Loic Dachary writes: “Have you ever been depressed, possibly more than once, to
discover that a so called Free
Software project was financed despite the fact that
it had nothing to do with Free Software? Europe will soon
be financing new projects and you could help prevent
similar travesties by becoming External
Experts. Your skills are required to
validate the candidate projects.”

The Fifth
Framework Programme (FP5) of the European Commission
needs
experts. Of the candidates who proposed themselves
thru the online
application form, only a few have any real
understanding of what Free Software is and how it
works. While all experts will be eligible, only a few will
be solicited for any particular evaluation. In each case
the experts will speak only for themselves, not for their
employer nor for organizations they belong to. Early in
October 2001 a number of projects will be sent for
evaluation in the Creating a
user-friendly information society framework.

Who will then be able, technical concerns aside, to judge
that a so called Free Software project is not in fact
simply a marketing attempt, using the latest buzzword? The
candidates for funding know that the European Commission wishes
to encourage Free Software projects because of their
intrinsic qualities of freedom, independence and sharing.
The temptation will be great for them to say they have the
technical and human resources necessary to create and
maintain a Free Software project even if they don’t have the
slightest idea of what it really means. If no expert has a
real knowledge of Free Software project development, how
will the European Commission be able to sort that out?

An example demonstrates this situation. Let’s pretend that
the GnuPKI
project and the campware project submit
proposals that are equally good technically speaking
(regardless of the fact that they deal with different
subjects). Let’s further pretend that the commission has to
choose between these two, without the benefit of advice from
any Free Software experts. They will probably favor
GnuPKI since they do a better job of marketing themselves.

It turns out that people familiar with Free Software would
notice some anomalies about GnuPKI. First of all it is
not a package of the GNU
project, despite their name.
Given that the GNU project provides core components to the most
widely used Free Software operating systems (Debian, RedHat, Mandrake etc.),
this mistake demonstrates a disturbing ignorance. Free Software is
a matter of communicating with heterogeneous development groups,
this is therefore a point that plays against GnuPKI. In addition,
the GnuPKI security expert, Mr
Eduard Tric, has never
participated in Free Software development and no
package of the developed software is available as yet.
This shows a lack of understanding for the development model.
Taking these facts into account, we would now expect GnuPKI’s
chances of being successful to be much lower than those of
campware.

One cannot expect all cases to be as clear cut as this
example. Evaluating a project, for the European Commission
or for your own company, often requires a more subtle study.
When dealing with Free Software it is essential to carefully
evaluate the legal status of a project with particular
regard to copyright, because various licenses
are used and many companies are involved. The ability of the
candidates to cooperate with development teams on the
network, their ability to establish a dialog and their
current involvement in the Free Software community is also
of great importance. These points are not technical, they
don’t have an equivalent in non-free software projects and
can only be evaluated by people actively involved in Free
Software.

“

PCWeek: “With the economy still slowing and corporate spending tightening,
many Linux backers believe they have a significant weapon in the
battle for IT dollars: low cost and adaptability.

But that tells just part of the story for Linux hardware and software
developers, who are confident that Linux offers a solid server and
client alternative to Windows at a time when XP, its latest version,
which shipped to PC makers last week, is meeting some resistance
from IT managers.”

An Anonymous Reader sent us this link to a press release from Intel: http://cipherwar.com/news/01/intel_linux_compilers .htm“

LinuxSecurity: “This week, perhaps the most interesting articles include “DDoS effort ill-placed,” “NIST Special: Intrusion Detection Systems,” and “Researchers develop
SSH cracker.” Also this week, good news for security vendors and professionals in “Internet Security Revenue To Exceed $14 Billion by 2005,” and “Every
job requires commitment to network security.”

To celebrate the 10th anniversary, the BBC has opened it up for comments about Linux and the phenomenon behind it.

Slashdotters talk about people spending too much money on computers that can do too much.

“DevX recently
launched the Web’s largest free code library through a deal that adds 27,000
code samples from Sourcebank, a developer-focused search engine, to DevX’s
existing library.”

 PALO ALTO, Calif., Aug. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- DevX, a leading provider of
information and services for the corporate IT development community, recently
launched the Web's largest free code library through a deal that adds 27,000
code samples from Sourcebank, a developer-focused search engine, to DevX's
existing library.  Visitors to DevX's category-leading resource site devx.com
now have access to more than 38,000 free code samples to speed the completion
of development projects.
    "The library demonstrates our continued commitment to providing developers
with the resources they need to keep projects moving," said Peter Horan, CEO
of DevX.  "The reuse of code is playing an increasingly important role in
development, but without order and categorization, it will create a new glut
of information for developers.  Our library, the largest of its kind, gives
developers working in all programming languages a quick and easy way to find
thousands of organized, downloadable code samples that they can put to use
immediately."
    Under the terms of the agreement, Sourcebank's site was incorporated into
the DevX network of sites as part of the DevX Code Library
(http://www.devx.com/free/codelib/).
    As a whole, the library now contains over 38,000 downloadable code
sequences and features more than 3,500 pieces of Java code and thousands of
other source code files for C++ and Web scripting languages, such as Perl and
JavaScript.  Users can also access code samples from the archives of magazines
such as Visual Basic Programmer's Journal, Visual C++ Developers Journal,
Exchange & Outlook, and Java Pro.
    Other recent site enhancements include the redesign of the TechTips
Library, which provides thousands of concise programming tips for developers.
Users are now able to browse tips by categories that mirror the zones on the
site, which range from Web development to XML, making it easier to find
valuable instructions and information quickly.
    Accessible through devx.com, the DevX network of sites consists of leaders
in their respective vertical markets, such as Windows, Web and Database
development, as well as Java, XML, C/C++, Visual Basic and SQL.  The network
features independent technical content, expert advice, community resources,
product information, and targeted, contextual e-commerce for development
professionals.

