Anonymous Reader writes, “Missed the big annual Embedded Systems Conference held recently in San Francisco? LinuxDevices.com’s Rick Lehrbaum brings you all the juicy details of the outstanding progress being made by Embedded Linux, in his customary report on ‘all things Linux at the Embedded Systems Conference.’ ” Read it here at LinuxDevices.com.

Slashdot story: “The Apache Software Foundation’s Apache HTTP Server, version 2.0.35, has now been released for General Availability. You can find the official announcement, and download the server, from their website. Be sure to try a mirror first. Congratulations to the HTTP Server Project for getting the final release out.”

“Each year, more money is spent on security, and each year, there are more incidents, more losses, and greater average losses. 2001 set records for security spending, security vulnerabilities, attacks, and security losses. 2002 is expected to be worse….” Read the rest at freshmeat.

– By James Jensen –

Linux is free, right? Well, yeah, the kernel is. But what most people don’t seem to realize is that their favorite distribution of Linux may not be so free. In fact, it may be illegal for you to give a copy of (whatever) Linux to your friends. I’m not talking about after the SSSCA/CDBTPA passes, but right now.Most, if not all, Linux distros are composed primarily of Open Source software, which users are free to copy and give to others. But a lot of them, including Mandrake Linux and Red Hat Linux, also come with proprietary software on the same disc as the Open Source software.

Let’s take a look at Mandrake Linux 8.1, the distro I’m currently using. It has three “installation” CDs in its collection with Open Source software on them, and three “commercial applications” CDs with proprietary software on them.

Now, say you had some friends who wanted copies of Linux. Staying legal’s simple, right? Just copy the “installation” CDs, right?

Wrong.

The fact is, right on the first installation CD, there is Netscape Communicator, a proprietary program. Furthermore, though this is of no concern to Mandrake home market in Europe, there are programs that include patented techniques by MPEG (the mp3 stuff) and by Unisys/IBM (the ncompress package).

So, giving your friends a copy of Mandrake is, well, illegal.

Now, let’s look at Red Hat Linux 7.0, which I got in a Linux for Dummies book. Same problems. Netscape, mp3 stuff, and ncompress. That means that the copy I have might not be legal (not that I’m actually going to throw it away just on speculation).

Also, Lycoris, on its download page, states that by downloading the distro you agree not to redistribute it because of copyright issues.

I’m not saying that Mandrake and Red Hat are trying to cheat their way through Open Source, but someone should look into this kind of stuff. Even if the companies being infringed don’t go after end-users, companies that publish books like Linux for Dummies could find themselves having to stop putting Linux CDs in their books, perhaps causing a reduction in Linux converts.

“Commentary” articles are contributed by Linux.com and NewsForge.com readers. The opinions they contain are strictly those held by their authors, and may not be the same as those held by OSDN management. We welcome “Commentary” contributions from anyone who deals with Linux and Open Source at any level, whether as a corporate officer; as a programmer or sysadmin; or as a home/office desktop user. If you would like to write one, please email editors@newsforge.com with “Commentary” in the subject line.

John Robinson writes

“Install Days (or ‘Fests’) have long been an embodiment of the community spirit that surrounds Linux and Free Software, giving visitors the chance to bring along their own PCs and install Linux under the supervision of local ‘gurus’.

Inspired by the success of last year’s UK Install Day, Dorset Linux User Group have taken on the task of coordinating this years events.

Linux User Groups from around the UK will be coordinating events in May and June when visitors will be able to view demonstrations of the power and freedom of Linux at work in home and business scenarios.

UK Linux Install Day 2002 (http://www.linuxinstallday.org) gives Linux users the chance to promote the benefits of Linux to the wider community, including home users, businesses and schools.

Individuals wanting further details of the national event should contact John Robinson on marketing@linuxinstallday.org and those interested in attending should visit the website to find an event near them.”

Heather Reed writes “Puget Sound Technology will be teaching an introduction to Linux and BSD security workshop on Monday, April 22, 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. in Everett, Wash. This workshop will share several techniques and concepts for improving and maintaining Linux and BSD system security, including security updates, file integrity checking, remote and local scanning for vulnerabilities, how to clean up unneeded services and securing required services, and more.

The Linux and BSD technical support and training company is
offering these seminars and workshops to introduce Linux and BSD and to
provide practical training for busy information technology professionals.
Puget Sound Technology trains users new to open source and Unix and also
experienced administrators.

