Gaël Duval writes: “As the result of an Open Bid process initiated by the French “Union des Groupements d’Achats Publics” (UGAP), MandrakeSoft has been awarded a contract to equip Linux server software to French government agencies and ministries. MandrakeSoft is a world leader in Linux and Free Software solutions.

This new contract enables MandrakeSoft to provide Linux software and related services to an increasing number of government agencies.

The UGAP contract is guaranteed for a two-year period. UGAP is the French procurement agency for more than 28,000 public establishments. The agency also provides services to private corporations that have public service missions. UGAP works with public establishments (such as schools, universities, town halls, research groups, etc.) to reduce costs by offering large-volume purchasing and by providing access to special products & services with partners such as MandrakeSoft.”

All details are available at:
http://www.mandrakesoft.com/company/press/pr?n=/pr / usiness/2247.

Mikael Pawlo writes: “The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School is excited
to announce the grand opening today of a new cyberlaw community discussion forum: Greplaw.

Our (admittedly lofty) goal? To make Greplaw the most interesting, useful,
and frequently updated source of Internet law and policy news and discussion on
the Internet.

How do we plan to do that? By connecting with the ever-growing number of
cyberlaw-related news sites and law weblogs. That way, we can provide a
common forum for the processing and integration of ideas and perspectives on
developments that impact the Internet community as a whole: the evolution of
copyright, the development of DRM technology, the enactment of new
Internet-related legislation, legal aspects and implications of free software and open source, privacy issues and more.

Greplaw is run by Harvard Law School students and alumni and geared for a
broad audience. Thus our aim is to make cyberlaw understandable and
accessible to those who are new to the subject, while giving those
already “in the know” a daily dose of interesting tidbits to chew on.

We also expect to bring a little attitude into the mix.

With this announcement we invite the Internet community to join the Berkman
Center to weigh in with story submissions, ideas, and (of course) opinions.

Come check it out. We’ll see you there!

Regards

The Greplaw staff

Anonymous Reader writes: “This month, CIO Insight features a roundtable discussion of open source’s corporate future. Nine pundits and IT execs talk about deployments past and future and debate open source’s fit with big business.”

John Gowin writes: “If you haven’t played BZFlag yet, now’s the time to give it a try. An update to the already cool 3D tank game was released on Wednesday, June 19, and the new client (1.7e6) has added some nice touches to an already mature game.

In our recent review of BZFlag two months ago, we described the game and gave you some strategy hints. One of the keys to the game’s strategy is to understand the flags in the game and how they can be used to combat other players. Certain flags bestow powerful gifts to the bearer while other flags are designed to specifically combat the bearer of another flag. Not all flags grant a bonus either.”

Read the article at LinuxOrbit.com.

Emma Wischhusen writes: IBM announced today the opening of the
first center in New York City to help the financial services industry
deploy Linux® solutions. The Linux center, which will be based in IBM’s
landmark building at 590 Madison Avenue, will include hardware, software
and services from IBM as well as various participating companies, designed
to help financial services customers test and implement Linux applications.
The center represents an initial investment of more than $1 milllion from
IBM.

“IBM is viewed as a leader in Linux and open solutions, and it is a
natural evolution of our long standing partnership for J.D. Edwards to
participate in IBM’s Linux Center of Competence,” said Les Wyatt, senior
vice president and chief marketing officer, J.D. Edwards. “J.D. Edwards
collaborative CRM solution, working with IBM hardware and software in the
Linux Center of Competence, will allow us to address the flexibility and
scalability requirements of financial services customers.”

IBM’s Linux Center of Competence (Linux CoC) will provide the financial
sector with a full range of support for Linux, including access to IBM
hardware, software and services to evaluate and test key applications on
Linux, secure technical advice, participate in Linux training courses and
educational programs, attend community events, as well as work in a
hands-on environment with key ISVs, Linux distributors and Business
Partners.

“In the face of a challenging economy, IBM customers in the financial
sector are moving to Linux because of its low cost, powerful security,
stability and flexibility,” said Steve Solazzo, General Manager, Linux at
IBM. “But, most importantly, they are moving to Linux because it enables
their deployment of applications that give them competitive advantage. The
breadth of customers, Business Partners, ISVs, and vendors that are
participating with IBM in the Linux Center of Competence is a clear
indicator that there is demand on Wall Street for complete Linux
solutions.”

At the center, financial services customers will have an opportunity to
test several types of Linux solutions including:
IBM’s entire eServer product line including, Intel-based xSeries
systems, powerful and inexpensive Linux clusters that transform the
processing of quantitative applications to distributed applications in
brokerage or branch locations, and Linux mainframes to take advantage of
the cost savings associated with server consolidation.
IBM’s TotalStorage products including, the Enterprise Storage Server,
code-named Shark, network attached storage, and tape storage to provide
storage consolidation, improve the availability of information and
ensure that it is protected and provide disaster recovery solutions.
Industry leading integration software that streamlines business
processes, making it easier and less expensive to share information
across a variety of applications throughout a corporation and its remote
locations.

