Linux Security reports on an IPMASQ security vulnerability in Linux kernels in the 2.0 and 2.2 series which could allow the compromising of protected networks.

From PR Newswire: Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz
LLP has filed a class action lawsuit in the United States District Court for
the Southern District of New York, on behalf of purchasers of Caldera
International, Inc. securities
between March 21, 2000 and December 6, 2000, inclusive, against defendants
Caldera, certain of its officers and directors, and its underwriters.

From LinuxPR: Available now from winface.com and on ebay this book represents something
new and different in Unix advocacy and data center management advice.

This book is probably the first serious attempt at answering the most fundamental
question affecting Unix/Linux users: why do most people seem to prefer an
expensive and largely disfunctional desktop, and even server, environment to one
that works cheaply and effectively?

TheStandard notes the death of Wau Holland, who helped found the Chaos
Computer Club.

From LinuxPR: WinLinux 2001, the first Linux for Windows 95/98/Me, is ready
and shipping to customers in the US and abroad.

WinLinux 2001 is a major upgrade of one of the most popular Linux systems, fully
compatible with Windows 95/98/Millennium. WinLinux is also compatible with Red
Hat Linux on the Linux side offering the benefits of both systems.

Reuters reports that Code Red may not have run its course. (Editor: If my in box is any indication, it certainly hasn’t.) The wrom may start up again Tuesday, infecting several Microsoft products.

– By Dan Berkes –

Monday afternoon, MandrakeSoft released the results of its initial public offering. In an email message sent to subscribers of the Linux-Mandrake Community Newsletter, the Paris-based Linux company also confirmed that its stock will start public trading this Friday, Aug. 3.The company said it enjoyed a successful IPO, selling a total of 688,480 shares at 6.2 Euros (USD $5.42) each. Proceeds from the sale now represent 20.28 percent of the company’s capital, or about 4.3 million Euros (USD $3.76 million).

MandrakeSoft will trade on the Marche Libre exchange under the Euroclear-Paris code 4477, the equivalent of a ticker symbol on the U.S. Nasdaq or New York Stock Exchange markets. The Marche Libre (translated as “Free Functioning” or “Open Market,” according to Babelfish) is a non-regulated market, one of several operated by Euronext Paris SA, and free from some of the requirements that apply to companies listed on regulated markets.

Non-regulation, at least within the context of Marche Libre, means that there’s no minimum public holding requirement regarding the issuing company’s securities, and that accounting requirements for reports are determined solely by the company. Certainly a buyer-beware market, this also means that Euronext may not have specific information about events that could affect the company’s value or legal situation; investors are on their own when it comes to ferreting out such information. There’s a PDF file available that explains in great detail how this market works.

Also different on this market is the way stock prices are set. Instead of constant price fluctuation during normal trading hours, share prices are determined once every 24 hours, with the daily price set at 3 p.m. local time. Furthermore, that price cannot change by more than 10 percent in either direction each day. MandrakeSoft strongly urges investors to provide a limit price when buying or selling shares. Investors who don’t provide that limit price run the risk of buying at higher prices or selling at lower prices.

So, how do you go about getting in on the first day of public trading? In the message, the company says the easiest way to find out is to call up your usual broker and ask if they accept orders for Euronext — be sure to give the Euroclear-Paris code of 4477. While not entirely clear in the message or at MandrakeSoft’s IPO pages, there’s a chance that your broker may trade on some Euronext markets but not all of them. Providing that code will help to get a yes or no answer quickly.

Anyone seeking more information on how to purchase shares of MandrakeSoft can consult the company’s information page on the issue, and read or share tips on how to go about making purchases on MandrakeForum.

Lawrence Lessig, the noted cyber-lawyer and author has a column at the New York Times (free registration required) lamenting the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. “Something is going terribly wrong with copyright law in America. Mr. Sklyarov
himself did not violate any law, and his employer did not violate anyone’s
copyright. What his program did was to enable the user of an Adobe eBook
Reader to disable restrictions that the publisher of a particular electronic book
formatted for Adobe’s reader might have imposed.”

From LinuxPR: Web development firm Axis 80 today announced a public preview release of
PROPS, an open source Internet publishing system designed specifically for
periodicals such as newspapers and magazines. PROPS release 0.1 is ‘alpha’
software intended for developers and potential end users who wish to familiarize
themselves with the operation and capabilities of the system.

From LinuxPR: Scientists at the European Synchrotron Radiation
Facility (ESRF), Grenoble, France, need to increase the processing speed of
their computers in order to keep up with the massive amounts of data produced
by the ESRF experimental stations.