A New Zealand PC maker has the dubious distinction of being the first in the world to ship a computer pre-installed with Microsoft’s new Windows XP operation system. Read the full story at NZoom.

Avatar writes: “Just a heads up that evil3D has put up a new game review today. Today’s game is Rune, originally developed by Human Head Studios, and ported to the Linux platform by Loki.”Recently released by Loki, and with the expansion coming soon, Rune is one of the more popular 3D titles to come to Linux in a good while. The anticipation of this release isn’t quite as great as that for Dues Ex but, this title does have a pretty good following. And with the release not too far off that of the Windows version, Rune is a fairly up to date game. Following what appears to be Loki official package style, the purchaser receives a DVD Style case, a single game CD-ROM, and 28 page manual with color cover.”
The review can be found here: http://www.evil3d.net/reviews/software/rune/“

– by Eric Raymond –
I am writing to apologize both privately and publicly for my part in
this NewsForge story. While the quotes in that story accurately reflect my personal estimate
of the FSF’s history and situation, they were written in my role as
historian and analyst, and intended as deep background to the reporter
in a spirit of private candor. They were not intended to be used in
public, they do not express any policy of the Open Source Initiative,
and were not written to advance any other agenda or to provoke a
controversy which would ill-serve the interests of the community as a
whole. In fact, I regard the fact that they were published at all as
an unexpected and unwelcome shock.

My last quote in the article noted that despite what I judge to be its
mistakes and reverses, I believe the FSF still has a vital role to
play in the future and I wish it continuing success in that role. That
remains my considered judgment as both historian and advocate, which
I hope you will weigh equally seriously with my critical remarks.

While I feel more than somewhat ambushed by the reporter’s behavior, I
accept that I am personally at fault in not ensuring that these
comments remained in background. The last thing our community needs
now is more internal divisions, and I have no desire to act in ways
that will increase them.

—
Eric S. Raymond

The Register: “Larry Ellison has offered help in the creation of a National ID card for the United States by donating
Oracle software.

Ellison told San Francisco TV channel KPIX that the US needed a national database containing
biometric information on its citizens to prevent terrorism:-

“We need a national ID card with our photograph and thumbprint digitized and embedded in the ID
card,” he said, the San Jose Mercury reports.”

PCWorld: “You’re surfing and shopping, and you stumble on a site that bears the Microsoft Passport logo. It’s a graphical clue that you can simply enter your Passport log-in
(your e-mail address) and your Passport password and start spending–the site is a Microsoft partner that already has access to your Microsoft Wallet (which contains
information like your name, credit card numbers, and shipping and billing preferences). It’s for your convenience, Microsoft says, so you don’t have to re-enter such
data.

But could the site actually be a façade that has just recorded your Passport log-in and password? And do the hackers who run the fake site next head to a real
Passport site, where they log in as you and review your credit card information?”

Wired: “British drivers — particularly those with a need for speed — will be happy to know they can purchase a device which enlists the help of 24 satellites orbiting the Earth to spot those nasty, annoying speed cameras.”

LinuxSecurity: “This week, perhaps the most interesting articles include “How to install GnuPG,” “10 minutes to an iptables-based Linux firewall,” and “Anonymizing with
Squid Proxy.”

Slashdot: “Lordkolya wrote in to tell us about a pyramid shaped keyboard. It’s supposed to be ergonomic, but it sure is ugly.”

The Dot: “Peter-Paul Koch, maintainer of a JavaScript/DOM/CSS testing site, recently updated his browser section. In it he reviews
Konqueror, together with the other Version 5 browsers, Mozilla and IE.”

BusinessWeek: “Customers attempting to reach Verizon Wireless via e-mail have
been on hold since Sept. 19. Under siege from the Nimda computer
plague, the cell-phone giant was forced to shut down all incoming
e-mail, allowing e-mail traffic only within its corporate networks, says
a company spokesperson.”