SunGard, JD Edwards, VERITAS Software, and Sybase are among the premier
firms whose technologies will be available in the IBM Linux Center. In
addition to the IBM Learning Services courses available, these Business
Partners and participating companies will provide seminars and hands-on
training sessions for customers using their Linux applications.

“As part of the drive to help clients reduce Total Cost of Ownership, IBM
and SunGard are exploring Linux as part of a Server and Application
consolidation plan that will help SunGard and IBM customers integrate their
application environments to speed processing of financial transactions,”
said Mack Gill, Director, Alliance Programs.

Linux Center of Competence Offerings
Hardware and Software Capabilities
IBM will make its eServer product line available to users of the Center to
evaluate key financial industry applications on a variety of platforms
ranging from Intel® processor-based eServer xSeries servers to the IBM
eServer zSeries mainframe running Linux. To complement IBM’s eServer and
software products, IBM will also make available an extensive selection of
Linux enabled storage networking technologies from the TotalStorage family
including, “Shark” Enterprise Storage Server, FAStT, Network Attached
Storage and tape products.

As the leading software vendor in support of Linux, IBM will provide its
broad middleware portfolio across the eServer product line, including
WebSphere® infrastructure software, DB2® database, Lotus® Domino and
Tivoli® software. Using IBM hardware and software, the Center will provide
real-world settings to show users how to streamline processes by
integrating applications; maximize client information to strengthen
customer relationships; and share key data more efficiently across an
organization.

The Eclipse, open source platform will also be supported in the Center lab.
With over 1 million downloads, Eclipse is quickly becoming a key
environment for developers. IBM will make its Eclipse-based WebSphere
Studio tools — which span the entire middleware portfolio — available in
the Linux Center, giving software programmers access to a single,
integrated set of tools that help reduce development costs and increase
productivity.

IBM Global Services Support and Teaching Capabilities
IBM Global Services (IGS) will offer the expertise of its technical staff
to assist in specific client engagements including porting efforts,
benchmarks and proof of concept work.

Linux training courses will also be available through the Linux CoC. IBM
offers the most extensive Linux course portfolio in the market, with more
than 20 classroom-based courses, as well as e-learning courses featuring
live remote labs and e-tutors. IBM courses range from “Linux Basic
Training” to LPI and Red Hat certification programs. Along with Linux
administration certification, the Learning Services courses provide skills
and training on how to realign UNIX® skills and applications to leverage
Linux environments.

Linux Community Events and Speakers
IBM and a variety of Business Partners and participating companies will
regularly host speakers to discuss latest developments, trends and
technologies around Linux. In addition to key community speakers, the
Linux Center of Competence will be used by key industry groups, such as The
New York Linux Users Group, the New York New Media Association, New York
Software Industry Association, and the Java Users Group. The New York
Linux Users Group, whose members work on Wall Street and comprise the
largest Linux community in New York, will also use the Linux Center as its
homebase of operations, hosting monthly meetings, technical presentations,
speakers and industry events.

Linux Distributors, ISVs and Partners
As part of their ongoing commitment in support IBM’s Linux initiatives,
SuSE Linux will provide ongoing installation and technical support for the
IBM Linux Center. In addition, SuSE and its business partners will provide
assistance to the Linux CoC in porting client applications and integrating
enterprise solutions. Some key ISV’s that will work with IBM and help with
integration of applications include Axiom Software Laboratories, Inc., a
leading provider of enterprise data and risk management solutions, and
Intelligent Markets, a leading trading platform for securities dealers.

About IBM
IBM is the world’s number one server company and information technology
provider, with 80 years of leadership in helping businesses innovate. IBM
helps customers, Business Partners and developers in a wide range of
industries that leverage the power of the Internet for e-business. For more
information, visit http://www.ibm.com.

IBM, eServer, DB2, Websphere, xSeries, Tivoli, and zSeries are trademarks
or registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation in
the United States and other countries.

Lotus and Domino are trademarks or registed trademarks of Lotus Development
Corporation.

Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.

Intel is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation.

News.com has the audio interview, so you’ll need a player of some kind. Among the topics: Red Hat’s competition, which Szulik sees as Microsoft, Sun and UnitedLinux, and how Mozilla is important for running Linux on low-cost PCs.

