LinuxSecurity Contributor writes, “Hisham shares his experiences with building a virtual honeynet on his existing Linux box. He describes data capture
and control techniques, the types of honeynets, and configuration changes to get one running on your system.”
http://www.linuxsecurity.com/feature_stories/feature_story-100.html.

IBM on Feb. 18 announced the number of
IBM Business Partners supporting IBM’s Linux*-enabled software increased
more than 800 percent over the last year.

IBM Business Partners are riding the momentum behind the fast-paced growth
of the Linux operating system. In one year, the number of Business
Partners supporting IBM’s key software running on Linux grew from 548 to
more than 4700.

In addition, more than 1000 IBM Business Partners attained Linux
certification from RedHat and the Linux Professional Institute last year.

“Business Partners from all over the world are seizing the opportunity to
take part in the rapid growth surrounding the Linux platform,” said Scott
Handy, director, Worldwide Linux Software, IBM. “The ability to deliver
the industry’s leading e-business solutions on the fastest growing platform
in the market is a powerful combination that quickly leads partners to new
opportunities, driving revenue and expanding their customer base.”

According to analyst firm IDC, Linux is the fastest growing server
operating system in the market, and second in volume only to Windows
NT/2000 through 2005.**

“IBM’s Linux initiative allows customers and partners to bring edge of
network applications into the enterprise while creating a value
proposition across the IBM portfolio for partners to truly sell integrated
solutions with Linux and IBM,” said Janet Waxman, research manager, Server
and Workstation Distribution, IDC Research.

New Linux Initiatives for Business Partners

To help Business Partners meet the growing demand for Linux-based
solutions, IBM is delivering the IBM Leadership Edge for Linux, a set of
new and enhanced initiatives within the IBM PartnerWorld** program.
Through the Leadership Edge for Linux, IBM will provide enhanced education,
certification, co-marketing, incentives and technical support to assist the
end-to-end Linux community of IBM Business Partners.

“Pioneer-Standard continues to be a leader in the Linux space, providing
substantial and reliable technical solutions to our customers as they
embrace this cost-effective platform,” said Matt Reaves, vice president,
Software Sales & Marketing, Pioneer-Standard, Computer Systems Division.
“Through our long-standing relationship with IBM, Pioneer-Standard offers
solution providers integrated resources that create new sales opportunities
and increase revenue streams. We look forward to participating in the
Leadership Edge for Linux initiatives as our Linux portfolio grows.”

As part of Leadership Edge for Linux, IBM will provide an enhanced Ready,
Set, Linux — GO! initiative. The four phased approach includes: Ready:
education and how to get started with IBM; Set: technical training and
support on Linux; Linux: an ongoing enablement and support program
featuring educational roadmaps leading to certification and access to key
PartnerWorld benefits for those delivering e-business solutions for Linux;
and Go!: a set of marketing and sales tools to create and capture demand
for Linux solutions.

To further support the independent software vendor (ISV) community, IBM
will be announcing the Solutions Edge for Linux to help accelerate the
development of Linux applications that address the unique needs of small
and medium-sized businesses. IBM will provide a broad range of application
development, porting and testing support for smaller businesses.

To enhance the development of complete Linux solutions, IBM’s new Business
Partner Leaders for Linux initiative, will support and reward Business
Partners with opportunities and incentives to spur business growth and the
enterprise adoption of Linux, including extended sales force linkage,
co-marketing incentives and sales accelerators.

For up-to-date news, tools and resources on IBM Linux solutions and partner
support, please visit The Linux Lens (www.ibm.com/partnerworld/linux) at
the PartnerWorld Web site.

Momentum on the Server

By providing solutions with ISV’s – Axiom, Bynari, and Steeleye – customers
can further increase their business applications that run on Linux and the
IBM eServer xSeries line of servers.

Steeleye, a provider of clustering software for Linux and Windows
environments, is announcing the availability of its ServerProven LifeKeeper
software on IBM’s eServer xSeries. Flamenco Networks, a leading provider
of Web Services Networks, has chosen this bundled solution from Steeleye
and IBM xSeries to provide a highly reliable Linux infrastructure for their
Web services management platform. With the scalable architecture of IBM
x342, x340 systems and LifeKeeper products, Flamenco can easily add Web
servers or database servers as necessary.

