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By Grant Gross –
You couldn’t swing a virtual dead cat this week without hitting a story online about Code Red, the worm that was messing with Microsoft servers. There was Code Red II and Code Red III, which were supposed to be nastier than their father, all the while Internet security companies warning their customers (and potential customers) to beware.
Users of Open Source software were, of course, immune. NewsForge news editor Tina Gasperson checked on how Linux users were responding to the Code Red worm, which tries and tries but can’t mess up their machines. Some are counting the Code Red attempts, logging the scans and worst offenders.
It was a different story at our monopolist friend Microsoft, where Hotmail was hit hard.
While we’re on the topic of Microsoft security breaches, a couple of youngsters in Great Britain figured out they could make free long-distance phone calls with the new Internet benches Microsoft is installing there. Who they gonna call? Bill Gates, of course.
Here, it’s released .. wait, no it’s not
After an apparent false start the 6.1 version of Open Source browser Netscape was released this week. PCWorld declared Netscape “not even a contender” in the browser wars.
Introducing the supergrid
The U.S. National Science Foundation announced it would pump $53 million into building a Linux-based supercomputing cluster, with IBM as one of the contractors on the project.
Bailed out
Russian programmer Dmitry Sklyarov, accused of violating the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act, was released on $50,000 bond early this week. Joining the chorus of those calling for Sklyarov’s complete release was the Libertarian Party of San Francisco and
noted cryptographer Bruce Schneier, who said the programmer’s release shows that the United States government values business interests over free speech. Is that really a surprise?
New in NewsForge
Stories that appeared first in NewsForge this week:
Hardware reviewer Jeff Field wonders if top-of-the-line CPUs are worth the price. To find out, he compares the cost and benefits of the Athlon 1.4GHz and 1.33GHz processors and comes up with an interesting conclusion.
News editor Dan Berkes checks on some alternate uses for the Ricochet wireless Internet network and finds that Linux users may have a way to use the network.