– By Grant Gross –
As much as anyone, we believe the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution has received more than its 15 minutes of fame for bashing Open Source security and the GNU GPL in general in its Opening the Open Source Debate white paper released this month. But we couldn’t resist noting that AdTI is proudly telling its press contacts that the new version is now available — for a fee.
Yes, that’s right — the paper that’s been compared to an undergraduate research paper, that’s been called “poorly researched,” that’s mostly made up of mostly regurgitated old Microsoft positions, is now available for U.S. $5.95.

AdTI researcher Richard Sullivan notes, however, that there are “a number of places you can download the paper without paying for it.” If you really need to see this final version, we’d recommend hunting out a free download site — $5.95 is vastly overpriced.

Sullivan says the price is to pay for bandwidth costs — AdTI wasn’t expecting the kind of interest in this paper that it’s received, he claims, even though the original press release for the paper was filled with inflammatory rhetoric about Open Source software used in government being a potential target for terrorists. Any press release mentioning terrorism in its headline these days, especially one making such a leap to link itself to terrorism, is begging for attention. It’s worth noting that only three pages of the 18-page white paper deal with Open Source in government, and the potential for terrorism is barely hinted at.

This is the second version of the paper to be released on the Web. Last week, Linux and Main noted some of the differences between the two. We can’t decide if this is ironic or just plain funny, but the first, rough-draft version of the paper — which purports to raise Big Questions about Open Source security — was accidentally released to the Web by AdTI’s IT guy.

Maybe, just maybe, this little mishap might demonstrate that open code isn’t the cause of most IT security problems. Let’s call this category of security breach “operator error” — which might be responsible for a heck of a lot more security problems than Open Source code.

“We’re just journalists here,” Sullivan explains sheepishly while trying to explain how a 2-month-old rough draft happened to make it to the Web without the authors’ intervention. Which might beg the question, if you can’t upload your own documents to the Web, are you qualified to pass yourself off as an Open Source security expert?

Note to the AdTI “journalists”– there’s this great little GPLed program out there called gFTP …

The latest version of the study is mostly a grammar and spelling cleanup, Sullivan says, although Linux and Main noted at least one section was significantly rewritten. And on one of the first pages of the PDF I opened, I still noticed a couple of punctuation errors, but who’s counting?

Most important is the message of the study, which is mostly well-worn, rehashed arguments from Microsoft and other critics of Open Source and the GPL.

For example, from the conclusions:

“The BSD license enables companies, independent developers and the academic community to fluidly exchange software source code … GPL software is a different horse though .” This “BSD good, GPL bad” argument comes straight from Bill Gates’ mouth.

“Proprietary developers cannot integrate GPL software into their binary files without then changing their own software license to the GPL.” This sounds an awful lot like Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer’s “Linux is a cancer” comments from a year ago, although at the time, Ballmer seemed confused about what license Linux is under.

The GPL is a threat to intellectual property: “The GPL’s resistance to commonplace exchange of open source and proprietary has the potential to negatively impact the research and development budgets of companies … It stands to reason that if the ownership of intellectual property is affected, dollars spent on research and development would be at risk as well.” There’s nothing new here. Backers of the DMCA and other intellectual property expansionists have been making this argument for years.

Other assertions from the study:

1. Reverse engineering, widely used by GPL fans, threatens intellectual property and the software industry. (Can we see some numbers?)
2. If the incentive for developing complicated software changes, there might be a negative impact on the quality of software that’s created. (And proprietary software is such a shining example of great quality.)
3. Software companies should really consider the tradeoffs before using GPL software. (Yeah, and?)

So perhaps the nicest thing we can say about this white paper is that it does a somewhat adequate job of summarizing past criticisms of Open Source and Free Software. There’s no evidence of original thought, and it can hardly live up to its claim of opening a debate over Open Source that’s been going on for years. Perhaps a better title would be, “Rehashing the Open Source debate, at least the Microsoft side of it.”

So save your $5.95 — it’s better spent on fast food.

Slashdot links to a message from the linux-thinkpad mailing list saying IBM has decided to stop funding the Linux Thinkpad project.

IDG.net notes that IBM’s Linux test center is moving to its Manhattan offices between the Trump World Tower and Sony’s U.S. headquarters. Says one of IBM’s Linux people: “”This is another step in increasing the momentum of our customers using Linux. It will help IBM’s customers in the finance industries deploy applications.” News.com has more information about IBM trying to attract financial companies to Linux.

Jen Olsen writes: “As the days pass in 2002, folks in the corporate world and even in their home networks are realizing that security is a necessity. I don’t need to be telling you this since you are reading this article from a security related website. But I would like to take a few moments just to re-emphasize the need, not only for security, but also to pass the word along about just how import of a concept security really is.
Click here (Linuxsecurity.com) for the rest of the article.”