Anonymous Reader writes: “Silicon.com reports that in another significant milestone, Finland has announced a proposal embracing the use of Linux for all governmental agencies. Of course, this news is close to the heart of ‘Tux’, after all Linus Torvalds is a Finn and the creator of Linux” Read more at DesktopLinux.com.

From eWeek: “Attorneys for the states seeking tough penalties for Microsoft Corp.’s antitrust actions have backed off of a demand for a modular version of the Windows operating system, saying information sharing is more important than dismantling the Redmond, Wash., software maker’s flagship product.”

– By Robin
“Roblimo” Miller –
Today, the Internet Society
(ISOC)
announced that it is applying to take over
registration of “.org” domain names when
Verisign’s contract with ICANN expires on
December 31, 2002. ISOC is a non-profit group, and membership is open to anyone interested in the
Internet. It would certainly be fitting for an
“org” to handle “org” registrations, which were
originally supposed to be reserved strictly for
non-profits.
Get more information from
this
page.

There are about 2.4 million “org” names currently
registered. ISOC is one of them. Slashdot.org is
another, although many could correctly argue that
Slashdot is now a commercial entity, so Slashdot.com would
be more appropriate. (Note that Slashdot is now Slashdot.com as well as Slashdot.org. Note, too, that NewsForge.org
resolves to NewsForge.com.)

Often site owners, including OSDN, which owns
both Slashdot and NewsForge, register the same
name under multiple TLDs [top level domains] as a
purely defensive move, to keep others from using
the same name with a different suffix, as it were.
Perhaps putting “org” registrations under control
of a strong, highly respected group like ISOC, a
true non-profit with a wide membership base
(anyone can join, including you) will help clear up some of this
confusion. It’s worth a try, anyway.

This is by no means a done deal. ISOC may or may
not be able to pull this off.

There’s a letter of support you can (and should) sign, and
you don’t need to be an ISOC member to put in your
two cents here, so you might as well go ahead.

Perhaps ICANN,
which controls the whole domain name schmear, will
listen, although there’s no way to be sure.
ICANN’s record of listening to the voice of the
general Internet populace is, at best,
spotty.

Reuters (on News.com) reports that Sun Microsystems will announce a free software initiative (free as in beer) aimed at undercutting Microsoft “in the battle over Web services software.”
Sun plans to give away a basic version of its application server software, which runs on Linux, Windows and Unix.

Annette Oevermann writes: MontaVista Software, Inc., the company powering the embedded revolution, today announced that two Japanese firms, Nexterm Inc. and ELT Inc., have jointly developed an advanced thin-client terminal based on MontaVista? Linux®.

MontaVista Software will exhibit this new thin-client product, the Nexterm SE, at its Booth 25-52 at Embedded System Expo and Conference (ESEC), June 26 and 28, 2002, Tokyo.

The Nexterm SE is a highly efficient and lightweight micro-client that executes all terminal applications in a server-based computing environment. Thin-client terminals are perfect for businesses in which similar tasks are repeated by multiple users and the degree of PC usage is relatively low, such as in call centers, sales offices, schools, franchises, hotel guestrooms, banks, libraries, hospitals and ticket box offices.

?By using MontaVista Linux, we have been able to reduce our development time by one third, compared to traditional embedded OSes,? said Kaichiro Takeda, president of Nexterm, ?And because Linux is so flexible and easy to customize, we can provide our customers with specialized products that meet their individual needs.?

According to IDC, a market research firm, the demand for the thin-client terminals is expected to grow an average of 66 percent per year, worldwide, through 2004.

?Software developers in Asia can accelerate their development time with MontaVista Linux, supplemented by an able Linux professional system integrator such as ELT,? said Hitoshi Arima, vice president of Japan Sales, MontaVista Software. ?Nexterm?s project is a very good example of how embedded developers can successfully and easily move from a traditional embedded OS to embedded Linux.?

?ELT is responding to a rapidly emerging market demand for embedded Linux in Asia,” said, Hideto Sakamoto, president of ELT. ?Companies like Nexterm can significantly decrease time-to-market and lower development costs. We are happy to have contributed to the development of this new product.?

About MontaVista Linux

MontaVista Linux Professional Edition 2.1 is the next generation of the MontaVista Software?s classic cross-development platform and set of tool kits. Providing a standard development platform for designs, this award-winning product enables developers to create a broad range of embedded applications, from solutions for consumer devices to highly available telecommunications and data communications equipment. For more information, please visit http://www.mvista.com/pro/index.html

About Nexterm Inc.

Nexterm is a leading Asian vendor in the Mobile Internet Appliance market. Key products include Thin Clients, Mobile Webpads and Internet appliances. For more information, please e-mail info@nexterm.co.jp

About ELT Inc.

ELT is a Japanese solution provider that delivers comprehensive embedded Linux solutions for Asian customers, based on MontaVista Linux®. The company uses commercially available standard development tools from Advanced Data Controls Corp., Elmic Systems, Inc., GAIA System Solutions Inc., GAIO TECHNOLOGY Inc. Yokogawa Digital Computer Corp., and other major embedded vendors. ELT?s professional team also provides consultation and high-grade services such as porting existing software to Linux, customized hardware, driver IPs and middleware.

About MontaVista Software Inc.

