IBM today announced that it is shipping
its first tool for Linux based on the Eclipse Platform — the WebSphere
Studio Application Developer for Linux beta. IBM’s new WebSphere Studio
tools are the first commercially available tools built on Eclipse.

Eclipse is a new open source environment for creating, integrating and
deploying application development tools for use across a broad range of
computing technology. It provides a common set of services and establishes
the framework, infrastructure and interactive workbench used by project
developers to build application software and related elements.

WebSphere Studio Application Developer is part of a new family of WebSphere
Studio tools that will deliver the industry’s broadest support for J2EE, Web
services, XML, HTML, rich media, site design, voice, wireless and embedded
devices.

“The WebSphere Studio Application Developer is both a set of IBM tools, and
it’s also a framework for other tools vendors to put their tool on top of,”
said Scott Handy, director of Linux solutions marketing for the IBM Software
Group. “This will increase the number of tools available for both Windows
and Linux, because we have over 1,200 developers from over 150 companies
already participating in the Eclipse project.”

Developers working on WebSphere Studio and other Eclipse-based tools use a
common, easy-to-use interface that provides a consistent “look and feel,”
regardless of vendor, which cuts training costs for customers.

This unified interface and easy integration encourages team-oriented
programming and developer collaboration among people with different skills,
such as programmers, Web content developers, business analysts, database
administrators, wireless and voice application developers, and graphic
artists. It also enables developers to customize their environment and
mix-and-match tools of their choice.

Through Eclipse, seamless integration of tools from several different
vendors will be possible on Windows(tm), Linux® and QNX® developer
workstations. Since the platform became available for download on November
7th, an average of more than 4,000 downloads have been logged daily.

Partners Driving Support for Eclipse

Partners are an important part of IBM’s strategy, since partners can more
easily and tightly integrate with integration software, such as WebSphere,
and with other vendors who build tools on Eclipse technology. More than 30
companies are building products based on Eclipse open source technology so
they can seamlessly integrate with other tools built on the technology,
including WebSphere Studio tools.

C’est la vie writes, “ftp://ftp.netscape.com/pub/netscape6/english/6.2.1 /windows/win32/N6Setup.exe. What’s available in this release:

Netscape 6.2 includes Netscape Navigator, Netscape Mail, Netscape Instant Messenger, Netscape Composer, & Netscape Address Book. Netscape 6.2 also delivers cutting-edge add-on applications that help you get more from the Internet. Netscape 6.2 offers Java for running web applets, Nullsoft Winamp for audio playback, RealPlayer8 for streaming media, Marcromedia Flash for high impact web content, Net2Phone for FREE PC-to-Phone calls anywhere within the US, & Print Plus from Hewlett Packard for easy access to printing services & features.”

From the Wall Street Journal (on MSNBC.com): “Apple Computer Inc., Sun
Microsystems Inc. and other competitors could benefit directly
under a proposed remedy to be presented to a federal judge
Friday by the nine states remaining in the antitrust case against
Microsoft Corp.”

Posted on LWN.net: “With the publication of an article
(http://linux.oreillynet.com/pub/a/linux/2001/11/29/UserModeLinux.html) on
using UML as a testbed for creating disasters and practicing recovering from
them, I am starting a Disaster of the Month contest at
http://user-mode-linux.sourceforge.net/sdotm.html.”

It’s at LWN.net, of course. “The current development kernel release is still 2.5.0. Linus’s current
prepatch is 2.5.1-pre5. With recent prepatches, life has gotten interesting; we have
a true development kernel once again.”

– by Tina Gasperson –
This week’s Web review isn’t a Web review at all; it should be called a PDF review. As far as I know, this information is not published in HTML on the Internet. But, What good is a Linux client? is a good read, and perhaps a challenge to popularly held notions within the Linux community. So whether you’re a newbie or you’re further down the road, you won’t want to pass it up.Mark Chapman is a technical writer for IBM and he’s done a very good job of disseminating what could be (and what has been, all too often) depicted as very technical information. That makes Chapman the best kind of technical writer — the kind who can make the difficult, understandable and friendly. As you’re reading this white paper, if you’re thinking “what’s the big deal?” it means the writer has done his job properly.

