– by Tina Gasperson –
updated 10/11/01 – 12:23pm EST
Insight is an email program designed to run on Linux and communicate with Microsoft Exchange mail servers. Think of it as a Linux replacement for Microsoft Outlook. Bynari founder and v.p. of technology Tom Adelstein says with the upcoming 3.0 release of Insight, Bynari is giving the 2.6 version to the Open Source community as a gift.Previously Bynari was charging $59.95 for the proprietary version. Now, part of the source code will be available as a part of Tradeclient, and certain modules that give Insight compatibility with Outlook will remain proprietary but will be free like beer. Adelstein says that in addition to getting the proprietary binaries for 2.6 for free, registered users will be eligible for deep discounts on the 3.0 release.

Bynari has a history of donating projects to the community. It LGPLed TradeClient, another email client, in June of 2000, allowing the project to be taken over completely by outside developers. That project had several releases in 2000, but since then has progressed slowly, with only a 0.9 version release in March, 2001.

The 3.0 release of the Insight client will remain closely held by Bynari, at least for the time being. The latest version of Insight features a new user interface that will change the look and feel of the product, says Adelstein. And new calendaring advances will allows users to grant others access to their calendar to view it and make changes, something that Adelstein says is not available with other Linux-based mail clients.

Looking at Insight, one may be inclined to draw comparisons between it and Ximian‘s much-hyped Evolution 1.0 release last week. “We had our client products before Evolution even started development,” says Adelstein. And Evolution provides peer-to-peer calendar services but not the server-side calendaring that Bynari believes is essential to mainstream acceptance of an “other-than-Microsoft” email solution. “Executives want to be able to allow their assistants to enter appointments on their calendars,” says Adelstein.

Another benefit of the Insight mail client is its unique ability to communicate directly with Exchange, without the need for a Windows NT proxy. When Insight makes a request, the Exchange server thinks it is dealing with an Outlook client and treats it exactly like one, making all the features of the server available to the client even though the client is Linux-based. It also means that Linux users can get their mail from an Exchange server “out of the box,” with no special configuration of the server required.

If seamless communication with Exchange is the prize, it appears that Bynari may win it. On December 3, 2001, Ximian announced it would sell a proprietary “connector,” beginning in early 2002, that will provide Evolution users full interoperability with Exchange, while Bynari’s Insight 3.0 will be available before the end of 2001.

Bynari has successfully introduced its enterprise-level Insight email server to Fortune 500 companies and government entities this year. Winnebago, a recreation vehicle manufacturer, adopted Bynari on its IBM mainframes, and the now-famous city of Largo, Florida, decided on the Bynari mail server/client package to go along with its KDE desktops.

The free version of Insight 2.6 will be housed along with Tradeclient at Sourceforge.net and the sources will also be freely available for download at the Bynari site.

Tosatti: “Hi, here goes pre8: The next one is going to be -rc1 so please don’t send me any more updates and only bugfixes now. Updates will be queued for 2.4.18-pre1.”
http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.4/testing/patch-2.4.17-pre8.gz

pre8:

- ext3 quota fix                                (Neil Brown)
- Add __devexit_p() to ISDN driver              (Kai Germaschewski)
- Declare missing function on fdomain.h         (Eyal Lebedinsky)
- Add Sony Vaio PCG-Z600NE to broken APM 
  reporting blacklist                           (Kai Germaschewski)
- ns83820 driver update                         (Benjamin LaHaise)
- pas16 driver cleanup                          (Alan Cox)
- disable console flush on secondary CPUs on
  IA64                                          (Andrew Morton)
- fix typo on parport's ChangeLog               (Tim Waugh)
- fix use count for multiple queued requests on 
  closed fd                                     (Douglas Gilbert)
- Check return value of get_user() on 
  set_vesa_blanking                             (Jeff Garzik)
- Remove asm/segment.h include from nbd         (Jeff Garzik)
- Guard sysrq.h against multiple inclusion      (Jeff Garzik)
- Minor PCI skeleton changes                    (Jeff Garzik)
- Add via rhine MMIO to Configure.help          (Jeff Garzik)
- Jeff Garzik is not the via82cxxx driver 
  maintainer anymore: "No time, no hardware".   (Jeff Garzik)
- Remove old tulip documentation                (Jeff Garzik)
- Avoid direct IO's "misunderstanding" of which 
  block device it should use                    (Masanori Goto)
- Remove mcheck_init() call from processor
  dependant code and put it in unified codepath (Dave Jones)
- Netfilter bugfixes                            (Harald Welte)

From PR Newswire:

Extending a joint commitment to enable
the rapid development of real-time applications, Texas Instruments
Incorporated (NYSE: TXN) (TI) and RidgeRun, Inc., today announced the
immediate availability of an end-to-end embedded Linux(R) development suite
for TI’s new highly integrated, system-level digital signal processors (DSPs).
The combination of the RidgeRun DSPLinux(TM) operating system and Board
Support Package (BSP) with TI’s power-efficient, programmable DSPs will reduce
cost, power consumption and board space by 40 percent for designers of real-
time embedded applications.