Their other upcoming workshops will cover:
Hosting Websites with Apache; Configuring and Troubleshooting Domain
Name (DNS) Services; Introduction to Linux, BSD and Open Source;
Exploring the KDE Graphical Environment; Linux Kernel Configurations;
and Installing BSD.

Seating is limited. For further details and to register, visit
http://www.pugetsoundtechnology.com/training/works hops/.

About Puget Sound Technology

Puget Sound Technology provides technical support, outsourcing
solutions, server maintenance contracts, and training services
for Linux, BSD and open source Unix environments.
To learn more about the Washington state company, visit
http://www.pugetsoundtechnology.com/.
(Puget Sound Technology will have a booth at LinuxFest 2002 on April
20 in Bellingham, Wash.)

“

– By Grant Gross –
IBM says the Free Software release of its SashXB scripting language will lower the barrier of entry to creating applications in Linux and could help coding veterans cut the time it takes to create Open Source software.
This week, IBM released SashXB for Linux under the GNU Lesser General Public License. SashXB is a “Linux-ization” of IBM’s Sash for Windows, a technology that allows programers to build applications IBM calls “weblications.” Those are programs written in Web languages, such as HTML, JavaScript and XML, that can also take advantage of operating system functionality such as file systems, networking, and the user interface.

What the Linux release means is that people with basic programming skills who aren’t hardcore C coders can create Linux applications that “live” on the desktop by working with simple Web site-style code such as JavaScript.

A.J. Shankar, now an engineer with IBM, was part of the team that worked on the SashXB project two summers ago as part of the Extreme Blue internship program, in which teams of graduate students are given challenging technology puzzles to solve. The importance of the ground-up reworking of Sash to port it to Linux is that set of Web-based programming tools that weren’t available previously for Linux, he says.

“The tools that are available, that people take for granted in Windows, really don’t exist in Linux,” he says. “The barrier to entry is fairly high in Linux, as compared to Windows, in terms of writing applications.”

SashXB should open up Linux application-writing to people like Web designers, he says. The SashXB.org site has examples of “weblications” written in SashXB for Linux, including a networked checkers game, a simple Web browser and a stock ticker program. The SashXB team wrote a graphical ftp program, called SashFTP, in four to five days, with less than 1,000 lines of code. The C-code ftp program it’s modeled after has 30,000 lines of code and “has been in development forever,” he says.

That ease of use should appeal to veteran developers, as well as Web developers and coding newbies, Shankar says. “Experienced programmers will find that using Sash enables them to write applications much quicker than they would normally.”

Open-Sourcing the application should help it gain acceptance in the Linux community, Shankar says, and allows people to develop their own ways for SashXB to interact with their favorite technology. “We’ve made a lot of tools available for people to develop in SashXB,” he says. “If we haven’t provided a solution for you, you can provide it for yourself. Whereas, in the Microsoft world, generally, if a solution isn’t provided, you have to beg the developers to provide it, or you’re kind of out of luck.”

Shankar notes that SashXB can distribute applications with a graphical installer, and it downloads the program dependancies for you when you’re developing a new application. He also touts SashXB’s security measures — because its programs are distributed in JavaScript and not binary form, users have full control of the programs instead of having to trust the creator of a binary application.

SashXB uses Mozilla’s HTML layout engine, JavaScript
interpreter, and Component Model, and it uses several components from the
GNOME project. According to IBM, SashXB extends the Gnome desktop with Mozilla in the same way IE does for MS windows. SashXB creaes a new-hybrid Web development model for Linux, and it could also work with KDE in the same way.

From LinuxGram: “Lineo has run plum out of money.
After terminating roughly 50 of its 120 employees two weeks ago at the behest of its board and investors (CSN No 443), Lineo, the seemingly promising embedded Linux pioneer, bounced its paychecks.”

IDG.net reports that on Monday, IBM will release version 2 of its EMMS digital rights management software, “which includes the ability to protect digital content of any file type, company officials said.

EMMS 2 is the evolution of EMMS (Electronic Media Management System), software designed for electronic media distribution that originally protected music files. For instance, with the previous version of EMMS, a company had the ability to make a song downloadable and then automatically expire after the user played it a specified number of times.”

ZDNet reports: “Microsoft has asked a Seattle court to reconsider a strongly worded ruling, issued in March, that Windows is a generic term and that it doesn’t have exclusive rights to the name.

The ruling was issued in response to Microsoft’s attempts to stop a company that is building a GNU/Linux-based operating system from using the terms Lindows.com (its name) and LindowsOS (the name of its forthcoming operating system). LindowsOS, due to be released later this year, will run Windows applications, according to Lindows.com.”