This publication, sponsored by IBM’s developerWorks site, is 29 pages of what should be desperately sought-after first-hand information for people who are thinking about adopting Linux on their desktop. Chapman set out to honestly answer the question, “Is Linux a viable desktop operating system for general business use?”

To make things especially clear for Windows users who may be reading What good is a Linux client?, Chapman put together a 17-page PDF glossary, entitled Linux glossary for Windows users, where he defines terms such as “bash,” “beowulf,” “process,” and “Python.” This is no weeny little glossary. It’s a text unto itself, worthy of its own review and worthy of inclusion in your technical reference library.

Once you’ve digested the glossary, you’re ready to read and understand Chapman’s journey to becoming a Linux user. He provides an exhaustive list of software to tryout as replacements for Windows applications, starting with browsers and progressing through office suites, virus checkers (someone should tell him you don’t usually need those in Linux), speech recognition, games, personal finance (Chapman mentions that these are not normally considered for business use, but thought they were worth including since so many people use Quicken to track their financial data), and various emulators for DOS, Windows, and Macintosh.

Chapman concludes in part: “I was pleasantly surprised by how many categories of applications and utilities were represented with Linux tools. Many people would be able to perform their daily jobs … On the other hand, those needing Linux versions of popular Windows applications may be disappointed.” Sounds positive, but the clincher in Chapman’s verdict is printed in italics after he says all the good stuff: “… I feel that many home and home office users (those who are comfortable using Windows but not editing configuration files, running occasional commands from the command line or compiling software before use) might be best served avoiding Linux for now, at least until such time as the level of ‘polish’ allows users to do everything from the graphical interface, as Windows 98 does.”

Regardless of whether or not you agree with Chapman’s final assessment, What good is a Linux client? (this link is a 228k PDF file) is a wealth of information about Linux applications and where to find them, as you’ll see when you peruse the appendix, and an interesting read about one man’s journey.

This Week’s Summary: Mandrake Linux 8.1 for Itanium; Mandrake Linux
Users Club Update; Introducing the MandrakeSecure website; Mandrake in
the News; What’s Cooking at MandrakeSoft; Business Case of the Week;
Software Updates; This Week’s Online Poll; Top Stories from
MandrakeForum.Product News
—————————————-
Mandrake Linux 8.1 for Itanium.
On Dec. 3rd, MandrakeSoft announced the availability of Mandrake Linux
8.1 for Intel Itanium architecture. The Itanium is a high-performance
platform commonly used for servers and advanced computing. This new
product offers the same features as Mandrake Linux 8.1, but has been
optimized for the IA64 architecture.

Mandrake Linux 8.1 for IA64 is now available for free download at
http://www.mandrakelinux.com/en/ftp.php3#ia64, and will soon be
available for purchase at MandrakeStore.
http://www.mandrakestore.com

Support plans and professional consulting are available:
http://www.mandrakesoft.com/products/range/support
http://www.mandrakesoft.com/consulting

Top Stories
—————————————-
Mandrake Linux Users Club: Preparing for the first session.
A new web site dedicated to the Mandrake Linux Users Club should be
open in less than one week. The website will provide detailed
information about the features/benefits of the Club; report about club
activities; and also allow the opportunity for members to provide
feedback.

If you’re a happy Mandrake user who wants to ensure that the Mandrake
Linux distribution keeps going in the right direction, join the
Mandrake Users Club!
http://www.mandrakelinux.com/en/club/

—

Introducing MandrakeSecure.
In order to concentrate all Mandrake-relevant security information in
one location, a new member of the MandrakeSoft family of websites has
been launched. The new site, MandrakeSecure.com, is devoted entirely to
security. It provides new mailing lists on security topics, an online
discussion forum to discuss security with others users around the
globe, and valuable links to security resources available on the
internet. It also features articles written specifically for Mandrake
Linux users to help them understand security, and why security is
important.