– By Grant Gross –

Leading Linux distribution publisher Red Hat has become more aggressive in protecting its trademark lately, and the founder of one discount Linux CD seller isn’t happy about the cease and desist letter he recently received.

Red Hat spokeswoman Melissa London says the company hasn’t changed its trademark policy, but it’s been more actively pointing out trademark violations since the release of Red Hat 7.2 in late October. The change in practice came because of complaints Red Hat received about discount CDs containing Red Hat Linux that didn’t include all its features or service options. London says, “What we were finding is that customers were calling us demanding support… we can’t stand behind those products.”

But Jason Phillips, founder of CD seller/auction house UnixCD.com says it seems like Red Hat wants to stop all discounted and free distributions of its operating system. Phillips received a letter last week asking his company to stop selling discounted CDs with the Red Hat brand.

“You cannot even say that the CD-ROM has Red Hat on it or contains Red Hat Linux,” he says. “They say doing this is a violation of their trademark. By doing this no one will be able to identify if a CD-ROM has Red Hat Linux on it unless they buy Red Hat’s expensive boxed set. They think they’ve figured out a a way to discourage the GPL distribution of Red Hat Linux and make it impossible for customers to buy it from anybody but them. But what they are doing is a GPL violation.”

This change in enforcement has caused some confusion, London admits, but she says it’s not a violation of the GNU GPL, the Free Software license that governs Linux. Basically, users are still able to download Red Hat Linux for free and programmers are still able to base their own distributions on Red Hat, but anyone who distributes a non-authorized copy of Red Hat can’t call it Red Hat without the company’s permission. Call it Fred’s Linux or Generic Linux — several distributions including Mandrake have used Red Hat as a base to build their own products — just don’t call it Red Hat.

“In the Open Source space, our name is our bread and butter,” says London, explaining Red Hat’s position. “Red Hat is trying to practice its own quality control.”

Retailers that sell boxed versions of Red Hat won’t be affected by the change, London says, but discount CD sellers like CheapBytes.com could be, she says. “This is not an attack on the little guy, but they are getting a certain amount of cachet by selling the Red Hat CDs.”

Here’s part of the Red Hat trademark policy: “Redistributing Red Hat® Linux That Has Been Downloaded From An FTP Site or Duplicated From A Red Hat-Produced CD: You may not state that your product ‘contains Red Hat Linux X.X.’ This would amount to impermissible use of Red Hat’s trademarks. You may resell the boxed version of your software that your purchased from Red Hat so long as you sell the original
disc’s and documentation included with the boxed version. However, if you have registered the product with Red Hat for purposes of obtaining
support services, you may not transfer your right in those support services, and you must advise the purchaser that they are not receiving support services.”

Phillips says such a trademark would effectively put an end to the discount CD sales at places like CheapBytes.com and LinuxCentral.com. Neither of those retailers returned emails from NewsForge, but a phone operator at LinuxCentral said it’s unlikely anyone there knew anything more than Phillips’ complaint.

Although the GPL doesn’t specifically address the redistribution of the name of the program, Phillips believes the license also has to refer to that program’s title, in this case Red Hat Linux. Without the right to freely distribute the name of the program, confusion would reign, he argues. “If you replace the
word ‘program’ with book, story or report in the GPL, you will see very easily that everyone has the right to distribute not only the story itself but the title as well. Trying to bypass the GPL license for your own personal gain is not the goal of the GPL, and the GPL makes very clear that you give up traditional copyright rights when you license it in this manner … No one can forbid the free distribution of neither the GPL code or the name used to identify the code.”

Phillips says contributors to the Linux code should question Red Hat’s trademark enforcement. “Thousands of people from around the world contribute to the GPL’s
Open Source, free model in a effort to forbid this kind of activity,” he says. “Many hundreds of thousands of volunteers make improvements to the Red Hat project and/or the independent projects that make up Red Hat Linux … How are these people who contribute so much time and effort into this model supposed to react when they are told the only way to knowingly acquire a copy of Red Hat or any other project is to buy it back from the licenser even though the licensees has the same rights in regards to copying, distribution as the licenser?”

He adds: “What if all the GPL projects that make up Red Hat tell Red Hat they can no longer use their projects’ titles to inform the public about what’s included in Red Hat?”