Additionally Bynari, which provides an integrated messaging, calandering
and e-mail solution, has partnered with IBM eServer xSeries to provide
small and medium enterprises with Bynari’s Insight Mail Server and
Intel-based servers to provide reliable electronic mail and collaboration
capabilities. Bynari is currently working with customers across key
industries to implement a stable, cost-effective e-mail solution on
Linux-based IBM eServers that allows Microsoft Exchange users to leave
behind Microsoft NT and Exchange infrastructures while maintaining full
Outlook client functionality.

About IBM

IBM (http://www.ibm.com/) is the world’s largest information technology
company, with 80 years of leadership in helping businesses innovate. IBM
creates, develops and manufactures the industry’s most advanced information
technologies, including computer systems, software, networking systems,
storage devices and microelectronics. IBM PartnerWorld is a marketing and
enablement program designed to create new revenue and marketing
opportunities for IBM Business Partners, and provide customers with
e-business solutions including products, services, technologies and
marketing.

*Indicates trademark or registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.

**Indicates trademark or registered trademark of International Business
Machines Corporation.

All other trademarks are the properties of their respective companies.

Posted on LWN.net: “Several buffer overflows were fixed in the “ncurses” library in November
2000. Unfortunately, one was missed. This can lead to crashes when using
ncurses applications in large windows.

The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) has
assigned the name CAN-2002-0062 to this issue.

This problem has been fixed for the stable release of Debian in version
5.0-6.0potato2. The testing and unstable releases contain ncurses 5.2,
which is not affected by this problem.

There are no known exploits for this problem, but we recommend that all
users upgrade ncurses immediately.
“

The Boston Globe (via NewsAlert) has a column about Open Source software development and a study co-sponsored by NewsForge’s parent, OSDN. “The open-source movement stands as the antithesis to the closed, proprietary product development system that Microsoft has used to dominate the personal computer desktop worldwide. If open-source had a motto, it might be: ‘Let all who are able contribute.’ Under open-source, thousands of volunteer programmers communicate over the Internet to create, and continually improve, computer software products. Linux is their biggest success and has become so popular that some think it could evolve into a significant challenge to Microsoft.”

– By Grant Gross –

More evidence of the growth of Linux in business settings: IBM reports that the number of its business partners supporting the company’s Linux-based software has increased by 800% in the last year.

Yes, that’s right, 800%; we didn’t add an extra zero. The number of IBM business partners supporting IBM’s middleware software for Linux grew from 548 to more than 4,700 in 2001.

Business partners — mostly resellers of IBM products to small- and medium-sized businesses — don’t translate immediately into more businesses using Linux, but they wouldn’t be flocking to support Linux if there wasn’t a market, says Scott Handy, IBM’s director of Linux software solutions.

“Our business partners are business people themselves,” he says. “They only will enable themselves for new technology when they see opportunity. This is really a testament to the opportunity that Linux is presenting in the marketplace.”

Handy says IBM’s experience is that half of the Linux market is in large enterprises, but the other half is in those small- or medium-sized businesses. IBM’s business partners sell software packages including IBM’s DB2, WebSphere and Lotus products for Linux.

At IBM’s PartnerWorld in San Francisco this week, the company announced new initiatives to help its business partners market Linux-related software to customers. In addition to existing IBM initiatives that introduce its business partners to Linux, pay partners to get Linux certification, and provide ongoing support, IBM announced a new set of marketing and sales tools designed to help its business partners sell Linux solutions. IBM had been paying its business partners up to $3,000 for getting a Linux Red Hat or LPI certification; now it will also pay business partners coming over from selling products competing with IBM for both a Linux certification and an IBM certification.[See more information at this IBM press release.]

More than 1,000 IBM business partners were certified in Linux in 2001. “It’s a pretty aggressive program we have,” Handy says. “We’re not going to stop with this incredible success we have; we want to accelerate it.”

While the incentives are obviously working at attracting business partners to Linux, one IBM partner says Linux is almost selling itself these days. Roger Luca, v.p. of sales for Mainline Information Systems, says the interest in Linux-based solutions from his customers has gone from mostly curiosity, to wanting a prototype environment, to genuine interest in buying. That’s happened in the two years his company has been pitching business solutions on Linux.