MandrakeSoft Security Specialist Vincent Danen adds:
“Currently, there are two documents on the site that may prove to be of
immediate interest. The first is using sudo to lock down permissions on
your system; invaluable for multi-user environments. The second is a
piece entitled “The Black Magic of Updating” and explains the why and
how of updating software in Mandrake Linux, the importance of reading
advisories, and the not-so black magic of updating kernels, which may
be of particular interest for those of who have not yet taken the step
to update to the latest kernels provided via Updates. These two
articles are, of course, merely the beginning, and you can expect to
see many more feature articles on the site in the future”.
http://www.mandrakesecure.net/

Mandrake in the News
—————————————-
CRN.com — Constructing a Windows-Less Office.
This week’s cover story is an article about replacing Windows with
Linux-powered desktops in a typical small-business environment.

“The advances in the KDE interface and the easy system maintenance
provided by both SuSE and Mandrake provide a solid client desktop that
Windows clients can’t touch.”
http://www.crn.com/Sections/CoverStory/CoverStory.asp?ArticleID=31793

—

Netcraft.com — Web Server Survey.
Denis Havlik was browsing the Netcraft survey and noticed the “Advanced
Extranet Webserver” was recorded on 48,114 web sites last month —
that’s more than a 300% increase from one year ago!
http://www.netcraft.com/survey/Reports/0111/byserver/Apache-AdvancedExtranetServer/

The Advanced Extranet Webserver is a high-performance version of the
famous Apache webserver found only in the Mandrake Linux distribution.
http://www.mandrakelinux.com/en/demos/Demo/Mandrake8.1/QuickLook/pages/features14.php3

—

PCmag.com — Get Started With Linux.
PC magazine hosts an article about setting up a web server with
Mandrake Linux. “Linux is a compelling choice when you want to take a
break from Windows or run your own Web server. We’ll help you get
started.”
http://www.pcmag.com/article/0,2997,s%253D1481%2526a%253D18524,00.asp

—

ZDNet.com — Travel ASP rides Linux to success.
Viata is a Hawaii-based ASP (Application Service Provider) to the
online travel industry. When they needed a low-cost but effective
technical infrastructure, their solution was to use Mandrake Linux as
the desktop and server OS.

“Viata saved about $170,000 in software costs during the first six
months of using Linux, according to Phillips. Viata also saved on
hardware, as it was able to avoid purchasing the high-end machines it
would have needed to run Windows. And administration is cheaper, since
most functions are performed centrally and can be automated.”
http://techupdate.zdnet.com/techupdate/stories/main/0,14179,2825019,00.html

What’s Cooking at MandrakeSoft?
—————————————-
Hot topics from last week’s Cooker mailing list include discussions
about hackkernel, Nautilus build requirements, %makeinstall rpm
building macro, and Higher resolution for i810 chipsets during the
install. Read the Cooker Mailing List Archives at
http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=mandrake-cooker&r=1&w=2

—

SNF code merged to Cooker.
The “Single Network Firewall” administrative interface has been adapted
to the 2.4 kernel and merged into Cooker. The next step will be to fix
bugs and add new functionality. Join the discussion at MandrakeForum
and provide your opinion about what new features should be added to the
next “firewall” product.
http://mandrakeforum.com/article.php?sid=1427?=en

Business Case of the Week
—————————————-
ASUAF: Mandrake Linux used for everything in our Information Services
Department.
The Associated Students of the University of Alaska Fairbanks (ASUAF)
represents students to the university, as well as providing legal
services, a Student Saver program, online classifieds, and personal web
site hosting. They use Mandrake Linux for the web/database/email
server, as well as on their workstations.

Joshua Kugler, the Information Services Director, says “We have been
very pleased with Mandrake Linux and would recommend it to anyone
looking for a Linux distribution on which to base their enterprise.”
http://www.mandrakebizcases.com/article.php?sid=213

Every “bizcase” counts; please share your story by submitting it to
MandrakeBizcases.com
http://www.mandrakebizcases.com/submit.php

Software Updates
—————————————-
wu-ftpd — fix potential remote root compromise
postfix — fix potential remote DoS
apache — fixes a number of vulnerabilities

View the entire list at:
http://www.linux-mandrake.com/en/security/

This Week’s Online Poll
—————————————-
Which processor(s) do you use with ML?

