Bill Bradford writes “In the tradition of the long-running Sun-Managers mailing list (since
1989, with info and archives on the web at sunmanagers.org), I’m now
hosting (at the request of several people) a Linux-Managers mailing list. Similar in scope and focus to the Sun-Managers list, Linux-Managers is for people who administrate Linux-based machines on a daily basis. Both normal and digest versions of the list are available. You can find the Linux-Managers mailing list at
http://www.linuxmanagers.org.”

LinuxPlanet: “HancomWord is one of those applications that should not need an exhortation for more funding. It’s parent company, Haansoft, has made darn sure that the Windows version of this application is the dominant word processor in the Korean market. So when Haansoft did some internal shuffling and formed the HancomLinux division back in 1999, it seemed a sure thing that the Linux version of HancomWord and the rest of HancomOffice would be a pretty strong offering.”

Anonymous Reader writes: “Worldwide portable digital music player unit shipments will grow from 2.4 million in 2000 to over 9 million in 2005”. That from a report released yesterday by Cahners In-Stat showing that the digital music player industry will triple its market foothold over the next four years.

http://www.mp3newswire.net/stories/2001/instat.htm l

Zork.net … KC KDE #25 is out. KMail, KDE 3 and the German government. Find out what they have in common here.

Kelly McNeill writes: “In the same way that it is our civic duty to punish criminals, we cannot, in good conscience, purchase products from and provide financial support to Microsoft. If justice can only be served through our purchasing decisions, let us all take a united front against the company by not buying its products or services. Would we not rage against educational institutions for investing in tobacco stocks or against oil companies who kill people in Nigeria? We must do the same in the computing industry. Without a clearly established abuser making our choices and determining our opinions for us, we will indeed be a better society.”

ABCNews: “What’s improved in the latest installment? TechTV
Labs found an array of little enhancements – such as
a built-in equalizer, iPod compatibility, and faster CD
burning – that show the application has come into its
own.”

PRNewsWire: “The Fast 500 list is compiled from three sources: winners of Deloitte &
Touche’s 22 regional North American Fast 50 programs, nominations submitted
directly to the Fast 500 and public company database research. To qualify for
the Fast 500, entrants must have had 1996 revenues of at least $50,000 USD and
$75,000 CD for the United States and Canada, respectively.”

Kelly McNeill writes: “Microsoft made its fortune selling adequate software with wonderful marketing. Now comes Microsoft XP, which is wonderful software getting wrongheaded marketing. Here’s how it happened. Microsoft decided it was losing too much money because consumers copied and passed along copies of Windows. It would be hard to argue that isn’t so. You may have done it yourself. That caused Microsoft to come up with a new activation technology that makes it extremely difficult to install an illegal copy of Windows.”

Wired: “The notorious and long-lived Snow White virus hits an e-mail list of the American Muslim Council, and the group claims it was deliberate. Antivirus experts aren’t so sure.”

– By Jacqueline Emigh –

Samsung has now licensed HP’s OpenMail, with plans to build a “unified communications” messaging server called Samsung Contact, as well as separate Linux, Windows and Web clients. Ultimately, the clients are targeted at integrated voice and data communications, calendaring, and PIM (personal information management) from a range of desktop and mobile devices.Unveiled together with the three clients at Comdex this week, Samsung’s server will use standards like XML, J2EE and WAP to support PDAs along with PCs.

The Linux client for Samsung Contact will offer an easier user interface and much more functionality than the ill-fated Linux client for OpenMail, company officials said at a press conference in Las Vegas.

The news from Comdex follows an earlier move by HP to discontinue a well received but short-lived Linux client for OpenMail, a multiplatform mail server that works with a Microsoft Outlook-based client.

With the new client software, formerly codenamed Gemini, Samsung will also replace HP’s previous pricing for OpenMail with a new model, says Stuart Barry, general manager, Unified Communications, for Samsung SDS.

Under the old model, HP offered free downloads of its Linux client over the Web. According to Barry, the downloads were quite popular among small companies with fewer than 50 users.

Under the future model, customers will pay for the client software, based on numbers of individual users. Details are still being worked out. “But companies with only six users will probably pay less than companies with 28 users, for instance,” Barry says.

Samsung’s new client software is targeted at use on either a standalone basis or with Contact or other messaging/communications platforms.

Un Sik Kamn, VP and e-Solution Division Manager, Samsung SDS, says that Samsung will also use the clients for ACUBE Enterprise Portal, its emerging portal for desktops and mobile devices.

Also at Comdex, Samsung and other OEMs are demoing new PDAs based on embedded Linux.

Samsung Contact will incorporate HP’s “robust” middleware, and will be “fully compatible” with OpenMail 7.0, according to the company. “Most people won’t want to rip out OpenMail,” Barry says.

Samsung is looking at adding “incremental functionality” in four phases, over a three-year time span, said Richi Jennings, chief architect for Samsung Contact. The initial release of Contact, slated for the first half of 2002, will include the first versions of the new Linux, Windows and Web clients.

By 2004, Samsung expects to add support for voice over IP, as well as features for integrated management of voice and data communications.

With the OpenMail licensing move to Samsung, HP is simultaneously handing over development of applications based on its middleware, says Bill Russell, v.p. of HP’s Software and Solutions Organization.