Phillips received the cease and desist from the Arent Fox Kintner Plotkin & Kahn law firm of Washington, D.C., last Thursday. In part, the letter reads:

“Recently, it has come to our attention that you are selling unauthorized copies of Red Hat’s software on the eBay auction service that improperly bears the RED HAT mark. While Red Hat permits others to redistribute the software that constitutes Red Hat Linux, Red Hat does not authorize any person to use the RED HAT mark in
association with such redistribution, except by express agreement. Please review the guidelines at the link provided above. These Guidelines state the proper
use of Red Hat’s marks. Your Red Hat Linux 7.2 auction sites are not in compliance with those guidelines.

“Our client is concerned that your unauthorized sale of Red Hat’s software under the RED HAT mark in this manner is likely to create confusion, mistake and/or deception among consumers with respect to the source, origin, sponsorship or approval of the products sold under your company name. By continuing to sell and/or distribute Red
Hat’s software under the RED HAT mark without authorization, you or your company may be held liable for infringing Red Hat’s intellectual property rights and engaging in acts of unfair competition in violation of the Lanham Act.”

Gaël Duval writes, “Following our recent announce about the launch of a Mandrake Linux Users’ Club and as requested by our users, we’ve just released the following datasheet to explain where we go with Mandrake Linux and why we have launched a Users Club.”

Mandrake Linux and Mandrake Club explained to all :

What privileges are offered by the Club?

The Club has many real and attractive advantages that are currently in
development. In this early stage of the Club, we offer:

the opportunity to download commercial software usually only
available with packaged versions.

a special location where members can stay informed of the latest
offerings, provide feedback, and vote on additional benefits

significant discounts on products and services.

Additional benefits will be developed based on the suggestions of Club
members.

How many employees work for MandrakeSoft and what are their job
functions?

MandrakeSoft currently employs over 100 individuals:

13 employees work full-time on various Internet services such as
MandrakeLinux.com, MandrakeUser.org, MandrakeForum.com, the weekly
newsletter, and building & maintaining good relationships with the
Linux community.

43 employees work in Research and Development. These are the people who
work specifically on developing the Mandrake Linux distribution; they:
select, test, improve and package the various free software components;
develop the DrakX installation program and Mandrake-specific
configuration tools; test the system on various hardware
configurations; manage translations and create documentation. They also
port the distribution to other architectures such as PPC and IA64.

The result of their work is then made available for free in easy to use
formats (ISO images, printable documentation, etc.) with Open Source
licenses — this means than everyone is free to download, duplicate,
improve and even resell the product.

Several other employees work on external projects such as the Linux
Kernel, KDE, KOffice, and others. These paid employees do not provide a
direct benefit to the Mandrake Linux distribution, but sponsoring them
is part of our ongoing commitment to the Free Software community.

The remainder of the employees focus on business-related areas or with
the administration of the company. This includes work on commercial
packages, marketing, and providing services such as training, support
and consulting.

How does MandrakeSoft receive revenue?

Most of the company’s revenue (85%) results from the direct sale of
boxed products such as the Mandrake Linux PowerPack. The PowerPack is a
retail version of the distribution that includes documentation,
support and third party software. The remaining revenue comes from
services (support, training, consulting). A potential source of revenue
are our “e-services” (MandrakeExpert, MandrakeOnline), but as yet they
do not provide significant revenue for the company.

What is MandrakeSoft’s business model?

This question boils down to: “Why does MandrakeSoft release, for free,
a product that was costly to produce yet which allows others to copy,
modify and resell it?” It does seem a rather curious way to run a
business, but there are important reasons for doing so.

From an ethical point of view, much of MandrakeSoft’s success is
directly attributable to the Free Software community. The Mandrake
Linux distribution is composed of thousands of Free Software
applications, so it is normal for us to contribute back to the
community of developers & users by providing the source code and even
the entire distribution. The advantage of this is based on MandrakeSoft
becoming an important part of the community — when community members
benefit, they enthusiastically promote the distribution thereby
allowing Free Software to flourish even more.

From a business point of view, the Free Software approach has important
advantages for the long term. With an attractive product, easy
availability and positive word of mouth, it is possible to quickly
acquire a large base of users. This approach has allowed Mandrake Linux
to quickly become well-known and one of the most popular Linux
distributions used throughout the world. The Free Software model
requires a much smaller initial investment and much less time to produce
results than with more traditional approaches.

Several recent surveys have shown that this is a smart technique:

Linux.ie (Ireland) – July 2001
Which distribution do you prefer?
http://www.linux.ie/polls/pollresults.php?recount_ pollId=1
1. Mandrake: 35%
2. Debian: 23%
3. Redhat: 18%
4. Suse: 18%
5. Caldera: 1%
6. Corel: 1%
7. Others: 1%

PCMag.com (US) – 8 October 2001
http://www.pcmag.com/poll_archive/0,3044,p%253D103 5%2526bn%253D1,00.asp

What’s your favorite Linux distro?
1. Mandrake: 43.78%
2. Redhat: 27.9%
3. Suse: 15.41%
4. Libranet: 1.42%
5. Other: 11.49%

Linux.com (US) – 24 September 2001
http://www.linux.com/polls/index.phtml?pid=128
Best distribution for beginners
1. Mandrake – 36.7%
2. Redhat – 33.5%
3. Suse -13.5%
4. Slackware – 5.6%
5. Debian – 4.6%
6. Caldera – 3.7%

A powerful community (including both the end-user and company) offers
both non-financial and financial advantages.