“A couple of years ago, it was like, ‘Hey, this stuff is kind of interesting, let me read about it,’ ” he says. “It’s now, ‘How can we deploy something here; it’s starting to look like this thing has some sea legs.’ When watch the progression from ‘Send me a white paper on Linux’ to ‘Let me prototype something,’ to ‘Can you get here faster?’ that pretty much tells the story.”

Interest in business solutions is driven by a couple of factors, Luca adds; growing general use in back rooms of all kinds of business, and the ability to run all kinds of hardware. “Whether on Main Street or Wall Street, Linux is lurking somewhere in our customers’ enterprise,” he says. “That portability of moving it from platform to platform, I don’t care if you’re a small enterprise or a large enterprise, this industry has wanted that kind of portability forever. What we call the ‘write once, run anywhere’ aspect of Linux cannot be overstated.”

Mainline’s interest in Linux came when the company saw the operating system as becoming both pervasive and “potentially disruptive” in a positive way, Luca says. “If there’s going to be a disruptive technology, you want to be on that curve,” he says. “Look back at history of this industry — the folks that get in on disruptive technology are those that win.”

Luca believes the Linux growth curve is just beginning to shoot up. “There are those who were first, and then there’s the rush to be last,” he says. “I think we’re just approaching the rush-to-be-last phase.”

IBM’s Handy sees customers wanting to go beyond using Linux with Apache for Web servers or Samba for file print servers. “What we’re finding is they now want to do business applications and get the same benefits of cost-performance and reliability,” he says. “Everything that Linux has been used for is great, and Apache is great, now let’s take it to the next level.”

Handy says the increase in business partners supporting Linux both parallels and foreshadows the growth in Linux for end users. “There’s no doubt in our mind that the momentum behind Linux is definitely there and continuing into this year. Momentum breeds momentum in this marketplace.”

Handy notes independent software vendors are also picking up on this Linux growth curve. IBM’s Global Solutions Directory now lists more than 2,800 applications that run on Linux, compared to 2,300 last June.

“In the early days, a lot of times Linux was used for just what came in the box,” he says. “Now we’re seeing revenue generated for our software … and the business partner and application software and services they sell around it. Those business partners wouldn’t be in this if there wasn’t some revenue for them.”

Most business partners are adding Linux as another option to other operating systems they support, Handy says. “We used to get a lot business partners who asked us, “Isn’t Linux free, how do I make money on Linux?’ We say, ‘How do you make money on Windows today?’ And they say, ‘Well, I sell health care solutions,’ and we say, ‘Well, then you sell health care solutions,’ you just happen to sell it on Linux.

“I say to them, ‘How much money did you get from the sale of the Windows operating system in your last sale?’ The answer is always zero. The business model is exactly the same on Linux, they don’t have to change their business model.”

Breakthrough developments on TransGaming‘s WineX portability technology have for the first time enabled
a DirectX 8-based game title, Max Payne, to operate on the Linux
platform.
TransGaming’s engineering team has been hard at work upgrading
TransGaming’s WineX software to be compatible with games written for
Microsoft’s latest version of the DirectX API.

Max Payne is the first major DirectX 8-based game that the updated WineX
software is able to run. Developed by Remedy Enterprises and released
last year, Max Payne is a third person action thriller featuring a
gripping storyline, impressive graphics, bullet-time action and dynamic
sound made for the Xbox, PS 2 and PC markets.

In broadening WineX to support DirectX 8, TransGaming’s work was
independent of the game developers themselves with no input from Remedy
Entertainment nor any access to the Max Payne source code.

“We’re very excited about these advances and the ability for a game the
calibre of Max Payne to function on Linux, ” explains TransGaming’s CEO
and CTO Gavriel State. “While the game isn’t 100 percent yet, these
developments demonstrate how rapidly our team is able to add support for
new multimedia APIs. As we refine our technology, gamers can expect to
be able to play more and more top-rated games on Linux.”