MontaVista Software Inc. powers the embedded revolution by providing open-source systems software solutions for embedded developers. Founded in 1999 by real-time operating system (RTOS) pioneer James Ready, MontaVista Software?s principal products include MontaVista? Linux® Professional Edition and MontaVista? Linux® Carrier Grade Edition. The Professional Edition is a Linux-based embedded source and binary distribution, cross development platform and a set of tool kits for x86/IA-32, PowerPC, StrongARM, MIPS, SH, ARM, XScale, Xtensa and other microprocessor architectures. The Carrier Grade Edition is a second-generation high availability product that is an ideal Linux platform for telecommunications and carrier-grade applications. MontaVista Software also provides several complementary technology products addressing specific customer needs such as the Java development environment, high availability technology, powerful graphics toolkits and more. MontaVista offers developers a family of products and services for embedded design and development targeted for applications ranging from communications infrastructure to consumer devices.

Headquartered in the heart of Silicon Valley, in Sunnyvale, Calif., MontaVista Software is a privately held company funded by leading investors such as Alloy Ventures, US Venture Partners, RRE Ventures, WR Hambrecht + Co., IBM, Intel Capital, Panasonic and Sony Corporation. For more information about MontaVista Software, please visit http://www.mvista.com, email to info@mvista.com or call (408) 328-9200.

Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. MontaVista is a trademark of MontaVista Software Inc. All other names mentioned are trademarks, registered trademarks or service marks of their respective companies.

PR Contacts:

Nexterm Inc.,
Hiroshi Muto,
TEL: +81-3-5777-6444,
Email: muto@nexterm.co.jp

ELT Inc.,
Yoko Nagasawa,
TEL: +81-3-5469-8002, Email: info@emblit.co.jp

MontaVista Software Inc.,
Joe Samagond,
Director of Marketing and Corporate Communications,
TEL: (408) 328-9234, E-mail: jsamagond@mvista.com

Slashdotters discuss a story on Yahoo.com saying Red Hat and HP are collaborating on Linux for the Itanium processor. “Red Hat and HP have signed a deal under which (Red Hat’s) Advanced Server will be certified on and available with all of HP’s Intel-based ProLiant servers — not just Itanium systems, but also lower-end Xeon and Pentium versions and superthin ‘blade’ systems.”

– by Tina Gasperson –
As early as next week, Walmart.com will begin selling Microtel PCs loaded with
the Mandrake Linux distribution.
Keep your eye on Walmart.com for new Microtel systems bearing the Mandrake logo.
The systems will sell alongside the newly announced Lindows-based PCs, say sources. And continue to
look for more online retail envelope-pushing from Wal-Mart’s online wing, of all
places.

MandrakeSoft CEO Jacques Le Marois confirms the news this morning, and
company spokeswoman Margaret Waples says, while a contract with Microtel has not been
finalized, the company is working on getting Mandrake certified to run like clockwork
on the Microtel systems. Waples is hopeful that the dotted line will be signed and PCs up for sale by the end of next week.

Walmart.com and Microtel are getting a lot of press lately, mostly because
Walmart.com is the first major retailer to offer something other than the
standard Windows PC. With Walmart.com taking the first leap, it’s possible that
other stores will follow in selling bare systems and those with Linux
preloaded.

Walmart.com has a few well-placed electronics buyers who are savvy to Linux, and
a management team looking for ways to reinvigorate stagnant computer sales
numbers. The combination has resulted in innovations like the Windows-free Microtel line and has generated strong sales and low return numbers, a trend Walmart.com may hope will continue with the
introduction of Linux systems. According to sources, the buyers chose Lindows
first because of perceived user-friendliness.

But the move to Mandrake may be seen as a better one for the Linux world and for people
who want to purchase the Microtel systems with Linux, because Mandrake has been around for years, is already on the brink of a 9.0 release level and has an established reputation for providing
support. In support of LindowsOS, however, Rich Hindman of Microtel says that as
of Monday, June 17, the version of Lindows that lives in the systems sold
through Walmart.com is LindowOS 1.1, not the beta SPX mentioned in a quote from a Lindows PR spokeswoman in Tuesday’s report.

A source close to Walmart.com says that Lindows itself is “ready to roll,” and
that drivers are the only hold up. The Walmart.com units contain special custom
drivers written specifically for the Microtel project. “The only way someone can get
Lindows 1.1 is to buy a computer with it pre-installed,” says Hindman, vice president at Microtel.

There has been some disdain expressed in the Linux community over the perception that Lindows has been reluctant to release source code under the terms of the GPL. Brad Kuhn of the Free Software Foundation expressed some concern that Lindows
was going to market at Walmart.com without a fitting EULA. “We have promised [Lindows CEO Michael] Robertson a rewrite
of his EULA, and it is waiting for time from our general counsel to write
one. We do wish he’d told us in confidence that this Wal-Mart deal was
imminent; we could have expedited the work on the EULA if we’d known.”

HAL 8999 writes: “I don’t know what it is with Linux and Main suddenly devoting so much space to notebook computers, but Dennis E. Powell raises some good points in his column this week. It would make a lot of sense if more notebook parts were modular, so buyers could order the machine they want rather than accept what’s shipped. It would get rid of the Win modem hassle, too.”

John McCreesh writes: “Lovely little article in
BBC News
about the time when the US was the international Dr. Evil of intellectual property rights.”

A scathing indictment against ISS, who released vulnerability information about Apache without notifying the project first. They say they didn’t tell Apache because they’re “not a company.” Of course, there are calls for the guv’mint to get more involved – Homeland Security and something about too many cooks spoiling the soup. Read all about it at Wired.com.