AMD Athlon
AMD Duron
Intel Itanium or Xeon
Intel Pentium 3 or Pentium 4
Intel Celeron
Other i386 compatible processor
PPC G3 or G4
SPARC
Alpha
Others

Cast your vote in the Voting Booth and check the results:
http://www.mandrakeforum.com/pollBooth.php?op=results&pollID=21

Top Stories from MandrakeForum
—————————————-
Mandrakesoft Advent Calendar
.
Deno writes: “Tomorrow is the first day of Advent, and (Christian)
tradition says that during Advent (4 weeks preceding Christmas) one
should have a calendar with surprises. Each day one little door gets
opened; each day a new treasure comes out. This year, Mandrakesoft will
have its own Advent calendar online”.

Due to overwhelming results from our business survey, we have been
adding dozens of great stories to MandrakeBizCases.com; so every day,
there will be at least one new story on the MandrakeBizcases site, and
we’ll try to put some very special stories out each Sunday.
http://www.mandrakeforum.com/article.php?sid=1440?=en

—

Mandrake and Win4Lin maker NeTraverse forge partnership.
Desktop Linux reports: “In the relationship agreement, MandrakeSoft
will be integrating and marketing the NeTraverse products with its
market-leading software, offering NeTraverse’s Win4Lin desktop product
directly through its online store”.
http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS9662188217.html

Deno adds: “Our role is to make sure that people actually get Win4Lin
with the distribution, and that they can easily buy licenses for it
through MandrakeStore. FYI, the first “update CD” for ML 8.1 ProSuite
is almost ready, and I hope it will contain the updated version of
Win4Lin which works with updated kernel. This CD is primarily targeted
at Pro-suite buyers (these get it shipped free of charge), but I
suppose it will be available on MandrakeStore too.
http://www.mandrakeforum.com/article.php?sid=1433?=en

—

PPC Cooker – A hands-on guide.
For any Macintosh users who are interested in testing the future
version of Mandrake PPC, George Hartlieb has put together a small guide
of some of the tricks he’s learned along the way. And since the first
part of this document describes how to setup a local mirror of Cooker,
it’s also informative for all would-be Cooker testers, not only those
who own a PPC machine.
http://www.mandrakeforum.com/article.php?sid=1432?=en

—

Who owns your data?
Steve Litt, the editor of Troubleshooters.com, switched to Linux a few
months ago; he describes how & why both he and his company did the
transition in the April 2001 issue of “Troubleshooting Professional
Magazine.
http://www.mandrakeforum.com/article.php?sid=1428?=en

—

Oracle 8i release 3 (version 8.1.7) on Mandrake 8.1
“Anonymous” shares some tips on how he successfully installed &
configured the Oracle database on Mandrake Linux 8.1.
http://mandrakeforum.com/article.php?sid=1434?=en

Read these and other stories at:
http://www.MandrakeForum.com/

—————————————-

Andy G. writes: “Bill Gates is asked some questions on the Children’s BBC Web site by a young journalist, and admits that being the richest man in the world doesn’t stop his computer from crashing. Just don’t choke on your caffeinated beverage of choice when you read some of his replies…. Full story.“

Avatar writes: “Evil3D.net has posted a new review today! We took a look at the Linux version of Uplink, the hacker game from UK game house Introversion: ‘Ever wonder what it would be like to be l33t? To hack professionally, and not for the government but to serve your own ends and those of high paying clients? How about the feeling of exhilaration as you rifle a bank for a few million in cash? While there are many who aspire to this position few will actually make it in real life. For the rest, who want
the adrenaline rush without the possibility of time served, a little company called Introversion brings Uplink.’ While not 3D, it is quite addictive. Our review can be found here.”

The Register: “Lin reckons that the Palm OS’ share of the market will fall to 43.6 per cent next year, while PocketPC’s will grow to 38.8 per cent. By the end of 2003, the PocketPC will be on 42.4 per cent and Palm OS on 38.7 per cent, he predicted.

However, the rising star of the PDA world will Linux, which Lin expects will have carved out ten per cent of the market by the end of 2003 from effectively zero today.”