Slashdotters are talking about the closing of the source at VA (Newsforge’s parent company.)

The Register: “So hello again Amazon, which blurted out ‘preorder’ pricing for XP back in July,
and then did it again yesterday. The prices (swiftly pulled again) were $199 for
upgrade to XP Pro and $299 for the full version. A big hello to Bogdan Palos of
Bucharest, Romania for tipping us off to this; it’s been all over the place anyway, but
it’s the thought that counts.”

Wired: “Every seventh-grader in Maine will have a laptop, starting in the fall of 2002. Governor Angus King talks to Katie Dean about his plans to get technology in the hands of all children in an audio interview.”

Wired: “In response to this season of increased discontent, Microsoft is now focusing on finding easier ways to help people find and
patch the security holes in their computers, Microsoft’s chief security officer Howard Schmidt said at a press briefing last week.

The first public release of this simpler security project is the Microsoft Personal Security Advisor (MPSA), a free Web-based tool
for personal users of Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 2000 operating systems. The tool scans computers, looking for any security
problems in installed Microsoft software.”

BBC: “A Russian programmer who was arrested when he visited a hackers
conference in America last month has become a reluctant poster
child for free speech.

Dmitry Sklyarov is charged of violating a controversial law called the
Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DCMA).

His arraignment has been postponed until next week as lawyers try
to reach a settlement.”

honey writes: “Paranoid Public License – http://ppl.7thGuard.net/ – protects any information
included in posting (email or usenet or whatever) that is covered by it. The
person, who uses such an information will have to publish his or her work on
GPL, FDL or PPL. Imagine open-source security patches by Microsoft when someone
sends PPLed posting to Bugtraq :)”

The Register: “Barely six weeks ago VA Linux Systems was an open source hardware vendor.
Now, the company is undertaking a Napoleonic retreat from the hardware business
and it’s doing the unthinkable: adding proprietary subscription software to its open
source software flagship, SourceForge.”

CNET: “On Aug. 25, 1991, Finnish computer science student Linus Torvalds sent an
announcement that he was creating an operating system for Intel-based
computers–“just a hobby, won’t be big and professional,” he said.”

Anonymous Reader writes: “Selling for $99, the Rio One is really just an updated version of the first Rio, the PMP 300, hence the “one” moniker. Aimed to be the Rio lines starting price point, the refresh of the original Rio keeps costs down and therefore allows SONICblue more flexibility when competing with the slew of sub “C” note players expected to hit the market for the Christmas season.

http://www.mp3newswire.net/stories/2001/rioone.htm l“

“Apparently the dead are fed up with the government’s antitrust case against Microsoft
Corp. According to a report in the Los Angeles Times Thursday morning, letters purportedly
written by at least two dead people have made their way onto the desk of Utah Attorney
General Mark Shurtleff. The letters asked Shurtleff to go easy on the company.

According to the article, the letters, along with those of 400 Utah citizens, are part of a
nationwide “grassroots” campaign orchestrated by pro-Microsoft groups Americans for
Technology Leadership (ATL) and Citizens Against Government Waste. The groups receive
some funding from Microsoft but won’t disclose how much.” More at australia.internet.com.