new model. And while it is overhyped and largely immature, it is still the future.”

InformationWeek adds its take to the news about Real Networks cautious moves in the general direction of Open Source, including the company’s addition of the Ogg Vorbis format to their next generation of servers.

“The Xbox Linux Project, drawing on the skills of programmers in the UK, Germany and the United States, released a pre-alpha version of the new BIOS on Sunday. When complete, the BIOS will give programmers control over the Xbox’s components and peripherals and allow the rest of the Linux operating system to boot,” according to ZDNet.

This is an interesting peek at the way non-Linux people thinking about using Linux might view several popular commercial Linux distributions. Read the article at VARBusiness for more.

IT-Director.com story begins, ” Stephen DeWitt, Sun Microsystem’s Vice-President for Content Delivery and Edge computing is the fifth Sun Exec to leave in less than a month. The company was slow to recognise Linux but DeWitt’s history as President of Cobalt, Sun’s edge device, made him a key player in the company’s Linux strategy. Add this to an Exec weakened by four other departures and losses in the latest quarter’s results, and the future looks unsure for Sun.” Editor’s note: this was picked up by our newsfeed as a “new” article and posted by mistake. Several alert readers called the error to our attention. Thanks.

At least, that’s what the inquirer says: “A POSTING BY Linus Torvalds on the LINUX KERNEL newsgroup yesterday has him praying that Intel will adopt its secret “Yamhill” project and turn to the ways of X86-64 righteousness.”

“Veritas Software Corp. plans to announce this week Linux versions of its clustering and NAS software. At the same time, the company will submit Linux kernel changes to partner Red Hat Inc.” eWeek story.

“Many rank-and-file Cisco employees are questioning the ethics of a sweetheart deal in which senior Borg enjoying a leave of absence have sold a skunk-works company, AYR Networks, back to the Collective for a cool $113 million stock swap,” says The Register.