BBC News reports that a popular Korean Web site has asked the Seoul District Court to block the sale of Windows XP in that country. Daum Communications is arguing that XP’s tighter integration of desktop and Internet functions, including MSN Messenger, will stifle its own Internet messaging services. About 20 percent of Internet users in Korea currently use Daum’s instant messaging software.

WatchGuard Technologies senior vp and gm for server security Jack Danahy has written an opinion piece for ZDNet that discusses Gartner’s recent reccomendation that companies dump Microsoft IIS for the sake of security. While there’s certainly merit in Danahy’s assertion that switching platforms will not make any operation magically secure, his blame-the-victim approach to defend Microsoft from Gartner’s list of IIS shortcomings is, to be polite, innovative.

Security issues with Linux, Unix, and Solaris systems were a hot topic of discussion this week at the Virus Bulletin Conference in Prague. Jakub Kaminski, of Computer Associates Australia, predicts that the rising popularity of Linux systems will deliver more viruses that use a “cocktail” blend of code and scripts to cross platforms and wreak havoc on computer systems worldwide. Trend Micro’s Joe Hartmann fixated on the increasing number of buffer overflow vulnerabilities causing headaches for system administrators, placing the blame on C++ for its lack of buffer clean-up capabilities. Read the report at Vnunet.

Red Herring has a piece from its October 1 print edition on the “ingeniously subversive” Mono Project from Ximian, which aims to build an Open Source version of Microsoft’s .NET framework. The Mono developers have a lot of work ahead of them, working from the partial set of blueprints Microsoft submitted to European Computer Manufacturer’s Association, outlining the C# programming language and related common language infrastructure. Developers will have to fill in some of the blanks to make Mono complete, figuring out on their own the guidelines for linking applications to databases and automatically generating Web pages.

Subterrian.net has a copy of the presentation delivered by Sean Lewis at ToorCon 2001, held last weekend in San Diego, Calif. Lewis discusses BSD essential BSD security issues, working well as a primer for new and experienced users alike. Read all about encrypted communication, filesystem lockdowns, kernel securelevels, services, ftpd, Apache, and security auditing.

Much going on in the world of Mandrake this week, including first looks at Mandrake Linux 8.1 and its many new features, a look at DeadlyServers’ use of Mandrake Linux to host its various game servers for Half-life, Quake 3, and other multiplayer favorites, and a roundup of news items related to the Linux distribtion. Posted at Linux Weekly News.

The very latest links of note in the world of python development: A BSD sockets tutorial, pre-2.2 python’s all-or-nothing attribute accessor scheme and how to avoid certain overhead issues with sub-objects, and a discussion about parsing text drifts into a conversation about the relative merits of scanf. Posted at Linux Weekly News

Compaq has announced a worldwide recall and replacement program for the AC power adapters used with select models of its computer notebooks. The adapters, which were made by a third party for Compaq, could overheat, and have caused at least five fires so far. Check the Compaq information page for details about various Armada, Prosignia, and Presario models affected, and how to go about getting a free replacement.

Closed source giant Microsoft continues to generate controversy with its newer, more expensive licensing schemes. Most corporations will likely pay up than deal with the logistics of switching to another platform, but government agencies (at least the ones on a local level) have never been known for having deep pockets. The Finnish city of Turku is faced with the choice of paying up or switching platforms, and has decided to perform a study as to whether or not Linux would meet their needs. If Turku decides to go with the penguin, anywhere from 3,000 to 5,000 desktops will make the switch. The Register has the report.

More coverage of the new IBM p690, the server formerly known as Regatta. This is a major new product from the company, and executives are, understandably, crowing about its advantages in the general direction of any reporter who will listen. System sales VP Erich Clementi told ZDNet UK “We’re two years ahead, and ours is half the price,” comparing the $761,686 price tag of a 16-way p690 with 16GB memory with the $1,413,840 price of a Sun Microsystems Sun Fire with a similar setup. IBM’s claim to offer the world’s most powerful Unix server is questionable, however, as the noted top performer in that category hasn’t taken any of the benchmark tests used by IBM for the p690.