    About DevX
    DevX is a leading provider of technical information and services that
enable corporate IT development teams to efficiently conquer development
challenges and keep projects moving.  DevX resources are available through
three main channels: the category-leading public Website, http://www.devx.com;
custom-built DevX Corporate Development Portals for corporate IT departments;
and DevX Vendor Development Portals, which enable leading IT vendors to reach
a large, influential audience seeking product and vendor-specific technical
information. Each Portal offering is comprised of a tailored mix of "just in
time" e-Learning, expert tips, code libraries, collaboration tools, and
premium content and services.
    DevX (http://www.devx.com) is based in Palo Alto, California and raised
initial investment equity in January 2000 from Hummer Winblad Venture Partners
(http://www.humwin.com), a San Francisco venture capital firm.

    About Sourcebank
    Sourcebank is a collection of source code and other resources gathered
from hundreds of technical sites around the Web and brought together in one
searchable, browsable repository. SourceBank specializes in Java programming,
C++, and Web scripting languages such as Perl and JavaScript

cenobyte writes: “www.linux-box.org is the first ‘free’ email provider who gives the users everything he needs.
The Email services provider is not for newbies who wants a lookalike hotmail account.
linux-box is more for the advanced users who know what they want.

Currently www.linux-box.org supports:

– POP3 and POP3 Secured
– Webmail
– Webadmin
– Anonymous email (NO IP in the Message-Headers)

Linux-box will only create 200 private email accounts.
So hurry 😉

Cheers,”

– By Grant Gross –

It’s hard to ignore the news this week of NewsForge parent company VA Linux’s quarterly earnings announcement and its follow-up plan to sell “proprietary” software. VA reported a $290 million quarterly loss, but the bulk of that loss came from write-offs as the company gets out of the hardware business.

As for the announcement VA would sell proprietary pieces of its newly named SourceForge Enterprise Edition, that’s not quite what it seems on its face, either, at least according to VA board member and Open Source evangelist Eric S. Raymond. ESR writes that VA’s apparent change of philosophy is really just a change in tactics, with the company hanging some “proprietary tinsel” on SourceForge in order to sell it to enterprise customers, who had questioned paying for something that had been free.

Layoffs in the Linux world

Layoffs are hardly news in the Open Source business sector these days, but NeTraverse, the maker of Win4Lin emulator, said it was the victim of a overly pessimistic post at the rumor site F***edCompany.com this week. NeTraverse’s CTO told NewsForge’s Tina Gasperson that the company had indeed laid off some people, but not the 90 percent first rumored. He also promised that the company would continue its course. Stayed tuned to see what happens with the company, but remember, don’t believe everything you read on the Internet.

Yes, your honor

There are times when it seems NewsForge should do a weekly court roundup. This is one of those weeks.

The California DeCSS case returned to court this week, with the Electronic Frontier Foundation arguing that the California trade secrets law used to halt Internet publication of the DVD-playing code at dozens of Web sites
violated those site owners’ First Amendment rights. We’ll keep watching to see the outcome of this appeal.

Also, Russian programmer Dmitry Sklyarov, arrested in the United States for allegedly violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, was supposed to go to court this week, but the hearing was delayed. There’s some speculation that a plea bargain is in the works. Sklyarov sent a note out this week thanking the many people who have supported his cause since he was arrested in July.

Microsoft sees dead people

Or, at least, dead people like Microsoft. Well, Open Source people have been arguing for years Windows is a dead operating system. Apparently, dead people are writing letters of support to the attorneys general suing Microsoft for antitrust violations. Oops.

Free taking over Glibc?

A weird controversy broke out this week, with the author of Glibc accusing the Free Software Foundation Richard M. Stallman of trying to take over the project.

Ten candles

Look for more news this week about Linux’s 10th birthday. Several news sites have done stories, but one interesting story is from the The Bangalore Linux User Group Web site, which explains why August 25 is considered Linux’s birthday, instead of a couple of other fairly legitimate dates.

New in NewsForge

Stories that first appeared in NewsForge this week:

Hardware reviewer Jeff Field got one of the first looks at AMD’s 1GHz Duron CPU, saying the Morgan chip is more of an incremental step than a huge leap for the company.

Business columnist Jack Bryar writes that analyst conflicts of interest during the tech stock boom are now fueling dozens of lawsuits, including some against your favorite Open Source companies.

News editor Tina Gasperson noted that one enterprising Linux fan was selling a Linux-like license plate on eBay and there are several others who could cash in.

“Great news! Michael Hall reports from Australia, with the first response from director of PC’s for Kids regarding using GNU/Linux: “It would appear something of a move to Linux is underway, but the lower end machines still present a problem.” Less than a day later, Bill Ries-Knight, via Henry White, has sent us the link to a very promising and deliberate, public response from the director of PC’s for Kids.” More at Seul.org.