The non-financial advantage are…

A user base populated with experts who freely contribute to improving
the distribution. Also, happy users readily promote Mandrake Linux to
friends, family and employers. These advantages significantly lower the
cost of development & promotion needed for a product.

And the financial advantages…

A good portion of the user base isn’t satisfied with just a Linux
distribution that is available for free… they want more.
Historically, Linux companies were created so that they could provide
official commercial products with support, documentation and third
party software. Other services were then offered — mostly for
corporations — such as extended support, training and consulting.
MandrakeSoft’s revenue model is based on fulfilling the needs of its
users (end user or corporate) by providing the appropriate solutions
directly or with the assistance of a partner. This is why MandrakeSoft
has recently launched MandrakeExpert, MandrakeOnline and MandrakeStore,
and is currently working on developing other potential revenue streams.

The bottom line: We believe it is much easier (and satisfying) to turn
a happy user into a customer, than it is to directly acquire a new
customer.

Is MandrakeSoft profitable?

As with most young corporations, MandrakeSoft has invested a great deal
of money and resources to develop its products and services. The early
stages of a company are always costly; this initial cost is later offset
by a growth in revenue. MandrakeSoft has not yet reached the
“break-even” point; however, we have taken necessary steps to reach
this point in early 2002 by increasing revenue and reducing costs.

Why a Mandrake Linux User Club?

The Club provides an attractive answer to a simple issue: MandrakeSoft
needs to have its costs covered by revenue. With the current economic
slowdown and recent world events, companies are finding it much more
difficult to sell software, provide money-generating services, and to
find funding. This means that MandrakeSoft’s revenue growth will take
more time than was previously planned.

MandrakeSoft already has several million users. Of these users, only a
small percentage have purchased products or services from MandrakeSoft.
However, most of these users are very happy with the distribution and
our online family of websites. Are these users ready to contribute
financially in order to preserve these great benefits?

For the short term, the Mandrake Linux Users Club is the most efficient
and convenient way to directly support the Free Software activities of
MandrakeSoft; this will avert the company’s need to cut costs in areas
that are not directly related to business ventures which would thereby
lower the level of service to the large base of “Free” users of Mandrake
Linux.

I already purchased a Mandrake pack, so why am I not a member of the
Club?

Funds generated by the sale of commercial products, such as the
PowerPack, are distributed through many channels: the retailer, the
wholesaler, the shipper, the printer, the CD manufacturer, the package
assembler, the support-line, retail salespeople, and others. So in the
end, a very small portion remains to fund research & development of the
distribution.

Take an active role in the Mandrake Linux adventure as we build a
worldwide technology solution that is attractive, open and free for all.
Join the Mandrake Linux Users Club today!

http://www.mandrakelinux.com/en/club/.

JT writes, “OSNews features an article introducing the FreeBSD operating system to newbies and Windows users. The article describes the installation, its GUI, application base and it has some more information about Unix and *BSD in general.”

OverApps writes, “OverApps is a free open source instant intranet software for Windows. This software is designed for Microsoft Windows and ASP (Active Server Pages) environment and delivered in VBScript source under GNU-GPL Licence. Available applications : shared diary, members directory, address book, Web directory, calendar, project manager, forum.”

ZDNet reports that a proposal greatly restricting Microsoft’s businesses practices has the
company’s competitors and some industry trade groups supportingnine state
attorneys general.
The remedy would compel Microsoft to open the source code of Internet Explorer, carry Sun’s
Java with Windows and sell a stripped-down version of the operating system.

From PR Newswire: Sharp Microelectronics of the
Americas (SMA), a U.S.-based division of Sharp Electronics Corporation,
announced today it has formed a strategic relationship with Lineo, an
innovator in embedded systems, giving System-on-Chip (SoC) design engineers
access to Lineo(TM) Embedix(R) SDK 2.0 development tools. With this
partnership in place, the Linux operating system can be rapidly ported to
Sharp’s highly integrated LH79520 and LH7A400 SoCs, thereby shortening
development time for engineers designing with Linux.

From LinuxPlanet.com: “If there is one thing that is going to make or break the experience for a newcomer to Linux, it’s going to be the
installation routine. And even an experienced newcomer is not going to appreciate having to deal with a huge
rigmarole with installation. I am pleased to report that MandrakeLinux’s installation tool DrakX does a pretty
good job in pulling everything together and getting the distro installed quickly and easily.”