TransGaming’s WineX software currently supports running dozens of
different Windows games on users’ Linux systems – right out of the box.
WineX is currently available for download by subscribers from
TransGaming’s web site, www.transgaming.com. TransGaming expects an
updated WineX release fully compatible with Max Payne to be available in
the next few weeks.

“It was TransGaming’s subscribers who told us to make this happen,”
remarks State. Subscribers select the titles and technologies they want
TransGaming to work on, and we do our best to oblige them. Our
subscribers asked us for Direct X 8 compatibility, and recently
released, triple ‘A’ game, Max Payne is the first game that works with
this support. Work on supporting DirectX 8 had been underway since just
this past December.

TransGaming has demonstrated the tremendous power of WineX previously. In
September 2001, TransGaming licensed the world’s top selling game,
Electronic Art’s The Sims, and shipped an optimized Linux version just
eight weeks later. The MandrakeSoft “Gaming Edition”, featuring The Sims
on Linux and MandrakeLinux 8.1 is available in stores across North
America and the UK.

– 30 –
About TransGaming Technologies
TransGaming Technologies was founded in 2000 with offices in Toronto and
Ottawa. TransGaming develops unique software portability solutions that
seamlessly allow high demand games to operate on the Linux platform.
Coupled with additional products and services that cater to both the
avid gamer and the casual-to-sophisticated Linux user, TransGaming’s
objective is to deliver the highest-quality, highest-demand gaming
titles to the Linux community.

For information, contact:

Cathy Tanner, Director, Marketing and Communications, TransGaming
Technologies
Phone: 647-280-8213; E-mail: cathy@transgaming.com; Web site:
www.transgaming.com

Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. TransGaming and WineX
are trademarks of TransGaming Technologies. The Sims(tm) (c) 2001
Electronic Arts Inc. Electronic Arts, The Sims(tm) , SimCity, EA GAMES,
are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. in the
U.S. and/or other countries. All rights reserved. EA GAMES(tm) and
Maxis(tm) are Electronic Arts brands. All other trademarks and
copyrights are owned by their respective companies.

Openweb Analysts Ltd is now offering free
consultancy to London based firms considering Open Source solutions for
web development. They can find out more from www.OWAL.co.uk/.

Companies and government bodies who are thinking of using free software
can now contact an expert for advice. They should email
advice@OWAL.co.uk with an explanation of their business and their
interest in open source. They will receive a response examining
potential open source solutions for their business. Those companies most
able to benefit will be offered a free face to face meeting to discuss
it further.

Alex McLintock, Managing Director of Openweb Analysts Ltd, says “Open
Source developers put time and effort in writing software for free use.
The main reason why it isn’t more widely used is the lack of Open Source
expertise. We aim to provide that.”

Openweb Analysts Ltd is putting out a call to other open source
developers to register with them and offer their expertise in the same
way.

About the Company: Openweb Analysts Ltd, (www.OWAL.co.uk/) is
software consultancy which develops internet services for companies in
London. It specialises in using Java and perl components to build
complex websites.

About the Headline: Open Source Software is commonly described as “free”
in the sense of “free speech” because anyone is allowed to add to it and
make any improvements they wish but sometimes also free in the sense of
“free beer.”

Contact:
Alex McLintock
88 Poppleton Road, London E11 1LT.
Email: alex@OWAL.co.uk
Fax: 0709 211 8813 Tel: 020 8926 4753.
Website: http://www.OWAL.co.uk/

The Associated Press (via The New York Times, free registration required) reports that the U.S. Supreme Court “agreed Tuesday to intervene in a fight over copyrights, deciding whether Congress has sided too heavily with writers and other inventors. The outcome will determine when hundreds of thousands of books, songs and movies will be freely available on the Internet or in digital libraries.”

Tosatti: “We’ll hopefully have a 2.4.18 pretty soon..”

Download: http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.4/testing/patch-2.4.18-rc2.gz

rc2: 
- Make get_user_pages handle VM_IO areas
  gracefully                                    (Manfred Spraul)
- Fix SMP race on PID allocation                (Erik A. Hendriks)
- Fix SMP race on dnotify scheme                (Alexander Viro)
- Add missing checks to shmem_file_write        (Alan Cox)

KDE.org: “I look forward to more structure in KDE3 to allow for better control of diskless workstation users.”